Amazon Auto Parts, For the Win????

The 2005 Nissan Quest, former Challenge Van, has been throwing a couple of codes that I have been ignoring.  Earlier this week I decided this weekend would be the time to tackle the issues.

Codes pointed to:

Intake Manifold Runner Valve & Cam Position Sensor bank 1

I went parts searching and found the following:

Advance Auto:

• Intake Man Valve: $135.99
• Cam Pos Sensor: $59.99
• Free Shipping (because not stocked in near stores) and 20% web order coupon + $5 off loyalty = $152.78 all in

Rock Auto:

• Intake Man Valve: $90.97
• Cam Pos Sensor: $24.89
• Of course, 2 warehouses so $7 shipping and 5% GRM discount = $116.88 all in

Amazon:

• Intake Man Valve: $15.99 
• Cam Pos Sensor: $18.49
• All in it was $34.48 in parts.  Since free shipping wouldn't get here until post-holiday I sprung for the $17.98 Saturday shipping for an all in of $52.46

Will the parts suck????  They went in today and the car is driving much better.  Not sluggish and stumbling a bit on acceleration any more.  These are sensors that are one easy bolt and one easy electrical connector each so I figured at 1/3 to 1/4 of the other's prices I was willing to take the risk.  

I cross shop RA and amazon and lately amazon has been killing it on pricing. 

my co-worker would advise against the Amazon parts as he has replaced two water pumps and a PCM in the last week. Good luck.

Paul

I just ordered 2 tires from them for $7 each less than the next closest price.  

scary thing ordering parts  is the no name box  with no name parts.....

they "could" be the same parts as Auto zone but no way to ever tell ,

Amazon looks at sales and if something is a very good seller for someone else , amazon will source it from China and cut the other seller out......

if its 5 minutes to install , no big deal , but getting dead water pumps would take all the fun out of it :)

Varies. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get burned. 

Amazon has been having a lot of problems with counterfeit parts lately. It's something they're aware of but not something they can always do something about due to being a market place rather than a distributor. Even when they are the distributor sometimes they have counterfeit parts on the shelf. 

Not car parts but I had that issue with washer drain pumps. One was from a 3rd party and two were from Amazon's stock. All three fractured the rotor magnet within 2 months. I finally gave up and bought an OEM. 

Stuff that's easy to get to go for it. If it's a day's work I'll typically opt for name brand or a reman.

The0retical said:

Amazon has been having a lot of problems with counterfeit parts lately. It's something they're aware of but not something they can always do something about due to being a market place rather than a distributor. Even when they are the distributor sometimes they have counterfeit parts on the shelf. 

This. They also have problems with stuff being packaged or labeled incorrectly. I've had some really strange parts mix-ups from my Amazon Auto orders. The weirdest was when I ordered a fuel filter for a Nissan 200sx and an oil filter for a Freightliner cab showed up. I'm not even sure how that passed their package checks. It was literally 4x the size and twice the weight.

I'd happily order consumables from Amazon (except brake rotors, which they keep screwing up), but for hard parts I end up going elsewhere.

I order a lot of parts from Amazon because we are Prime members. That saves on shipping hands down.  And I’ve had very good luck with things like oil filters/air filters etc. I’ve also had extremely great customer service for parts that didn’t fit, or didn’t come as promised. 

Example one, I bought an aluminum radiator for a CJ7 project, came in and after install it was too wide. Uninstall, return, and 100% made whole plus $20 coupon for the hassle. Granted the same thing could have happened with Autozone, but there would be no extras to try and make it right. 

Things like oil filters are $7-9 at the FLAPS, or $3-4 on Amazon.  Little stuff ads up.

I really like using Amazon for things I don’t need right away. 

I basically decide where to order from based on how fast i need something. 

I do like having the option to order from Amazon but if i can afford the extra 2 day wait i try to order from RockAuto.  I've said before that Amazon is the next Walmart. Plenty of alarming aspects to it. 

I use amazon for parts. I look at reviews and I also always try to get brand name stuff.  OE GM parts a usually very good value on Amazon. I often wonder if dealerships use Amazon to clear out old stock. 

I've used Amazon and eBay for parts the FLAPS just don't carry. Like a clutch pilot bearing for a 99 Isuzu Rodeo 2.2.  Every single one of the box stores, and RA had the wrong part under the "correct" part number.  Some internet sleuthing found the correct part number and that it interchanged with the same part for a CTS with a manual transmission.  Only available online through Amazon.  Go figure.  Anyway, i buy from Amazon when it makes sense.  Usually when i can't get it anywhere else, but more often than not because they beat everyone else on price by a wide margin for the exact same part. 

I have had mostly good luck with Amazon, but their mid range motor mounts tore on me after 1 autocross. The brand name stuff they sell is awesome with the 2 day shipping though.