Too good to be true?

Why are you surprised by the markup from Toyota? If people will pay it, they'll mark it up. People trust the Toyota parts, plus you may get a better warranty from Toyota, so that's built into the cost.

As far at the ebay OEM kit, it looks good. Toyota oil seals I've bought are marked NOK. OEM water pump is Aisin. OEM tensioner is Koyo.

 

??
That's the very kit I bought recently. It has a tstat in there. Everything is OEM.

 

You can see the tstat in the top left

 

I'm not surprised by a markup. I'm surprised by what seemed to be an enormous markup. It's not as much as I originally thought but it's still a good bit. I don't mind paying more for local but I don't want to be gouged either....I saw such a cheap price I thought Either something is up or I payed well over 50% markup. Which is what I'd expect locally.

Another point I'd like to make is that just because it looks like Toyota, and just because it's marketed as OEM parts does NOT mean it's real. There are countless of items on eBay that are fake. There are entire government task forces that look for counterfeit goods. It's big business, and people are really good at making clones. I don't entirely trust some guy on the internet unless it's an established business. I wanted to hear other people's experience. That's all.

 

My experience with Evilbay for timing kits is good. Just read carefully. Once I got one that didn't have a w/p....it was in the pic. but not description.
MikriMoto if I remember right. Was still a bargain.

 

My experience in buying that kit had everything pictured and labeled as such in the pic. Genuine Toyota parts w/ their part #. Like stated, a majority of parts aren't really made by Toyota. They're provided by their approved manufacture for their respective parts, like denso and Aisin.

Just look for feedback, ratings, and comments; you don't have to be scared of eBay because it's eBay. Obviously ordering through dealerships isn't supposed to benefit you, without making a profit for themselves first.

I don't think someone would go out of their way to print fake OEM labels for every single make, model, and part #.

 

http://www.caradvice.com.au/448539/...estined-for-australia-seized-in-chinese-raid/

They're definitely out there. Ever heard of counterfeit handbags with counterfeit labels? It's a multimillion dollar business if not in the billions.

EDIT : I made a typo it's half a trillion

http://www.oecd.org/industry/global...rth-nearly-half-a-trillion-dollars-a-year.htm

 

I'd also like to add that I never thought anyone would sell me anything without making a profit. That's business, I get that. But in order to stay in business you have to be competitive on identical items right? The eBay guy is still making a profit enough to cover shipping all over the country and to keep some. It's probably small because he works off of volume but he still has to profit.

 

You just have to pick the right seller. People have been buying these for years and last as long as any OEM part, not like it's fake.

That's the difference in a dealer selling their parts because of cost. With that logic who's to say the dealer isn't selling counterfeits?

So there's a small mark up to what these actually cost vs straight from the manufacturer. Guy did people a favor and bundled it so that you're not looking for each and every part. If that's the case what's the point of this thread? Price out each and every OEM TOYOTA part # and look them up then...

 

I'm not quite sure what you are saying. The manufacturer should be selling close to or at the same cost for the eBay seller and the dealership.

If I'm selling you a car at half the price everyone else is selling it for wouldn't you ask questions?

 

So you're saying you priced out each and every component of this kit in terms of its manufacturers cost? A Toyota part # is going to be substantially more than say it's denso counterpart, but guess what they're still the exact same part.

 

I know that. The kit is advertised as the same manufacturers that the dealership sells.

Let's use Amazon as an example for cost. Assuming this guy is stocking the same manufacturer and quantity as Amazon they would have very similar or more than likely the same cost. But I would think that Amazon has a much bigger footprint than this one eBay vendor.

I built an order on Amazon for all the same part numbers in the $280 kit and it came out to $421.86. Most were fulfilled by Amazon so the prices are definitely competitive. Amazons gross profit margin was 35% last year. So we have to assume it's at least close for the total order. You then you have to add in shipping so that will take a percentage of profit. The eBay guy has to do the same.

So this guy is undercutting a retail juggernaut by $141 and is able to retain a profit even after shipping? And he does this through "buying in bulk"? And Amazon can't do that?

 

I bought the same kit last week

 

The image of the parts doesn't show a manufacturing date. You're gonna have to aggravate this fool to confirm oem parts or not.

 

Amazon is made up of vendors also. You might ask AirCabin why he doesn't sell there.
To be sure that Aisen pump you referenced was ridiculous.