A Royal Enfield forum for the people

[Tim]

I saw on another board that a member elected to buy oil filters from an Indian vendor. On eBay I have mine set to $7.49 (free shipping) when you buy 4. And he passed me up! I didn't ask what he paid outright but maybe I should. I have 100 of these filters and they are stuck to the floor, at $7.49 I might be clearing $0.25 each. At what price will these damn things sell?

I have looked into Amazon but if you think eBay's fees are bad, mess with Amazon to find out what real pain is. In order to even start listing in the automotive section you have to be signed up for their $39.95 a month plan. To qualify for a Prime listing you have to ship all of your goods to amazon and pay them rent, something like $0.90 a sqft. I would have to sell a 100 filters a week to break even.

Interestingly enough the Himalayan and 650 filters are flying off the shelf by comparison.

[gashousegorilla]

That's a real good price for your filter's Tim. That seems a bit less then one would pay from a dealer... which is a good thing! EBay is rough , and seem to be dominated by the Indian sellers for anything Royal Enfield. And I imagine when people look for filters , they just search prices low -high, and grab the cheapest one . I have seen the filters priced both higher and lower then your's . But for cripes sakes and quick US shipping .... AND 7 or 8 bucks a filter ?! Come on now ! ... buy from a US seller ! And Amazon is becoming the Evil Empire. Don't we have anti trust laws in this country anymore ?!

[swamp2]

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm the offending party! Chalk it up to newbie ignorance, I guess. But just to defend my actions - go to ebay and search on "royal enfield 500 oil filter". You'll get about 150 hits. Almost all of the sellers are in India. I admittedly picked one the first hits that came up - 4 filters for $16.93 or something like that. I don't mind spending some more and would prefer dealing with a seller who is in the US and can provide expertise when needed - but I went back and tracked down your ad. Frankly as the hits came up I wouldn't have looked at it. Not clearly identifying a US seller and a price associated with a quantity purchase - I see a single unit price of 9.99 vs the listing I bought (4 for 17) - I wouldn't look further at it.

So... maybe some revision to how the hit is returned... or have a separate listing for a qty of 4 at the reduced price and highlight US seller?

Tim, certainly I'll contact you in the future - now that I have 2 of these things, my parts needs are just starting.

Steve

[Tim]

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm the offending party! Chalk it up to newbie ignorance, I guess. But just to defend my actions - go to ebay and search on "royal enfield 500 oil filter". You'll get about 150 hits. Almost all of the sellers are in India. I admittedly picked one the first hits that came up - 4 filters for $16.93 or something like that. I don't mind spending some more and would prefer dealing with a seller who is in the US and can provide expertise when needed - but I went back and tracked down your ad. Frankly as the hits came up I wouldn't have looked at it. Not clearly identifying a US seller and a price associated with a quantity purchase - I see a single unit price of 9.99 vs the listing I bought (4 for 17) - I wouldn't look further at it.

So... maybe some revision to how the hit is returned... or have a separate listing for a qty of 4 at the reduced price and highlight US seller?

Tim, certainly I'll contact you in the future - now that I have 2 of these things, my parts needs are just starting.

Steve

Hi Steve,

You don't need to defend your actions, this is America. I Am mostly trying to figure out what is going on and your feedback helps with that big time. I guess I assumed everyone does the same thing I do on eBay. Search and then immediately filter by location i.e. "U.S. Only".

Are you suggesting I put something like "U.S. Seller" in the title?

I did initial research before listing the filters and I was only able to pull a 1 or maybe 2 U.S. vendors. Today, following your method, 4 or 5 pull up. I speculate that during the research phase I was using very specific search terms and that was skewing the results. In the generic search I am about half way down the page, again you are correct no one is going to scroll that far. That fact is disappointing to me since I am giving eBay a healthy kickback, on top of their standard fees, to promote my listing. I am also at a disadvantage because my listings don't feature the Royal Enfield packaging (this is by design.)

