First Gen Grille Options

Mine should be waiting for me when I fly home tonight.

 

^^^ $100 difference when buying grill direct from China vs buying from someone selling same China grill here in the US, and shipping time to customer is shorter when customer bought direct from China. That's an eye opener.

 

Typical. Middleman inherits the risk, thus marks up as high as they think the domestic market will perceive as "fair value" (despite what they're paying), while also factoring in (capitalizing on?) the mistrust of the part's origin market, and capitalizing on "finder's fee", I guess.

If things go south on their 1st big batch, they're potentially out a lot of coin. If it goes well and nobody finds the cheaper origin and confirms quality (too late!), it's a gold mine. Capitalism at its finest.

Now just to see if the direct-order parts are good. Often factories over there will set aside "seconds" for direct purchasers, send the highest-quality parts to the big importers, and the "thirds" go to other alibaba stores to be sold direct as well, which is ultimately what ends up tarnishing the higher quality pieces made, but nothing goes to waste...

 

Got mine ready to install. Looks nice enough to me.

 

Looks sharp.

 

Nice! Any plans to eventually paint-match the outer rim, or outer rim and center stripe?

 

Letters appear to be non removable. I could see asking my paint shop to mask and paint them. But silver is ok as an accent color too.

I want more black on this truck so not painting the outer surround. The wide mouth look of the one I have on right now is what I find a but more than I really wanted as far as white painted stuff goes.

 

Their a shabby outfit by leading customers to believe TEQ is building the grill. His order tracking goes from ordered parts to build in progress to quality check in progress to order ready and finally order is in transit, and that's what legitimate manufactures do. Not resellers. So far it looks like TEQ came through for two orders, but the scam just mentioned is irritating and causes red flags to fly. I'll say this business is a kid in the garage building head lights and ordering other parts from manufactures instead of manufacturing them as led to believe. Hope others who ordered don't have to hold their breath waiting for the grill past 90 days or want their money back due to excessive time waiting for unfulfilled order. If the kid says the part takes over 90 days and cancelled orders are charged, then he covered himself and knows the game. Those kind of businesses are untrustworthy and word about them should be spread as a courtesy to others.
Not a good way to build a trustworthy business, but a kids way to look big when not. Lucky for him people make excuses for a business that's not straight up with customers. I won't and am out.

 

There is a flipside to it though, another possibility that legitimately happens.

It's entirely possible they did design the part, and do what everyone else does: Make and test your prototype. Go to China for production. Send prototypes over. Then, no faster than you come to market with your first batch, the warehouse or their sub are selling 2nds/3rds/one-offs through Alibaba because they can make 8x-20x more per piece than selling bulk to you, and your bulk operation pays the big bills.

I've read a handful of stories of scAmazon doing just this, using their manufacturing relationships overseas and either find the warehouse making it to get their own copies, or pay one of the warehouses they work with to reverse engineer and clone your product. Similar scam to the "let us help you with your invention!" services here in the US that would help you get patents, as a means to jack your design while patent is pending, or bring similar products to market.

 

I looked into this new grill and got to the "source" of it. It is not made, designed, or manufactured by TEQ. Those attributes can be claimed by Jiangsu Duode Auto Technology Co., Ltd. They make the same grill for many different makes and models, all with the same style and options. It is a very high quality part. TEQ's price however is not bad considering the shipping cost for a single grill to the US is around $130. Add in the price of the grill and you are at $220. TEQ is likely waiting for a certain amount of orders to be made before placing his own order, saving on shipping and also on unit pricing. If a forum member here could be trusted to gather our orders and place a single order, we could all do the same thing TEQ is doing and save even more money.

 

For my Tacoma I bought a $60 eBay knockoff pro grille. It arrived in reasonable time but no letters. I asked for letters and was given a partial discount. That was frustrating. So I sourced black letters elsewhere and spent a day drilling the grille to take them since it didn’t line up properly. But I got black letters which I prefer to silver on my MGM Tacoma.

I don’t have a problem with this gamble. I assume anything plastic is made overseas. I consider Teq heads and shoulders above ktjo and I’ve still bought a few things from her.

When it comes to stuff like this, the only risk free option is OEM from the dealer. Which comes at a fairly high cost.

Bottom line? Reasonable gamble and price. Not devoid of risk but so far I’m satisfied. I just don’t like the OEM grille for front camera choices specifically and also for grille lights. And that reminds me that I need to drill for my front camera.

@evilrb mine is Teq

 

Shipping is $130 to the US. It will take approximately 1 month from time of order for it to arrive.

 

Can order a single grill from manufacturer in China that says shipping to the east coast is appx 7 days. A representative will let you know when messaging them about shipping cost + delivery time and other questions asked. The grill comes with the lights and center TOYOTA logo grill insert at no extra charge. Learned habit to always ask any manufacturer or seller about expected shipping time and getting all that's included at said cost. W/o bargaining, grill with logo and lights was $80 and ship via air was $95, $175 total with appx 1 week shipping.

