[mav1178]

Originally Posted by dizzariot

You buying parts via Nissan is not the same as someone using Streeter, buyee, or Crooober. I get the point you're making, but you investing in a container with the risk of it being delayed, pulled and expected, or having COVID happen isn't the same.

Selling stuff as a business via FPO is not authorized. I have been asked (when sourcing parts for friends) at the post office if I am a business. If your (strange) argument was that they were tanking the market, shouldn't you respect them for 'knowing how to hustle'?

Everyone was/is complaining about Crooober/UpGarage.

For the thousandth time: you are putting these dudes on the same level as you. They are not. They do not have containers with BNIB parts from the factory or a legitimate business, let alone a contact at any of these companies. Do you understand my point?

Actually that's where you and I differ on opinion.

Anyone that fronts money to buy something, to sell a month later or a year later is doing the same thing, putting money out there to procure goods and resell for a profit.

I've seen plenty of people ship from overseas post office, I've been the receiver of probably 2 dozen purchases prior to about 2006, all from APO/FPO address via Ebay. Whether it's legal or not isn't the issue, I bring it up because I am just listing what I would've spent my time complaining about if I were to make a list of things to complain about regarding scams and flippers.

As for me putting myself on whatever flipper's level... see my first point above. People can be a legitimate seller and not have a resale permit. People can part out cars for a hefty profit and not report any of that income properly. Almost every person has done that, so are we to broadly label those that don't report income in a legitimate manner as people that are untrustworthy or otherwise a scammer/flipper, according to this thread? Most states in the US require you to report *any* type of personal sales as income, but most people don't bother to report this if it's a cash transaction.

My point is this: you front the cash, you can do whatever you want. Who cares. That's my point.

Originally Posted by Thursday7

mav still seems to be hell bent on beating himself down to Sjerin's level because that's what happens when you simp for capitalism.

See above. If you want to think of me "beating" down to some level that I'm not even aware of, then that is your opinion.

Originally Posted by spooled240

Of course there's risk involved, no one said otherwise. The major difference between you and the other guys is that you offer a unique product/service in procuring factory Nissan parts instead of selling used JDM parts for prices based on hype and flame emoji's. That's really unfortunate with the price hikes on the container. Maybe you can wait until it gets cheaper or you find another service? I don't think you are locked in to any ETA last time I checked..

I can keep waiting, but I'm already about 8 months past my initial deadline.

Originally Posted by SupaDoopa

His service isn't unique. There are plenty of people who can sell you and fulfill an order on NISMO shit. Mav just happens to be the DunderMifflin of the parts world. He has customer service, honesty and transparency working in his corner. If I had a need to purchase anything that I knew he carried, he'd get my business. I don't even price shop. No need to. The benefits of everything else outweighs saving $6.29 post-tax.

Originally Posted by spooled240

Tell me where I can get brand new Euro-spec kouki s14 headlights BNIB anywhere else. To my knowledge these aren't an "add to cart" type of transaction and require someone with some connections. He may not be 1/1 million, but what he offers is pretty unique imo.

Nothing about what I do is unique other than the fact that I was willing to go do the trouble of getting pricing.. beyond that, nothing is new. Nismo parts were readily available out of Japan via RHDJapan/Nengun/Blackhawk/etc, and their FedEx or EMS pricing were things I could not compete with. Additionally, my cost on most Nismo parts is actually higher than the street/retail price shown on most of the sites I've mentioned.

As for genuine Nissan parts there are also sources for existing shops to buy from if they've been in business long enough, but it also means you own the entire supply chain logistics process from start to finish like me. But it also means you find out just as I did, Nissan will list products as "available to order" but not fulfill it months later. This is probably why so many people say parts are discontinued, because they keep getting betrayed by Nissan.

I don't even need to explain any of what I do, but the reason why I am explaining is that people talk down on the flippers like they are evil because they come and go like locusts and provide nothing for the community. So what? As long as they're not selling fake products or scamming you out of money, more power to them.

Last year I bought about $500+ worth of various S13/14 Nissan brochures from a guy in Australia. This was 100% a flip for probably 2-3x his cost on the product from Japan originally, but I was fine with paying the pricing. The batch included about 3 or 4 brochures that I wanted, rest were just throwaway.

Why do I bring this up? Because the guy selling it saved me the trouble of sourcing the stuff on my own, and with EMS being suspended out of Japan it also meant it would've been harder to ship out of Japan had I been looking for it.

Every overpriced item out there will have someone willing to buy it, it's no different than the S2000 or R35 GT-R marked up $10-30k when it first came out... the markup will stay there as long as people keep willing to pay for it.

Does that make the dealer shady? I guess most people will think they are.