The Greatest Reveal in 3rd Gen History Soon

I feel like Amazon is getting real bland with their options with our trucks anymore. It’s all mostly Chinese crap that I find that is just useless imho.

 

I'm not trying to justify anything. You won't find anyone more pro small business than me. Just pointing out that your stated view on Amazon and it's impact on small businesses is very short sighted.

 

I’m extremely hesitant to buy Toyota parts on Amazon. I just have no way to vet the seller and I don’t trust Amazon to do so. If I want spark plugs or oil filters or things like that, I just go get them from the local dealer. I know not everyone can do that given rural areas but, for me it helps me feel comfortable with the parts I’m using.

 

Sequoia V8 powertrain transplant.

 

Wait you get your parts at the dealer? Man I wish I had your wallet. I get all my stuff at o’reilly lmao. WIX and Castrol baby and NGKs. Never let me down

 

definitely. but for a new grille, bumper plastics, or molle panels, Amazon all the way. too many stories on fake plugs or oil filters for me to even risk the cost. i just get them locally at the auto parts stores. they've got just as much of a reputation to uphold as the dealer. no brick and mortar place is going to want to be tarnished as "the place for fakes"

 

I have a spreadsheet somewhere of every aftermarket buggery that I bought for the truck. The number of them that have Amazon screenshots for the receipt...




Console organizer, skid plate, dashcam, grille trim ring, various tie downs, subwoofer, floor mats, front bumper.... The list goes on.

 

part out

 

bro if you be drivin that you'd better go get an edgar haircut cuz thats tekuache AF LOL

 

1. On counterfeit items…I get it. It’s real. However, they’re pretty easy to spot the sketchiness thanks to a vast review network and the return policy at Amazon is still as lenient as any brick and mortar anywhere. Take a chance, if you don’t like it, return it, no questions asked

2. Walmart killed Main St. and small business. Amazon has made small business distribution nationally available for hundreds and thousands of at home or “small” shop businesses. They aren’t making money in the delivery arm yet. They literally lose money with every “free shipping” package shipped. They’re building out the network. Only time will tell if it’s sustainable or not. For now though. amazon HELPS small business, not hurt it. Direct through website shipping might be $10-$30 for a part. They partner with Amazon and for a small fee can ship anywhere in the US for free and in 2 days typically.

 

I definitely won’t buy everything at the dealer, but for regular scheduled maintenance I don’t at all mind buying these:
-crush washers of all kinds
-spark plugs
-oil filters
-WS fluid (because I do tranny fluid so infrequently)

And even for some unscheduled maintenance. I was happy to have a wheel bearing replaced recently with an OEM version.

I’m certainly not gonna buy air filters from the dealer. So to me I base the decision on whether it’s a critical part or a relatively small dollar amount on a yearly basis. Or whether I think the OEM part will last and perform a lot better. What I appreciate about buying parts from the dealer is better counterfeit and configuration control, which costs money to manage, and I’m happy to pay for. And I alluded to it before, dealer parts are more reliable on average, in my opinion. So there’s theoretical long run cost savings that may offset the up front price delta. Theoretical.

It’s very hard to personally confirm that a part is not counterfeit. There are characteristics that are critical that can’t be observed unless you have an engineering lab. The packaging duplication is unbelievably good. I don’t have time for an inspection, I’m willing to pay a bit more for better odds. Doesn’t mean no one should buy anything on Amazon, I just pick and choose those things that I will or won’t buy. Bought plenty of great stuff on Amazon that worked out fine. Like you I like to support small businesses when feasible (and brick and mortar versions of any business because that supports local labor), and pay the corresponding increased price. We all vote with our wallets when it comes to what type of local economy we’d like to see exist.

 

Yes, but they are small local business in China.

 

Amazon counterfeits are becoming more the rule than the exception. It's a growing problem that is getting much harder to spot.

 

The other, related, completely unreliable thing is the reviews. It’s completely impossible to know if they’re real.

 

Hole getting cut and actuator installed soon…

 

Everyone knows there are tons of fake reviews on Amazon. It’s so easy for sellers to do:
-Buy some of your own product and post 5-star reviews
-Send customers a gift if they post a 5-star review
-Pay individuals to go buy the product and post a 5-star review

Not much of a conspiracy theory, pretty basic stuff. Amazon has taken some measures to limit the impact, but when you read through reviews and find the same language in a bunch of them or personally receive offers from sellers to post a 5-star review for a gift, it’s pretty obvious.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-spot-fake-reviews-amazon/

https://www.webretailer.com/amazon/amazon-fake-reviews/

https://medium.com/swlh/fake-amazon-reviews-is-apparently-a-booming-industry-181ff93793e0

Amazon itself has admitted to stopping over 200 million fake reviews from being posted, the number not mentioned is how many still got through:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/how-amazon-works/creating-a-trustworthy-reviews-experience

 

This happened to me on Amazon: ordered a $150 faucet, didn't check to see that it was from a 3rd party seller (because no big deal It didn't really matter to me) They shipped me a small padded envelope with a well-photocopied letter saying "sorry we don't have it but we'll send it when we do."

Shipping the letter fulfilled the order on Amazon as shipped, starting the clock on the return window. Obviously I sent them back their bullshit letter immediately and got a refund.

But when I go to leave them a review I notice this garbage. Their review page shows hundreds of people leaving negative reviews over the past year or so with the same experience. Shockingly Amazon strikes out the negative reviews with some crap disclaimer about how it's a shipping issue and it's not the sellers fault. So the negative reviews never count against them.

So here I am thinking ordering from a 3rd party seller is supporting a small business but they're just as crooked as Amazon. I realize not all are this way but now you have to make sure to check who you're ordering from not just the product itself. So now I'm wary of ordering anything that's not sold by and fulfilled by Amazon because I'm afraid they'll just play games.

Edited to add: this happened to me back in August of last year FYI, as you can see these reviews are from just this month, so it's still going on.