I figure this is a good community question to ask because I don't have any real world data and I'm curious about our members opinions since we have a breathtaking amount of knowledge & skill here that spans a large number of industries.

I can get real SKF bearings from a real Authorized Distributor at decent to very good prices because I approached them as a business.

What kind of markup do think is appropriate for a SKF bearing that is exactly like OEM (but better quality) and works exactly like it should.

The make application in question is partly a secret, but please keep in mind the bearings from the company have been NLA for over 30 years because it folded and there is big customer base.

^ Also applies to NLA Porsche 914/6 & 914 NLA steering bearings.

I can tell you this is for crankshafts, gearboxs (transmissions) and wheels. Then soon to steering and shocks.

My opinion would be in the range of 40-50% but to be honest I don't know what kind of mark up auto parts have in general. I know retail paint stores " back in the day " would only mark up paint 10 % but all sundries( brushes, roller covers, etc. ) 200-300%. The 914 community is not that large so I don't think you'll do high volume but I'm sure the community will support you.

"SKS"? Not "SKF"?

The Cap'n

I suck at Bearing manufacturer acronyms.

Don't even ask the trouble I had at Ground Rat training to put the bags on the right cart going out to the right plane going to the right destination by acronyms only!

It depends on the price of the part. If you pay $10 for something...I'll gladly pay $30 if and when I need it. 914 parts are a small market and if you are to survive, you need to make a good profit. I think we all want you to survive.

If it is a $100 part on the other hand...50% would be more in line with what you could get for it.

My 2 cents.

For most retail establishments, a 50 to 100 % markup is normal....... If overhead is low, you can sell more products when you keep your markup low.

You charge as much as someone will pay.

Good comments so far. Pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.

One interesting thing of note, is the turn around time from when I order the bearings to when my customers would receive them is about 7 days.

1 day to order
1 day (next day) in stock @ the distributor/I pick up, pack & ship
2-3 days to ship
1 day of fudging room

exactly -

and you also have to convince hundreds of casual buyers who just discovered they need the part tomorrow that SKF is better & worth the wait vs whatever they can get from current sources like Pelican

.

I ran a truck parts importer/distributor in the 80's. That 50 to 100 percent isn't far off, the 50 percent the jobber price, the 100 percent markup for retail. But I'd suggest you never mark up from cost, instead look around in the market and price from there. Where are existing sales outlets priced? Use those prices and then calculate back to see what your margins would be. Then once you get a feel for typical margins you can use those and price up from cost.

But just as a suggestion, if you go to a lot of manufacturers and say you already sell online you might be able to become one of their distributors yourself. Their salespeople want to sell, the economy's not the best so any sale is a good one, they'd sell to anyone if it didn't jeopardize existing sales, and online sales won't piss off the distributor down the street from you so that shouldn't be a problem. They'll typically have initial stocking order minimums, but if you say it's a new product and you don't yet know your sales potential they can become pretty flexible about that as well. No guarantee, but worth a phone call to find out.

The thing with items that are the big moving items such as bearings, rotor pads etc is there's a lot of competition. Many of the wheel bearings are common to many cars, so the prices (thus your mark up/profit) are low. You can make a decent living at the parts resale market, but it's a lot of work and you must be super organized. Lots of competition so you must keep price low and volume high.

If I was going to do it I'd be looking to do modern cars, you could specialize say German or VW/audi only. You could do 914 as a branch but late model cars are where the real money and volume is at.


Also look at ebay prices.

And hopefully that lines up with what you need to stay in business.

Really you should be looking at the margin you require on your sales in order to properly maintain your business. Markup is you thinking only about what you buy. Margin is thinking on the other side, as in what percentage of your sales do you retain.

I'll come a bit clean on what this for. A very popular vintage/antique motorcycle line that are upwards of thousands and thousands of bikes left in this country. This doesn't count Canada/Mexico. Britain/Europe/Australia. No one stocks or specifically stocks any kind of bearings for these bikes (not mention other parts).

The only competition I found is someone selling not-Chinese-probably-India bearings for vintage/antique British bikes who claims those size bearings will fit what I'm looking at. We all know how that works.

The reality is I have many people asking me to stock bearings for the companion make motorcycle too which has the same # of bikes more or less left in this country.

Chinese bearings work oh so well in an 2-stroke engine that makes 40hp.

Speaking to what a lot of you have said, yes if I have the parts books/sizes/locations of bearings/ I could supply about almost anything that uses metric bearings in SKF/FAG/ORS/NTN etc.

Yes, I know what my margin I've just never dabbled in bearings hence my question.

BTW? The bikes are worth a lot of $$$$.

To really get the word out if I plan on doing this I would need to go to the biggest North America vintage/antique get together (more like fair) in July. I would have to make the decision by late February so I could even get a vendor slot. It was about $400 using last years rate to get a spot 2 full passes.

Not mention the travel, food & motel cost.

I believe the potential selling profit goes into the silly range.

it is SKF Capt`n

it is SKF Capt`n

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..why would i pay someone to hold them in stock for me when there a phone call away...JMO

Umm markup at the Ducati dealership was 30% and that was everything except bikes. Bikes the markup varied to demand and wasn't near 30%
You need to do some cost analysis to get the end profit you want. I felt that 30% was kinda modest. But there is already a distributor adding his 5% or more to it as well.

Double post due to retardeness

FAG looks like a good alternate.

I just finished reading recent horror stories about KOYO bearings (No. 1 in Japan) disintegrating in transmissions! They are apparently only good for electric motors.

Timken is apparently made all over place with absolutely no guarantee to get American made.

ORS seems to be good for tools and machinery.
There are lots fake quality brands with fake packaging & chinese bearings.

I guess a good motto would be, "No Compromise, Only Settle for Quality".

I pulled my brand new wheels out of the container they were in before we took the Porsche parts over to storage.

I'll be taking them with me and pressed out Bultaco bearings to get pricing next week.

So, I finally ordered some bearings.

Very much of a sticker shock on the Bultaco Clutch Hub Bearing, but SKF is the only one still making it to the correct specs.

Would anyone like me to get pricing on 914 Rear Wheel Bearings? PM me if you do and if you want FAG/SKF.

Clutch bearing:
Click to view attachment