On Tuesday morning, the 23rd of October, I called All OEM Volvo Parts and ordered four sets of alternator brushes for our three 700 series and the spare alternator. I received the alternator brushes on Thursday the 25th of October! I live two hours from the Pacific ocean in Vancouver, WA. The Parts Bin (Same as All OEM Volvo) is in Trenton, New Jersey. The parts came normal UPS. That is good service!

I must mention that no local vendor carried the alternator brushes, although I could get a rebuilt exchange alternator for $200 exchange.

I'm very pleased with the partsbin. Anyone know what the deal is, who are they and why are there so many other dotcoms part suppliers who use the same catalog (eautocatalog) all with different prices?

...eautocatalog.com is a parts wholesaler. As an aid to their customers (the retailer), they've created (or more likely had created for them by someone else) a web application for use by the retailers.

Kinda like the old days when say, Moroso would print their catalog with a blank white space on the cover so that a local shop could have "Pete's Speed Shop presents" on the catalog.

As always, retailers are free to set their own prices. I can't speak to the technical aspect of how this is done, but I'm sure it's not difficult if you're a techno-geek.

Bottom line is that I've seen at least 4 (maybe more) online retailers that use eautoparts'com's cataloging service. That by no means that all of these retailers are in any way affiliated, other than they use the same web engine.

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Another theory: All of these retailers have their own suppliers for various parts, and eautocatalog.com only sells/services the web application which they've developed.

I like the advent of on-line parts catalogs and believe it benefits retail consumers and good parts suppliers equally. Some suppliers will not be able to adapt -- making the jump from phone business to e-business requires a lot of change to the personal phone call customer relationship.

OTOH, some will say DIY customers who can't spend time on the phone during the business day don't add up to much of the revenue.

In the balance, I believe the competition will make my parts available faster-better-cheaper.

Oh BTW, I believe this vendor will ship from warehouses in NJ, GA, CA and other places depending on where the stock is. For me, on the right coast, the parts from CA sometimes take 8-10 days UPS ground.

I've ordered from them twice now, and they always ship incredibly fast. Great prices, too.

I placed my first order with them two weeks ago and am quite pleased as well... :)

Aaron.