Hot Rods How Are You Guys Selling Your Parts?

I sell here on the Hamb and on Ebay. On Ebay I always list my phone number and encourage a phone call. I usually end the listing and sell offline. Still accept Paypal but only as a gift. No issues yet.

 

I just did a good deal on Craigslist, swapping my 17 DB for a much needed lawn tractor and a pair of Model T frames I can tuck out of the way. What I've found with CL as far as selling,

Make sure you require a phone number in any responses. This weeds out almost all scammers.
Use the email relay, which makes you anonymous until you want to get the guy on the phone.
Chat a little over the email and get a feel for the guy before following up on the phone to get a better feel if it's a legit car guy or not.

If I get a bad feeling or strange answer/question, etc. I move right along.

This is what I've done both from the buying and selling angles and I've managed to meet some genuine car people and interesting characters.

 

Hey patmanta!
You talkin' 'bout me!!!!
HaHa hello!

 

Hey Tony
You can come by my place to rob me, I haven't shot anyone in the foot for a while and my reputation is starting to fail.

 

Hey beaner,
I've been in a lot of old barns in my time,
But I never encountered a shotgun ...yet!
And you would be surprised how many 'toters
there are just 100 miles north of NYC!
can you say "red neck?"

 

KC is like Dodge City when Marshall Dillon was still there.

No one worries about terrorists here we shoot back.

 

I sell very little, only when someone comes into the garage and wants something I have and don't need. I don't buy and sell for profit, unless I can add value to the item, most cases I still have stuff from what I obtain 35 years ago. If I do buy something, it has to be something that I can go, pay, and pick up all at the same time. I can understand someone who takes the time, gas, and effort to go find something, just for the purpose of re-selling it, and justify their action but charging for profit, for their time and effort, I just don't have the time, desire, or need to go looking for stuff I don't need. I have enough already---HA HA.

 

I have/had a large stash of stuff that needs to go away. Swap meets are OK for lower priced stuff, but I did manage to sell some more expensive large items. It depends on the swap meet though, some of them are good for selling, others not so much. You do see the same guys over and over - vendors buying stuff to resell.

Craigslist is very slow around here for selling. A guy I know recently moved to Kentucky and tried without success to sell his household junk on Craigslist here, so he trucked all the crap to Kentucky and sold it right away. Maybe a lot of it has to do with your proximity to a larger city, folks just don't want to travel 45 minutes to look at junk.

 

Aint that the truth. I had a bike frame for sale on Cl here and there was a guy half an hour away that just couldn't find time to come see it, this went on for about a month. The last time he contacted me was as the frame was leaving my driveway and I had to tell him a guy drove 5 hours to look at it and bought it.

My take on it is this if you don't want it bad enough to drive across town to see it don't waste my time and yours.

 

eBay. I just started selling on eBay earlier this year. I've sold stuff there is no way I would of sold any other way. This is because of the EXPOSURE eBay has. I look at the eBay and PayPal fees as cost of doing business. By using these tools, my margin is higher --> enough to more than cover the fees.
Shipping: Before you even list the item, you have to package and weigh the item for sale. This is the only accurate way to not get burned on shipping. And if the shipping the buyers pays is LESS eBay/USPS is telling you it is, complain to eBay. They will straighten it out.
PayPal. As for PayPal, I just leave the money from sales in the account and use that money as a "slush fund" to spend on parts I need from eBay or Rock Auto --> FREE MONEY!! Well, not really, but it seems like it is, plus I'm clearing out my junk!!
Craigslist. I don't like people coming to my house. When I have sold stuff, I either have it in the yard with the garage closed, or find a neutral location.
Swap meets. I don't like selling because you sit around all day (I'd rather be shopping!) waiting for that ONE person who needs the part you have to walk by your spot and hope that he sees it and makes an offer. Then haul it all back if there is a no-sale. However, I do like buying at swap meets!!
Gearhead Friends / Relatives. I now pretty much offer any of my parts to friends and relatives for free, if they need them.

 

A situation with volume that needs to move, at least from a buyer's perspective, means selling as a Lot or broken out into small lots at prices that there's plenty of meat on the bone left. The guy that's going to come and take out a truckload at a time is doing it primarily for resale and maybe to get a few things for their build. Craigslist is pretty good for this kind of thing as long as you can figure a way to weed out the scrappers. LOTS of pictures of the stuff in question are critical for getting responses to this kind of listing. Without pictures, most guys tend to will pan right by assuming there's nothing worth having. When I've gone for big clean out lots, I like to be able to fill my 6' bed level for a few hundred.

 

no luck selling here. one of my problems is that I haven't figured out how to post pics. very hard for me since website update. I sell better at swap meets.

 

I'm almost exclusive into Corvette parts and with all the restomods being built the market is flooded with the take offs and has slowed sales on the more common parts. The harder to find parts still sell pretty well. Car model specific forums are good choices. eBay is not bad but with PayPal and selling fees it eats into the profit.

 

I use to use the hamb, but seems to have died down a bit for my items.

