APS is going out of business

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
They are though, but in a different way. Because Amazon has all the sales data, they have been known to identify high volume items offered by their partners and either knock them off or go directly to the source and negotiate a better cost. Then they sell the items on their site as sold by Amazon and undercut their partners.
 
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Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
If you guys think the boat parts business is hurting? I no longer have a source for electronic parts except Amazon and Ebay (Chinese). Cables and connectors not as bad as resistors, capacitors, and other parts needed to build/repair. The last superstore, Fry's, closed even before the Chinese CoronaVirus hit. Sucks.

But, for boat part I only shop SBO. I want this site to stay open for business.
 
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Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Brian,
Maybe i am guilty, but DigiKey was around a lot longer than Amazon, and you can get exactly what you want, in the quantities you want.
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
I understand, but being there is half the battle. Seeing and touching was a whole part of the purchase process.
Agreed, but Minnesota is a bit far, and the border is closed. :)
 

GSBNY

.
May 9, 2019
138
O’Day 192 New York
They are though, but in a different way. Because Amazon has all the sales data, they have been known to identify high volume items offered by their partners and either knock them off or go directly to the source and negotiate a better cost. Then they sell the items on their site as sold by Amazon and undercut their partners.
This is the answer.

I work in a sailing specialty shop and I’ve seen this happen again and again. We sold on amazon a few years ago and pulled about everything out of there when we realized we were trying to compete for the buy box against amazon itself. There’s no point in it. First you have to sell as low as you can / are allowed to get the buy box, then Amazon takes a 15% cut, and you have to pay shipping just to get the item to the shop, then ship it to the customer for free to match amazon. What was supposed to be a 40% margin quickly disappears to just making a few dollars just to sell one thing. The return isn’t enough to support a specialty shop.

Amazon identifies the top selling items, then goes to manufacturers and places a big order / uses their clout to become a dealer with maximized margins. No single small shop can place an order large enough to get the amazon negotiated rate. Once amazon can sell direct, their algorithm ensures they’re always in the top spot. Add in free shipping, and often prices so low that a) nobody can compete or b) prices so low that anyone trying to compete would violate the manufacturer’s MAP policy. A small dealer who violates MAP enough can expect to lose the dealership.

Try reporting amazon for a MAP violation to a manufacturer, it never works. Amazon sweeps it under the rug and blames the algorithm like they have no control over it. Even my sales reps are upset when amazon becomes a dealer because they know that’s lost commission they would have made from dealer sales in their territory.

It’s gotten to the point that I personally refuse to shop on amazon. They are the death of small business in the US.

When APS went to all soft good last year many people in the industry tried to figure out why they would do that and this is the result many saw coming. Soft goods are way too over saturated in the market.
 
Jun 14, 2010
2,081
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
loved the old neighborhood hardware store.
I just went to the local TruValue old style hardware store because I needed to connect some non standard fittings. So I brought the part with me, and tried various approaches- it was a 1.5” deck fitting for a water fill line, but the solution was to use a 1.25” rubber collar with hose clamps- the type they use to join drain pipe. Try that approach with online shopping and you end up buying and returning a lot of stuff (and it might take a week or two to solve the problem).
 
Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
Glad I still have 2 Harbor Freight store local to me. At least I can get semi-decent tools.
 
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