a good idea??

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

sufikation

Active Member
now i know you can buy just about every honda part you need online, new or used. but i have had this idea in my head for the last couple months of trying a side job of buying/selling nothing but used oem honda parts. i figure if i inventory them and make a simple web page for people to browse what i have available it may work. i dont come across many places like this when i search for them and was just curious about what other people think of this idea. its just an idea so no need to flame it...i really think it would be a fun and easy way to make some cash. so...does it sound worth while or am i just being crazy?
 
its going to be a LOT of work and time... and your not going to make much money

you need to find the parts
get them for as little money as possible
clean them up and make them something people will want to buy from you vs their local scrapyard
get shipping in order (proper packaging, insurance, etc)
set up a detailed web page that keeps track with your current inventory and lets your customer search for the parts they need and order them
it also has to let you know your current inventory
if you dont have something you need to go get it immediately

not to mention where are you going to store all of this inventory while waiting for it to move... stuff like body panels, seats, door trim, engines, etc all take up a LOT of space
and you dont want it clusterfucked all over the place... it will all need to be tagged and cataloged in a way that makes sense for ease of picking

is this going to be a one man show?
do you have other obligations that will require your time?

im not trying to shoot down your idea or flame it... its just that there are a lot of pieces to making this work... and running it successfully really is a bigger operation than you could feasibly pull off out of your garage

when you look at the time for finding the parts, getting the parts, cleaning the parts, inventorying the parts, putting them in their proper spot, getting the information and possibly images uploaded to the site, replying to emails and answering questions, replying to phone calls and answering questions, picking the parts, making appropriate changes to reflect this in inventory and on the site, packaging the items for shipping, scheduling pickup, notifying customer of tracking info, dealing with disgruntled customer who wants his money back because the part you sold him has some minor flaw that was not disclosed previously and he doesnt want your shitty parts, setting up return shipping, re-entering the item into inventory, eating the cost for that transaction, all while locating and getting more parts that need to be inventoried and taking orders that need to be shipped..... blah blah blah blah blah... when you factor in the time, money, and labor involved... you arent really going to make dick... hell it will most likely cost you money

you alone are not going to have the time to handle this on your own... doing this right would really require a decent sized salvage yard of your own and a staff of probably 8-15 people
you will need:
someone to answer the phones
a few wrenches to strip the parts off of the cars
a few people to clean parts then put them into inventory (same people can also pull parts when ordered)
someone to locate and purchase the salvaged cars your parts are coming from
someone to transport the salvaged vehicles to your location
someone to keep track of inventory
someone to manage and update your web site

if you already had an operational salvage yard and wanted to get it online, id say go for it... but you dont... and this is going to be way more trouble than it will ever be worth... there are easier and more enjoyable ways to die of a heart attack at a young age ;)
 
Last edited:
You hafta find a steady source of parts that you can obtain for far cheaper then the general public. And, thats not exactly easy to do with cars that are in such high demand. Like E said, your gunna hafta clean the parts and inventory them, and those two things alone are a bitch to do by yourself, especially if your tryin to do it after work and on the weekends..
 
:werd:

what E said... not very realistic unless you're very dedicated.

and since there is not much money involved it's not really worth it.
 
Your idea would probably work better in your local area.

There is a guy in my town that makes side money by finding parts for people. Pretty cool guy, I trust him. I have gotten motors and transmissions through him when the yards were too pricey or I didn't have the time to go get it myself. He also runs scrap cars to the salvage yard and such.
 
that and to think you will have to compete against eBay and craigslist
 
i guess i didnt look at it on a larger scale like that. im going to do some more looking into things and see what i come up with. thanks for all the information and the reality check, i needed it. but i still want to look into this a bit more, maybe set it up a bit different or something...i dont know. }=)
 
Dood give it a few years and we could do something like that indeed..I should be out of school by than and be in a shop..Cuten hair and maken some good money to help get the shop going..Lets just keep dreaming big..THATS WHAT US HONDA BROS DO..WOOT
 
Dood give it a few years and we could do something like that indeed..I should be out of school by than and be in a shop..Cuten hair and maken some good money to help get the shop going..Lets just keep dreaming big..THATS WHAT US HONDA BROS DO..WOOT
thanks bro, and im gonna work on fine tuning the idea.
 
Back
Top