saving. They haven't been able to compete on price for years; the scale just isn't sustainable. Some are able to compete on other things -- store service, service calls, delivery, local goodwill. Others go out of business, or are bought out by larger retailers that can absorb the scale along with a brick-and-mortar store.

There are variances in the quality and sourcing of a given part that a seller may offer. Give him the chance to come down a bit on the price.

national retailer selling decent parts from China, etc., vs. a small, likely inefficient local store likely dealing in original replacement parts. The local store's price probably is less than a repairperson's price, especially with analysis and installation.

Ultimately, those of us who can find jobs will likely make less because of what's happening in the economy. Fortunately, the new economy offers us some ways to save a lot of money. Other things like housing, transportation, health insurance or healthcare, just keeps going up.

The country is now largely a services economy. Around where I live, most workers are in healthcare, government, Air Conditioning installation and service (it is Florida), or warehouse operations. There is no biotech, one semi-high tech (government). The area is saturated with dollar stores and has more Walmarts per capital than I have seen anywhere. The huge reliance on healthcare and government jobs (federal, state, city, county) means that when the economy goes south, this area is going to get gutted, like it was in 2008. Once the government and healthcare jobs go, the other jobs that rely on them go, it was a bloodbath here in 2008, but President Obama's policies lifted the area.

in recent years, even doing well during 2008 mini-depression. If that goes, we are truly done. Where I am, there is a good bit of biotech and financial services. The latter is really at risk. I don’t think trump’s vision of America trading among ourselves is going to help.

If republicans mess with either, hospitals start taking writeoffs and have to start firing people.

lower price.

But, when you see that big a discrepency in price, there's a reason. Take it from someone who managed spare parts, there are a lot of knockoff and/or used parts out there. The store probably carried the OEM part which is usually more expensive because it's made to spec. Caveat emptor, just sayin'...

The OP may well be satisfied with the less expensive part, but with things like that, it is buyer beware. The more expensive part likely came with a free replacement warrantee, the other part, you're on your own if it does not work. I don't source parts anymore (my parts now are custom), but I will tell you that parts replacement can be a swamp, you can end up with unusable lemons. Let's say the part for Amazon does not work, the OP send it back and likely have to pay two way shipping, so the OP is out around $26, with no certainty on the replacement part. If the local store handed the OP a replacement part, the net cost would be $25 and if that part does not work, it can be taken back.

He charges $35.00 for a house call. He charges his cost for parts.

I like this option far better as he knows what he is doing. As for me,

I had a dryer knob break so it would not turn anymore. I checked the internet and the replacements were just like the one I had and the price was good. Several comments said buy more than one because they break - just like mine did. I ended up ordering the part from Sears and getting a GE part. The replacement had a metal receptacle instead of the plastic that had broken on mine. Apparently GE fixed the problem.

The dryer came from Home Depot but they did not have that part. In fact, their phone order number had me on hold for over an hour and when I tried to find the knob on their website, the only thing that came up was "hair dryers."

There are some items for which I prefer a particular brand, such as Ryka shoes. Can't find 'em around here. Nor, can I find sports bras and lap swimsuits in my size. I either go onto the Internet, or I drive 40 minutes to August, and hope I don't get killed by these idiot drivers, or that the trip is wasted because they don't have it, either. I would rather just buy things locally, but they make it hard for me.