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Are there other auction sites other than ebay for old car parts?


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I sell alot on ebay and buy quite a bit as well . It's my business. With recent changes including a 13 percent fee on all shipping, even when you ship at cost, a complete change to your personal home page and even a new format for the question center, All of which seem to be really messed up and Quite unfriendly to use. I'm looking for a different venue to sell parts. One that's a little more seller friendly. I've tried to sell a little locally but much of my stuff is older ( much is NOS as well) so Craigslist doesn't work in my area. I identify everything and get all the applications figured out then examine it and give an accurate description of it. New doesn't always mean perfect so I like to let people know exactly what they will be getting. I like to start stuff cheap and once in a while hit a homerun on parts but in general I sell alot of stuff for less than the retail price from 40 years ago. It's nice to help a guy trying to put something together find that one part to finish the job. I've been there myself more than once. It's also nice to not see this stuff end up scrapped, Which I know has happened to much of it with the recent surges in scrap metal prices. Once it's gone leaving us no way to fix some of these older cars.

Any suggestions? I'm just sick of paying all the fees which constantly go up and get hearder along with the rest of the Flock at new changes without any kind of a voice in how this all affects me.

Hopefully there is something out there in the works that's a little more friendly.

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I don't know about selling, but when buying, Craigslist is worth a shot. Google "site mash" for the address which will allow you to see a combined listing from all craigslist locatiions, plus Old Car Weekly, Hemmings, and possibly otrher sources, all together. I have found it to evoke worldwide responses to cars for sale.

Edited by Dave Henderson (see edit history)
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Guest prs519

Wish someone would do a site auction for cars and parts venues. I have had WAY more than my fill of Ebay. Unfortunately, they are still the most extraordinary marketing means in the history of man, despite the two pages of expletives deleted I would follow this with.

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As I mentioned I buy alot on ebay as well and know exactly what you mean. There is so much junk I don't want and no good way to filter it. I don't know how many Xenon headlights, custom floral seat covers and custom wheels I have thrown at me every day that "fit" my 36 chrysler.

Does anyone know how to start a site. It's time to give ebay some competition. Build it off reccomendations from buyers and sellers and listen when they voice concerns. Hire or enlist the help of a couple of top sellers and buyers to set it up instead of hiring someone fresh out of college to redesign the site that has barely used it.

That would probably take off like gang busters.

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Guest bofusmosby

I have been buying off Ebay for years, but so far, I have never tried to sell anything. I'm a bit concerned about the 13% fee you mention about the shipping. Can you elaborate some on this? This might not appear to be "old Car" related, but it is. I have some things that I have aquired or bought for my car that I just can not use. If there is a 13% charge put on the shipping, then what do you do? Do you raise the shipping price by 13%, and then make a note on your page that this increase is due to Ebay rules, and not yours? Look at it this way. It seems that Ebay caters to the buyers, but they also should cater to the sellers. After all, if there were no sellers, then there would be no buyers.

In my line of work (consumer electronics repair) I hate it when I order a part, and am charged a high price for shipping, when I know that if I were to pay for the "actual" shipping, it would be just a fraction of the cost, compared to what I am being charged. I am getting sick and tired of all these "kick-backs" we have to pay.

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Looks like we have a great opportunity for the AACA to make some money? I would certainly use the sight, look how many people are on the "for sale" pages all times of the day. Has anyone else noticed a lot less vintage parts on ebay and a lot more junk?

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I have been buying off Ebay for years, but so far, I have never tried to sell anything. I'm a bit concerned about the 13% fee you mention about the shipping. Can you elaborate some on this? This might not appear to be "old Car" related, but it is. I have some things that I have aquired or bought for my car that I just can not use. If there is a 13% charge put on the shipping, then what do you do? Do you raise the shipping price by 13%, and then make a note on your page that this increase is due to Ebay rules, and not yours? Look at it this way. It seems that Ebay caters to the buyers, but they also should cater to the sellers. After all, if there were no sellers, then there would be no buyers.

