i've said this before, but i'll say it again...
i send jimmy an email before noon, and the parts show up on my front porch the next afternoon, unpaid for... i can't find any possible way to complain about that... i then go through the MASSIVE hassle of "write a check, put it in an envelope, open my mailbox as i walk past it, put it in, and raise the pickup flag"... how i survive that hassle every time, i'll never know... 
as far as parts numbers go... a small investment in the parts catalogs eliminates that issue, and also gives you all those wonderful exploded views of mechs (which helped me immensely when i was starting out)...
every few months one of these threads gets started, trying to tell steve how to run his business... personally, i like the way it is done... if nothing else, how many people/vendors do you deal with that send you stuff BEFORE you pay for it? i like that "old school trust"...
plus in effect, i AM ordering online... i just happen to pay offline... 
but the whole "do it the way it was done in the old days" way kinda is appropriate when buying em parts... 
