Its a tough world selling parts for a living. First, so mush stuff is made in China and crap that will come back and bite you if you sell it. If you only sell US made stuff, then you get $800 headers that you make 10 points on. Then there is Summit, Jegs and now Amazon selling stuff shipped for 10% more than we buy it for. So many companys have whored out their products to the big 3 that you cant make dirt.
Perfect example: If I buy 3 pairs of Edelbrock SBM heads, the big 3 sell them for $904-$925 and thats shipped which costs $35 ea. I can get them for right at $800 in quantity 6
6x $800=4800 + $150 pallet to me =$4950 . So now I sell them for $920 and pick up shipping 6 x $920=5520 -shipping cost $35x6=210. $5520-210=$5310 Total profit $360 or 7% profit but that doesnt figure in power, web site, 2% Credit Card etc. Needless to say, we dont sell a lot of Edelbrock. I can buy Comp Cams cheaper from Summit than through my account I have had with them for 20 years.
We currently have several companys that wont let summit sell their stuff at cost and on those products, we can sell cheaper than them with free shipping and still make 10%.
Guess my point is I dont do this to make money, I do it because I am a gear head and have always been since I was a kid. Hell, if I wanted to make money, I would be in banking, real estate, politics or some other criminal enterprise. We literally spend our days trying to find better deals for our customers and pass them on, installing new parts to make sure they work before they go on site. The bright side is that I dont pay nearly as much in taxes as a banker
and I dont have to figure out what to do with all that ill gotten cash!