How to price parts for Swap Meet???

I recently purchased a huge lot of parts that a buddy bought from a parts store that closed years ago. Some of the totes are somewhat sorted. Heres a shot of one's contents.


It has spark plug adapters, boots and a few other ignition parts. Also some boxes of oil plugs.

These are all pcv valves.

How would you handle these. Put a certain amount on the tote for any item in the box. Should I try to find reference for what each item may fit?(i have probably 200 totes) What usually works well at meets for everyone. I do not have a whole lot of money in the parts so making a profit shouldnt be difficult.



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Depends. Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling the parts one at a time? or sell them all at once and be done with it?

 

If it was me, I would sell the whole lot and move on. If you sell that buy the piece your heirs will still have stuff to sell.

 

Well I go to a lot of swap meets. So a few items at a time is fine. But if you were to price that entire box, what would you put on it?


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What I have learned over the years is if you don't know exactly what the part is it ain't gonna sell.

Find out what you have,,you might sell it as a lot but if you have to sell it piece mill at least you will be able to tell the buyers what you have. HRP

 

find a vendor that deals in that stuff, and have him make a offer. he might buy one crate or all of them.
i sell alot of stuff, but that stuff is not worth my time to find one item worth something. most will be lucky to sell at a doller a item.

 

Aftermarket.Find a sucker and unload it for what they offer.
As far as pricing,look up a few items on on-line NAPA/Pep Boys web sites and cut their price in half. After looking up a few items you will get a feel for what they MIGHT be worth.

 

Its going to cost you swap space to sell, so unless you have other parts that move its going to cost you $35 to sell $20 that you paid $100 for. Think about it, the parts store sold all the good stuf and this is what is left

A Rock band will load up $5000 worth of equipment into a $500 car to go to a gig that pays $50

 

Boxed stuff like that isn't worth taking to a swap meet. After the box gets opened and closed 10 times and nobody buys it you'll know it has no market value. MAYBE if you research what the part fits it may sell on "That Auction Site" make it CHEAP, maybe $9.99 with FREE postage. Best bet is to unload it all to some dreamer. Bob

 

I see a lot of sellers at swap meets with totes full of NOS stuff and it hardly ever sells much because there is no reference to what the stuff fits. I usually just walk on by because its too time consuming to rummage through the parts. If you want to make money and sell them then you need to be able to tell customers what it fits. Either research the part numbers and mark the boxes/make a reference sheet...or sell it all bulk to someone who wants to deal with it.

 

Not worth pissin' with. Bundle it & move on. Let someone else sort it & lose THEIR ass.

 

I did this once, bought a foreign shop stock for cheap. The tools returned my original investment, but not at swap meets. I identified a lot of it and that went with in a year the other stuff even though most of it was for foreign cars went on auction sites and through word of mouth. I ended up throwing out a third of the total pile, mostly stuff for exotics and things that could not be identified.

 

I bet your buddy was happy to unload it to you...ha ha ha

 

Not so much, he passed.


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This^^. Everyone loves a bargain on something they need. Maybe you have the patience to sort it out, and identify it...a nice warm fire, some good music, and a beer or cup of coffee.
Sorry to hear of your buddy passing.
Good Luck !

 

Ebay....if you have the time to sort and figure what it all is. I see guys parting different stuff all the time on there. Dont know if they make any money. If they do, its likely on the shipping

 

I really didnt particularly want all the parts but the guy who they belonged to was one of the old timers that got me into this hobby. His widow needed the storage containers that they were in empty to sell, so I went ahead and bought them at her asking price. He was a good dude and a hell of a wheeler dealer. I owe it to him to try to sell the stuff right. I figure if it makes decent money I will go kick some back to his widow.


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I was always the young guy in the local car hobby and got lots of stuff when older guys moved on or passed away. IDing the boxed stuff is job one, you can make money once you know what you are selling. Sharp photos of "Opened for the first time" parts can help move them online. I wouldn't bother with the local flea market sales. Bob

 

Groupies Theres your value.

 

I agree with all of the above; if you can't tell a prospective buyer what it fits, it's worth zip. I've still got a couple of boxes full of NORS shocks floating around somewhere here that I got tired of hauling to meets.....

 

I have a friend, who goes to swap meets looking for people who unload little stuff like that. At the end of the day, when basically none of it has sold, he drops a low ball price on the whole lot. The people, who really don't want to pack it all home, usually sell it to him.

When he gets home, he grabs a 6-pack and goes through it. He tosses what he can't use and laughs about the stuff he can. He treats it like a "grab bag".

 

eBay is your friend here especially if you have part numbers do a search on items and see what results you get. I have sold at swap meets for a few decades and it can be very enjoyable even if you are only selling enough to cover your costs for the day. You never know what might be a good seller if you have the time do some research it can also be a good project for kids girlfriends or wives if they are into doing the research

 

swap meet buyer: "what does this fit?"
swap meet seller: "what are you working on?"
buyer: "1956 Henway"
seller: "that happens to fit a 1956 Henway"

 

Points and condensers are worth money. old seal kits aren't. Things in nice blue streak and Delco Remy boxes sell. Things in generic boxes don't. I've been down this road and the effort to value ratio is skewed against you. Everyone loves this shit till they have to pay you for it.

 

There are thousands of points, caps, condensers. Numerous fuel pumps, loads of brake parts. I think there will be some stuff that is worth some cash.


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Stuff like Lincoln v 12 points are $$$. Research is your friend. If you look at this as hobby time then what's the worse that can happen

 

Take a few pics of the stuff and list the whole lot on E-bay for 25-50% more than you bought it for,buy it now, free shipping when they have the free listing days and be done with it.

Could also have a make offer box with that deal

 

The whole lot has somewhere near 200 totes like the one in the pictures. There are A LOT of parts. The whole lot would probably cost a grand to ship. I think I will just run through a box at a time, do some research and see what happens.


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Everyone is right, if you can't tell a prospective buyer exactly what make and model a part fits is isn't worth anything. Plus, people generally don't trust old parts, even boxed up ones. You are going to have a lot of time researching part numbers, then you have to find just that one guy who happens to need that one part.

I passed on a 10 x 20 storage unit at an auction that was jammed to the roof with Edsel parts. Tons of parts of every description, guy must have been in the business. But I know zip about Edsels and would have had to learn what parts fit what models and years, plus I had to move and store all that stuff. A few months after the auction I saw an ad on Craigslist where the guy who won the auction was selling the whole lot at the same price he paid, just to get it off his hands.

Unless you are prepared to become a full time swap meet vendor, sell the lot to someone who is and let them deal with it.

Don

 

There are vendors at the major swap meets who will buy it from you for thier stock. They have the reference and the market.