In my line of work (consumer electronics repair) I hate it when I order a part, and am charged a high price for shipping, when I know that if I were to pay for the "actual" shipping, it would be just a fraction of the cost, compared to what I am being charged. I am getting sick and tired of all these "kick-backs" we have to pay.

The 13% fee is on the entire purchase. It is an effort to get sellers to charge realistic shipping fees and pay Ebay for the privilege of selling.

Many (mostly drop shippers) sellers were listing an item for 99 cents, then charging $39 to ship, when in reality it is a $10 item that should ship for $20. The low intro price would get buyers to bid, and also eliminate the ebay commission. With the 13% on the entire sale, ebay gets a piece of everything.

As with many changes in Ebay policy, it is a reaction to sellers attempting to subvert the commissions.

Overall, if you charge a fair price and close to actual shipping, then the overall commission is about the same as before. If you were "gaming" the system with huge shipping charges, then your fees will go up under the new system.

I would LOVE to see some serious competition to Ebay Motors.

Auburnseeker, I know what you mean! Radio antennae for my '22 Model T???

"-Fits" works on 90% of the spam listings.

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In the future I may find a shortage of parts available for my car. In part, it will probably be caused by small sellers being pushed out of seller non-friendly venues like Ebay.

I do like the Buy/Sell sections on the AACA site. I think it is thought of too little.

How is this idea. We all post under various topics on the AACA site. Let's do a forum promotion of the main Buy/Sell section and each post a few items over the weekend. Make sure to mention it in your regular forum to get the momentum going.

If you have an item you were going to list on EBay this week put it here instead and announce it.

I will put three items up using AACA as my alternative to Ebay. Anyone else like to rebel against Ebay?

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The only thing I see wrong with that idea is that it makes it NOT an auction site (i.e. competition) as inquired about in the first post. The Buy/Sell forum is perfect if you have a set price.

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Back to the 13 percent fee. I know what ebay was attempting to do with it, but as usual it;s like punishing the whole gym class when one kid doesn't do his part. (remember those days)

It really hits sellers hard when like in my case you ship within a buck of actual shipping. So you sell a big heavy item that goes to California for 50.00. well actual shipping puts the shipping at 50.00. Now ebay gets a cut of 13% of everything. So they just charged you 6.50 for the shipping. They get that directly from you.

In other words it just cost you 6.50 extra to ship the part to that guy. That 6.50 came right out of your pocket because you charged the guy exact shipping.

The Mindless gnome I got on ebays system said you could offer pickup. That works well with someone in California when I'm in NY.

If you buy multiple items on ebay from one seller. Please request a total as well. I was told directly that If a buyer buys multiple items and pays the lump shipping that ebay puts on it. You wont be credited back the 13 percent overage when you credit the buyer back the difference in shipping.

Change definately for the worse. Especially when I always refund the overage to my buyers who can't read the big note I put in the auctions.

My total ebay fees just went up 33 Percent on average beacuse I sell 300 items a month much of which have 3.41 first class postage. I sell alot of clips fasteners small service parts so the shipping costs as much as the part.

The word corporate greed seems to come to mind.

For once I would love to see one of the higher ups do the whole 9 yards from my end. Find the stuff, make an offer and buy it, Go through it and throw out the junk, Identify it, clean it so it doesn't look like it came out of the mouse infested leaking shed it was in, Describe it, Photograph it, Ship it and make sure the Customer is happy at all times. BEcause with Ebay the customer is always right even when they buy a part clearly marked for a 1969 model car for their 1975 whatever mobile. then tell you they thought it might work. You eat the shipping though to get it back.

That would be a fun thing to see and I'm sure there would be some new changes the next day to the system.

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I've always had trouble setting the price. That was worked with ebay. I set the price low enough so I sold 90+ percent of what I listed. I don't want to own this stuff forever. The "good" items made up for the stuff that did nothing so if you just looked at the total you did enough to make it worth your time.

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When putting in your search argument in Ebay, enter it this way:

1936 Chrysler -:Fits

If you do that it will eliminate all of those annoying "matches" for your car

Thanks Lew, that did not eliminate them completely for me, but it seems to have cut them by at least half, Todd C

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Guest Foggy norm

In your quest for a new site. Are you offering the security of a pay pal type system? That is a major part of Ebay, which instills confidence for the buyer. Heaven forbid yu have a question/complaint for ebay, be prepared for a ten page hopscotch through cyberland with no guaranty.

