SELLING CAR PARTS ONLINE
Updated Dec. 12, 2024
We purchased a project car that had too much body damage. So we stripped the car of all its parts and decided to see if we could make our money back on eBay. To our surprise, we made much more than we originally expected…
THE INITIAL BREAKDOWN
Before we stripped the car of all its parts we assessed what parts were sellable. The best way to find out how much each car part is worth you can search eBay for the part and filter on completed/sold listings.
Note: You can also add another filter for parts which sold in the last two months.
Parts that have recently sold can indicate that there’s a higher demand for that particular part. We were pleasantly surprised by the eBay filtered results. Here’s the price for some of the parts from our Datsun 280ZX turbo project car:
ECU/ECM Computer: $200-350 sold range
Turbo Valve Cover: $100-200 sold range
Primary Wire Harness: $80-150 sold range
Secondary Wire Harness: $50-100 sold range
Headlights: $100 for pair sold on average
Taillights: $100 for pair sold on average
We had dozens of other miscellaneous parts that we also going anywhere from $25-$100 too. After tallying up all the parts prices on eBay, we found that we could make about $5000 in total. This included selling the engine block, cylinder head, and automatic transmission we originally bought for $250.
EBAY MOTORS FEES & SHIPPING COSTS
Make sure you calculate the shipping costs for your items. You can include shipping in the price or pass on the shipping price to the buyer. Just remember, customers are going to compare eBay parts by overall price including shipping. If your initial price and shipping is higher than other listings, you won’t be able to sell your part unless the part is in high demand. The eBay fees/taxes vary too. Here’s a breakdown of some Datsun Z mirrors we sold on eBay Motors:
So if you look at our $79 part, our total earnings after fees, taxes, and shipping was $57.65. This is about 27%. We typically opt for adding flat-rate shipping into the price which makes things a little easier for a customer comparing listings. Just make sure you estimate shipping costs to the 48 continental US states first. If you purchase the shipping label through eBay, they provide a slight discount. USPS ground is usually the cheapest option when purchasing the label through eBay.
HOW TO SELL YOUR CAR PART FASTER
A few tricks we’ve used to sell our car parts faster is be as descriptive as possible. Make sure you add every detail on the make/model/year/etc. of the part. Don’t be too vague thinking you’ll attract more buyers. You don’t want to sell something to someone and get complaints that it wasn’t the right part. Also make sure you take tons of pictures with different angles. We usually take enough pictures to hit the limit on how many you can upload to eBay.
You can also add a percentage of the sale to be used for advertisement. This only helps when you have a part that isn’t as rare. Advertising will help get you bumped to the top of search results. The higher percentage you’re willing to part with, the higher posting views you’ll get.
Here’s an example of the promoted views vs regular views based on advertisement percentage added:
IS IT WORTH SELLING CAR PARTS ON EBAY?
The fees can be a bit steep, plus shipping and packaging. If you can sell your parts locally on Facebook Marketplace, that would remove your shipping and eBay fees. However, that comes with a few more pain points and significantly decreases the size of buyers. Selling on eBay Motors takes away around 30% of your total price, so if you have the padding then its worth it.
And once we finished stripping the rest of the parts from our failed project car, we had a local scrap yard tow the body away for free.
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