Parting out vehicles can be a great way to make some side income and can even become a full time business. We have been parting out motorcycles for 13 years at our Moto Doc Parts shop and have created a nice income for ourselves and our family. In those 13 years, we have learned many tricks of the trade and thought we could share those with you. In this blog, I will go over how to make money parting out motorcycles, ATVs, watercraft and snowmobiles on eBay.
1. Find a vehicle
There are several ways in which you can find a vehicle. You can search on Craigslist or create a Craigslist ad, you can search on local Facebook yard sale groups or you can download the letgo app and check your local area. Another way in which to find vehicles is to go to public auctions and purchase wrecked or confiscated vehicles. When searching for a vehicle try to find one that you know you will make your money back by selling just one or two parts off the vehicle. Also, search for vehicles that are more common to your area and therefore will be more affordable and easier to find. For example, if you live in Florida like us, look for motorcycles or if you live in the north where it snows a lot, look for snowmobiles. Before buying the vehicle, ensure that it hasn’t been reported stolen. We use NICB.org to search the VIN number of each bike before we buy it. Finally, if you are relying on selling the engine to make your money back, make sure the vehicle runs!
2. Part it out
Now you are ready to part out your vehicle. You will need all of the proper tools to dismantle the vehicle. You may eventually want to purchase a lift as well because leaning over to part out a bike, ATV, Jet Ski or snowmobile can be wearing on your back after a while. If the engine wasn’t working, part it out. Some part listers choose to part out the engine every time, but we find that it is more work than is worth it and you can make a decent amount on selling the engines whole.
3. List the parts
Clean the parts thoroughly. Make sure you have downloaded and setup MotoLister software and begin listing your parts! MotoLister can be downloaded here. Pull up MotoLister software and select your vehicle and the part that you would like to list first. Add the manufacturer part number if you would like compatibility, select the condition and any damages. Take pictures of the parts using a compatible camera in order to take advantage of MotoLister’s live picture upload feature or take your pictures ahead of time and upload them into MotoLister. Now, you are ready to list the part! MotoLister’s OEM Fitment Catalog will generate an eBay compatibility chart for you based on the manufacturer part number.
4. Sell the parts
Hopefully you are able to sell most of your parts in a short amount of time and make a decent profit. Once the parts have sold, identify them using either a SKU number that you generated or the last 4 digits of the eBay item number and any stock location associated with the part. The SKU number or last 4 digits of the eBay item number will automatically print on your Dymo labels if you have installed one on your computer and this is what you will use to identify the part.
5. Ship the parts
Be sure to ship your parts out fast. Customer service is extremely important with eBay as your seller’s rating determines where you are in search results. We use Ship Rush to process all of our eBay shipments because they provide cheaper shipping rates. We would also recommend using FedEx great rates for International Shipments.
Here are some general tips that could help you in the eBay selling process:
Provide quality customer service As I said before, customer service is of utmost importance when it comes to eBay transactions. You want to receive as much positive feedback as possible in order to raise your seller rating. Read our blog post on the Importance of Becoming a Top Rated Seller. Respond to questions or return requests in a timely manner and try to resolve any issues associated with receiving negative feedback.
List often EBay favors sellers that list items consistently. Therefore, listing consistently and often can increase your rankings in the search results.
Utilize compatibility! EBay has said that listings that use compatibility convert at 2x the rate of those that do not. Therefore, take advantage of this feature in MotoLister and use the OEM Fitment Catalog that comes with MotoLister Pro. This will make your life so much easier.
Try to keep eBay customer service out of it In our years of selling on eBay, we have learned that your seller’s rankings can be negatively affected when eBay’s customer service gets involved. Basically, eBay wants you to be able to resolve the problem on your own if at all possible. Unfortunately, there are times in which eBay must get involved but just try to keep this at a minimum if at all possible.
