NightXCZ77

The difference between me now and then is that I have my own supplier in Japan now and I run my own show. I have my own customs agent, my own facility, etc... so I don't have to rely on second hand information on when my stuff is coming in....thank goodness. According to my customs agent, my shipment should be here around the 20th-25th of this month...it was supposed to be 15th-20th, but there was a delay (due to time zones and 4 different people, two individuals and two customs agents) that had to make this work...we're all on the same track now. I am a sponsor now on the NICO website and I'd like to hope I can be a reputable seller once again.

Night

clikzip

if i buy a clip is definitly gonna be with you, i havent talked to you in person but ive read alot of your posts and you have an extensive amount of knowledge and seem to be a real nice guy. Things happen that you just cant change and im not gonna hold it against ya

RS13

just out of curiosity

RB20 Clip Prices
NIGHT $2295
VENUS-AUTO $1500

I assume both are without shipping. Night how do you explaine these differences in price? I can understand about $400 because you stuff is of good quality but almost $800. that the price of a new HKS FMIC

PS just a question NOT Flaming

bigk

im doing a rb20det swap soon so can you send the wiring write up to theblessin7@yahoo.com thanks

NightXCZ77

Just to warn you, this is probably going to end up a long *** post.

The major misconception that most people have about importers is that they all get engines at or around the same price. This is not correct. Venus is a company that owns wrecking (or recycling) yards in Japan. These yards operate as such:

1) They setup up a domestic accounts maker that sets up accounts with agencies in their area. These agencies control cars that are wrecked, salvaged, or turned in because the owner no longer wants to pay hefty registration costs. These agencies get these cars for free. In return, the wrecking yard that has paid for an account with these companies gets offered whatever cars they want (wrecked or not) for next to nothing, often for free, minus whatever it cost them to setup the account with that company for a year.

2) Being that Venus has accounts such as this, they get engines for next to nothing, we're talking about $100-$200 a car if that. This means they get the wheels, tires, interior, engine, exhaust, LSD etc... They then ship their product to their distribution center in Sacramento. Shipping per item is about $150 making their total bill around $250-$350 per clip reguardless of what engine it is. Sometimes they pay a little, often they don't (per car or whatever they are offered...depends on if they have to have someone source it because they don't have it in stock). Anyhow, because Venus pays such a low amount for their clips, motors, etc... They can afford to bring over less than quality items, because they can afford to replace them due to their low overhead. This also means that Venus can send people 2 engines and still profit money whereas if I were to send people two engines, I would be in the whole quite a bit.

Companies such as myself setup commercial accounts with various wrecking yards in Japan. These companies take the time to compression check the engines and make sure they are good before offering them to their clients, otherwise they crush them for scrap metal....because most suppliers in japan don't want to send one of their clients a bad engine...it makes for an unhealthy relationship between the two parties, especially if that client paid the same for the crap engine as he did for the good engine (not knowing the engine was crap_ and now can't sell the crap engine. We also pay a lot higher price for these clips due to not owning our own facility in Japan. We give them what they think market value is on these engines and then we pay for shipping, customs, and tariffs to bring them over. Then you figure out our warehousing fees, electricity, etc... and we have a much higher overhead than Venus.

Our prices reflect a certain profit margin that is fairly standard on each product we sell. Since we do not get these engines for next to nothing, we can't afford to let them go at Venus prices or there would be virtually no profit making this business a waste of time, especially for the amount of work we do and customers that we deal with on a daily basis. This is also why our prices are $800 more expensive than Venus on the RB20DET which used to be just $800 a clip on their website compared to $1500 now....to give you an idea of their price hikes. My prices have remained virtually the same since I started this company about a year ago. As well, if you have been watching, Venus' prices for RB25DET clips has gone up from $1800 just 7 months ago to $2800-$3000 a clip now since they've seen the demand for these engines, making their prices fairly close to mine. They are making substantially more money than I am...because they can. I usually work with people to depending on their situation...not all of my clips get sold at the same price.

