Hard to sell Parts these days...

Is it just me, or does it seem like it's literally harder than ever to sell car parts these days? I've never before had an issue getting good quality used mods and parts sold whether on marketplace, Craigslist, etc. But as of the last 6 months or so, it seems near impossible to get anything sold. Only getting super lowball offers from people and, even in some cases where I've said "sure I'll do it," I get ghosted. Anyone else notice this? 

Yea, it's a tough market for used parts. I support my car habit by selling wheels and I haven't been able to in a long while

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

ShawnG said:

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

I do!!

Been a little bit since I sold my corrado, but I posted all those parts on the appropriate FB groups and sold basically all of them no sweat.  Of course, dealing with people doing this is a PITA, and eventually I just got tired of it.  So I still have a few parts in my basement. 

I don't bother with general CL or FB, I only post them on the specific marque forums and FB groups. 

ShawnG said:

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

The alternative is trying to find weird stock wheels that most people just scrap because "who wants them".

It was a major ordeal to find 14" 5x100 wheels.  This because it was impossible to find base model Impreza brakes that fit under 13" wheels... because who'd want it?

ShawnG said:

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

I'm 72 and both cars have aftermarket wheels.

I haven't sold any auto parts lately but for everything else I have, it's a tough market. Stuff just isn't selling unless the price is very low, or free.

ShawnG said:

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

One of several searches I perform daily is 4X100

I'd like to buy these for PW's car, but Barrie's a pain to get to. I have the 16X7 version on mine

LukeGT said:

Is it just me, or does it seem like it's literally harder than ever to sell car parts these days? I've never before had an issue getting good quality used mods and parts sold whether on marketplace, Craigslist, etc. But as of the last 6 months or so, it seems near impossible to get anything sold. Only getting super lowball offers from people and, even in some cases where I've said "sure I'll do it," I get ghosted. Anyone else notice this? 

People can only afford the necessities these days.

Not surprised you're having issues selling parts at all

I sell stuff regularly. In the past two weeks I have sold an engine, two sets of wheels, a turbo, a sway bar, and some other smaller tickets items. Seems the same as it's always been.

I have the most trouble giving E36 M3 away. Have had some e46 parts advertised (nothing valuable... But FREE) and back seats from both coupe and sedan CTS-V, also not worth much of anything, but FREE. I get a lot of messages that all eventually lead to randomly not getting replies, without them ever picking things up. 

I just hate throwing things away that are still good/useful. But I'm out of space. And usually just run out of patience and trash or scrap whatever I'm trying to give away. 

I do pretty well selling here in Fort Worth. I goof with car parts of course, and also bicycle stuff.

I have trouble on both sides. Buying I can't find time to meet with the seller or even get a response. Selling I get a lot of questions that lead to nowhere. 

Me, selling the silly "mayhem" wheels that came in the wife's 3/4 ton Suburban. 

I gave the bolt pattern in the ad, and what they came off of. (8 bolt wheels).

Buyer: will these fit my 1996 4-runner?

Me: how many bolts hold the wheel on your 4-runner?

Buyer: 6

Me: Then why on earth would you ask such a stupid question?

The low-ballers are maybe slightly worse than normal, but they're easy to ignore.  I was recently selling a Milwaukee M12 tool that was minimially used, and in excellent condition.  I received offers anywhere from 45% to 90% of the actual value that I sold it at, with varying degrees of politeness.  I really liked the way the guy who offered 90% did it and may steal it when I'm buying. He basically said, I see you have it listed at xxx, if you get to a point where you'll accept yyy, let me know and I'd be happy to pick it up at that price.  His offer price wasn't insulting, and I appreciated the no-nonsense approach.

In reply to Andy Neuman :

Finding the time to go look at something is definitely an issue.  Unless the seller is on my side of town, it can take me an hour+ each way, which isn't easily found for me.  Someone I know has a bumper for my 911 I'd love to check out, but he's 2+ hours away, each way.  That's an entire morning, or an entire afternoon of my time to go look at it...

The economy is stale and for some ungodly reason people have migrated to FB marketplace as the sole transactional listing place for used cars and car parts. I don't bother looking on there because I don't have one. I instead waste my time venturing junkyards or resorting to eBay. 

dj06482 (Forum Supporter) said:

I really liked the way the guy who offered 90% did it and may steal it when I'm buying. He basically said, I see you have it listed at xxx, if you get to a point where you'll accept yyy, let me know and I'd be happy to pick it up at that price.  His offer price wasn't insulting, and I appreciated the no-nonsense approach.

That's what I do if I'm genuinely interested in something, just not as interested as the asking price would suggest. I did it on a bike recently. I told him all my budget would allow,  he said he couldn't do it. I told him I understood completely, that I would remain interested at that price if something changed, and we shook hands. He texted me 3 days later and offered it for $100 under his price, $150 more than mine.  He still has it listed a dozen weeks later.

Say what you want about MP, it's probably true, but there are some positives. On this deal I searched his name on FB and it turned out that everything in the ad about the bike was a lie. He'd joined a group and detailed his purchase and experience with the bike. Functionally it didn't matter, he was jst trying to make the bike look more desirable than it really was.

I guy I've known in the Datsun world advertised some wheels as $500 or OBO so me being polite asked what's the best he'd take and he said he was firm at $500.

I had to reply and point out that he did list them as OBO so I felt I could ask.  If he'd said FIRM I wouldn't have asked.....

FB Marketplace can be helpful because you have some extra insight into the buyer or seller. For instance, I got a Saab story from a guy who wanted to buy my Saab for his wife who had "just totaled hers and he only had $500." I looked at his profile, he's a flipper who is currently selling a similar Saab 9-3 on his FB profile. He was trying to buy mine at 1/2 of asking price (which was aggressive already), so he could flip it. With that info, it was very easy to politely decline his offer.

ShawnG said:

Does anyone over the age of 17 even bother with aftermarket wheels these days?

Aren't most members of this forum over 17 even if we don't necessarily act that way?

I surprisingly haven't had much issue selling my Europa stuff

I'm finding the market has slowed down significantly for non necessities. If I list a motorcycle, car parts, or project car on FB marketplace it takes forever to sell, even at a good price. Cheap car with no big issues? Will sell in an hour.

I wasn't selling car parts but a couple utility trailers and a golf cart, sold them all in a week. I tried the same things at the same price (except one trailer that I dropped a bunch) 2 months ago and just got trash responses. I think a lot of it is luck of the draw and finding the "right ass for the seat". Sometimes you get a run of bad luck on FBM or CL and sometimes it's good. 

Datsun240ZGuy said:

I guy I've known in the Datsun world advertised some wheels as $500 or OBO so me being polite asked what's the best he'd take and he said he was firm at $500.

I had to reply and point out that he did list them as OBO so I felt I could ask.  If he'd said FIRM I wouldn't have asked.....

To be fair, he said OBO. You didn't actually make an offer, you just asked him to low-ball himself.