First point, and the most important - always support your local scooter shop, for me it is Scoot Over in Tucson, and MotoCity in Phoenix, and when they tell me they have to order, then I look at other independant scooter shops around the country, I always try them first. Next, if you do not see what you want/need on-line, please CALL them, you have a better chance of letting them know live - person to person - what exactly it is that you are looking for, and thus prepare them for the possible next time. I have ordered well over $15,000 in Vespa/Stella parts over the past 5 years for myself and members in our club, (I also help them to work on their scooters for free, everthing but paint, that I leave to my good friend Eric at 2nd Avenue Scooter Painting & Restoration. I started out with Scooterworks, ran into all the issues already touched on, and a few more, and moved on to people who first, know something about scooters, second, actually work on scooters, and third, are courteous, polite and patient with me on the phone, and have a no-nonsense return policy.
If any I deal with screw up, and do not make it right on their dime, then off the list they go. Now with all of this said, maybe it will lend some credence to this post.
Here are my 'go to' sites - some here in the US, some in GB.
If someone is not on the list, it is for a valid reason. I have tried all that you could possibly think of.
http://www.firstkick.com (USA)
http://www.garnersclassicscooters.com - call him, very helpful, the website is out of date
http://www.scootermercato.com -top notch guy (USA)
http://www.scootersoriginali.com - great people (USA)
http://www.scootershop.com (USA)
scootrs.com (Vietnam?) Solid products, great prices, despite what you may have heard)
scootersauce.com Birtoni Scooters (GB)
http://www.allstyles-scooters.com (GB)
http://www.myscooterparts.co.uk (GB)
http://www.minimoddesigns.co.uk (GB)
http://www.rivierascooterspares.co.uk (GB)
I use GB sites because they are crazy about quality - best chrome accesories on the planet, many have their own manuacturing and plating facilities in GB.
I did NOT list many of the popular (Big) sites due to problems with their customer service or bad attitude, or those well known for taking the low road on how to deal with customers as human beings.
Others I have listed are much better, and work harder to deserve your business. As I said earlier, not on my list, stay away.
Scooterworks is also ok, but big and impersonal. Plus they are owned by Genuine Scooter Company, so huge dealer favoritism exists. They may have the part you need, but will not sell it to you because they want you to go to the Genuine dealer and pay double for it. Also, they do not list all the parts they do have to sell, even to the dealers. Lots of issues. Plus the person you are get on the phone does not know the difference between a VBB and a PX200. Biggest is not always the best.
S.I.P. Scooters - ok, but have huge minimum dollar amounts required to get reasonable shipping. Get a group order together, double check to make sure what you have ordered is what you really want. Not good for the one at a time scooter tinkerer.
And lastly, simply check Scoot.net used parts, I have been very surprised at what comes up for sale here, and post a wanted ad for the more difficult parts not available on-line or from the local shop, the best resource of all.


- all I need to say really!