I have some small parts off various vehicles that I have tried to sell for a while with no interest. Even have put a few on the auction site for .99 without any takers. So at what point do you just decide to toss things in the trash or recycle pile?
I judge by the 'dust factor' if you can't read the part id# thru the dust then it is time to give it the heaveho. It is hard to do. I rent one of those big dumpsters every couple years, in the spring, and just start throwing stuff out and cleaning those junk corners. It is a disease, i'll be carrying something out to tossit and knock the dust off and think 'gee, that'll be handy' and do a one-eighty to carry it back into the shop - if it is obvious i don't need or use it. Once you get past the initial shock of throwing soimething away and refrain from pulling something back out of the dumpster you are on the road to recovery and can lead a normal life.
what do you have? how many times have you listed it on "the auction site?". I've had things go 3 - 4 listings without a bite, then sell for double with a bidding war on the 5th try. I try not to throw anything away that someone else might be able to use, even if it has little or no value. example: I had a rear door glass with bubbles around the edges from a 51 Fleetline I parted out. ran into a guy with the same window only broken, and on a low budget so I gave it to him. don't throw old stuff away. they don't make it any more.
or soon after you toss it someone WILL walk and into your garage and say hey do you still have that______ i need it seen it time and time again itsa tough call but you have to make it sometimes if they are real small parts just throw em all in the same box and stash it someplace if you dont open it or need something out of it for a year just pick up the whole box and walk it to the round file (and dont open it before you toss it)
Post the T stuff on Ford Barn. I'm sure a few of those members don't get over here much. It is run by good people. http://www.fordbarn.com/
The best way in the world to find out what something is worth or if you need it is to throw it away. Usually within a month you need it yourself or someone will say, " I'd give $XXXXX if I could find________. I've had "stuff" I've hung onto for years, just never bring myself to get rid of it, and after deciding its time to throw it out need it within days of the trash man hauling it off. Frank
Give it away or try the 99 cent start thing again on e*ay. I did it for a bunch of small 40 Ford parts and sold everything that fit in a large priority mail box for about 40 bucks. I think late April is the best time. After taxes and warmer weather. Or like Pir8Darryl says pay it forward^^^^^
Paying it forward is rewarding in a multitude of ways. p.s. If it's an old car part, there is never a time to just chuck it if you think it can beused for anything, even wall art, or donate it to a sculptor or something. IMHO
I have sold everything on eBay I've ever listed. Even stuff I was going to throw away. With the exception of a brand new NAPA USA made 56 Chev Left rear wheel cylinder and a tail light back up lens. Listed them several times a cheap prices and they still get no bids. Can't figure it out. These are good parts. The not so good parts sold.
i agree with gigantor, sculpters love old car parts, i can turn rusted old used up car parts into hundred dollor bills.
Wicked50Coupe-thanks for link to fordbarn.com-never knew of it before. as for saving/tossing parts if a all rusty/bent/missing parts then dump it. if not list for free here or local free ads-somebody will take it. at swap meets when I have parts that just won't sell and I do not want to take home I offer a buck or two for someone to take them-always works.
A lot of the stuff are small brackets. I have some fuel pumps that i have no way of testing (have not tried to sell these but may be hard to sell). There are some small interior pieces off various things. I have been on Ford Barn as well As far as the paying it forward, I need someone willing to take the stuff. I am not going to send stuff to people they do not want, plus I am not going to jip myself on the shipping costs.
What a timely question....Yesterday I sold a 34 ford door and 33 ford hood that had gone through a very hot barn fire....warped beyond recognition after the firemen's cold water hit the red-hot metal. I'd carried this bent mess to about 10 swap meets and everyone made fun of it...I'd paid about 15 bucks for the door and another dollar for the hood..lotta guys said they'd also bought warped parts and eventually threw 'em away. Guy paid me 100 bucks for them after I'd made a mental promise to leave them in the trash on my way outta the swap meet.... You just never know.
When to just throw it away????? That's outright blasphemy! sacrilegious! You're a Heretic! ???? Dude this is starting to sound like the script of Planet of the Apes! Actually I start throwing stuff away when I *find* it because it's been lost or misplaced for a very long time and I forgot why or where I got it from in the first place.....And when I need more room...which is all the time.
shit..Sam..you make good money on your deals..you can't bullshit me <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
If it makes it to my Hershey dollar pile two years in a row it gets scraped. If it has made it to the pile it has a run on eBay without any bids. I started in the car show flea market business when I was 16 years old and "Old Guys" would give me stuff they no longer wanted. Now I'm one of those guys but there aren't young kids locally into the stuff.
If it won't bring 99 cents it might be time to pitch it. Sometimes it's hard for me but when I get tired of tripping over stuff it's gone. But, I have carried stuff to the dumpster 2-3 times before I could actually throw it in,lol. Last year I pitched a bunch of 47 Ford stuff, all nice trim for the insides of long doors, aluminum headlight buckets and trim, inner garnish with wing windows, window winders and channels, perfect cowl lower sections ect. I couldn't give the stuff away. Also pitched a decent 37 frame and the 47 frame, couldn't give those away either.
If it stays in the garage for a couple of years without being used it will migrate to the side for a year then to the back for who knows how long until it becomes dirt again.
There is a local guy that hits the swap meets with a trailer with a bunch of little parts that often can't be identified except by the guy who really needs that part. He has a cash box with a slot in it welded or bolted to the trailer and everything on the trailer is a buck. That stuff might be worth taking to the next swap meet and putting in in a box or on a table with a low ball price per each marked on it to see if someone else can decide they need it. The problem with real cheap stuff on Ebay is that often the shipping (even exact cost shipping) will run the price up above what the going swapmeet price is on the same item.
About every five years whether I need to or not. I know hwat you mean. I have lots of bits 'n' pieces laying around myself. I give them away when someone needs something or I modify them to make a bit or piece for something I'm working on but like I said about every 5 years I just toss stuff. I have hard to get pieces that I can't even give away believe me I have tried.
Take it all and make it into a LOT sale. Make sure everything fits into one of the Postal Flat Rate boxes and start it at 99 cents, make sure you have LOT in the title. OR (as stated previously) find a local metal artist / welder and donate it all to them. Worst case is to take it to a metal recycling center and get whatever it is worth for scrap weight, i would only do that as a last chance though.
I am in a similar position with some willys parts and I een tried to put them on here as a "pay me shipping or pick the part up" and it got deleted by Rash for not having a price... I am getting closer to cleaning that part of the pile so I hopefully can find a home for it all soon.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I get more satisfaction out of trades (thanks for the frame by the way) and it makes me feel good to give parts to some people sometimes... and some HAMBers have payed forward some unbelievable kindness onto me. I still firmly believe that there's no sense in throwing any old parts out. I got stuff I can't give away right now.
The Jalopy Journal
