Many of the parts stores here,including NAPA,Autozone,Advanced Auto,and "jobbers" all order parts from Rock Auto and mark them up drastically,if none of their local suppliers have the part in stock..
I have never bought anything from Rock auto,but have been tempted too often--especially when they have "close outs" and "only 2 left,etc,on parts like wheel cylinders,that you can but for like 2-4 dollars..but by the time you pay the shipping,the ones down the street at Autozone for 9.99 are no more expensive!...
Rock Auto's main advantage is they kept a lot of parts all the other stores sent back for credit,and they bought up some old dealers stock,so they'll have a part no one else lists any more..
A friend of mine has customers who buy their parts from Rock Auto and he hates that,because he gets screwed out of the money he could make off the parts..some of the customers have had bad experiences with them too,like one guy who ordered a gas tank for a square body truck,and wanted a 20 gallon one--and paid for it--and a 16 gallon one was shipped instead,which was about 20 bucks less,,
--he called to complain,they told him "well,that tank WILL work,and that's all we had in stock ,so we sent it--if you want the 20 gallon one that is "back ordered" you can send the tank back--at his expense,even though it was "their fault"..--they were not willing to give him the 20 bucks "extra" either--he spent a couple days on the phone with them and they finally agreed to refund his 20 bucks--ended up installing the tank,he needed his truck for work,couldn't tie it up any longer..he was pretty disgusted when he found out the "right" tank from a local parts store was only 5 bucks more,and they had one on the shelf!..
