Guide to buying parts overseas.

[Venom]

Hey guys,

So i recently went through a bit of a process to get a new TPS for my H6 Lib. Subaru wanted alot of money for it, i'm a cheap arse uni student and thought there must be a better(cheaper) way. I've seen a few people asking about where to get parts so i thought i would post this to show other people what i did and maybe save other people some time and hopefully some money. I realise this isn't new, and alot of people do it for many other things like shoes, clothes etc. BTW this was when the dollar was about US.92, so savings are even better now.

Firstly: finding a part number. I used http://www.rockauto.com/
Its a really good site for finding part numbers, almost has everything. Their international shipping is really expensive though, so its not worth shipping direct from them.

Second: finding the cheapest price. Google search the part number, very few websites come up. Compare prices and see whats best. I have used:
http://subaruproparts.com/
http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/
http://www.worldimpex.com/
http://www.amazon.com/ WTF Amazon? Yes, by far the cheapest especially on generic items like oxygen sensors. Also free domestic shipping in the US, this will be important later.

Shipping: Most sites in the US do NOT ship international, and the best Amazon prices are within the US only. Took a bit to work out that conundrum. The solution is to use a mail forwarding service. I used http://www.shipito.com/ I paid $50 (lasts a year) for a virtual mailbox which includes shipping consolidation and 45 days storage. Shipping consolidation is really important for saving costs on the international shipment. It is not really efficient to do this if you don't consolidate the packages.

My example: TPS from Subaru Aust was going to cost me $350. I looked up the part number on Rockauto and they sell them for $124. I then google searched the part number and found Subarupartsforyou sell a TPS for $99 (+about $5 shipping). Next was 02 sensors. I looked up Rockauto ($115) and found the Bosch part number, google searched, and came up with Amazon for the cheapest price on sale for about $76. I ordered two at that price, the deal also included free shipping to my mail forwarding service. While i was at it i got a IACV gasket and a replacement shifter unijoint from SubaruProParts (saved $30 over Subaru Aus)

So i set up a mail forwarding account and it cost me $50, its really important to get the upgraded account with storage and consolidation. I had all the items shipped to my mail forwarding account. I then paid about 15$ for the 5 packages (TPS, 2 sensors, IACV and shifter linkages) to be completely removed from their shipping and retail boxes and consolidated into one box. All up consolidation and the international postage cost me $57 for everything i purchased.

Price of TPS in Australia = $350. Price of TPS, 2 genuine bosch oxygen sensors, IACV gasket, shifter linkages, mail forwarding account for a year and international shipping = about $430. Saving over $300 and getting parts i couldn't afford otherwise, priceless?...

Cheers,
Rhys

[dibs]

but wait theres more our dollar is worth more

dibs

[steptoe]

I might add that USPS flat rate boxes into Australia are great. My forwarding agents refuse to charge extra ( just does it for the good of their countries economy I think ) The USPS boxes are prepay and insurable (of course the sender reaps the benefit if lost) and once they hit our shores are in the hands of Express Post arm of Aussie Post and are trackable by the customs barcode numbers so get them from the forwarding agent.

Oh yeah time so far has been seven days, nine days, seven days, ten days and twelve days

[[email protected]]

i dont get how this virtual mailbox works, can you explain any other way?
is it like a milbox that acts as ur in the us and they send it there, then these people that give u this virtual mailbox send it to you or something?

[steptoe]

you got it. look up priceusa.com they explain how they fo it from a town in Victoria that starts with a B

[redrover]

Very clever. I am impressed and will give it a go.

Thanks