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Guest bofusmosby
Go through it and throw out the junk, Identify it, clean it so it doesn't look like it came out of the mouse infested leaking shed it was in

Hey wait a minute! Have you been looking inside my garage?:D:D

Let me ask you. Who is it that sets the shipping price? Also, if I understand correctly, Ebay gets 13% off the top, which includes the shipping? What would happen if you just raise the shipping cost to off-set the increase fees that Ebay charges? Of course, then again, the more you charge for shipping, the more Ebay gets. Something just doesn't seem right about this.

Also, as far as the buyer always being right......Yea, right! Thats as bad as saying that the custopmer is ALWAYS right. What idiots.

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What is the matter with using this site? It is not an auction, but neither is Craigs List. I offer stuff for sale here first, before resorting to Ebay and I can request a "wanted" part as well. There is, IMO, more trust here than Ebay or Craigs List. Of course businesses would be restricted as not to overwhelm the site.

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Back to the 13 percent fee. I know what ebay was attempting to do with it, but as usual it;s like punishing the whole gym class when one kid doesn't do his part. (remember those days)

It really hits sellers hard when like in my case you ship within a buck of actual shipping. So you sell a big heavy item that goes to California for 50.00. well actual shipping puts the shipping at 50.00. Now ebay gets a cut of 13% of everything. So they just charged you 6.50 for the shipping. They get that directly from you.

In other words it just cost you 6.50 extra to ship the part to that guy. That 6.50 came right out of your pocket because you charged the guy exact shipping...

Try selling items that they limit the amount allowed for shipping and handling. For example, records are limited to $3 S&H, whether you're selling a cd (w/o case), a 45 rpm record, or a 3 volume set of 78 rpm records that weigh 15 lbs.

Books (outside of the eBayMotors section, so far...) are limited to $4 S&H, whether you're selling last week's TV Guide or 6 sets of encyclopedias. If you are looking for thick, heavy car books & manuals (especially book sets like multi-volume manuals) you'll find most of them in eBayMotors and in the "Collectibles" section. You have to be some kind of idiot to sell a book bigger than 150 page paperback in the "Books" section.

Even better, someone I know was financing a car restoration by selling computer parts and components on eBay. They had a buyer who complained about an item to eBay, but not the seller. It turns out that the item has a long history of failure after short periods of use, and this one was no different. eBay refunded the purchase price out of the seller's PayPal account..., without notice. The seller resigned his ID and closed his PayPal account. I don't think they miss miss him.

eBay claims every change (at least for the last 5 years or so) is for "buyer protection". They are not. Every change is for the protection of mass marketers and other very large quantity sellers who can absorb these costs. The garage sale/swap meet aspect of the site dies a little every day.:(

Edited by Dave@Moon (see edit history)
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I actually think every change in ebay is strictly to help ebay. Making pay pal the only acceptable method of payment means they get a cut of every transaction. (by the way you can still pay other ways) we just can't mention them in the listing. They have made it so the buyer is always right. That way they don't have to hear arguments over items. They automatically side with the buyer and the seller only has one option. To refund the money. If you don't refund the entire purchase including the shipping. They do it for you. Case closed.

Why do you think they have also taken away the ability of sellers to leave anything but positive feedback. You can't even leave neutral. What is the point of even leaving it then. It should just be automatic. You pay and the system just automatically gives you good feedback. It would save me time from doing the pointless feedback that says you paid for the item.

Now with the Shipping. That's 13 more percent of a take they can get. One they definately are not entitled to. They do nothing with the shipping. That is all up to the seller.

By the way guess who pays for that 13 percent. In the end it is the buyer. Because that's who is buying the part, It just comes out of the value of the part you are selling.

Remember though you can always give free shipping. (let me know when you find out which company , Fed EX, USPS or UPS gives free shipping) I'll sign the contract.

