You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

So Ive decided to do an s10 chassis under my 51 and now I have a ton of parts I need to sell. I've got all my doubles of parts I have on Seattle Craigslist but it's slow and it's Craigslist. A lot of flakes. I also have a drop axle set up from SIDS with the pitman arm, steering arms and, linkage I'm going to put on there too.

Does anyone use eBay to sell their parts? I've looked on it for stuff before but never sold on it. I'd like to get rid of this stuff sooner rather then later so I can buy the stuff I need and eBay seems like it might reach more buyers..

Thoughts?
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Re: You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

I dont like ebay they charge you to sell craigslist is free, a lot of forums offer free classifieds unfortunetly this one doesn't unless you upgrade membership.

Re: You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

eBay CAN be expensive if you use all of their premium features, but standard listings (one picture, no theme, etc) are cheap/free. They have promotions every few weeks for free listings, so I usually wait until one pops up.

To me, letting parts sit around in the shop for months is more expensive than the couple bucks that eBay takes. The nice thing about it is you have a whole country of buyers looking at your stuff rather than just local people. Bigger market usually means better prices when selling.

Just my .02

Re: You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

edited by staff: please keep classified ads in the classified section.

Re: You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

Ebay is great for small items that can fit in one of the post office's one price boxes. It makes figuring out the shipping costs easy and the buyer usually has the part in two working days. Shipping costs are a killer on big parts like the axle setup though.

If you have enough stuff to sell I'd think about taking it to a swap meet. Maybe share the space with a buddy to cut costs if you don't have enough to fill the space.
When I post on Craigslist I usually have people meet me in the parking lot at work or at the mini mart down the street from work. That keeps people I don't know from showing up at the house.

Re: You guys use eBay to find parts?
 

I have sold over 1000 items on ebay over the years, probably listed twice that. Biggest I ever shipped were bicycles and an old iron bed....once. that got me out of the ebay furniture and bike business except for local pickup.

I have sold lots of car parts, best are under 4# because you can ship them first class. From there it is Priority flat rate boxes, but the PO has gotten wise and jacked the prices. Most people buying know that they are going to pay to ship and can calculate it, but I always caution bidders on larger or heavier items to email me for a specific quote. I take the time to box and get an estimate from the po (I live 3 blocks away) for the actual zip code. I do not charge handleing fees and I do not bid on auctions where people are trying to make money on the handling fees (example, glove box lock that costs a couple of buck to mail first class and the seller wants $16 fixed shipping cost).

You can list big stuff for local pick up or deliverly only just so you can reach a market that might not be looking on Craigslist, especially if it is something the bottom feeders are not looking for. I use paypal, yes it costs but I know I have the money before I ship. I will take post office money orders, personal checks require a 20 day hold on shipping to make sure they clear without a stop payment. Seems like there are a lot more flakes showing up, I have only has a couple of disputes in over 10 years and last month have had two bidders who did not pay or answer communication, so I am going thru the process of getting my fees reversed so I can resell the items.

When you look at similar items on ebay check the completed listings options at the left side of the search page to see what is really selling and what it is selling for. If there has been a lot of bidders on a item like yours and you can determine a sweet spot for the price. do a Buy It Now just below that and usually someone will jump on it. It will also tell you if you should pay for a reserve price. I will usually try Craigslist first for a while but there has been stuff I could not sell on CL or at one of my garage sales for $5 that I got ten times that on ebay because someone had to have it. I have also found stuff that you would think is rare and limited selling in multiple quantities for nothing. That goes back on the shelf for another 5 years. Good luck.