Minimize Your Shipping Costs at RockAuto.com!

[RockAuto]

RockAuto.com offers reliably low prices on auto parts for both your daily driver and classic, 24 hours a day! Unlike companies who mark up prices to cover "free" shipping, RockAuto offers reliably low prices, and adds only the actual cost of delivering your order to you.

We sell over a million different parts, and a single warehouse cannot hold them all. If you choose parts which are not stocked in the same place, carriers will charge for two shipments. Two ways to minimize shipping charges are:

1. Watch for Truck Icons next to parts in the online catalog -- they indicate parts which can ship from the same warehouse as parts already in your shopping cart.
2. Use our "Choose for Me to Minimize Cost" tool -- which lets you say "any one of these parts would be OK" and then automatically chooses the lowest total cost (part + shipping).

Learn more about these and other unique features of our catalog on our Help with Placing an Order page!

[harofreak00]

Rockauto is always a great deal until you start adding the shipping costs. For whatever reason, anytime you buy multiple items, they always end up being from a different warehouse. Rockauto would get soo much more business from me if they had reasonable shipping costs.

[RockAuto]

Rockauto is always a great deal until you start adding the shipping costs. For whatever reason, anytime you buy multiple items, they always end up being from a different warehouse. Rockauto would get soo much more business from me if they had reasonable shipping costs.

Please read the post above to understand shipping costs. Thank you.

[harofreak00]

Oh I understand them perfectly, just not a very good system in my opinion. I usually end up with all the items in my cart, then price check against Amazon after the shipping charges, and then end up going with Amazon because of numerous reasons.

[00Beast]

Very rarely do I ever go, "oh, any one of these parts would be fine" from RockAuto, because, in the case of sensors, one might be $20 and one might be $120! That's too great of a difference to gamble over saving a few dollars on shipping.

[RockAuto]

Very rarely do I ever go, "oh, any one of these parts would be fine" from RockAuto, because, in the case of sensors, one might be $20 and one might be $120! That's too great of a difference to gamble over saving a few dollars on shipping.

This tool lets you say "any one of these parts would be OK" and then automatically chooses the lowest total cost (part + shipping). Therefore, the tool would not select the $120 part over the $20 part. Thank you.

[crash93ssei]

Agreed on the shipping, I still view it as sort of a scam. How can I order KYB shocks, struts, and mounts then it has to be shipped from two different warehouses? Or even three different warehouses if I order something else like wiper blades. I feel like it is either very poor warehouse management which makes me not want to buy there or it is done that way on purpose to be sneaky with shipping costs to get more money, which also makes me not want to shop there. Over the past year or two I have had several carts loaded with ~$800 in parts, mostly suspension parts for various vehicles I have owned and every time the parts need to be shipped from multiple sites even when the parts are all for the same vehicle for the same basic thing (suspension) I then cross check pricing on Amazon, PartsGeek, Ebay, etc... guess how many of those big purchases actually went to rockauto? None. The others were either same cost and free shipping or the total cost was significantly lower from multiple places vs all in one from rock auto and paying shipping from several of their warehouses. Long story short I have for the most part given up on shopping at rockauto because of the multiple shipping warehouses. I know this isn't your fault, but maybe it could go up the chain somehow and have someone there realize they are pissing a lot of people off and losing out on tons of business that no little tool like mentioned here will help.

[RockAuto]

We are sorry you do not appreciate our shipping tools. Per the post, we charge exactly what it costs us to ship the package to you, therefore your mention of making money on shipping is inaccurate. Our shipping tools are very helpful in minimizing shipping costs when used correctly, Thank you!

Agreed on the shipping, I still view it as sort of a scam. How can I order KYB shocks, struts, and mounts then it has to be shipped from two different warehouses? Or even three different warehouses if I order something else like wiper blades. I feel like it is either very poor warehouse management which makes me not want to buy there or it is done that way on purpose to be sneaky with shipping costs to get more money, which also makes me not want to shop there. Over the past year or two I have had several carts loaded with ~$800 in parts, mostly suspension parts for various vehicles I have owned and every time the parts need to be shipped from multiple sites even when the parts are all for the same vehicle for the same basic thing (suspension) I then cross check pricing on Amazon, PartsGeek, Ebay, etc... guess how many of those big purchases actually went to rockauto? None. The others were either same cost and free shipping or the total cost was significantly lower from multiple places vs all in one from rock auto and paying shipping from several of their warehouses. Long story short I have for the most part given up on shopping at rockauto because of the multiple shipping warehouses. I know this isn't your fault, but maybe it could go up the chain somehow and have someone there realize they are pissing a lot of people off and losing out on tons of business that no little tool like mentioned here will help.

[crash93ssei]

So than really it just comes down to terrible warehouse management. I see no reason at all for the types of parts I order to come from multiple warehouses. Maybe if I wanted to order a front strut for a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville and a back seat for a 1983 Corvette I could see them shipping from separate locations, but struts, shocks, and tie rods all for one car shipping from two or three locations???

[RockAuto]

We sell over a million different parts, and a single warehouse cannot hold them all. Thank you.

So than really it just comes down to terrible warehouse management. I see no reason at all for the types of parts I order to come from multiple warehouses. Maybe if I wanted to order a front strut for a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville and a back seat for a 1983 Corvette I could see them shipping from separate locations, but struts, shocks, and tie rods all for one car shipping from two or three locations???

[J Wikoff]

I've never had an issue seeing the shipping as reasonable. Do I wish you had free shipping Amazon style? Sure, but that's not how every business can work.

[bs009]

I buy tons of parts from Rockauto all the time since they have a much wider selection of parts than anything local and the prices are cheaper. I just wish I could combine shipping when I order parts for a single job. Maybe things could be stocked in the same warehouse based on category. (suspension parts in one warehouse, engine parts in another, etc.)

There have been many times where I've gone to Amazon as well because things that you would normally buy together to do a job are stocked in separate warehouses and the cost of shipping from those different warehouses would be greater than or equal to the price of buying from amazon who has far faster shipping btw.

Good example of that right here: to change the lower intake gaskets on the Regal you would order the lower and upper intake manifold gaskets. On rockauto these ship from different warehouses if you want to use Felpro gaskets and the metal lower gasket. In a case like this I would probably go with Amazon since I would have what I need much sooner and get both parts together.


I still go back to Rockauto if I have time before I need to work on something and often times I'll get lucky and will be able to combine shipping. The prices there are hard to beat if you have a lot of things you need.

I never realized that that's what the truck icon meant though and will be paying more attention to it in the future!

[MattStrike]

I agree completely with shipping warehouses being sucky. Example: STS transfer case. I need to replace the input shaft. Normally, to do that job, you also have to replace all the seals. But, of course, they aren't in the same warehouse?!



Don't get me wrong, I do a lot of business with RA, but they have the worst warehouse management of any other vendor out there.

[RJolly87]

Congratulations everyone, you have just royally roasted the one vendor we have on this board.

I'm appalled.

I remember that this issue seemed to crop up with a steep increase in part varieties, as if they started pushing more parts out of more places. I use the crap out of the feature they are pushing, and to a degree, it works, especially if you aren't too particular on the brand of a specific part. I also weigh RockAuto as an option against others as well. They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Time is also working against us. The newest car made on our supported platform rolled off of the production line 12 years ago. As attrition claims more cars, parts demand goes down, and there is no reason to keep stuff sitting on the shelf of a hot distribution center. I am beginning to feel this sting too because I am stuck in the Series 1 era, an engine made for 5 years, the newest of which is 22 years old, and parts availability is beginning to waiver.

Could RockAuto manage their distribution network better to get more parts shipping out of less places? Possibly, but that would require an assessment above my pay grade.

Thank you RockAuto, for doing what you can to keep the parts around for these old birds as long as possible.

P.S. My friends and I sure do love them magnets!

[harofreak00]

Rockauto is not the sole parts supplier keeping these parts on the shelf. There is plenty of competition, as already mentioned in this thread.

[Wes]

I don't see any of these comments as roasting. I see it as valuable customer feedback. You have to admit that the randomness of what is stocked and where usually make little to no sense. Like steering components for the same vehicle of the same brand being stocked in different places. Moog tie rod in warehouse A, but the sleeve in warehouse B. Just, why? I like RA and try to order them when I can but sometimes playing pin tail on the donkey at checkout can be frustrating. I don't like to miss-match brands and I don't like feeling gouged for shipping costs on what would otherwise be a great deal on parts. Whether RA likes it or not, this feedback can very valuable to them if they take it seriously and look for ways to improve. I would also like to mention that this feedback is rarely given. Most people just go to the competition and never say a thing.

[dougtoth]

I agree with Wes.
I am in sales and the worst thing that can happen is that the customer says nothing and goes somewhere else.
If he calls me and complains or bitches I might be able to do something.
When he doesn't call me there is nothing I can do.
I had an old boss who said we never have problems just opportunities.

[harofreak00]

Here is some more money that I was going to spend at Rockauto until each part came from a different warehouse...what a joke.

[crash93ssei]

100% exactly what I am talking about. I can go down to any local parts stores and find everything listed there in several different brands in the same day or at worst the next day without shipping from four different warehouses. This is nothing more then gouging and another reason to spend money elsewhere.

[J Wikoff]

Well, that can be said about buying things anywhere online.

To be fair, they did make a tool to help buyers avoid shipping things from different centers.