Rocket Richard

So I got word of some deals on parts at Rock Auto, and proceeded to fill up my shopping cart with tune up items. Pretty small stuff, nothing major here.

Parts total: $43
Shipping total (to Canada): $79 !!!??

What the heck?! Why is shipping costing so much? The Rock Auto site said the parts will be coming from 3 separate places, but still.

I'll have to try getting them locally.

RetroRanger

yeah you gotta watch the warehouses they ship from when ordering several parts particularly small ones...if you have 3 small parts from 3 seperate warehouses its just like ordering from 3 different places each has its own shipping

still canada is even more expensive than the states but really all shippiing is getting pricey

stan 65 cutlass

ya shipping sucks up here, i see your in vancouver area
hows it goin eh? i have a few parts , mostly 65 though

Grace Stinespring-Welch

i know i just paid more for shipping than the part i bought.

jaunty75

I don't think rockauto or any online company actually does this. The cost of the shipping is based on size/weight, etc., distance, and method of shipping chosen. rockauto warns you about things coming from multiple warehouses only to let you know that your items might arrive in separate packaging and at different times. But they wouldn't last five minutes in business if they actually charged you for shipping as though it were a brand-new order for each different warehouse shipped from. Where and in how many different locations they store their parts is their business.

Rocket Richard is facing his high shipping charges because it's going across the border.

jaunty75

This really doesn't mean anything. Shipping cost doesn't scale with the value of item shipped. It costs a certain amount just to generate a shipment, regardless of what's being shipped or what the thing being shipped is worth.

I just ordered online a replacement charcoal canister filter for my '73 wagon from Advance Auto Parts. The item was $2.50 and shipping was $8.00. I tried to buy it locally, but no one had it in stock. It came UPS ground, and that's about the minimum you can ship anything for via UPS these days.

RetroRanger

Ahh jaunty my friend your usually spot on in your responses but I disagree w (some) of the above

If you remove a single item from your cart on RA that ships from a seperate warehouse you will see the shipping decrease significantly, it makes sense how could they not charge me more shipping for something from the california warehouse when the other items in my cart are from the boston warehouse (i live in mass)

I have in the past deleted small items from an order because the added cost is not worth it to me. ie a $5 item that costs me an additonal $15 doesnt make sense (to me LOL)

while they dont break down the individual warehouse shipping its not difficult to dissect the costs and see try it

i agree canada costs more to ship to

BTW they do better on their prices even w shipping included and thats how they last in business

ex. last week 2 ford MOOG UCAs from advanced w their 15% off, pick up in store ~$200.... same two ford UCAs plus shipping minus RA discount (5% i think) $145 the advance auto price was almost 2x the RA price for the exact same unit and I dont have to leave my precious keyboard to go get them

jaunty75

Wait a minute! My answers are always spot on!

I see what you mean.

Mike77

The shipping cost $79 because some brokerage company signs a piece of paper ,collects the GST and charges you $59 to your door. Get it sent USPS hold for pick up and go get it in point roberts.

rustyroger

Shipping to the UK really hurts!.
Of course it will be a lot more expensive than within North America, so unless I need something very urgently I pick stuff up when I'm in the USA and take it home as hand luggage. It sucks that the airlines have reduced baggage allowances in the last few years as well.
Another problem which I'm sure also affects all overseas buyers is finding a firm that will deal with anyone with a credit card billing address outside USA/Canada. Rockauto will and some others, but I have been unable to book tickets for Rodeo events and NHRA meetings because of this.

I need to tell my bank when I'm travelling overseas so I can use atms or need to use my card for unexpected purchases.
All part of new money laundering countermeasures I've been told, so I either have to suck it up or stay home.

Roger.

tmaleck

I'll go a bit further and say multiple warehouse shipping is part of the RA strategy. They do charge a lot for shipping from each location, and if you have a lot of parts, try taking them out of the cart one at a time and see how it shifts the shipping location for the remaining items. I needed about 10 things like belts, hoses, etc. and I was never able to find a subset of items that came from a single location. The items changed warehouses depending on what I had in the cart at the time. I ended up getting them from a locally owned store for less money overall.

Tim

Rocket Richard

Yeah. It was pretty disappointing. I mean, I was getting that feeling like it was christmas again with presents on the way. But the shipping cost just killed it.

Rock Auto broke the shipping into 3 separate charges, one for each warehouse. They really should set it up so you can try to get as much as you can from one warehouse.

I don't think I'll be sending it to a US address by the border and picking it up there. Mainly because I'd have to renew my passport ($80 to $90, I believe), and then I'd probably have to pay some fee to the place in the US.... and on top of that it'd be about $20 in gas and 2 hours to get there and back.
I'll check it out for the future though.

Rocket Richard

OK, quick update. I checked it out again, and Rock Auto has these truck icons to let you know which warehouse the parts are coming from.

For each item, I added different kinds of the same item to my shopping cart until I found a part that came from the same warehouse as the other parts in my shopping cart. So now everything comes from the same warehouse.

New cost for the same parts: $95
New shipping cost (from one warehouse): $32

$5 more expensive than with 3 shipping locations. This sucks.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Question, are you a habs fan? Because your screen name is very reminiscant of a local hero of mine.

And yeah, shipping to canada sucks more than Oprah's vacuum cleaner... never loses suction...

Mikes65

I think rock auto has reasonable shipping charges. If you have ever driven to a few stores before realizing the item you need is not available you probably spent 10-15 bucks on gas with nothing to show for it. Then pay shipping charges anyway. Plus my time is valuable to me. I order on sunday eve and have parts at my door Tuesday or Wednesday in most cases. Also with the older vehicles the parts are often really cheap. I am a fan of RA.

Mike77

like I said it's not the "shipping" that's expensive it's the brokerage fee's. If you think it too much trouble to go get it in the USA then just pay the cost and think of all the extra time you have to work on your car.


Mike