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  #76  
Old 09-22-2011, 09:49 PM
Luxury Hooptie Enthusiast
 
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Location: Screwston, TX
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Merging the stores is no bigs, but I'm skeptical of how this is going to affect the boards. Porsche fans are...different.

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RIP:
2011 E350 BlueTEC, Schwartz 81k (totaled by uninsured drunk driver)
1964 Unimog 404.1 (wrongfully towed by the city)
1994 E320, Brilliantsilber 208k (transmission shuffled off after sudden catastrophic fluid loss)
1982 300D, Silberblau under a blue repaint 256k (sold for parts)
1995 E320 Polarweiss, 131k (sold for parts)
1995 E300D Polarweiss, 287k (totaled by drunk driver)
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  #77  
Old 09-23-2011, 12:42 AM
Wayne 962's Avatar
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by okto View Post
Merging the stores is no bigs, but I'm skeptical of how this is going to affect the boards. Porsche fans are...different.
At this time, we're not planning on merging the boards at all. Just going to make a few cosmetic tweaks here and there over a long time period.

-Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #78  
Old 09-23-2011, 07:42 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: chicago
Posts: 141
Ive been on Pelican for years. Great site,products and service(off topic, not so much

If Wayne can put together a "101 projects for your 123" the hold-outs will be hooked.

P.S. Can you please buy/merge with a freak'n Land Rover site? If so, my car life will be complete.

P.P.S. Dont worry about the boards, in all the years Ive been on Pelican, I have yet to click on a BMW link. Nothing against Beemers, just zero interest. I suppect those that dont get old Benz wont click over to here

bryan
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  #79  
Old 09-28-2011, 06:06 AM
locry's Avatar
I love this place!!! :)
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Philippines, ...recently submerged, AGAIN
Posts: 1,020
hello there... hehehe, I just love hanging out in PARF.
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85 190E 2.3(SOLD)
86 230E (-->300D) sold
87 300D (-->300TD) sold
68 250S w/ a 615 and manual tranny (RIP)
87 300TD (SOLD)
95 S280 "The KRAKEN" (Turbo 2.9 602 transplant) traded
86 190E 2.3... current project
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  #80  
Old 09-30-2011, 04:33 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kona, Hi
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Welcome Wayne!
Great introduction. I am familiar with Pelican as I used to be a Porsche owner and will again in the future. I like the peachparts community as it is, but am open to see improvements where it matters most. I look forward to the rewards of a bigger family.

Question: At any point will we be able to share a single user id across both sites? (Sorry if that was mentioned already).
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84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.
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  #81  
Old 10-01-2011, 12:56 PM
Wayne 962's Avatar
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Renntag View Post
Welcome Wayne!
Great introduction. I am familiar with Pelican as I used to be a Porsche owner and will again in the future. I like the peachparts community as it is, but am open to see improvements where it matters most. I look forward to the rewards of a bigger family.

Question: At any point will we be able to share a single user id across both sites? (Sorry if that was mentioned already).
Hmm, I'm not sure about that. I would guess probably not, as there are probably people here who might have the same name on Pelican. But I'll set my mind to think about a way around that.

thx,

Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #82  
Old 10-02-2011, 09:40 AM
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Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 38
Parts sources / Quality & Price

Hi Wayne,

I've bought parts from your site for my 20+ y/o W126's, after some comparison shopping. I especially liked your parts-quality rating system to help assess different brands. In a few instances, I found you guys to be the only ones selling the OEM brand, though in a couple cases that was not always what actually got delivered in the mail, or was even listed in your catalog... but that's a different subject.

My questions/comments has to do with Pelican's ability to stay price competitive when charging CA sales tax

Most importantly: are you going to be able to keep the chinese aftermarket parts OUT of your catalog, and stay on top of updating product reviews, as once solid brand names (Lemforder, et. al.) migrate some of their parts mfg. over there. How much OEM can we stll expect to get ???
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  #83  
Old 10-02-2011, 06:41 PM
Wayne 962's Avatar
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.
 
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All good questions. We're required by law to charge California sales tax, there's no way around that, and there's nothing that we can do about it either. We price our parts quite competitively and have managed to grow and maintain a very healthy proportion of California customers over the years, despite having a tax-penalty disadvantage in the state. It also looks like next year, more and more retailers will be required to collect sales tax, so we tend to think this issue will level the playing field eventually.

