guess it's a good thing i didn't take the job there.
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guess it's a good thing i didn't take the job there.
thanks for all the comments guys, but most of us have a backup already. Just tryin to see what else is out there.
damn... yeah, i know how that goes tho... shit sucks!Quote:
Originally Posted by krucial7integra
Nopi would be better if they actually carried more parts like Barrnett's. I can't recall how many times I've called to get something and the only people that would carry it was Barrnetts. But look at nopi now, they did everything too late, and now Summit has jumped into town.
Good thing is the the "Racing" people on here who break shit, we have more than one place to go now.
dang tht sucks two week notice sooner or later nopi will be out dang they better have a special on norcorss one when it goes ima buy a shit load of tings
Quote:
Originally Posted by tracy
WOW!!!!!!!! hmmmmmmmmm
Hey VTECKIDD. I would not say that the parts business is DEAD, but it IS whored out. I mean I have a W/D setup w/ most companies when there are SHOPS that only have a resellers account w/ them? WTF!!?? It's crazy. I think that manufacturers are in SUCH a hurry to market, that as a business you are competing w/ the guy next door LITERALLY. Not the BUSINESS or SHOP down the street, but some freckle-faced kid w/ a business license. All of my connections I made YEARS ago, and even though I am not purchasing in volume like I was when I was running Serious Customs outta my spare bedroom, they still honor my W/D status. The parts market is DEFINITELY whored out.
That's really fucked up guys, Keystone Automotives Operations in Athens,Ga just closed it doors. At least they gave their workers six months notice which ended up being 8 mths. they offered a severence package or retention bonus for all that transfered to the new Austell location which opened up about four weeks ago. They also gave 30 days med. coverage .
that sucks
yeah you get me a job, or I'll take your wheels and sell them for moneyQuote:
Originally Posted by integ97
Ok it seems that there is a lot of confusion about Summit killing NOPI. Let me clear the air right now and let you all know the truth. Summitt did not kill NOPI, Micheal Myers is killing NOPI. Micheal is in charge of all the satellite stores in GA but he does not want them. THE only reason that they have stayed open this long is because of Bill Myers. Micheal is focused ONLY on the NOPI shows and that is all he wants to focus on. The stores that were/are left Bill Myers owns, I am sure you can figure out the rest on that part. So Micheal wants to shut down all sattelits stores and have one show room (Forest Park) and do everything else online. This puts him in a position to only have to deal with the NOPI shows and Drag Racing but he still reaps the benefits of selling products online.
Now Micheal has been wanting to shut down ALL of the stores for the past 4 years and it seems like he is finally getting his way. Has NOPI been behind the times on parts, yes. It has always been that way but there is nothing that can be done. NOW, you talk about Summitt killing NOPI when infact Summitt's main customer base is completely different than NOPI's so that is a false statement. Unless you are talking about ricers then they do sell altezza's.
i only go to forest park location... it used to be that when i went to every other location they never had anything (in stock)
Quote:
Originally Posted by A.P. Photography
WOW you must be the CFO of NOPI because you posted on here like you knew the inside scoop, Well I hate to burst your bubble but everything you just posted is invalid, Just FYI Michael Myers is Nopi Motorsports and William Myers in NOPI. Two seperate companies.
I hate to break it to you but Micheal Myers is the overall manager of all satelite stores. Yes I know because I worked for NOPI for two yeas, one in Forest Park with Micheal and one in Smyrna. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by KMDX
Yes they are two seperate companies but Micheal is still listed as one of the partners on NOPI, same as Mark. When Bill steps down both Mark and Micheal will take over NOPI.
HAHA i used to work at nopi as well. there are 2 seperate companies, but, Since bill had his heart attack, Michael has been running the show for hte most part.
An the PARTS BUSINESS IS DEAD. if you thik otherwise, go into the parts business and see how competitive it is. UNLESS you have 1million in disposable cash to negotiate the BEST deals with the BEST companies, youll never make any money. PERIOD.
Baby J, i suggest you ask around more. Im friends with Kteller, Boostfed, Skunk2, IPS, and a host of others. My gf works for summit racing. i used to be a manager at NOPI. i know the parts business. IT IS DEAD.
Summit is on a hiring freeze right now because they ARENT MAKING ANY MONEY. NOPI is shutting stores down. i hear everyday about how shitty the business is. thats why i dont care about it, i make money on LABOR. Parts is bullshit.
There is going to be MAJOR restructuring in the next few years or we will see MAJOR markups in pricing. There are major flaws with manufacturing an sales that needs to be addressed.
For instance, my friend Boostfed calls up IPS. a MAJOR camshafts company for the K series Honda Engines. IPS is also an NDRA/NHRA race company that has been DOMINATING this season with Matt Keller an Loan Nguyen. Boostfed talks to the owner an says "hey i want to become a dealer" . IPS says "no problem, your a dealer. we are a small company still, but we want to get our name out there so we are going to make everyone a dealer, with zero requirements." now, a shop calls Boostfed an asks for some IPS cams. Boostfed tells the shop a price. the shop says wow thats cheaper than what IPS sells it for, Boostfed says "thats because im a dealer, i get a pricebreak".
Now, that shop NEVER orders from Boostfed, instead they pick up the phone an call IPS directly, an open an acct with IPS cutting Boostfed out. Now what is the point of having wholesale prices if you are going to make EVERYONE A WHOLESALE LEVEL DEALER? why no just cut your retail price down? makes no sense to me. Companies hae this problem, skunk2, rocket motorsports, Omni, etc. they make EVERYONE a dealer, then it gets WHORED out at $1 over cost an they wonder why they are hurting themselves.
Its companies like Toda an Jun and Mugen that set the market price THEY WANT by only dealing with certain companies. They make 1 guy a NATIONAL dealer, an thats it. that way there is no EBAY guy or no MAP pricing conflicts becuase only 1 guy has the stuff. not 600,000 people. Which means if you dont want to pay what that 1 guy is selling it for, you AINT GOING TO FIND IT CHEAPER ANYWHERE ELSE unless its used.
thats the problem, EBAY, Taiwan, etc is killing hte parts business, they have only themselves to blame.
I agree w/ most of what you said. However, there is a BIG difference between a RESELLER'S permit (which is what most people that I know have, as well as some SHOPS). When I was neck-deep in to Serious Customs, I would not settle for anything less than W/D status. If I had to buy $5k worth of product I did. If I could not get W/D status, then I simply did not provide the product to my customers. There was a time when no1 in the nation could get a Hotshot header cheaper than me for a B15 unless you were a Hotshot employee... as well as some other companies that I linked up w/ in the late 90s. Yeah, Serious is dissolved and pretty much all but a way for me to source parts for MY rides cheap, but I am still connected and can often laugh at eBay pricing. It's getting harder, but I still have my hands in the hip-pockets of pretty much every1 that I would ever need. The parts business will NEVER die... the rules are just changing. Either you PAY THE PRICE to stock the merchandise or do not carry it.
Manufacturers are not stupid. If Dave at Skunk has 5 shops in every state as a RESELLER/DEALER of his product, then that's LESS ads that he has to run in HT, SCC, HCI and all your other favorite publications. It's a SMARTER way of doing business for the manufacturer bro. It's smarter b/c the average guy is gonna call MSP before calling Skunk for a product. That gives Skunk more time to work on their race cars and not be on the phone w/ Joe Blow, explain the difference in Pro 1, 2, and 3, hear about the guys car, take the information and ship out the product for a lousy 20%. It's cheaper to have 10 dealers per state than to do demographics for all of those locations and put a marketing plan in place for every different demographic. Why not let MSP deal w/ those questions/idiots and then still move the product? ;)
I agree w/ you Mike in part --> If ALL you are into is parts, and you are a RESELLER then you definitely better not quit your daily grind. You'd definitely better diversify your porfolio... LOL. But the WDs out there still have room to breathe if they are smart.
Mike, you are absolutely correct. It is like this in any market these days. The 12 volt industry is even worse when it comes to cut throat. My problem is the wholesale companies here in GA. Anybody can go pay whatever it costs to get a business license and go buy wholesale. Thats fina and but the only problem I see in this is they do it to hook up their personal car and don't do any retail what so ever. This cuts most of the local shops out of business. I think the biggest issue with this industry is mobile video. What comany doesn't make a tv or dvd player? :jerkit:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vteckidd
actaully, Skunk would rather sell their product because they will make MORE MONEY.
however, put it this way, i met David at Nopi. name dropped some people that i knew that i KNOW he knew. we became friends. I now get the SAME DEAL than Don Flores, who has been TESTING skunk2 products LONGER than i have been into this scene.
now im not complaining, but WHY? what makes me get the SAME deal as someone that is been with skunk for YEARS before i knew what a camshaft was?
Same with NOPI, all you need is a Tax ID to get "MSP or Mahdavis" discount. So MM does $50,000 a year in business with NOPI, and some guy comes into NOPI with a tAx ID he paid $80 for at his county tax office an opens an account an gets the SAME DEAL as MM?
whats so fuckign fair about that?
As far as someone having better pricing than anyone else, sorry, i dont buy it. I have see nthe WD an reseller an dealer 1-5 price sheets from TONS of companies. There is no one out there getting the BETTER deal than anyone else.
The thought of making 25 dealers was to get your company name out there. IT was to flood the market so someone in Iowa could get Omnipower suspension. the problem wit hthat is that 25 people have the SAME price an were required to do NOTHING to get that price. So there is a constant bidding war over who can do the LOWEST price. No one follows MAP rules. MAP is only for printed ADVERTISING. the idea was that if EVERYONE sells for the same price, then youll pick the wholeseller thats closest to you or the one that has the best reputation. but thats not true, everyone wants to save 1$. So they end up emailing all the dealers and jewing them down to the lowest price possible.
the products are getting WHORED out whether you want to beleive it or not. Hell, you cant get a good price on a TURBO anymore, ask anyone that deals Garrett or Precision. they are WHORING them out. guys are buying them an sellign them for $1 over cost on EBAY an its fucking everyone else up. But Garrett doesnt care cause they are still making the same money.
an you are %100000 right. Many of these guys become dealers to hook themselves up an their buddies an thats it. They arent into retail, so they are taking food OFF YOUR TABLE becuase thats your ACTUAL business that you RELY on.Quote:
Originally Posted by SOHC MONSTER
its really sad when you get to the meat of it all
Here is an example. (scroll down for Serious Customs, has my old adress, but still my current phone number)
http://www.perrinperformance.com/dea...ind_dealer.htm
When you have a WD level account, you get FREE marketing, and different rates than a RESELLER/DEALER level. Every1 I am setup with, I am WD level, andf I get marketing on their website. W/ Perrin, I grabbed them as 1 of the 1st US distributors. I had the Southeast on lock well before South Fl. Performance, etc. I grabbed then whem the Impreza came over when NOBODY knew who they were, and no1 gave a shit about AWD vehicles except for old school DSM guys. You can still survive in parts, you just gotta look ahead, pick MULTIPLE platforms to support and go for it.
while this sounds good on paper an in thoery, its simply not true. Skunk2 is fully capable of selling their own products an they WANT TO. they wil lMAKE MORE MONEY SELLING A CAMSHAFT AT $749 RETAIL PRICE than selling it to MSP for $549 (making numbers up).Quote:
Manufacturers are not stupid. If Dave at Skunk has 5 shops in every state as a RESELLER/DEALER of his product, then that's LESS ads that he has to run in HT, SCC, HCI and all your other favorite publications. It's a SMARTER way of doing business for the manufacturer bro. It's smarter b/c the average guy is gonna call MSP before calling Skunk for a product. That gives Skunk more time to work on their race cars and not be on the phone w/ Joe Blow, explain the difference in Pro 1, 2, and 3, hear about the guys car, take the information and ship out the product for a lousy 20%. It's cheaper to have 10 dealers per state than to do demographics for all of those locations and put a marketing plan in place for every different demographic. Why not let MSP deal w/ those questions/idiots and then still move the product?
They have a call center an a tech line setup. They do wholesale because it expands their business, your right, to another part of the country. you HAVE to do it, but they dont WANT to do it, trust me.
and the Skunk2 Race team is a seperate funded entitiy that has nothing to do with GROUP A parts sales. ;)
It is sad Mike....This industry is in a fast downward spiralQuote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vteckidd
im telling you, BIG changes are going to happen VERY SOON.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vteckidd
HAHA!! When I was @ the Keystone show in Newark NJ last year, I spoke with the reps from AEM, Skunk 2 and Weapon R. The rep from skunk 2 offered to give me wholesale pricing not evening knowing I wasn't even a dealer. Its nice to get a hookup but I talked to him for maybe a total of 5 min and he throws that kind of pricing at me? WTF! Kinda scary b/c who else is getting that and stabbing you in the back?
Maybe it was because I was a vendor? Who knows.
**smiling** I think you think that I am disagreeing w/ you bro. I am not. Look back, I was 1 of the 1st in this thread to say that the market is getting whored out. I am just saying that you can still live in parts if you diversify and if you are smart. Business is cut-throat, it always has been, it always will be. I studied Sam Waltons tactics in college and he is PROOF that it's cut-throat. But when you establish relationships w/ PEOPLE, not just the business (something that you do very well Mike, by the way :goodjob: ) then you can all still come out on top Bro. I stand by what I say when I say the parts market is not dead, it's just different rules than it used to be. Also, every1 does NOT get the same deal bro. Trust me. All in all, you dropped a LOT of knowledge in this thread.:goodjob:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vteckidd
Agreed. Only I think that the big changes are already here! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Vteckidd
i think its dead bc if u buy shit from skunk at more than the shit on ebay is selling for how are u gonna sell ur shit? you can only give it away. unless ebay shit started breaking like crazy and ppl quit buying it then u can sell the good stuff again but until that happens, its over. IMOQuote:
Originally Posted by BABY J
Quote:
Originally Posted by BABY J
I will have to disgree with you on that Babyj. I work right in the middle of all this and cut-throat isn't even the word for it. Price war is more like it. We mainly sell to distributors and they are the worst about selling out. Basically like I said before, If you have $80 or so, you can get a business license and cut out a hard working business owner. Because of this, in order to keep afloat you are subjected to lowering your prices. So sad but so true....
Goes back to PEOPLE like I said earlier. Serious is all but word of mouth these days. When I was hot in heavy with it though, and I had the online store it EXPLODED. The ONLY reason I killed it was no shit, bc it was too much to manage b/c I was still flying in the Air Force and I had NO time to do it. My customers? I still have them and I am not even "in business" anymore so to speak. They STILL call me when it is DEF not easy to reach me via phone, and they can just as easily log on to their computer and get the same product at a few more dollars over my cost. Mike sees it everyday, but he is just not thinking about it like I do. :) He has a LOT of people in his hip pocket and they would rather wait 5 days to get a PM returned than just call Skunk and speak To Dave or Jeff. PRIME EXAMPLE... Asylum!! I PERSONALLY had a booth next to theirs at SEMA... you have NEVER seen so many burned bridges b/c they lacked the people skills. They had TONS of money to buy-in w/ God if they wanted to... and they DID. But their name went to SHIT in a heartbeat b/c of PEOPLE. I go to Target b/c I like the PEOPLE there vs Wal-mart, even though I know I am gonna pay .02 more for a pack of toilet paper. When you deal w/ PEOPLE and you deal w/ them the right way then you can't lose in parts. All it takes is thinking ahead of the average Joe... and believe me, that's easy b/c the average Joe doesn't think too hard. LOL. When you see the IDDY BIDDY black and white ad in the back of your fav pubs b/c the company can't afford to go big like Pro Motion or King Motorsports, and the product looks promising --> be the 1st to call that "at home" startup and push their products. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you break even... but you NEVER lose. Who can argue with that? ;)
