Farewell from TractorSmart !

tractorsmart · Feb 8, 2006

I have been reading all the comments. Also I have been thinking about what I would like to say next.
To speak the truth is always the best as I see it. Hundreds and maybe thousands will read these posts over the next days and weeks. If TractorSmart has harmed any person, dealer, or Kubota themselves I would like them to come forward and speak up. Stay tuned as I will have just a little more to say.

riptides · Feb 8, 2006

( TractorSmart has harmed any person, dealer, or Kubota themselves ) Hmmm... I could be way off base here, but I have this thought of a company putting pressure on internet sales of any kind affiliated with its product.

It seems over the years they have put pressure on dealerships to stop thier areas of "influence".

Now they seem to be doing the same, for their "suppliers".

Like I said, i could be wrong, but this is the first thing that popped into my head.

Face it, if the Kompany cannot embrace the internet, and embrace those that do business on it, they are short-sighted and not thinking about customers.

Please tell me I am wrong.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MessickFarmEqu · Feb 8, 2006

( Please tell me I am wrong. )

Okay /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif , this has nothing to do with the internet. Its a change to drop shipment rules thats all. You can still buy parts from our website, or the other dealer who still does internet sales. What its changing is how profitable internet sales can be for dealers who don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars in parts on hand. All Kubota is changing is the drop shipping rules. Its now more approximate to the actual shipping cost where it was a true charity program before. There is no campain here to supress doing business online.

riptides · Feb 8, 2006

Thank you,

I retract my thoughts and statements.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

djg · Feb 8, 2006

I will definitely miss the advice and knowledge you dispensed. You knew the part number for a block heater for my old tractor that the local dealer could not help with. You also helped greatly with a mower deck I am fixing up.

_RaT_ · Feb 8, 2006

Ronnie, your service and your website were superb.
I frequently pointed folks your way for either parts or at the very least, some great information. Thanks for the absolutley superb service you gave and information you provided. I'm sorry for the situation.

RobJ · Feb 8, 2006

A sad day for sure. Once I found Ronnie I bought 95% of my parts there. And I'm not sure how this will force dealers to stock more parts. You walk in and need a part, sorry BO, you can get it in a week (might even have to pay shipping). What's my options, drive to another dealer that may not have it? Wait. What else can we do. But I have say the $5 shipping was to good to be true.

I am bummed... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

MessickFarmEqu, I understand you have taken over the site. So what are you going to do about prices. Ronnie was always 30% or more better than my walk in local dealer. If you up the prices and charge full shipping then you haven't really helped us. Since I'm a weekend farmer like most, waiting a week isn't a big deal but now I might have to make 2 trips to the dealer if I go local, one to order and pay, another to pick up. However my Woods dealer has no problem taking my order over the phone and drop shipping it to my house.

But price is a big concern, any comments?

tractorsmart · Feb 8, 2006

MessickFarmEqu
"Its now more approximate to the actual shipping cost where it was a true charity program before."
 

Okay. Kubota has been offering this drop ship program ($5.00 fee) for at least seven year now.
Now why do you suppose they ever started such a program to begin with?
If they were loosing money at it did it take seven years to figure it out?

Now I suppose that dealers have gotten much better at stocking parts and providing answers to questions now ( which is shown by the rapid decline in Internet sales, a little sarcasm there folks) that Kubota no longer sees the need to provide that drop ship service at a reasonable fee.

Now I have to assume that Kubota would furnish all dealers the same rules to follow.

Now for an example lets say John Doe has an older Kubota that he is going to fix up.
He would like decals for his tractor.

We come up with 20 part numbers we need to order.
Again for this example lets say the dealer did not have them in stock.
Let’s get them on the way from Kubota.
20 decals are not going to weight that much so say FedEx is going to deliver them for $6.00 to the Kubota dealer.

Now let us suppose the customer says lets just have Kubota ship them direct to my house.
20 decals same weight, same warehouse, same box, same tape to seal the box, same FedEx to deliver it.
Now what is that going to cost the customer?
Okay residental delivery cost more so let’s say FedEx charges are $9.50
Now the special handling charges are $5.00 x 20 part numbers equal $100.00

As you say “Its now more approximate to the actual shipping cost where it was a true charity program before.”

“Okay , this has nothing to do with the internet.”

Okay then what exactly is the $100 additional charge for?

Having seen the true facts what do you think now -Mike Z. ?

JRobyn · Feb 8, 2006

Please do say more.... like "I've reconsidered and will stay in business", or "Kubota has agreed to made a shipping charge exception for TractorSmart"!

Also please include me among those who would definitely and gladly pay a bit more shipping charge to continue to be a customer and get the fast, friendly, competent service that you have always provided to me in the past.

SeymourBota · Feb 8, 2006

Well, I would like to sign the "guest book", as well. When I wanted a set of front rims for my 2410, who else would have contacted Kubota and had them pull some from the assembly line of the manufacturer and send them directly to me for no additional shipping cost than my $5 ??? AMAZING!!!!
And where else could any of us find .pdf files of our parts breakdowns for tractors and attachments??

Most dealers don't have a fraction of the internet presence that Ronnie had.

I can only pray that my 2 bota's never break down again!!! (ya, right!!)

MessickFarmEqu · Feb 8, 2006

(
MessickFarmEqu, I understand you have taken over the site. So what are you going to do about prices. )

We have not "taken over" anything. I think you'll find that our pricing is some of the best out there. We do add a small surcharge to the cheapest parts to justify the handleing cost, but 90% of what we sell is the cheapest price Kubota will allow on the internet.

