outrageous shipping outrage
 

AMES order not submitted... yet

3 $175.00 $82.00 $0.00 $0.00 $257.00


Change order...
Note: Items dropped shipped in your shopping cart are shaded in ORANGE. These items may be delayed, please call 1-800-421-2637 for more information.
Your order may be eligible for a discount. Please click here to learn more about this limited offer.

Part# Description Extra Shipping Core Charge Unit Price Quantity Extended Price
N129RK 1970-1972 HARD TOP RETURN LINE WITH EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM 1/4" STEEL (A-BODY) (RE) $34.00 $0.00 $65.00 1 $65.00
R157NK 1968-1972 TURBO 400 TRANSMISSION COOLING LINES, (M-40) OEM, STEEL (RE) A BODY $20.00 $0.00 $45.00 1 $45.00
R180Y 1971-72 FRONT BRAKE LINES - POWER DISC, 4-PIECE STEEL (RE) $6.00 $0.00 $65.00 1 $65.00

$82 shipping $257 order

last week order from Inline Tube

Order summary

1971-72 GM Pontiac GTO A-Body Fuel Line Clip Set 1/4" Return - 5/16" EMS 20pc $32.00

1971-72 GM Pontiac GTO/GP A-Body Brake Line Clip Set 17pc $26.75

1971-72 Pontiac GTO/LeMans/Tempest 3/8", 5/16" Fuel Tank Vapor Lines 3pc, OE Steel $26.00

1968-72 Pontiac Buick Oldsmobile A-Body Grand Prix T-400 Manual Transmission Complete Parking Brake Cable Kit OE $119.00

1971-72 Pontiac GTO/Tempest/LeMans Hardtop (PS Routing) 5/16" Fuel Vapor Lines 2pc, OE Steel $65.00

1970 Pontiac GTO/Tempest/LeMans Hardtop (DS Routing) 3/8" Main Fuel Line 1pc, OEM $69.00

Subtotal $337.75
Shipping $30.00
Total $367.75 USD

Order arrived in a box about 6'x12"x18"
Shipping to NY metro area. Where is this order being shipped from? Not MI I guess.

I don't have a problem paying $30 shipping but... $82 forget it.

Agree. AMES needs to get shipping prices under control. My wife bought a steering wheel for our 67 GTO from Ames for Christmas and they charged $32 for shipping. Ridiculous. ...

crazy shipping price
 

I totally agree, HELLO COMPANIES ,THE FUEL PRICES ARE LOW, ADJUST YOUR SHIPPING COSTS ITS WAAAAAAAAAYYY OVERDUE. CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Actual shipping rates are dependent upon the shipper (UPS/FedEx/USPS) and the markup (labor) by the vendor. As such, the vendor has no control of shipping rates. What the vendor can control is their labor costs AND packaging. It makes no sense to ship the various small parts in a box with 10 feet of bubble wrap when a padded envelope will do. Thats what irritates me the most.
You as the consumer can shop around. The majority of the parts we use are sold by multiple vendors. Compare their prices and shipping charges or surcharges. I'm ready to pull the trigger on brake and fuel lines and have found oversize surcharges ranging from $0 to $65. Guess where I'm shopping

The parts suppliers are not just passing shipping costs on.. there is a major mark up of actual shipping charges. its a profit center for them, thus their hesitation to reduce shipping costs when their actual shipping charges go down.

The customer has already decided to make the purchase and then they see the shipping charges.. there's a strong tendency to just proceed, even if the shipping is higher than it should be. The vendors know this and skim as much as they can.

OK
$50 for a phone call
The only reason I was going to order this from Ames is because when I searched inline tubes part numbers some items could not be found.
Will call IT tomorrow and have them add them to last nights order

Redgoated, I understand your frustration. Shipping costs are a tough subject. We strive to provide you with the most competitive prices, along with the best customer service in the industry. When it comes to shipping, and in this case oversize shipping, there is not much we can do about the higher costs that are entailed. All of these lines would also be drop shipped directly from the manufacturer, so they are not coming from our location in NH. In this case, the shipping for all three of these items (N129RK, R157NK, R180Y) would be combined. The total shipping cost would be $56.00, making the order total $231.00. In the future when there are oversize charges, please contact us so we can see about combining shipping. If you did contact us, and the shipping charges did not change, I greatly apologize. Please PM or email me with any other questions or concerns. Thank you! -Kyler

How 'bout this.. make your markup on your parts. We all know you have to box and ship stuff. If you want to triple the shipping charges, just be up front and tell us we're also paying for the box, the tape, the filler and the X minutes of time it took an employee to pull and pack the order plus whatever the Carrier charges you.

First off Ames is not shipping this. These were to be drop shipped which I didn't know until check out. other vendors sites say drop ship on the parts page.
Most likely you're getting a kick back for making the sale. And why would these lines be in a bigger box the the 2 lines I bought from Inline Tube last week.
Called IT yesterday morning and had them add the item to my order since their part #s didn't show results in their search.I was told by the salesman the since these are being shipped in the same box the shipping charges will stay the same. The only extra charges were for the additional items.
Last weeks order came in a 6' long box and did not cost $56 to ship.