As for ordering one brand and receiving another, the only time this will happen is if the brand that you ordered is owned by a parent company that also produces the same part under it's own brand. I.E. Brand X buys out Brand Y. When you now order Brand Y *or* Brand X, they are exactly the same part inside the box, but the brand listed on the box may be different. It's quite confusing and difficult to keep up with sometimes.

The German companies (Mercedes, BMW and Porsche included) are *all* manufacturing parts in Asia. Some of the parts say "Made in China" on them, some don't. For the ones that are not labeled "Made in China", the companies sometimes import them into Germany, put a sticker on them, shove them into a box (in Germany), and then say "Made In Germany", or "Assembled in Germany". It's really annoying, and other than buying New Old Stock from 30 years ago, it's sometimes very difficult to get "the real stuff anymore".

That said, these are world-class companies, and just because something is made in China doesn't mean that it's crap. It all depends upon what you want the manufacturer wants to pay for the part. If you spend the dollars up front, then you will get quality goods, regardless of where they are manufactured. The good news is that most of the companies have indeed moved some of their manufacturing to Asia have indeed kept up their quality. A good example of this is Apple - all of their products are outsourced and manufactured in China. Apple pays a premium (in China) and demands high quality out of its suppliers. Hence, the iPhone is a pretty well-made product, despite it being manufactured in China. My point is that everything made in China is not crap - it really depends on the brand.

As for lower-priced brands, we will continue to carry them, but we also rank them low on the quality ratings in our catalog. The reason why we carry these is because some of our customers have demanded that from us in the past. They are going to buy the part, either from us or one of our competitors, so we figure we might as well sell it to them. BUT, we put caveats in our "more info" sections on all of these parts when we don't think they are as high quality as an OEM replacement.

Also, there is no such thing as an "OEM" brand. OEM means that the manufacture has at one time been an original equipment manufacturer for Mercedes. For example, that manufacturer may not have made brake discs for Mercedes, but they may have been OEM suppliers for brake sensors. They are an OEM supplier, and they are listed as OEM for all the parts that they sell, since they at one time (or currently) are an OEM supplier to Mercedes for some parts. Sometimes we have the information on which suppliers were the actual OEM supplier for a particular part - we mark that in our catalog where possible. We have a neat FAQ page that I wrote on this subject to try to quell some of the confusion: Pelican Parts - Comparison of Available Shipping Options

Thx,

Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #84  
Old 10-02-2011, 06:43 PM
Wayne 962's Avatar
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrBits View Post
stay on top of updating product reviews
I skipped over this. I read every review that comes in every day. If there is a problem with a brand or a part, we contact our supplier immediately. Also, we monitor our returns and flag parts with high return rates and work with our suppliers to try to figure out if there is a pattern, or a catalog error, etc.

-Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #85  
Old 10-03-2011, 02:33 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 326
Hey Wayne- welcome! Before reading all of the posts in this thread and eventually finding:

"Our current Mercedes catalog is very lacking. Almost embarrassingly so. I do not wish to put a link to it at this moment because the new one will be so significantly better when it comes out (in a few months)...."

I had been over to PelicanParts.com to look for a replacement for the busted passenger side fog light lens for my 1996 E300 (w210). I was shocked (read horrified) that there wasn't even an option for a 1996 E300 in the pelican parts catalog. I swallowed hard and selected the E320 option- and, to make a long story short, I was unsuccessful in finding a fog light lens or any of the other parts for the 300 on the list on the fridge.

I can honestly say that it was because of mercedesshop and it's amazing wealth of information and helpful members that I even bought the 190d in 2004 instead of some japanese econobox, and it is only because of this board that I have kept it running. It is also largely because of this board that I took a plunge and bought the E300d. When I am looking for info- this usually the only place I have to go...

I know you have indicated that the current benz catalog is lousy. I don't want to give you a hard time, but with it already being extremely hard to find info and parts for my 190d and my 300d- I hope that you can appreciate the concern I raise that this forum continue to provide information regarding diesels, and that we as diesel benz owners be able to rely on you to source parts for our vehicles.

