Date:         Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:15:13 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Ordering Parts Online
Comments: cc: Gene P <olgreywoof@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <51C21490.5040801@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> Bosch fuel pump arrived in an unsealed plastic bag, no
> Bosch box, no end caps on the pump. (Is it new?) When
> I called about it, they said they do that sometimes. 


That is not uncommon. Sometimes manufacturers sell product in bulk. Often
these are great values because they were intended for OEM customers but the
supplier ended up with extra, so they are willing to cut the price in
exchange for a quantity purchase.  We have bought a lot of Bosch that way
over the years, as well as other brands.  They typically ship to us in large
compartmentalized boxes kind of like egg cartons with a part in each cubby.
The product is the same but you save money because it is not retail
packaged. This is not unique to the automotive industry. Companies like
Newegg.com do the same thing with computer parts, selling them at a lower
price in "OEM packaging" (a/k/a a plastic bag) instead of retail packaging.
There's no downside to this, unless you are a collector of used cardboard
boxes and blister packs. In fact it actually saves you money two ways - in
the price of the part, and in the cost of shipping versus paying to ship
excess retail packaging.  Of course the one caveat is that you do need to
deal with a reputable vendor. If you buy from some random Ebay seller and
the item arrives without any packaging, you have to trust that you received
a bulk packaged part and not just a cleaned up used one.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT