GregBBRD

Like I said, Econ 101....high school level.

Bilstein looks at many factors, if they are smart...and they are.

They essentially have one buyer of shocks, now. And that is a very small market, for them. I'd think they "dumped" their entire inventory and probably thought they were done making 928 shocks. I'm flabergasted that they are making "another run" of shocks, at all.

Speedtoys

Ya so...explain how they still list rare POS cars older than 1973?


If this was the case..their catalogue would be much much shorter.

Wouldnt it?

TYP928S

Sorry for being off topic. But, you guys sure have an enchanting way with words.

jon '84 us auto

SeanR

It's all due to a limited vocabulary and the limited desire to look up larger words and understand the meanings of them.

And don't worry about being "On Topic", it's a wonder some days, that a thread gets to page two w/o being tossed around a bit.

Speedtoys

Divvint gan on aboot the way a taak or ah’ll ****in knack ye!


(Hollered at me many a time, with a smile, by an almost set of grandparents.)

GregBBRD

Old inventory they'd rather keep in their catalogue than dump? Obviously, they have the space to keep it. Porsche does not have the space..so as mentioned, they 'dump" their old inventory. Porsche, of course, has the inventory volume that they probably make more on the tax write off than they would make if they sold it for retail...plus they no longer have to dedicate valuable shelf space to keep it.

Landseer

On the books it makes a company look less attractive to hold inventory, no matter which financial ratios are run.

Its almost always better to write it off at book value, delete the sku, and only focus on stuff that turns.

Its cheaper in most respects and better for the overall value of the business to empty the space and maybe sell it off, than keep it full. Logic is storage space was built in early less sophisticated eras. Such logic earns merit badges for the financiers.

Bill Ball

Thank God Roger's not in the oil and gas business!

Bilal928S4

But if he was, all 928 owners would be able to get it cheap.

ROG100

Greg,
Just to respond to your point about my overheads. I do work from home - yes - my choice. For my business I have a large office and a warehouse plus a two story workshop. In total about 2000 square feet – plenty of room for my business. My property is on 1.3 acres and my house with workshop is over 5000 sq ft. The point I am making is why would I not work from home.

No different to 928 Specialists – similar set up and large home.

We are becoming so big that we often “spill” over into the family part of the house – so moving to a purpose built facility is probably going to happen sooner than later. The hall is full of service covers, wheels, oil coolers, X pipes and EIS parts - currently I am not popular with Zane.

I do not sell used parts (unlike Mark) and only drop ship about 5% of my orders. I only drop ship large parts where two lots of shipping (supplier to me and me to customer) are not economical, for example X pipes.

I receive daily deliveries directly from Porsche at no extra cost. Parts sent to me overnight from Germany arrive in 48 hours at no extra cost. This is due to the large amount of business I do with Porsche.

My main wholesaler delivers to me twice a day – order by 11.00am and delivered by 1.00pm. Second delivery if needed.

Porsche and my wholesalers keep the inventory I do not – good business – JIT at its best.

My inventory is low and I only stock about $20k of the more common parts. This allows me to ship, in most instances, the same day.

We have three full time employees as well as two part time employees.

928sRus is a fully Incorporated Company and I have to pay all the company taxes and employment taxes associated with a business. I have to have a license to run a business from home.

None of my business – however I would guess that overheads for a used parts business are way higher than running a new parts business. Cost of storage, licenses to part cars, EPA considerations and on and on.

Best,
Roger

GregBBRD

Roger:

You are missing my point, entirely.

It is none of my business how you run yours. You can run it from the dog park in the center of town and give your stuff away...doesn't matter to me..nor should it.

The Bilstein shock supply problem is a pure study in simple ecconomics....that's all I'm saying, here. Your selling of the shocks at significantly "reduced prices" is having a "ripple" affect on the market. The market has been significantly altered and it will be interesting to see what the long term results are.

My prediction is that a relatively small group of people got a pretty good price on a set of shocks...but the "ripple" will reduce the amount of options people have in the future and will significantly raise future prices. I do not think that this is going to be a "good" thing for the 928 community, as a whole.

Short term...you sold shocks which you would not normally sell and made a profit doing that. People got a great price on a set of shocks.

Long term...well, I've already said what I think will happen.

We will be able to look back on this and study the effects of this "ripple", in 3-4 years.

BTW...when you get shocks in, I need a couple of sets of Bilsteins.

jcb928

"Your selling of the shocks at significantly "reduced prices" is having a "ripple" affect on the market. The market has been significantly altered and it will be interesting to see what the long term results are."

Did I miss 928srus sale? tirerack, allshocks and partsgeek all sell a set of Bilstein shocks for $750-$850 (when available).

If you sell on the internet you better have great prices or great service. If you have both like Roger you will do well

Bill Ball

Roger, please raise your prices so this won't happen again. However, since I was the one who told you to raise your prices and saved the world from capitalistic doom, I deserve a discount.

Landseer

Gotta be a "Delco alternator" equivalent.

Maybe a NOS cache of Sears RoadHandlers for a Firebird combined with some adapter kit?

Black Sea RD

I'm sure the dampening ratio and fit of of the Bilsteins can be replicated by another shock manufacturer.

The question would be if they would be willing to make small runs that would be at the needed price point to make them an affordable shock for 928 owners.