Thanks, John
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  #86  
Old 10-03-2011, 04:22 AM
Wayne 962's Avatar
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
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I hear you loud and clear! I'm working on finishing up our new MINI Cooper book this week and next, and then after that it will be full-time working on the new catalog. It's about 80% done (need to re-write the search engine code, and then do massive amounts of testing). We're using a whole new data stream (the old catalog is terrible because the underlying data was just a jumbled mess). Keep a lookout, I will be showing off a prototype in the next few months.

thx,

Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #87  
Old 10-03-2011, 05:13 PM
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Location: NoVA
Posts: 466
Cool news, if it means a better online catalog interface for W114 parts, then I'm all for it.

I've bought stuff for my 914 in the past from Pelican.
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  #88  
Old 10-05-2011, 01:41 PM
sixto's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Eastern TN
Posts: 20,841
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts View Post
As for lower-priced brands, we will continue to carry them, but we also rank them low on the quality ratings in our catalog. The reason why we carry these is because some of our customers have demanded that from us in the past. They are going to buy the part, either from us or one of our competitors, so we figure we might as well sell it to them. BUT, we put caveats in our "more info" sections on all of these parts when we don't think they are as high quality as an OEM replacement.
This statement bothers me. I've always felt, though never confirmed, that Phil and crew took the higher road and didn't offer products or entire brands that didn't meet their standards. I appreciate the rating system, but buying from FastLane used to be and I hope continues to be a no brainer.

[sidebar] My wife and I have debated this for over 20 years because we're on opposite sides of the topic. I feel a provider has a chance to get it right at the start. If the provider fails in that one chance, I move on. She feels a provider should be measured on his/her/its ability to correct a problem. And it works both ways. We've lost clients because we let them down at the start. She complains when we aren't given a chance to correct the situation. I brush it off because I don't give second chances. [/sidebar]

Uro brand has a two thumbs/average rating??? That diminishes the value of the rating system to some of us in the Diesel forum, or at least shifts it so three thumbs is potentially the minimum acceptable rating. I've heard of Uro brand antenna masts and windshield seals that continue to do the job. I don't think anyone has Uro brand steering and suspension components that are any good beyond 3 months of use.

Sixto
87 300D
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  #89  
Old 10-06-2011, 04:45 PM
Wayne 962's Avatar
CEO, Pelican Parts Inc.
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 363
It's really a tough call, that is why we provide the information and let our clients make the decisions for themselves. Also complicating things tremendously is the fact that one part from a lower quality brand can have a very good reliability rating, whereas another part from the same brand can be terrible. The same holds true (to a lesser extent) for the "gold standard" brands like Febi and Bilstein. Some of their products have a high failure rate too, despite them being an OEM brand. In general, the brand ratings on Pelican reflect an overall quality rating, but my point is that it does vary amongst parts. That is why we also have our detailed reviews system.

If a particular part from a particular brand is consistently failing and wearing out and customers aren't happy with it, then we will pull that part from the catalog. We monitor the reviews and returns on parts on a daily basis (I read every one), and we look for significant patterns. Despite providing the information, some customers just don't listen / learn. If we recommend the Lemforder tie rods over Karlyn, and they are only a bit more (say $45 each versus $20 each), people will still sometimes buy the Karlyn ones no matter what.

Our philosophy is to arm the customer with as much information in order to make an informed buying decision. It's up to them to decide if they want to purchase a lower-quality brand to save money. As I mentioned before, some of these lower-quality brands are just as good as the OEMs (sometimes better) - it very often depends specifically on the part itself. In general, the current PeachParts catalog has all of the good and lower-quality brands that we're talking about here. If anything, we'll be doing some weeding out of the brands that we don't see fit to carry at all, prior to the relaunch of the new catalog.

Hope this helps to clarify...

-Wayne
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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series101 Projects for Your Porsche 911How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997
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  #90  
Old 10-06-2011, 04:47 PM
TheDon's Avatar
Ghost of Diesels Past
 
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Posts: 13,285
If someone can't shell out the extra for a Febi/Bilstein part but there is a lesser brand for sale I'd try and buy it from where I usually blow all of my money.

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