‘All Amazon wants to do is screw people over and make as much money as they can.’
This was the first thing out of a buddy of mine’s mouth when I mentioned what was taking place with Amazon blatantly violating manufacturer policies regarding MAP pricing.
Free shipping, the lowest price, yeah sure…but no warranty~!! And still for sale on Amazon…read below…
This morning a potential customer called to check price on a BAK Truck Cover. She said she could get it on Amazon.com for $709 with free shipping. As usual, I referred to my customer price bible and discovered that Amazon was violating the manufacturer’s MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) Policy. The MAP was $849, which means that the seller cannot advertise a price online for less than $849 for this particular part #.. Amazon’s seller site reflected $709, a blatant violation.
Long story longer, as a premier dealer of BAK products and a manufacturer of many custom cargo products for pickups, we called BAK and spoke with their National Sales Manager. He indicated to us it was an ongoing problem and that Amazon was very difficult to deal with regarding advertising at the proper price. He said it would take time to get fixed and that they were working on it. Apparently, there have been quite a few calls to him regarding this issue from other dealers.
Here’s the thing that makes us little guys furious. We took time out of our busy day to contact the manufacturer regarding Amazon’s unprofessional ways, and the manufacturer had to take time out of his day to explain it to us, and on whose dime? Also, the original customer had contacted BAK because a friend of hers had suggested that she contact Amazon and/or BAK for warranty information, and she did. She discovered, as did we, that the manufacturer is not honoring warranties on products sold by Amazon that violate their MAP policy, at least that’s what they said. Most likely Amazon is buying not direct from BAK, but from one out of many distributors. So now, Amazon and the manufacturer are putting the distributor at risk given the distributor will not honor the warranty per the manufacturer. However, how many returns do you think there will be? Probably not many, BAK makes a great product. The whole thing seems like a big scam to us that needs to be exposed.
So, we have distributors who are shipping product for Amazon, new product to boot, that has no warranty? Well that’s just great, thanks Amazon~! Thanks for helping the auto aftermarket be as good as it can be~! Yeah, thanks for nothing, buttheads.
Once the auto aftermarket opened up their doors to companies like Amazon.com, it really put a damper on the quality of service offered by hard working dealers, and now just act as technical service reps who little margin off the product they so loyally represent, because the customer can just go to Amazon, get a bottom line price and free shipping. Do you really think they won’t have a warranty attached to a new product? I doubt it and I bet Amazon keeps taking advantage. What a sad state of affairs we have here. Sounds like the federal government to me. Maybe it’s time to change careers? Maybe hunting would be a better option? I mean let’s face it, we are currently witnessing the separation of the species.
Sorry Amazon, you guys crossed the line with us, but we’re pretty sure you don’t really give a flying hoot. You are not representing product properly that we represent properly and you are deceiving the public, which should be a crime punishable by permanently removing you from the auto aftermarket. Sure our price may be a few bucks higher, but at least we provide stellar customer service, U.S. based to boot from guys who know cars and trucks inside and out.
Well, all we have to say is this. We’ve wasted enough time on this crap. We will now go about our day.
When it comes to Amazon.com and auto aftermarket products, their score is an abysmal zero.
CargoCatch Current
