Time Has Come By rapidjim (Read 546 times)

[rapidjim]

I had to make a very difficult decision this week. As of the first of the year I will stop using MRP as my parts supplier for my website .rapidrepairpowersports.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">.rapidrepairpowersports.com. This decision was made mostly to the fact that a lot of the common parts that folks need were continually out of stock and I was loosing sales. So they went elsewhere and I do not blame them, I would. No sales no money, it is that plain and simple. Credit Card fees and high shipping rates contributed to the decision. Shipping rates were controlled from the MRP warehouse. In most cases they use Fed Ex, the customer didn't have an option for who they wanted their parts shipped through and that costs the customer more money for his part.

MRP seems to have changed were their priorities lie and it is not with common low profit Chinese parts. They seem to be more interested in high end, high profit parts and that is not what we are about here. I am still retaining my dealer status with them at this time so if/when I need this type of part I can get it.

This only applies to my parts website and NOT my trikes, trike parts or my retail store. I will be expanding my trike site and adding more to that . I am also looking into setting up another parts site with a different distributor but, that won't happen right away. There are good online folks to buy parts from, just look at the banner ads above.

We are not going out of business just getting rid of what is costing us money and not providing a return. I will still be providing tech support and sales to those that want it and will still be able to get MRP parts.

If I can be of service just drop me a line or give me a call.

Jim/Owner
Rapid Repair

[JR]

Don't blame you Jim and it's just plain common sense, don't make money can't stay in business.

I've always thought that MRP was not the what I call everyday scooter owner supplier but the racing throw a ton of money at it and see how fast it can go kind. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you want or do but for the everyday rider it's just not feasible to me IMO.

In this economy and things not looking up anytime soon and with Ebay and others flooding the market with cheap parts people just don't spend that much on going fast and such.

Besides you can do that on Ebay, heck even amazon has got into scooter parts.

Persoanlly when you figure out what you're going to do I figure you'll be better off in the long run and so will your customers.


JR

[n4zou]

I've looked at MRP parts before but never attempted to order any. They never had stock weight rollers or sliders or stock anything, just 'racing' parts. I used my scoot for basic transportation and not 'racing'. Why anyone would spend money modifying a scooter for higher performance when it would have cost less to just buy a bigger scoot. I like keeping things just the way they were designed to be. I put 60,000 miles on my first TANK 250 scoot before it needed a complete refresh which would have cost more than buying another new 250 scoot. I feel keeping everything stock helped me squeeze that many miles out of a cheap Chinese scoot. I was just about to roll over 14,000 miles when I was involved in an accident that totalled my second Chinese scoot. I was going to service the CVT variator, replace the belt, and clean the clutch as soon at the odometer rolled over 14,000. At the time I felt I had worked out all the bugs and was looking forward to putting at least 60,000 miles on it. On the plus side I saved enough money on gasoline alone to pay for the scoot as apposed to driving a car and I had a substantial reduction of insurance costs on the car due to reduced miles clocked on it. Then the insurance company of the person that hit me paid me $200 more than I originally paid for my new scoot. It looked like a Honda Reflex to the adjuster so he used the blue book value for it. In about 6 weeks I am going to order a new Linhai Aeolus 300. I want to order it now but I'm still suffering bruised ribs from the accident.

[JR]

Very well put and an excellent choice of scooter. Very glad your injuries are healing and you'll be riding again soon.

Also agree with your accessment of taking care of the scooter and keeping it within it's original limitations. Nothing wrong with buying the stuff from MRP and racing if that's what you like and I'm like you and Jim though they seem to cater more to that than the everday stock riding scooterist.

But it's their company and business and their freedom of choice and I respect that but I believe with this economy and such it's going to hurt them in the long run.

JR