EBay, I really don't like but anything that can fit in one of those $5 flat rate boxes seems to do good.

Craigslist, I haven't sold anything there in over a year. People have gotten very annoying.

Most of my sales now are on Facebook...
Now given I completely loath Facebook, but there are alot of those little pages where people sell stuff on. Ship around and add alot of them, then test alot out, and keep the ones that work...
I have 10 friends on my facebook and a member to probably 25 pages...

 

The problem I have found with Ebay is that even when you put explicit details, tons of pics and ship the stuff, there is the Ebay fee, then the Paypal fee and there are scammer types out there who then complain about the part and in order to save face, i.e.Ebay reputation, etc you need to send a few bucks back to make them happy. I typically sell some things here and Craigslist, it is best IMHO to have people view the part in person.

 

I acquired a huge amount of Model A parts when I got my Coupe, along with the collection of stuff I had accumulated through the years. When I moved west I had to off alot of it (didn't need it anyhow), took some to swap meets, listed it on craigslist, also on here and Ford Barn and only moved a few pieces. Talked to several different vendors selling A parts at swap meet and one of them finally called and bought the whole truckload. Got what I thought was a reasonably amount for the stuff.

 

My Father and I have been selling at swapmeets for years.

I only hit the ones I known the kinds of parts I have sell.

The Burnt Hills indoor meet in March
Burnt Hills N.Y.

The Early Ford V8 meet in April
Fitchberg Mass

The Lebanon Valley Oval Track Swapmeet in Nov.
West Lebanon N.Y.

I have only been on the H.A.M.B. a little over a year.

However I have had very good luck selling and buying.

However I will only do business by phone, you can't get a read on people by E-mail.

 

I've had the best results with buying and selling here
https://www.instagram.com/rodswapper/?hl=en

 

Hit or miss here..... CL is the same. Swaps= Fun and all,but packing up,driving,unloading,getting silly offeres,loading,coming home and unloading isn't all that fun anymore.
Been doing the bay'..... Been pretty good about not getting hammered by fee's with special offers(they want the business),and am having locals contact me to PU items. I cut them some slack because I don't have to pack and ship and play with $= transferring.
If I loose a lil coin=the fee's I would get hammered on anyway's(only fee's),it save's me so much time without dealing with idiot's for a day.... Bonus for that is it only takes a few min's, VS a swap that in total takes days to prepare/break down for.....I don't mind the shipping aspect of things at all, but when I give weights and dimension, and my zip, and they still ask what it will cost to ship, kinda irk's some......Jack Asses!
So Far ,So Good.....Stuff is moving......... I look at the total logistic picture, and what it will cost ME.........

 

if you don't think ur stuff is gold and price it right it will sell......I never ever buy stuff just to resell at a profit...

 

Talk about cheating the system. That's like eating an entire meal, then demanding full credit.

You have to consider that the exposure your ad draws on ebay should bump the price enough to bake in the fees, and it beats dealing with Craigslist flakes.
There's no protection for a buyer sending Paypal as a gift. A seller could keep the money (as a "gift") and not send anything. The buyer has no recourse through Paypal. They'll tell you that the funds were "gifted" and the buyer learns a hard lesson. All this so the seller (that they're patronizing) can squeeze another 3% out of the deal. Why not just raise the selling price accordingly?

 

I have done well here in the HAMB and Fordbarn buying and selling - the rest goes to Spring and Fall Carlisle, Hershey, and a few local swaps when I can make them. Forget eSlay and CL - I will buy there but not sell. Too much of a cost, hassle, or just too risky. Bottom line, price rules the day and most stuff never really sells for what you think it is worth. Price reasonably and stuff will go. I have a nice pair of 40 Ford coupe doors I have not sold yet - price for the pair is really good I think but I guess not what others think. They will go eventually, probably because they got old and banged up just dragging them around. It is all part of the hobby - sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you!

 

I haven't sold any project cars in a while, but they went pretty quick on ebay.

I have not had good luck on CL, other than selling a house 2 yrs ago.

I've had real good luck selling bigger parts at local swap meets, like Monroe, Sins of Steel, Relix, etc, but I usually give 1st dibbs on stuff to my pals.

 