After observing buyers here, it's obvious TEQ orders their grills from China and does not make them as the owner indicates. So, save big with appx 1 week shipping and $100 + less total charge than same TEQ's grill charge. Much cheaper for same grill bought direct from Chinese manufacturer. Definitely a win win purchase from a stand up China manufacturer that supply all resellers here in the states for the aftermarket custom fit TRD grills. I think they are 12hrs ahead of Eastern time and respond quickly to messages during working hours, as they have customer service reps just for that. A professionally run company that offers good business/product and are exactly who they state to be. Their phones are used and not ignored, people answer it and all your questions. I never did get someone to pick up the phone at TEQ which makes you wonder why a phone number is even listed!

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Auto-Parts-New-Design-ABS-Black_1600484464531.html

 

On the Alibaba idea, are you guys registering as legitimate businesses? That’s intended to be b2b rather than b2c. Whereas Ali express is the b2c world.

 

I feel like this would be a good candidate for a group buy, where one person buys a crapload, and then distributes.

 

For FGT, is that not effectively what Teq is doing? But you're saying they are charging too much for the service? I sure as s would not be too interested in ordering/storing a bunch of these and re-shipping to people in the US, that's legitimate work.

I don't really understand the vitriol on this topic, there's an easy way and a less easy way, the easy way costs more money, isn't that what a free market is about?

I was considering getting a grille for my '05 Taco from these guys but even though I'm a legitimate business, I'm not sure I want to open myself up to b2b via alibaba. For the FBC business itself, all of my ordering has been through aliexpress.

But I am curious how others are buying singles via alibaba as I did, back in the day, initiate an account which was promptly canceled (I wasn't a legitimate business back then.)

 

^ This. There is literally an option for not a business.

 

"that's legitimate work"
Lol, you ought to know buying from a manufacture, storing it and shipping item out is good money. Especially for people who don't like real work and know it's an easy peasy favorable income for organized folks. There's not much of breaking a sweat at storage/warehouse facility or where ever and bending the brain for that, if at all. It's a joke to say otherwise, anyone with half a brain could do it. Lot of free time in the A/C, lol. However, some don't like it for their own reasons and it boils down to...to each their own.

"vitriol on this topic" is a misconception.
Pointing out facts to help others purchase from a good seller with lowest cost is good news. Needlessly spending extra cash for same grill at higher price is foolishness, and to knowingly buy from and support misleading companies at a higher cost doesn't say a whole lot of good about that person, especially if they don't spread the word or say customer beware as is done everywhere today. Frugal spending during a failing economy where prices are steadily going up due to inflation, is typically a necessary and appreciated opportunity by consumers.

"there's an easy way and a less easy way, the easy way costs more money"
Buying from an Alibaba is just as simple as buying something from the US, and in this case the only difference is saving 100 + cash for buying the grill from the manufacturer in China, and not from vendors in America they sell to.

"But I am curious how others are buying singles via alibaba"
It's ludicrous to compare yesterday's preference to sell to what's done today...are you so upset to try and stop them from selling!
Because I am a potential buyer and whenever asked if I am a business due to requirement, I simply say yes. If they don't sell just one product, I ask to purchase one as an example item to check quality. But this manufacture sells from one item to bulk quantity, and who am I or anyone to question them. Just enjoy the huge savings and lickety split shipping that other's don't offer.

Here's their website link, ck what they do
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Auto-Parts-New-Design-ABS-Black_1600484464531.html

 

I like the custom satoshi mesh grill listed by one of the members here...

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2000-02-2003-06-satoshi-grille.32176/

Link for website: https://www.customcargrills.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Toy-Tun-00-Mesh

 

Need to get the rest of the chrome with some plasti dip. I went TEQ, was a little hesitant using Alibaba.

 

Yeah, the China bumper TEQ has is from same grill manufacturer listed here that sells on Alibaba. Looks good, the blk on blk gives a clean appearance. Lol, if I lived in a big house on the lake like you, money wouldn't matter much to me either.

 

I think so too. But Ridgline owners are fairly happy with their grilles. Well, maybe not casper, but...lol.

 

Do these trd grilles have to be painted?

 

Plastic welds the same as metal right? I’d love to do a satoshi, but I’m not a bondo man

 

I’m not a body guy, I’d have a hell of a time making all that work

 

Epoxy and fiberglass fiber?

 

As I was typing, I pondered getting a spare from a yard or a user parting out, to work on it without a rush or worrying if I mess it up.

@alb1k bust out the skate board molds while I’m at it

 

What are we molding? Decks, trucks or wheels?

 

Apparently grills and decks!

 

Id like to point out a few things from the FB screenshot that @evilrb posted.

1. If you look at the Chinese companies past products, that grill design is years old.

2. TEQ claims they can custom paint your grill for the reasonable price of $100. I ordered my grill from Alibaba and im getting it custom painted from the Chinese factory that is producing it. They can paint it any color, including full chrome, as per the discussion I had with the Alibaba seller. The cost? $10.

3. I would bet that TEQ is also getting the grill painted by the Alibaba seller, for $10.

That is all.