[el ess A]

It's actually smart business. It would cost $X for ARP to ship to Jeg's so they have them in stock, then it would cost $X for them to ship it to you. You're likely getting them a bit faster, too, IMO. You pay for handling once, whether that means using Jeg's logistical methods,ARP's, or both.

In this case, Jeg's is more of a 'partner' than the actual seller. But depending on the situation, I'm betting if you ordered directly from ARP, they'd either 1) not sell directly to the public (I don't know for sure, but some places only sell to jobbers) or 2) charge you more than Jeg's cost plus the $9.99 shipping.

And standard "free shipping" from ANYONE has shipping/handling price built in somewhere. They may not tell you that, but there's no way they're not getting charged on shipping costs somewhere/somehow.

Your dealer could charge you $35,000 for a lugnut, and getting the rest of your Camaro thrown in for free! To your door costs is what you have to look at, not the way they "package" the deal.

It still pays to shop around.