I have sold on eBay since 1998 and prices have dropped considerably. The 3310 Carbs I sold for $75-$100 are now $40-$50. Very few listed then as eBay was new. Now there is an abundance of everything. You need to have a very specialized part to bring good money. For me, the fees are just part of cost of selling. Since I live out in the country away from any big towns, I don't get the exposure that I get on eBay. It was mentioned before about figuring the cost of shipping before you list an item. I always do that and make sure I have a good box to ship it in. I have an old scale that I bought at an auction that is pretty accurate. A lot of my items can be shipped in free USPS Priority Mail boxes and envelopes. In addition, I have purchased, boxes, envelopes, address labels and tape off of eBay. That only adds about $1.00 to my cost of selling and I have the right stuff to ship and I buy all my postage online. Saves time and money. I get all my packing material locally for free. When buying, I always check feedback to see how they handle problems. If a person sells 10000 items in a year and has 99.9% positive feedback he may have 500 negatives. I stay away from from those sellers.
I have not been to any swap meets for a while since I am trying to get rid of all the stuff I bought at them. I agree about sitting there all day for a few sales and besides I take medicine that reacts with too much sun. I guess I got tired of seeing the same old junk from the same vendors at every swap meet. Who can use a broken mag wheel?
I sell items on Craigslist too but again where I live people don't want to travel an hour. I have had people ask me to meet them in Des Moines to deliver a $30-$40 item. That is not going to happen. If they want it they can come here. I have driven into town to meet people. That is only 5 minutes and I think people feel safer doing that instead of driving to the country. Pretty easy to sort out the scammers because they never mention the item being sold and they also want to know your lowest price and please answer quickly.
Some success on the HAMB selling but as was mentioned before, I don't have a lot of parts people need. I do list for less money here since I don't have to pay any fees. I have not bought much but had one bad experience a few years ago. That guy was banned and people were talking about legal action. It cost me about $300 from never getting the parts advertised. Otherwise, all the people I have done business with here have been great.
I have not had any trouble with PayPal. People usually send payment as a Friend/Relative, which doesn't cost anything.

 

Years ago, while I was at the local Pick n Pull, I would pickup small parts from OT cars for cheap, clean them up and sell them on Ebay. I actually used to make a decent amount of money doing it too. Now the yard is closed and Ebay sucks so now I use Craigslist and do my best to deal with the crowd that comes with it.

 

Been selling parts for more then 20 years (and about half my life, yeah I'm a younger guy).
Forums work good for me.
Ebay Works great for me but also work full time so..
My web site Brings in a lot of traffic, buying and selling stuff.
Swap meets LOVE them. A lot of what I bring, I don't have any love or much money in it. Reasonable offers will take it home.
The swap meet in Scotia New York in March (March 20, 2016 this year) is the best meet for buying AND selling. I always sell as much there in 5 hours as any full day at Rhinebeck !! Check out the link below, worth the drive !!
http://capitalarearods.net/?page_id=41
Photos of last year bottom 1/3 of the page http://capitalarearods.net/?page_id=206

 

I have had great luck with the HAMB classifieds.

 

I'm almost to the point of NOT selling anything, to anyone, for any reason. Recently, I've RESPONED to ads placed by someone looking for something. I've wound up having to do ALL the leg work, and on the last transaction, I had to make a partial refund because the guy was unhappy with a "non issue" to me. But, if you don't make them happy, they can come on here, and bad mouth you; I don't need that. Besides, I NEVER see any of the money from stuff I sell anyway. I made a deal with my wife years ago; she would't complain about my involvement in this hobby, and when I do sell something, SHE gets the cash. Keeps her happy, keeps me happy, and she has made out pretty good on a couple of items (several thousand dollars!). Craigslist: there's a reason they're known as Craigslist Freaks; most don't even know much about what they have, are asking too much, and you're taking a big chance the item is stolen, or they plan to jack you up. Swap meets: everyone is apparently selling stuff made of gold, and I won't play the game they want to play. I've yet to sell anything on E-Bay, have't even tried. I do buy however, though the last few times there's been a "glitch". The last item was with Jeg's, and I'm still fighting with them a month latter to get a refund on a camshaft they sent to Alabama, while I live in Washington State (???). They sent another from the manufacturer, when I told them all I wanted was a refund. All they had to do was recall the item with the tracking number, and give me the refund. They wanted me to receive the item, then E-Mail them for a return shipping label, send the cam back, wait for them to get it, then issue a refund. Not a way to do business, especially when they were the problem. No more Jeg's for me! This all boils down to one thing; LET THE BUYER BEWARE! There's a lot of crooks out there. There's decent people too, but we are still taking a big chance, unless it's a face-to-face deal, and the parts can be examined on-the-spot. On a lot of items I don't have a use for, I just give them away, rather than have to deal with the "granola people" (fruits, nuts, and flakes). I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I have bought quite bit off of the HAMB and sold a few things as well. I even bought the 51 Chevy in my avatar off a cat up in New Jersey from right here on the HAMB. It was better than I expected and he was real cool working with me to get up there, as im a single dad and i kept trying to not have to drag my boys with to go get it, but they loved and an now we go on "Hot Rod Adventures" as they call it. Craigslist is shady, but the deals are out there for sure. Picked up my 39 Tudor off there from a redneck idiot that wanted to "Tub it" as he said 800 times while I was there. Got it for a song, and I never forget what he said "this old ford just aint a Nova, that's good looking car" I know everyone has there opinions, but a Nova? He didn't deserve it so I had to liberate it, 425 Nailhead to be installed soon....

 

Have been selling on ebay for years. Things are very slow right now as far as sale. Because the farm will be up for sale in April or May I will no longer have a place to store parts I have alot to sell in just afew months. Bad timing, but not much I can do about it. Likely alot will be recycled. Wish there was some place the stuff was selling quicker without nearly giving it away. Rod