Can't argue with that. Price war it is. But it's always been, at least the way I looked at it. In SC I had ZERO competion. Epik in Myrtle Beach, they had the shop but they didn't know how to dial in their parts pricing. They came calling ME asking to setup on parts... I was stunned b/c I was working out of my 2BR apartment while flying in the Air Force as a daily grind. Most of their installations were MY customers b/c I hated wrenching. Before that I was in Oklahoma City... and well, that's all I gotta say about that! LOL. Maybe I was just "lucky" and I would fall on my face if I really crunk up my connections and tried to get something here at home b/c there is more competition. I dunno. Maybe everything I've learned about the parts business is NOTHING since I was mainly in SC/OK/Japan when I was really moving parts. ATL would be an humbling experience I am sure. But the reason why I won is b/c I did NOT have the overhead to pay employees. I got free markething from the sites of the products I moved, so I didn't need to make 30% on a sale. If I wasn't so far out of it I'd make a run for it and see where I stood when the smoke cleared...Quote:
Originally Posted by SOHC MONSTER
Quote:
Originally Posted by BABY J
Oh believe I know. There are some places that you can become a landmark and some where you will close your doors within months. Atlanta is a place NOT recomended to start a new business in this industry. In my opinion, the way things are being done, its dying fast and there won't much left of it when the smoke clears. Performance will always be around as will mobile electronics but it will never be like it used to be.
I think the only way to survive in this industry whether its performance cars or car electronics is to find something that no one else has EXCEPT you.
We hired Turbo Dave, we sell his manifolds, while i still give him all the credit for his work, people know that to get a Turbo Dave manifold, roll cage, or 2JZ swap you HAVE TO COME THROUGH us. This way i can keep the price where i want it. If i wanted to make other people be dealers, then i would have to either
1) raise my retail price significantly to make up for having to provide a lower price for a wholesaler
2) raise production
im not willing to do that at this time
turbo dave has one badass 240
Confirmed!! LOL!Quote:
Originally Posted by krucial7integra
I think that's a good point Mike. There are some products you gotta carry JUST b/c u know some1 is gonna ask for it, even though you know ur "just" gonna break even. I didn't make SHIT on Optima products, but the 1st guy that'd call Serious and I didn't have it would tell 20 people... I can hear it now.
"Man FUCK Serious Customs... they don't even carry Optima" LOL. Yall def have a gimmick in Turbo Dave. Not to mention yall just do good work all around. I've always given MSP props. Maybe it's a good thing I killed my parts hustle before moving back here from CO. LOL.
lol
So umm yeah... what were we saying Nopi? :thinking:
:D
Blame the intraweb and easy access to a business card.
Is better to sale shit out of your house then having an over head.
I know! I mean word of mouth travels fast when you have a decent buy-in. I literally could not keep up. I think if businesses DEDICATE to pushing some1s shit, then a buy-in should not be something they are scared to do. If the products are promising then you can make that back thru sales.
The BEST deal of EVERYTHING is consignment though. That's how Wal-Mart does. Imagine your marketing or sales being SO good, that companies pay YOU to have their shit on your shelves. When you get THAT big you have arrived. :) You do not purchase SHIT, just 100% profit whether you sell it or not. THEN on top of that, you have your own store brand (Equate) RIGHT beside the brands of the companies that paid you to put THEIR shit on the shelf --> but for $1.00!!!! LMAO!!!! Sam Walton was the KING of business. Before long we are gonna be getting Hondata/Uber/AEM EMS tuned at Wal-Mart Auto Center by some guy named Bubba. LOL.
Consignment owns all.
Sorry but you're talking about the old white dudes that use to work there, not the current crew. Once they started hiring the younger crowd things good better!Quote:
Originally Posted by KMDX