Hot Rods How Are You Guys Selling Your Parts?

...or are you? Are you having good luck here in the HAMB Classifieds?...on Craigslist?...or no luck at all?

Do any of you guys still use eBay? I haven't sold on there for years, and now I'm hearing all kinds of horror stories about outrageous fees, them taking a percentage of your shipping costs, holding your money for 21 days, sellers getting ripped off by buyers, and eBay not doing anything about it, etc...

Like to hear what you guy's are experiencing...

 

HAMB classifieds ands swap meets

 

Swap meets around here have been going down hill for a few years, except for a couple large major ones...and even then, its mostly tire kickers, who want everything for $5...

 

Depends what it is. Smaller stuff that has limited demand but is worth some money, goes on ebay. I don't have any horror stories. they do take a chunk of the sale price and paypal percentage and shipping costs...so you don't actually get as much as what the final price is. But I can sell stuff on ebay for 2 to 4 times what I can sell it for locally or at the nearest automotive swap meet, so it's worth it.

some stuff I do take to the swap meet, and get rid of it...cheap...because I want to get rid of it, and dropping the price way down seems to be the only way to actually sell stuff.

A few things will sell on craigslist, but I'm a ways from a big city, so not much demand for my junk locally, and not much I have is worth guys traveling to buy it.

I should sell stuff on the hamb classifieds, but I don't seem to have much that people here want, or something.

 

I have some things for sale on the HAMB and have not had much luck selling. Maybe I need better feedback. LOL

Last thing I sold on Ebay was a pair of 392 hemi heads, Ebay figured shipping on them at about half of cost and we ended up eating the rest of the shipping. The are now officially my last resort sale barn.

I have had good luck using craiglist but you have to be patient enough to wade through the mountain of people who have no clue as to what they are buying and either ask stupid questions or want to tell you that you are not selling what you say it is. Most of the time I am not that patient so they are also a goto after no one on the HAMB wants it.

 

I haven't had much luck on any of the Facebook classified pages either...

 

I'm a young guy, I have NEVER purchased a swap space. Doesn't seem worth it for the small pile I have. And I have no desire to babysit my junk for days. But I do buy at swaps.

It's the internet for me, Craigs, Ebay, HAMB, Ford Barn. I just don't have the time to get out to find what I need.

 

I sold a lot on ebay years ago before the fees escalated. Craigslist is the best right now, but you have to sieve out the flakes. I sold some house materials when I remodeled. Inner & outer door set, sold real fast. I buy some car parts as well if the $$ is right.

 

I used to sell off my excess on Ebay but they got too expensive and I got tired of the packing and always ended up getting burned on shipping.
I have sold a few things here on the classifieds but shipping costs keeps a lot of people from buying stuff thats too far away to pick up.
Swap meets in my area are few and far between and when they do put one on they charge too much for the space and I usually just break even and end up practically giving the stuff away. I take stuff to get rid of it and usually ask minimum prices for it.
My best resource has been Craigslist. People are usually close enough for a pickup and there are no hassles with shipping and packing. There are a lot of oddballs that contact you though. I have gotten pretty good at spotting the scammers by their language on emails though. My problem with Craigslist is I keep finding stuff to buy. And usually end up selling it again because I never used it.

 

like anything, seller & buyer need to be at the same place at the same time. no guarantee on any one way.

 

I alway have trouble with posting adds on eBay.pics go upside down ect. Been successfull right here on the Hamb, Craigslist works well but have to put up with the scammers

 

We have kijiji here similar to craigs list a year ago or so a local guy was selling his truck 2 guys came to look,long story short he took them for a test drive he never came back weeks later the police found his body burnd beyond recognition the 2 guys are still in jail,not sentenced yet..be carefull out there

 

HAMB is easy and most everyone is good! I did very well this year at Hershey. I really don't have lots of stuff to sell so whatever over flow I collect all year will go to Hershey. If I don't give it to a friend first

 

I need to sell some stuff and recently heard Craigslist traffic has slowed... I haven't used EBay in years and have had limited luck here. From the feedback here, sounds like Craigslist is still my best bet especially if I don't have time to pack and ship stuff.

 

I have bought from E-bay, Craigslist and swap meets
usually a good deal. have only used Craigslist and swap meets to sell
because shipping is a pain for me.

