Like I said, that's what I've done a lot because I just don't want to take the time to mess with them and I really don't like to hose people on the labor for just an install but you know time is time.
As far as El cheapo, I don't know what model pump you're dealing with or unit but pretty much all of the ones or at least 98% of the ones I see and have seen for 10 years and 100% all of the ones that have the vertical crankshaft engine on top of the cart frame with the pump mounted underneath are ALL El cheapos! Even the people who would buy a replacement for a Troy-Bilt from troy-bilt.. it's still just a generic one manufacturer by some Chinese company so I don't think it matters what brand you buy or where you get it from.
Now the more commercial grade ones will have that larger rectangular pump often with a sight glass for the oil or at least a dipstick and a drain plug because the owner's manual actually tells you to change the crankcase oil at a certain number of hours consistently.
Now, these are still probably made in Japan at least most of them but it's a more robust design and those pumps do cost a little more.
The problem is some of these companies are still ridiculously capitalizing on their markup.
If you buy a carburetor for a generac generator from generac you can pay over $100 for it!
It's a Chinese carburetor probably not even Huayi which I find are actually very good. They are kind of like the high-end brand name of Chinese carbs.
But you can get this car or one just like it from eBay or Amazon for under $15 shipped to your door!
Troy-Bilt (MTD) does the same thing.
I understand using quality Parts when you know their quality and they stay quality and there's an obvious known difference between those and cheap ones but today the differences are few and far between.
Every local shop in a 50 mi radius of me still does everything the old fashioned way.
They order everything for the local distributors paying good money for it and they only mark it up a slight little amount. No shop is making a killing on their parts!
When they need that Troy-Bilt snowblower carburetor they end up with one from a Troy-Bilt box and it cost them between 45 and 60 bucks so they add another 8 or $12 on it when they sell it to the customer.
I guess in some ways this is good because if Troy-Bilt wasn't making such a killing on Parts they would have to raise the price of their new machines but I just can't do this.
Eventually these shops are going to have to start sourcing better prices for their parts. Hopefully.