At the end of the day I am delighted to see a dealer offering these on eBay. Why, you ask? Because that means the dealer is stocking the filter, and that is a win for everyone. In fact if anyone has a stocking dealer in your area or happen to stubble upon this unicorn in your travels, please support them. There is no aspect of being a Royal Enfield dealer that I would consider "easy". So the shops that go above and beyond should be rewarded. I am happy to hold my stock for returning customers!

Thanks again for the feedback Steve. I upgraded your account so you can post without being approved.

[swamp2]

Hey Tim, just to refresh my memory, I ran that search again. Your listing now comes up 3rd! Did you yell at ebay or something?

Anyway, maybe something to further differentiate the listing would be helpful - like adding "US Seller!". I know it's info that is redundant, but I'd think the idea would be to provide info that prompts a further look. I'd probably title it "Royal Enfield UCE 350/500 Oil Filter - US Seller!" When I did the search initially so many of them said "from India" that I didn't even notice when they didn't, I just accepted that as the norm.

Now that I know you're here, I'll just contact you directly when I need stuff and spare you the ebay fee tax. I've sold enough stuff there to know how big of a bite it takes. Between that and the paypal fee, it's pretty annoying. I don't have a problem with what they charge to sell a motorcycle - I think that's reasonable - but other items? Kinda ridiculous.

Steve

[gashousegorilla]

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm the offending party! Chalk it up to newbie ignorance, I guess. But just to defend my actions - go to ebay and search on "royal enfield 500 oil filter". You'll get about 150 hits. Almost all of the sellers are in India. I admittedly picked one the first hits that came up - 4 filters for $16.93 or something like that. I don't mind spending some more and would prefer dealing with a seller who is in the US and can provide expertise when needed - but I went back and tracked down your ad. Frankly as the hits came up I wouldn't have looked at it. Not clearly identifying a US seller and a price associated with a quantity purchase - I see a single unit price of 9.99 vs the listing I bought (4 for 17) - I wouldn't look further at it.

So... maybe some revision to how the hit is returned... or have a separate listing for a qty of 4 at the reduced price and highlight US seller?

Tim, certainly I'll contact you in the future - now that I have 2 of these things, my parts needs are just starting.

Steve

I completely understand and have done it myself. I never liked buying from the supplier across the pond for various reasons, and the previous US suppliers prices were a wee bit out of line , I personally thought. And on many occasions I had to resort to Ebay myself. But having some experience with these bike I was always careful with who and what I bought. And THEN Tim ... the Enfield parts Guru opened up his own Joint , right here in the States ? No brainer for me...

Yeah Tim, definitely put USA supplier on there if you can ! I think the Indians flood Ebay with different "sellers" and "stores" , when in actuality it is really only one or two of them ! I have ordered things from different seller's and when the package comes , it's from the place that I ordered somewhere else the last time ?! I think there is actually some big "automotive " type distributer in India that does it. I have a friend who had to call one of the "Indian" sellers about a problem with a part.

[Tim]

It took a pandemic to get me here but I am finally low on oil filters. I've been out of 650 filters for weeks, and I only have a handful of Himalayan filters left. I actually turned off the bulk discount option to stem the flow because the lock-down in India has been extended to May 31st.

My heart goes out to our Bullet brothers and sisters in Indian. From what I have been told, the restrictions in India are much more serve than other parts of the world. Absolutely no trading is taking place, not even domestically.

[gashousegorilla]

Yes , I have a friend in India and the last time I talked to him, it was very difficult for him the to get even the most basic things locally. Roads closed down and etc.

[Tim]

It took a pandemic to get me here but I am finally low on oil filters. I've been out of 650 filters for weeks, and I only have a handful of Himalayan filters left. I actually turned off the bulk discount option to stem the flow because the lock-down in India has been extended to May 31st.

My heart goes out to our Bullet brothers and sisters in India. From what I have been told, the restrictions in India are much more serve than other parts of the world. Absolutely no trading is taking place, not even domestically.

[Guaire]

Kevin Mahoney explained that the oil filter has been counterfeited. And that Tim has the real ones and knows the difference. Quality control is always important.