 

I'm feeling what @squirrel is sayin'

If it will fit in a USPS flat rate box, eBay, not worth dealing with CL loonies.
If it is something small and VERY SPECIFIC, eBay, otherwise the guy who needs it will never find it.
If it's something big or would be a freight item, Craigslist
If it's in a bin or not too heavy to want to load and unload twice, it comes to a swap meet if we feel like going.

I don't use the HAMB classifieds much for anything anymore. I look occasionally, but after getting bombarded with seller-only-members trying to sell me their spindles, no pictures, for 25% or more over what they go for shipped from most eBay sellers, I've given up on that unless it's for something very specific.

Vending at a swap meet is more about the experience than the profit in my experience. The few times I haven't lost money by not selling enough things I had $100 on for $10, I've spent everything I made at other guys' stalls... I have concluded that that must be why it's called a SWAP Meet.

 

It also depends on the parts you have for sale,Generally my over run of Deuce parts sell fast,other odd parts are slow sellers.

I quit using e-gay,so I basically use the Hamb classifieds or sale at swap meets.

Some parts are funny,I have taken a model A front cross member to the swap meet several times and no interest at all for 20 bucks,my pal Mike went with me to the last one and while I was walking around he sold the same cross member for 50 bucks...ya never know. HRP

 

Wow, what a horror story.
I have used Kijiji many times and hope to never experience that!

 

Craigslist would be better for me if I was better at dealing with ignorance. LOL

 

It definitely takes some patience...

 

On craigslist here a few years back people were showing up to job interviews and getting killed or maimed or both. Real bad news.

 

Ebay or craigslist. Most of my stuff is chevy based so there's a big enough audience that it sells.

Actually been buying on bookoo, see if they're in your area, very localized classifieds. Seems like everything I find on Craigslist around chicago is an hour away.

 

HAMB Classifieds and swap meets ONLY.

 

back in the good old days of ebay I sold several truckloads of parts over a 5 year period ending in 2008 when they began to suck. I would go to swaps and buy stuff to sell, after a while I had a mental list of what was cheap at swaps and good sellers on ebay. I tried to specialize in 49 - 54 Chevrolet parts, and there were several sellers doing the same thing. now if you put 1950 Chevrolet in the search there are more toy cars than actual parts. ebay fucked it up big time. I think the "best match" as ebays preferred search criteria was the death of my business. it was fun while it lasted.

now I sell through Craigslist and the occasional swap meet, just getting rid of extra junk and no longer buying to sell. I still use ebay for my antique toy collection, they seem to do well there when I have an extra... but you end up paying about 15%, while it used to be under 10% in fees.

 

I'm with Squirrel, big heavy stuff or project cars go on Craigslist or here on the HAMB, also some Facebook selling groups. Stuff small enough to ship but worth enough to be worth shipping, goes on eBay. Stuff too good to throw away but not worth putting on eBay goes to the swap meet.

All of my swap meet items are either $1 or $5, and I usually sell 3/4 of it or better. If it goes to a couple swaps and doesn't get bought, I scrap it. Can't save it all.

Ebay fees with paypal and the shipping fees they charge eat up probably 15% overall, all said and done. That's high, but you get so much more money, it's worth it. I started selling on Ebay in '02, my lifetime sales total is $407,839.58 spread out over 7876 sales. That's an average of about $52 per sale, and each one required writing it's own listing, taking pictures, and shipping. It takes work, but it's worth the effort.

 

This is very true. You used to be able to search "1951 Mercury" and look through 4 or 5 pages of items, now that search brings up 17,841 matches (I just tried it) and 99% of it is in no way related to that car. That sucks. The only upside is that the shitty new system has made a ton of people stop selling there, so those of us left still selling old original parts have much less competition.

 

too bad scrap steel prices just took a dump...I did good cleaning up my yard a few years ago!

 

exactly. I just put in 1949 Chevrolet and got 33,421 listings in "all categories". when you put "1949 Chevrolet" in quotes you get 1060 listings. how many times will a newbie search for parts if they don't use quotes?

 

BLASPHEMER!

 

I will probably stay with HAMB classifieds and some other sites but NO MORE paypal will be accepted I have a 100 rating on ebay and got the "hold payment" up to 21 days crap but they wanted me to ship it at my expense and then wait to pay me,that ain't gonna happen,so it's money orders only or local craigslist with cash.