Shipping Costs...RockAuto

[anlauto]

Like everybody else, RockAuto's shipping seems to be getting more and more expensive everyday.....But I just learned a little trick that saved me $25 BUCKS !!! 

I ordered (2) rotors and (2) drums for a 71 Demon I'm restoring....

With the four items in the same cart, the shipping was $84.21, but if I made two separate purchases, the shipping was $30.96 and $28.28 

.....and MOST important...TWO fridge magnets instead of one 

[Rich G.]

That's good to know! I hate when you order a bunch of stuff at once and there are 3 different shippers. That gets real pricey.

[Swamp Donkey]

Interesting.   Do you ever use parts avatar?  I use rockauto for my daily drivers, but my brother-in-law says it's almost always cheaper from parts avatar.

[Brads70]

https://partsavatar.ca/

[anlauto]

Interesting.   Do you ever use parts avatar?  I use rockauto for my daily drivers, but my brother-in-law says it's almost always cheaper from parts avatar.

That looks like an interesting website, thanks for the link....however the same two drums and two rotors ended up being $29.30 CDN cheaper through RockAuto

[moparroy]

Interesting - I have often "topped up" a cart from Rockauto with little things I need or will need soon - ie oil filters and wipers etc - add stuff from the same warehouse till the shipping increases.
I have kept a list of stuff I need for the 'Cuda (its getting short now) and everytime I order something I'll look for other bits from the same warehouse - but I have never divided an order intentionally to save shipping. Good to know - I wonder if its due to the 4 heavy items.
I have also used Parts Avatar - they are good too - and sometimes cheaper for the same or similar part - worth a check. I find Rockauto cheaper most of the time even with cross border shipping - and no one does cross border better than Rockauto.
On a rare occasion I have found best price on Amazon. One I hesitate to use again is Wrench Monkey - good prices but had major issues with my first order there - items they listed and did not have available - turned into a mess.

[jimynick]

"One I hesitate to use again is Wrench Monkey - good prices but had major issues with my first order there - items they listed and did not have available - turned into a mess."  The biggest hassle with them is getting someone to pick up the phone or return a messaged call. I have bought from them and went to their warehouse and picked the parts up, but arranging that was like winning the lottery, a feat never to be replicated. several times now I've given up and just ordered from Rock Auto. As mentioned, their shippong costs are making them less and less competitive here in the Great Frozen North. 

[chargerdon]

Just tried avatar...it appears it is Canadian only.   So i cant use it.

Yes, Rock Auto shipping is a bummer.   Still they are the cheapest most times...i avoid them when there are core charges.   

It is crazy how much mark up most local auto part stores have...Witness RN14yc Spark plugs for my 360 engine are $1.69 each at the Rock and $3.69 at Oreillys, advance, autozone.   even more at NAPA...That is a crazy difference... Even with the shipping the Rock is still cheaper by a lot. 

[HP2]

Going back a few years, I noticed RA was cheaper than local stores by a little, even after shipping was included, but shipping was continuing to rise. Couple years ago, RA quit shipping to Colorado. I've since migrated to carparts.com or used more specialized places that are brand specific for our Jeeps or our Suburban.  Haven't needed anything for my Ram that could not be found locally at a reasonable price. Sometimes saving $2-5 on an internet order isn't worth being able to have it in hand right now, or being able to examine and compare the part first hand. Especially in heavy shipping items like half shafts, axles or other large or heavy parts. For our daily drivers from large suppliers, it also seems that my internet orders have a 10-25% chance of having incorrect or alternate parts being delivered. In this case, I despise dealing with returns, and will go pay more for a local source.

RA has since restored its service to my area. I haven't purchased from them yet. The entire comparison process of who is cheaper, what is shipping, how soon can I get it, how do my local suppliers bait and switch exact product I want against their stock items or  alternate brands is, quite frankly, exhausting. I find it hard to get motivated to work on anything lately.

Never new you could search and chose a specific warehouse delivery on RA in order to consolidate orders. If I ever buy from them again, I might look more closely at doing that.

[anlauto]

I just tried this again tonight....bought a bunch of brake parts including two heavy 11" rear drums....When I removed the two drums and put them in a separate order I saved $15.19 on shipping.....doesn't sound like much....but in this hobby, every nickel counts.....and YES I past that savings on to my customers...

[moparroy]

Seems all kinds of strange things can happen with shipping - I actually had shipped cost reduced the other day when I added an item to a single warehouse cart at RockAuto - all from the same warehouse. I noticed the change was from FedEx Ground to FedEx Standard. The only thing I can figure is I had some heavy stuff on the order - a starter and an alternator and added a lift support which was longer dimensionally than anything else in the order - maybe the larger box dimensions allowed for more weight?. Maybe I should have tried separating the heavy items... Pretty much done with Rockauto orders for the Cuda - everything else will be coming from specialty vendors.

[moreparts]

I had to give up on Rockauto.  The high prices of shipping and what was worse was I bought some parts that were not the same as the picture showed.  I could not call them for help.  The only option was for me to return them on my dime.  I had to have paypal step in.  I've since moved to carid.com.  Pricing is comparable.  Shipping is fair, but best of all you can call and talk to people.  The best part was I had a question regarding the parts and the tech support guy conference called me in with the manufactured.

[njsteve]

I have also run into a different problem with large orders through rockauto.

I usually try to get everything from one warehouse to save shipping but as I add more stuff in, it sometimes swtches to multiple warehouses (with higher shipping costs of course) even after it had previously indicated that one location had everything.

When that happens, I remove the an earlier item, and see if it resets to the one warehouse again. Once it does, I will then add that item back again at the end and it usually takes it and stays with the one warehouse for the whole shipment.

I don't know if it's a glitch in the system or what, but this usually works for me.

This happened recently when i was ordering wiper blades for five different cars. It kept spiltting the order til I tried my method of removing and re-adding it to the cart. When you're paying $3 for a wiper blade you dont need to pay for multiple shipments.