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uhhhhh one MORE item to note

THIS year, 2011, ebay/PayPal is 1099'ing sellers (of a certain $ amount &/or volume) for the ENTIRE transaction amount.

So not only does that mean you lose the % for the shipping amount, you get a 1099 on it too ...

To address the "crap" vendors that sell LED windshield wiper nozzles that "fit" your 1936 Cord, simply ADD "space-fits" looks like " -fits" (minus the quotes) to ALL of your searches. Their NEW system that was supposed to help buyers only made it a free for all for the Chinese made junk sellers to seem to dominate now (sort of like what has happened to the Pomona swap meet and others) ... :(

I have often WISHED that Hemmings offered a auction style format for their advertisers, they are the only one that COULD take the vintage car parts business away from ebay.

Unfortunately there is no other avenue for AUCTION style results with the amount of people looking at them than ebay ...

Ebay wants to place themselves with Amazon and the like and apparently Amazon gets free shipping from the carriers ... I do know companies get various discounts based on their volume, but seriously, I have NO IDEA why ebay thinks the mom & pop shops can compete with that when we HAVE to pay whatever it costs to ship stuff.

On the lighter stuff that I can jam in a 2 oz envelope I have been offering FREE shipping, BUT it still costs me $1.78 to ship it though their system, heaven help me if it gets lost and I don't add $1.85 for insurance (yes, a total COST of $3.60 for FREE shipping). Not to mention I am being 1099'd on ALL income through Paypal ...

I hear this all the time from other sellers BUT there is no other game that comes close

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I don't have a problem with the 1099 and you have proof of what you paid for shipping with your receipts. I actually like the 1099 idea. Then I have something to give the accountant rather than the number I try to pull off pay pal. As long as they base the 1099 on just the Paypal account as I have small items sell that never get paid for and it's not worth trying to go after someone to collect 5.00. You bought it, If you need it I'm sure you are going to pay for it. The rate of no pays is very low.

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Since eBay is charging their percentage on the whole transaction why do anything but free shipping and boost your starting price to include your costs of shipping and handling. If you do that, eBay can't dictate the maximum you charge for postage.

I usually only sell during the winter and the last two years have been so bad in sales I cut my selling season short. What little I was selling was way under what I thought it was worth and I was wasting a lot of time setting up auctions.

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Guest bofusmosby
why shouldn't ebay sellers be reporting them for tax purposes?

I agree that if someone is making a lot of money, then OK. However, what about the guy that only sells occasionally? Its like having a yard/garage sale and reporting everything to the IRS as income. I know, I know, we are supposed to report EVERYTHNG, but come on now, give me a break.

If Ebay is reporting the amount of the complete purchase, does this include the 13% they take off the top? Thats not right. If so, then you can add up all the 13% that they took, and report this as a business expense. It would be just my luch to sell just a couple of items, and the little money collected would put me in a higher tax bracket.:eek:

Is there a pre-determined amount that you must make before Ebay sends you a 1099?

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I am a Canadian seller on Ebay. I echo many of the previous sentiments here. Most of my sales are to the USA. old bikes , old car parts etc. All my fees go to Ebay's Swiss Bank account. Is this the same for USA sellers? Just curious to know if Ebay is amongst all those other seemingly outwardly respectable fortune 500 companies that avoid US taxes. I'm not even American and I find that annoying!

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I'm not sure where paypal or ebay have their banking base. Although I believe Ebays headquarters are in California. I may be wrong about that though.

As far as tax info. Supposably transactions totaling over 20,000 annually or more than 200 transactions on a pay pal account are what's suppose to put you into the 1099 recipient catagory. I have declared all my earnigs from day one but I also treated it as a business from that time. I never did recreationally.

I do know sales have been horrible in general for say the last year. I do have a few Items do good but really I buy to resell, be it Swap Meets, Large lots, etc. It's getting tough to buy anything because everybody has that same attitude as the Barrett JAckson Syndrome. (well on ebay that's worth X number of dollars) Makes it real hard to buy. It's especially tough with lots as you are often looking at a few thousand dollars to purchase and it takes along time to just break even. Especially when you start taking into the fact that Probably 20 percent comes right off the top between listing fees, Completed sales fees, Pay pal Fees and the fact that I rarely am able to get a receipt for the purchase So every dollar I sell out of that lot is considered pure profit. That part really sucks. I think I had over $7000 I spent on lots that I had no receipt for. That's like tacking that much that you never received on your W2 for the average person.