Lastly, Venus does not know how to classify what they ship. When I bought a RB20DET engine from Venus long ago and had it shipped to FL, they quoted me over $900 to get it there. I paid $460 to get it shipped using my own company because I know how to classify the items being shipped. I know many people that pay $600-$750 for shipping from Venus....people usually pay about $450 from me nationwide depending on their location.

I never tell anyone that they have to buy from me. Everyone has their own free will to buy wherever they want to. I stand behind my product as well as have a broad knowledge of the engines I import. I help trouble shoot problems with customers engines (sometimes if they don't even buy from me)...being that they hooked something up wrong or why there is no boost etc... I also supply information to help my customers with swaps which is something that companies like Venus can not do since they have no experience with their inventory....all they are, are sales people.

Night

RS13

wow i learned alot
thanx for the honest opinion. I do have alot of respect for you Night and i was just wondering why the price difference. Now i understand and i see the light .

Thanx for the explanation

PS i PM'ed you

Nismo241

I would have to say the few things I dislike about venus, is, they honestly know nothing. I talked to their "mechanic" about the compression on the long block I had ordered from them. The guy said that my comp check was incorrect because I did it myself, and it requires a special machine to do it. This raises the question...do they do a comp check at all??? The guy I just did an RB20 swap for asked for the comp test and they said they did it, 150 across the board, and provided no proof. I did a comp check on it after I got the motor in, and it made 130 across. I used to be all for venus, cause of my experience with them, but after dealing with them with this last guys clip, they have lost the respect I had for them before. I would still buy from them, and I do recommend them to people I talk to, mainly because they are cheap and have a good warranty with everything, but they will raise their prices as high as they can and remain just a couple hundred under their competitors. I bought my clip for 1000$. Caseys(guy I did the swap for) clip cost 1500. Thats about 6 months later. If what cameron said is correct about how much they pay(I know nothing about the business aspect of this whole thing), then thats just BS.

Spec_v5150

Hey fool...get at me....

Spec_v5150

Anyway my opinion on this is......you have to take the good with th bad. Venus may have "lower" quality but they dont "handpick" their engines. They are a high volume dealer who have had very few ****-ups aka I cant get your engine....Next time you go to Walmart or target look around. Wal-Mart is ghetto as **** but has dirt cheap prices. It is always packed. **** is everywhere. It just looks nasty in a ghetto way. Then go to your local Target. It isnt as packed. Everything is more organized. Less people there because some of their prices are higher. Not a dead on analogy, but that is how I look at Venus vs Night or some other company. They are the walmart of clips/engines. They get em and sell em cheap. Sure their customer service leaves something to be desired, but haveing been following the 240 boards for awhile, I have only heard of a few companies providing top-notch service. Some people may prefer to pay hundreds more for a clip to get a "hand-picked" clip and installation service that..if you do research is EVERYWHERE Someone does the swap. They learn and help someone in return. I didnt do my install completely by myself, but after helping and watchin on one, I could do it myself. On the other hand Some people dont care as long as they get a good clip. In the end a junked car is a junked car. Besides even if my clip was jacked up when I got it from venus, the moneyt saved from going with other importers is a good start on a rebuild I mean I dont bame anyoen buying from Night, but you have to look at more than just well ia m going to buy from him since he knows about the swap. Not to be an ******* (and I have talked to Night personally so I am not bashing him) but how is his track record??? It isnt super stellar like the likes of Heavy Throttle or Enjuku (or however the **** you spell it). So look at all aspects of the source you plan on buying your clip from before doing so

Nismo241

The way I see it is, it doesn't matter who anyone buys their RB20 clips from, or what kind of knowledge the seller has, cause most everyone that does the swap gets in contact with me anyways. It's not a matter of how much the seller knows, it's what he/she can get, and for how cheap. With in the week I could have a wholesale account set up with venus, and be selling RB clips for 1800, and be able to provide the exact info to get it running if not install it. Just because I can doesn't mean I should. Some people just aren't mature enough, or smart enough to be able to do it(not talking about anyone in particular).

pukinrally

this is quite possibly the most informative thread i have read on here lol
alll this info is great especially about the importation and selection process

very interestinggggggg