Auto Audio Bulk Buys

I used to handle all my auto audio bulk purchases nationally. It was doing ok, but I had heard that buying from foreign companies was cheaper. It sounded nice, but I though it would involve too much hassle.

One day I decided to try an auto audio bulk purchase from a foreign company. It was located in China and it offered prices that were very attractive. Subsequently, I have now found out that  Car audio Seattle and Anchorage car audio and ice being much closer to home, offer even greater deals and with much less hassle.

Anyway well, it turned out to be the auto audio bulk purchase from hell. I might be exaggerating a little, but there were so many mistakes and errors in the whole process that I decided not to go through it again in the near future.

For starters, the auto audio bulk prices didn’t include freight or insurance. I had to get them on my own. I researched a bit and found that the air freight was ridiculously high. It might be my inexperience with shipments that come from the other side of the world, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept such high rates, so I had to do some more research and get a sea freight company. 

Insurance was also a pain to get. Some companies game me very complex plans that included exceptions and special conditions that varied for each part of the trip. I decided to try it the simple way and asked the sea freight company that handled my auto audio bulk purchase if they could handle the insurance as well. They said they did, so I let them handle it.

One of the first problems I noticed was how slow our communication was. Because of the time difference, I had to wait until the next day for any response. Although I had no problem with this at first, it was frustrating when the auto audio bulk order didn’t arrive on time. When I tried calling, it was very difficult to get someone who spoke English. I guess I should have hired a translator, but I thought it was too expensive at the time.

The order didn’t arrive the day it was promised. The freight company told me that the date had a range of a few days more or less, since it was very difficult to time an arrival from so long to an exact day. However, the shipment didn’t arrive during that week, nor the next, or the one after that.

I was very upset, as I had already pre-sold some of that material and my clients were starting to cancel some orders. I finally got a call from the freight company agent. She said that the shipment had been delayed because there wasn’t a person from the auto audio bulk dealer assigned to load the goods into the ship, and that their contract only included freight, not loading.

With the shipment being excessively late as it was, I decided to pay for the loading myself. I was very angry at the agent (and at the auto audio bulk supplier), but I realized that all the shouting and complaining wouldn’t magically transport my goods from the other side of the world to my premises.

I think the worst part of it all was to place an emergency auto audio bulk order with my competitor, just to keep my clients from canceling orders.

The shipment eventually arrived. Since I had already served my clients, a lot of those products had to sit in the warehouse for some time.

I realize that this experience isn’t representative, as I see some companies in the industry buying bulk overseas. However, I think I will stay with domestic suppliers for the time being. Car audio accessories Portland is one of my favourite bulk audio suppliers as everything is so affordable and the perchases are so easy to make.