All the HD dealers that sell motorclothes and parts on eBay will not be allowed to do so anymore according to new policies set forth by HD Moco beginning Jan 1, 2012..

Also starting in August 2011 they will not be allowed to ship anything to any addresss outside the US with the exception of APO and FPO.

Just thought I would toss this out for discussion. I received this notice from The House of Harley Davidson, Milwaukee, WI

 

The dealers all have a franchise agreement which apparently allows the parent company to dictate these kinds of terms. It's probably hard to tell a dealership that may have done a multi-million dollar expansion that they now have to compete with a 20% off internet dealership. In actuallity, I can't find a dealership that offers a consistant 20% off. The dealer parts on ebay seem to be at most 15% off and a lot are retail plus shipping. Maybe if they lose enough sales to aftermarket sources things will change.

 

K&J eglide.......the op stated that eBay sales were to be stopped. Surley the internet sales from the dealer's web site won't be affected. That would really suck for those of us who do not have a dealership close by.( The closest one to me is 100 miles away) As for the 20% discount you're looking for, try Zanotti's, if you haven't already. The items I've ordered were at least 20% off list plus I saved a 200 mile round trip and sales tax by ordering online.

 

Interesting that the MotherShip has that much power but then again no surprise. I have probably bought close to $5K worth of "add-ons" for two bikes in the past 12 months via the Internet, most of it thru Lakeshore at a consistent 20% off retail list, no shipping, and no 7.5% sales tax. Every time I have gone to my local dealer, looked at the "part", priced it, offered to buy it then and there if offered at least 10% off, and sadly for them, I have walked out, went home, and ordered from Lakeshore. Ok, so I gotta wait a week or so for UPS to arrive, but NO BIG DEAL there. I have seldom ordered anything from EBAY that turned out to be a Dealer such as House of Harley who does "sell" on EBAY. Other purchases have also been on the Dealer's webstorefront, such as Mile High Harley in Denver, CO. They run specials from time to time often reaching 20% discount. I dont see how the MoCo can regulate how a Dealer runs his own webstore. My local dealer offers NO DISCOUNTS to anyone including the HOG chapter they support (the largest in New Mexico!) unless as part of the sale of a new bike. They are so arrogant they dont deserve my business for any reason.

 

Won't bother me very seldomly do I buy Harley branded clothes. The last shirt that I bought was marked down to 29.95 from $72.00 whis is a fair price for thier clothes.

If I want leather I buy Langlitz or WESCO.

Helmets Arai or Shoei.

I figure if I pay top dollar I expect top dollar stuff.

 

but what about parts? you buy some of them don't you?

 

The policy does not affect their own website....it merely does not allow the sale of product through 3rd party websites (i.e. Ebay, Amazon, etc.). So the dealers' can continue to sell their product via their own website.

 

Already, online sales have been limited. Two years ago, I could open up the H-D corporate website, put an item in my basket, specify Chicago H-D as my dealer of choice and the price that appeared was automatically discounted 20%. Some of the items I purchased were shipped directly to me from Harley without detouring thru Chicago. Since then, H-D corporate has banned dealers from openly advertising a discount. For the last item I wanted to buy (a seat), I checked everyone I could think of and the best I could find was about 15% off plus shipping. Shipping a seat seems to run about $20, which is more than tax. As for the free shipping at Lakeshore, you usually need to spend $500+ to qualify and I don't need anything that adds up to that amount.

 

Don't feel bad. Some months back my wife was looking for some baby clothes for new grandson(born 04/25). Only one dealer in area had any. She found a package of bibs - 2 in a pack - but the ones for the boys only had 1 bib. Someone must have stolen the other. It was $13. She asked little sales girl since there was one bib missing what kind of discount would they give us. I figured 50% would be good since 1 was missing. I would have even settled for 40%.

Girl goes and talks to the lady owner and comes back with 10% off. WTF?

We put it back on the rack and walked out.

 

I haven't really seen many great deals from dealers using ebay or amazon anyway. They either charge nearly full price with free shipping or discount the price and pad the shipping costs. When buying online, I almost always wind up using Zanotti. Their prices are good, you just have to watch the shipping cost.

My dealer doesn't discount anything. What you see on the HD website is what they charge.