As an avid boater always working on maintenance and upgrades, I rely heavily on marine parts retailers. Over the years, I‘ve ordered from dozens of suppliers to repair and improve my Bayliner. Recently, I decided to give Partsvu a try after reading about their huge selection and discounted prices.
Below I‘ll share my hands-on review of Partsvu after placing several orders worth $500+ in the past few months. I‘ll analyze their strengths and weaknesses across key criteria like product availability, cost savings, order delivery, returns and more.
Overview: What Products Does Partsvu Sell?
For those unfamiliar, Partsvu is an online retailer selling marine engine parts, boat accessories, electronics, and maintenance gear to DIY consumers. This includes equipment for popular brands like:
- Mercury
- Yamaha
- Suzuki
- Evinrude
- Honda Marine
With 75,000+ products available from 50+ manufacturers, Partsvu stocks practically any boat part or accessory you might need.
I mostly ordered tune-up parts, fuel components, steering equipment, and electronics from them for my older Bayliner. But they carry everything for all boating applications including:
- Engine internal parts
- Boat covers
- Anchors, fenders
- Lubricants, cleaners
- Safety gear
- Fishing equipment
So whether you require a basic spark plug or advanced sonar system, Partsvu likely has you covered.
Below I break down the pros and cons I experienced buying from Partsvu over several orders this boating season.
Pros of Buying from Partsvu
After testing Partsvu multiple times, several great benefits stood out:
Huge Selection Saves You from Backorders
Finding specific tune-up components and fuel parts for my aging Bayliner had been challenging. Even popular retailers rarely stocked what I needed.
But Partsvu‘s massive 75K+ product inventory came through when others failed.
For example, I easily found an obsolete flame arrestor and discontinued choke cable for my engine via their website search. Niche parts often out of stock elsewhere were readily available – huge selection advantage.
And compared to traditional marine stores, backorders are far less common with Partsvu‘s abundance of inventory.
My Insight: For old, tough-to-find boat parts, Partsvu delivers big time!
Discount Pricing Beats Local Dealers
In addition to flawless inventory availability, I saved 20-30% average compared to local marina shop prices.
For context, my local marine dealer charges $89.99 retail for basic Mercury Quicksilver outboard spark plugs.
The exact same OEM plug set on Partsvu was priced at $64.95 – over $25 cheaper!
And that discount advantage applied to every Partsvu order from corrosion anodes to fuel injectors. Their dealer status with Mercury and other big brands brings nice price breaks for customers.
Savings Breakdown On My Partsvu Orders
| Product | Partsvu Price | Local Marina Price | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Oil Filter | $26.95 | $42.49 | $15.54 |
| Suzuki Outboard Spark Plugs (set of 6) | $47.95 | $72.99 | $25.04 |
| Garmin GPSMAP 8616xsv Chartplotter | $2,059.20 | $2,599.99 | $540.79 |
With big savings like that just on a few items, Partsvu is hands-down cheaper than local dealers!
My Insight: Partsvu beats local retailer prices for the exact same name brand goods in my experience!
Helpful Maintenance Advice and DIY Tips
What sets Partsvu apart from many online retailers is how much helpful informational content they provide buyers.
Their site offers guides detailing:
- Step-by-step maintenance procedures and schedules
- Outboard motor troubleshooting trees
- Fuel system optimization advice
- Boat electronics installation guides
- Winterization checklists
And much more handy technical content…
As someone who enjoys taking on my own repairs, I found their DIY tips invaluable when servicing my outboard and installing new marine electronics. The detailed instructions and visuals gave me added confidence tackling more complex projects.
And for beginners, this maintenance advice can help you safely learn new skills – saving on expensive mechanic visits.
My Insight: Beyond quality parts at low prices, Partsvu provides the know-how needed to put them to use!
Cons of Buying from Partsvu
However, Partsvu has some drawbacks to note as well:
Website Navigation Struggles at Times
With over 75,000 marine products listed, properly categorizing this huge inventory is tough.
In my experience, the search filtering and product browsing functions still need further tuning.
For example, when looking for a replacement bimini boat cover, I had to scroll through 100+ listings spread across various categories. More advanced filtering by size, shape, color, etc wasn‘t possible.
So you may waste time hunting compared to sites with very defined, multi-level product categories.
My Insight: Partsvu‘s organization lags category-focused marine websites. But their superior inventory depth offsets this in my opinion.
Rare Out-of-Stock Situations Occur
Again given their enormous product variety, Partsvu does very well keeping items consistently available.
But with COVID-related supply chain hiccups beyond their control, I endured two stock-outs needing backorders over five big orders.
Specifically, a Volvo Penta drive belt and Johnson bilge pump went temporarily out of stock after purchase.
Luckily customer service was transparent about estimated restocking timelines. And both items shipped a few weeks later.
But for critically needed same-day parts, stock-outs remain a marginal risk to prepare for when shopping Partsvu.
My Insight: Supply fluctuations cause occasional short stock-outs, but Partsvu handles the delays reasonably well.
Partsvu Ordering Process and Delivery Experience
Next I‘ll share details on what it was actually like ordering from Partsvu direct from product selection to delivery.
Straightforward Website Ordering
After registering an account, I found Partsvu‘s website intuitive to navigate when placing orders.
They make finding specific parts easy via:
- Search bar lookups by part number or keywords
- Convenient shop-by-brand pages
- Category-based browsing
And their shopping cart, shipping estimator, and checkout process worked as expected without issues.
Within 30-60 minutes I could complete even large 150+ item orders online with little confusion. Certainly much faster than driving to my local marine dealer!
My Insight: Partsvu‘s webstore functionality performs well for finding and purchasing thousands of marine parts.
Order Processing and Shipping Speed
I‘m quite satisfied with Partsvu‘s fulfillment times too.
Each order shipped out within 24 business hours on average – 1-2 days tops before sending.
For East Coast delivery, I received my packages 4-6 business days after ordering. Super reasonable considering these involved bulky, heavy parts.
And anything over $149 qualified for Partsvu‘s advertised free standard shipping which is fairly common with my larger orders.
My Insight: Partsvu processes and ships rather quickly based on my several East Coast orders.
Returns Are Straightforward
I had to exchange one incorrect steering cable that arrived. But Partsvu made returns and refunds smooth.
After contacting their customer service team via phone, I easily got an RMA issued. They provided a prepaid return label with 30 days to mail it back.
Once received, my refund posted within 3 business days – pretty timely turnaround.
My Insight: Partsvu wants you satisfied and enables 1-click self-service returns up to 30 days later.
Final Verdict After Buying $500+ in Parts
In total, I spent over $500 and ordered 50+ items across five Partsvu orders the past boating season. Based on using Partsvu extensively, I can confidently recommend them as a leading marine parts retailer.
They offer an awesome combination of:
- Massive 75K+ product selection
- Name brand parts discounted 20%+
- Informative maintenance procedures
- Fast order processing
- 30 day easy returns
Finding niche components for an aging boat can be challenging and expensive.
But Partsvu solves both problems with their enormous inventory and market-beating prices. I waste less time backordering scarce parts. And I complete projects for markedly less by buying directly from Partsvu versus local shops.
While their website search functionality needs better filters, it was never enough to ruin my shopping experience. And out-of-stocks barely occurred with how diligently they replenish rare parts.
Ultimately, Partsvu provides awesome service for the DIY boat owner. I recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone looking to save money on maintenance, repairs, electronics installs, and upgrades!