Almost makes me want to sell at Swap meets but I never have the Good Swap meet stuff. I have all the leftovers from the guys that already beat this stuff to death at the meets and now are sick of handling and storing it.

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Guest bofusmosby

OK, I can understand the catagories of the 1099's if that is true. I was thinking of selling a few things, just to get rid of them, and to get a few extra dollars. I guess if thats the case, then that would not even concern me. I must admit that until this thread, I was under the asumption that the carges for selling on Ebay were quite reasonable. I see that this is not the truth. I have some huge electronics books full of radio schematics that must weigh at least 10 pounds each, if not more. There is no way that I could ship these for just a couple of dollars each. I was going to start the bidding at $0.99, and charge the actual shipping. This definately wouldn't work with the rules Ebay now has in place.

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There is one small auction site I've been checking for a long time now without buying anything, OnlineAuction.com. It's a very small site compared to eBay and the selection leaves something to be desired. However OnlineAuction.com does have it's own "OLA Motors" site, with a section Classic/Collectors parts, and an automotive manuals section under "Books & Publications".

Has anybody used these guys?

OnlineAuction .com - Where Buyers and Sellers Meet.

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Ebays even looking more pathetic after tonight. I think I sold $100 worth before fees. Almost everything went under 10.00 all 10 items including some early 1970's Firebird parts All NOS. The top seller was the Complete letter plate for a 1970 Catalina (pontiac) that did 30.00 in the GM box. That I was happy with. But when the rest sells for less than list price from 30 years ago that's pretty sad. I checked the other site and NOS didn't bring up a single match. I did notice alot of stuff without any bids. It's just hard to top the Ebay Gorilla King Kong.

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uhhhhh one MORE item to note

THIS year, 2011, ebay/PayPal is 1099'ing sellers (of a certain $ amount &/or volume) for the ENTIRE transaction amount.

That is something I have not heard before, how much is the "certain $ amount &/or volume" ?

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According to Pay pal's informational email. Anyone who does 200 or more transactions a year and or has $20,000 or more in transactions in the year will get a 1099. Under that I don't belive you will get anything and it's up to you to report it to the IRS. Remember though that's on all funds. So even if your sales are say $10,000 and the shipping comes in at $10,000 Possible if you sell heavy stuff not worth alot. Then keep those shipping receipts. You don't want to pay taxes on what you paid for in shipping.

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I believe the 1099 thing comes from some revised IRS regulations passed by Congress recently in an attempt to "capture" unreported income. It's not E-Bay's idea. I believe under certain circumstances, even individuals are responsible for providing 1099's to people they pay - such as landscapers, etc.

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I agree. I used to sell a lot on eBay, but the postage thing got me. I liked to find out where the buyer was, wrap it, weigh it and then email him/her with the exact cost to ship it. I did use a shipper because the post office is so difficult to wade through the lines here and that increased the cost a little, but I didn't charge for the gas to get there. Now all of that is dictated and I just quit bothering to try and sell there unless that might seem to be the only way to move an item. Here's another thing. All this stuff was left over stuff and probably I had more in it than I got for it. But at least it wasn't thrown away. When I was young, flea markets (swap meets) were fun, but finally I got too old to load, unload and stand in the mud and rain. The idea to have AACA set up a fair site sure does sound like a good one to me.

Edited by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...
There is/was a site called ecrater.com that had completely free auction listings and gave the choice of PayPal or Google Checkout which has lower fees. Might be worth a look.

It's there, and has some interesting things on it. I found a rare 1950s Morgan manual and an early Chevy II manual very cheap, and a fair number of parts for my TR6 (none of which I needed). Saw a lot of disgruntled ex-eBay sellers.

Has anybody bought off of this site?

eCRATER - online marketplace, get a free online store

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