price is not the only component of value.
Ease of doing business, timeliness, trust, familiarity witih the person / company, expertise, condition, post purchase support, keeping your dollars in the community, keeping your dollars in the country, supporting fellow enthusiasts / friends etc. etc.
all of those are key factors.
if one person buys out of Japan for $400, brings the part over here and you can buy it in person for $600 that may still be of value to you if you were not willing to take the risk sight unseen on a part half way across the world for $400.
The same goes for me, you could maybe save $10 if you chased ebay auctions on some of the items i sell, but if you have a problem with the item then you are stuck with it or paying cross border shipping twice more if the seller is even willing to help you.
if you buy your SR20 and have it shipped from the US or Montreal and it doesnt start you are shit out of luck… if you spent a couple bucks more and bought from varun you would have a new motor in your hands a couple days later.
Antonio, the people you are talking to are shallow and unintelligent. They fail to see the whole picture, as do you apparently. This same outlook is the root cause of alot of industry issues to the detriment of companies like Greddy, Apexi and all the others that are losing sales.
The same outlook caused major issues for IBM in the 80’s and made billions of dollars for Michael Dell and Bill Gates.
Sometimes the best price or the best product is NOT what people want. They want easy and safe transactions, they want interchangeable and compatible equipment, they want Bing god damn it.