( Having seen the true facts what do you think now -Mike Z. ? )
I understand if you have some animosity towards Kubota. However what they are running now under this new drop ship program is still better than what most companies that we deal with. Yea, if you drop ship 20 labels things don't make much sense. However you can still stock order those items and bring them in at a reasonable cost. In the end this is going to force more dealers to keep more items on hand which can only be a good thing for the customer.

( When I wanted a set of front rims for my 2410, who else would have contacted Kubota and had them pull some from the assembly line of the manufacturer and send them directly to me for no additional shipping cost than my $5 ??? AMAZING!!!!
)

That is awesome! Going forward this is still going to cost $5. Its likey that as a customer your going to notice very little difference with most dealers.

JLoaf · Feb 8, 2006

Ronnie,
Thanks for all the help, especially with my ZD21 rebuild last fall.
Thanks for the .pdf parts books.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and all the SERVICE.
You have been a great resource and a great help to me.
I hope you'll reconsider, and if not, I hope that someone will offer service equal to yours.
Good Luck.
John C. in Arkansas.

ToolDad · Feb 8, 2006

Ronnie,

I too am sad to see you go. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I have purchased many parts from you, finding your service and knowledge quite pleasing. Though cost is always a concern, my major catalyst for me to use your site was the convenience factor and the knowledge base you have. My dealer is not that awfully far away, but difficult and time cosuming to get to just the same. I could support some additional shipping costs (but I do not know about this $5/item handling charge > what's up with that!!). /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Thanks for all of your help, and I wish you the best in your new endeavors. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

tractorsmart · Feb 8, 2006

Okay loyal customers.

I guess I owe it to you to at least give it a try.
The $5.00 shipping you understand will soon be gone.
I will try my best to rework the shopping cart to figure some realistic as possible shipping cost.
If possible maybe I can configure an approximate delivery time frame and offer different shipping options to choose from.
I did not want to see anyone waitng two weeks on parts.
We think we can handle a pretty good fill rate from our own inventory. What we do not have will need to be looked at and descisons made.
It only takes a little $0.25 part that was not in stock to mess the whole thing up.
We will all be in that same boat however. I eneterd some part numbers for orders I have filled this week in some other dealers shopping cart. They could not fill any of the orders from in house stock completely either.
We can try this out and see if it will fly.

Ronnie Bowman

RobJ · Feb 8, 2006

MessickFarmEqu, Sorry for the taken over thing. Since you post here I keep thinking you are taking over Ronnies site, but that is another company. I did just cross check a couple prices and there is good news, tractorsmart, $79.28, Messick $79.28. Local Dealer $107.03. This would be a heavy part so shipping might be more (32310-13810) and I would not consider this a dealer stock item.

Another part tractorsmart.com had (32460-11640), your site didn't return a listing.

I've got you bookmarked.

riptides · Feb 8, 2006

( Having seen the true facts what do you think now -Mike Z. ? )

Now the scenario sounds like the internet sales models is a victim of both bean counters and business process rules run amok.

Somewhere someone thought they were doing a good thing and they don't understand the order shipment process end-to-end.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

curt1 · Feb 8, 2006

I recently found the TractorSmart web page and really liked the price's when compared to my local dealer. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I am almost ready to order filters (and mower deck belt) for my ZD21 and L3130 and TractorSmart is where I am going to order from. I would be willing to pay increased shipping costs. My time and driving expense cost me $$, not to mention my dealer may not have the part(s) in stock.
I bet that most dealer's will simply add $5 to most part's they sell, instead of stocking additional part's...pass the additional cost on to the customer. Some dealer's may not have additional space for increased parts inventory. It wouldn't surprise me any if they add the additional cost to part's, as nearly every time I buy parts at my local dealer, they have increased their price's. I buy a good deal of filter's, fluid and mower blades every year.
It seems to me that Kubota has some of the highest priced part's in the industry....that's just my opinion. When I can save a dollar, I am going to do just that. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Keep TractorSmart alive and I think you will do as well/better than you have in the past. Great customer service speaks for itself. Good luck in whatever you decide to do with your business. I wish you well. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Curt

kubotaman68 · Feb 8, 2006

why all this hatitude for dealers ? it seems like this forum consistently belittles dealers and in everyone opinions they are all crooks just staying up nights thinking of ways to rip people off. Is it now immoral or unethical to operate in anything other than nonprofit status? What do you all derive incomes from? would it be prudent to say that if your livlihoods were elimated or outsourced to cheaper labor pools in the interest of saving your employers money that that would be agreeable to you? I think #1 most all of you agree that Kubota is a very good product, with its share of shortcomings to be sure, and that without dealers selling parts and there service in most cases could not survive on sales alone. And I know that a kubota if maintained properly will last in excess of 25 yrs , so my question I guess is , what do you think will happen if the dealers just say enough is enough and they aren't able to make a reasonable profit and go out of business?

DUMBDOG · Feb 8, 2006

I try to support my local dealer, However the complaint that I think is that dealers are marking up their parts higher the suggested price by Kubota.

This summer I was going to change the SUDT in my tractor, the price of the oil was marked up by about 40 per cent over the suggested retail. I did not buy it.

Sent a email to Kubota, a week later received a call from the dealer regarding a pricing error. There was no pricing error, it was just additional money to cover the freight. I am sure that there is stocking programs to cover this. I bought on the programs for free freight in the motorcycle business.

All that we ask is to be dealt with it a fair manner.

Sully2 · Feb 8, 2006

( And I know that a kubota if maintained properly will last in excess of 25 yrs , so my question I guess is , what do you think will happen if the dealers just say enough is enough and they aren't able to make a reasonable profit and go out of business? )

Then a NEW PERSON will start up..operating on a lesser profit margin. It happens all the time..in all sorts of businesses.