Maybe on drop ship items, have a line that says "admin fee" instead.

UBET...... The parts below would have been over $65 more from Ames, mostly due to shipping....

Item Price Quantity Total
C-14630-104BP
Panel Set Cowl Trim / Kick Inner Black $159.95 1 $159.95
C-3451-417A
Bezel / Trim Plate Accelerator Pedal Polished Stainless $13.95 1 $13.95
C-4630-214A
Trim Set Brake And Clutch Pedal Pad Correct $17.95 1 $17.95
C-10275-102A
Courtesy Lamp Glove Box/Console Compartment Switch/Light Kit One-Piece $18.95 1 $18.95
C-9262-208A
Deflector Dash Air Ventilation Outer Rh Or Lh $26.95 1 $26.95
Subtotal $237.75
Shipping $23.78
Sales Tax (0.00%) $0.00
Total $261.53

Have you received an estimate from us? I would be glad to help if you can PM me with your vehicle info and requested items.

That’s an old order.

I attempted to order those parts from Ames first, but the shipping charges were we close to triple what I paid there. The shipping for the kick panels alone were more than the shipping for that entire order.

Thank you

Here's how we do it
We ship a TON OF STUFF with FedEX every day. And we get a great discount from them. We don't pass that discount on to our customers, we charge the regular price. Therefore we are making money on the shipping.
Now, things are different in the consumer/hobby world vs the business-to-business world. Consumers won't accept outrageous shipping charges.

Collecting stamps, coins, or comic books would be a much cheaper hobby with much lower shipping costs guys.

Is that what you do? Enjoy.

I realize that many of the special resto parts are not available at most online parts sources.

BUT, for LOTS of parts I've found that Amazon has the cheapest shipped prices that can be found. And from my experiences with them, their shipping & customer service is 2nd to none.

I've had only 2 problems. The problem was solved quickly. In one situation, Amazon gave me a quick full refund, after the Amazon seller refused to, until I shipped the part back to them. In the other case, they sent out replacement parts immediately, AND let me keep the parts that I'd originally ordered, when they arrived a week later, in a torn & beat-up looking padded envelope.

As for prices, I've recently found that with their online discount codes, Advance Auto Parts has the lowest prices I can find for lots of stuff. I used one of their 25% off codes to buy a couple of batteries. Also used their refer-a-friend deal so my wife could get $30 off her 1st purchase, of another battery. I'll get a $10 gift card for my referral. So, I saved over $60 by using their codes. We made the purchases online, and picked up the batts at a local AAP store.

Then, sometimes the best prices are from Ebay sellers. I haven't had any problems with any of these sellers.

On rare occasions, Rock Auto will have the best price, even after adding in the shipping cost.

Since I'm currently operating on a very low budget, I try to find the best prices possible.

I was recently shopping on e-bay for an item. there were litteraly more than a thousand items listed. the shipping on these items varied from $12 to $56. Crazy.

I certainly understand the short sited and inadvertently 'survival of the fittest' logic. If every car enthusiast bought every item they could from amazon, there would be no more hobby. The catalog business's would fold up and you'd have Amazon to your hearts content until they ran out of parts and then you'd have nothing.

What you consider 'service 2nd to none' is really 'delivery 2nd to none'. Yes they are fast and they are cheap.

Ask them a technical question about fitment.
Ask them if you can inspect the part and then return it at a show.
Ask them if the part is acceptable for a concours judged show.
Ask them if the part is as good as NOS.
ask them if you can bring a part to the show to make sure the quality is as expected.
Ask for the hardware kit that allows you to install the part they offer.
I could go on for a while.

The prices aren't all that much different when you take into consideration an entire restoration and the value a quality restoration supply expert brings. It's all about whether you want to be selfish or whether you want to foster the hobby and keep the money within the hobby.

Keep the money in the hobby and it extends the hobby that much longer. Go for the best price or the best shipping costs and...…...

From Ames-Tech

"All of these lines would also be drop shipped directly from the manufacturer, so they are not coming from our location in NH. In this case, the shipping for all three of these items (N129RK, R157NK, R180Y) would be combined. The total shipping cost would be $56.00, making the order total $231.00."

I knew they were drop shipped.as the boxes were orange.
I know you're in NH, 3 1/2 hours from me. That why I try to order from you. And I've bought more from Ames than any other vender.It was just this order I have a problem with.
Inline Tube is in MI where I figured these come from. That's why I posted their shipping cost on similar items.

Anyway, I called IT monday morning and added those to my online order from saturday which was for a bunch of clips.

Subtotal $64.50
Shipping $15.00
Total $79.50

The 3 Pipe sets totaled $180.00
Original order + $79.50
New total =$269.50

OK, pipes cost 5.00 more but saved a sht load on shipping