Online Tyres for Australia

[SMOKEY]

Just had this come into my inbox from seek.com.au

Looks like the carsales.com.au have recognized the potential market for online tyre sales......they're looking for an online project manager to help launch: tyresales.com.au

V interesting!

[SMOKEY]

Oh well I found it interesting....!

[raymondato]

interesting stuff, they have a great business.. net profit of $71m last financial year

any competition is good right?

[SMOKEY]

well a business case with backing that sort of financial backing will be sure to make a splash.

given currently there are no major domestic players in online tyre retail, i'm very interested to see how they plan on doing this. Those that do sell tyres online well, such as st-george, tempe, advanced - all have their own physical shop front which is their core business first and foremost.

It's also a departure from their normal business model which is basically using classified ads to generate revenue. carsales/trucksales/carvansales etc. Selling tyres online is a goods and distribution based industry, so a bit of a change.

It will be interesting to see how they work it. Will they be stockists/suppliers? Will the be a listing place for other businesses? Will they have their own fitting service? Or will they have authorised dealers in a network? Or will the customer be responsible for finding someone to fit up their tyres? What does this mean for those who are importing tyres cheaply from o/seas?

My curiosity is almost temptign me to apply!

[MattMPS3]

Honestly, going by my recent purchase from StGeorge tyres, in future I will use them for buying cheap tyres only, but I'll get them fitted up the road at my local tyre shop.

[SarcasticOne]

suspect it'll be like ordering from tirerack or someone, they tires will turn up on your doorstep, and you'll go to local place, pay $50-100 and get them fitted

[MattMPS3]

I thought you were getting the NT-05's Sam, I dont think tirerack sell Nitto

[SMOKEY]

Yeh im sure these guys just want a slice of that pie.

From reading the ad it says they will have their own distribution network. So will be a matter of ordering, then turning up to have them fitted.

I guess the efficiency is that it saves having to store a bazillion tires in stock on the off chance someone requires that exact size. takes up a lot of room and is asset heavy.

[SarcasticOne]

I thought you were getting the NT-05's Sam, I dont think tirerack sell Nitto

Haven't ordered anything, still rocking the RE050A's on rx8 rims

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Reedy]

Especially since Yokohama are cracking down, there is a huge business opportunity here provided they charge reasonable prices. Everything depends on their pricing.

[SMOKEY]

Well I guess if they get cooperation from the manufacturers, they will probably close down the backdoor importers and charge a lot more than what we currently pay tirerack and the like.....let's be honest.

[Scaredycrow]

Especially since Yokohama are cracking down, there is a huge business opportunity here provided they charge reasonable prices. Everything depends on their pricing.

My thoughts exactly. Just went through the disappointment of trying to get yoko's off tirerack.

Well I guess if they get cooperation from the manufacturers, they will probably close down the backdoor importers and charge a lot more than what we currently pay tirerack and the like.....let's be honest.

Not that easy to do tbh... Nothing stopping us buying off US companies and using a re-mailer service. If they do it right, and get good volume, intl tyre manufacturers may well grant them regional distribution rights ANZ/APAC etc.

Long road to get there though..

[TD]

There's one in Australia called Webtyre Cheap tyres online Australia wide tyre fitting by Ultratune with Tyre Lifetime Gaurantee who are aligned with or part of the Ultra Tune network from what I can gather, but they don't really offer the kinds of tyres those of us on performance car forums would be putting on our cars.

Definitely a gap in the market for this kind of service in Australia ala Tirerack and 1010Tires. Would be good to see, especially if their prices aren't ridiculous.

[raymondato]

if they can offer a good range of performance tyres at a price which is at worst somewhere in between tirerack and (tirerack+forwarding cost), i will use them.

replicating tirerack's customer experience for a small premium will be the sweet spot i think..

[projectrracing]

all i can say is not to confuse online with cheap. online in the usa with their cheap postal services will be massively different to online in oz with our expensive postal services. just gotta wait and see.

[slixx]

All the tyre manufactures will sell the Aussie market at a higher rate than say the US market. So the discount will be in the lack of infrastructure due to it being online

Supply/Demand at its best

Online place generally don't sell performance tyres due to this factor and will only sell a few brands, but we'll see how they go


Peter "SLIXX"

[Reedy]

Reaaaaaallllllly wishing I filled my garage with Neova's 12 months ago when I had the chance to.

[Reedy]

Apparently Hankook have banned tirerack from shipping to Australia now as well.

[MPSMAYBE]

Honestly, going by my recent purchase from StGeorge tyres, in future I will use them for buying cheap tyres only, but I'll get them fitted up the road at my local tyre shop.

I recently bought tyres online from St George Tyres. Their EBay ad said things like “BRAND NEW TYRES”, “They are Brand new” “Fresh Stock”; "Our packages are what we state, We give you the whole deal all BRAND NEW!" and “ALL FRESH PRODUCTION”. The tyres they sent were made in 2009... When I rang to complain, they weren't interested and said "What's your problem ?" and "We can send tyres up to 5 years old without telling you how old they are". Couldn't seem to grasp that my problem was that their ad, with statements like “ALL FRESH PRODUCTION”, led me to believe they were tyres of recent manufacture. And if "I" (or any reasonable person) believed that, and it's not true, they are breaking Australian Consumer Law (I looked it up). If I'd known they were 2009 tyres, I wouldn't have bought them. 2011 I could accept, maybe even late 2010, but 2009 ? How is that "Brand New" ? They are older than my car !
They've changed the EBay ad a little but still state "Brand New" and "Our packages are what we state, We give you the whole deal all BRAND NEW!". They have 100's of these tyres, and could have sent me the newest. Instead they sent me the oldest. And when I complained, they yelled at me ! TBH, I can't believe the short sightedness of this company. Their price is great, ordering was easy, delivery was quick, and I was all prepared to give them a big rap to all I knew. Not to mention order tyres for the other 2 cars in my household. Now, I post warnings to others. Not the way I'd run a company.

[projectrracing]

That's not good. I have never had an issue with online companies before selling very old stock.

I wonder if you could try and asked for a part refund? IE- $100-$200 back, and keep the tyres. As long as they feel soft still, they are all good. But I'm the same as you, 3yo tyres don't interest me.