Cleaning up and reselling junkyard parts?

It's something I've been tossing around in my head for the past few days.  Most parts are cheap enough at the local LKQ that I could grab them, clean them up and maybe give them a quick repaint, and sell them on Craigslist or FB Marketplace for a nice profit.  Has anyone else ever bothered with something like this?

What is your time worth?  It isn't just the cost of the part you're looking at, it is how long it takes you to remove, clean, and prep the part as well as the part itself that you are selling.

I don't think it would be worth it, but it might be to you.

Most likely only worth it for rare, hard to find parts that have a niche market. I.e. stuff that you're unlikely to find at your local pick and pull. 
People buying common used parts are going to want to pay junkyard prices. 

It is a regular thing on eBay. I see for example motorcycles bought running and parted out. Every part of the bike will be listed by the same seller.

I used to. Used to make a fair amount of money that way.

However,  it became harder and harder to make sales that made the effort worth my time. And mouthbreathing motherberkeleyers took the joy out of it for me.

So, id reccomend against it from my experience. 

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

And mouthbreathing motherberkeleyers took the joy out of it for me.

such is the way of the mouthbreather

Well for example, I paid $60 for a D16Z6 cylinder head.  Those usually sell for $150-$200.  Intake manifolds from the same engine go for $100, easy.  I picked up one for $50.  I dunno, I might be too lazy to do this, but I sense there's definitely money to be made there.  

In reply to infinitenexus :

if you become proficient at removing certain parts and can make more than your normal wage when you consider gas, time, degreaser, paint, laundry, etc, then i say go for it and document it here!

My friend got into it for a while. The few issues he had were storage of parts and wildly fluctuating demand. Now he's cut back to a few specific things that he knows he can sell.

Personally, I only do Frankenstein bolts for a quick buck.

That set of 4 AMG rims really had me thinking about it.  

I'd think that if you enjoy doing it and you aren't trying to capture your labour costs it might generate some "fun money" for you. 

It's not a long term commitment.  If you see a cool JY car, you could easily do some research on forums to see what parts are desirable.

Years back, I think it would have been easy to strip an Acura Integra or Civic Si and sell the hot parts off. There was demand and everyone was wrenching on them. Today, its harder to find a platform that is universally popular and that people want to work on themselves. Most enthusiast cars have a website where everyone who has them swaps parts and sells off aftermarket stuff.  I often see stuff at the U-Pull-It that I know someone would want, but the cost and hassle of storing it until you find someone is too high.

Back in the 80s when I was running in IT I would grab any Weber 32/36 carbs I saw - about $20 each. I sold them to other IT guys as is and sometimes I would do a clean up / rebuild. 

Currently, when I go to a yard if what I'm looking for isn't there I will grab a part I'm fairly sure will at least cover the gas, entry fee & make a few bucks for lunch. If I make some money off something I spot YAY!!!!

There are a lot of guys that hit all the pick a parts  and buy certain items to sell at the car swap meets, 

you need to know your parts so you do not get stuck with things that will never sell , 

selling one by one on craigslist is a pain ,  too many people never showup !

infinitenexus said:

That set of 4 AMG rims really had me thinking about it.  

I just picked up a set off FBMP they were in mint shape and cheep. 

   It could be a good side income, if you go there to get stuff you want, and see other stuff that you could sell, then you have not used up to much time.

       Everything is a balance of time and effort.   Try to track you time and approx money made and determine if is a good iea, most big things started small....

     I would rather spend time finding stuff on E-bay, I am sure there are many just like me.  So you would be providing a service.

     With E-bay you have to deal with shipping nd some fee's but you don't have to deal with people.

I use to do this with 944 parts but it was more of selling parts that I got way below market value in the first place. The real key is knowing the market for a part. Like most things car related you make your money when you purchas not when you sell. 

When I lived in South Florida, the junkyards were full of 80's euro stuff (maybe they still are) usually in great shape. I presume they were grandma and grandpa's cars that no one wanted once they passed, unfortunately. I would go and spend the day looking for hard to find parts or things that always broke and sold them off. Didn't spend any time cleaning them up, just sold them on forums.

It provided some extra going out money but nothing more than that, really. 

In Cleveland, where I am now, there are rarely any cars with enthusiast followings with high-demand parts so it wouldn't really work. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

I tried a version of that. In the 1980's & 90's I just got a whole slew of Jaguar V12's some with transmissions attached most without. I started out paying $300 each but quickly went down to $150. The last 5 years I only took the rare ones free!  
I stopped at 50. Found heavy racking to hold them and started putting them up for sale. I did a leak down test and carefully checked the oil. I even created a " pressure" gauge using air pressure to confirm proper bearing clearance. I sold them with a guarantee  and cold leak down test of each cylinder. 
I tried selling them on E Bay,  Hemmings, Jaguar sites, and various swap meets. Started at $750 eventually took as low as $500
Over 15 years I Sold 15 

When my house building project came in conflict with  my collection I took every one apart and put stuff in two piles. Aluminum and steel. Yep scrap metal. In the end I broke about even (marketing costs are brutal)  and I figure I had about 200 hours of work in the project. 

I've seen cases where someone figures out there's an abundance of a certain part available in their area that folks with a different car want. Then they're easier to sell on forums, Ebay, etc. to people because many aren't junkyard kinda guys.

Example

Jeep Grand Cherokee intermediate steering shaft is an upgrade for 80's GM G body cars. There was a guy in an area where there were always Jeeps being scrapped and the shafts were plentiful. G body owners on the forums and Ebay would just buy the shafts because it was quick and easy. Who wants to go out in a junkyard up north in winter searching for the correct Jeep and then removing the shaft so they can continue with their steering rebuild/upgrade? Easier to just buy & have shipped. The guy would do them in batches of like 20 at a time for cleaning & painting and stock them up so he didn't have to go out through the winter, just sell down.

There are a few semi-pro crews here that hit the junkyards every day and run a side business selling parts. I think they're got deals with some shade tree guys and some buy here pay here lots, because they seem to grab a wide range of things. It's difficult to compete with them, and they seem to do alright.

So, it's possible to do this, but as others have said, you'll have to work out what is going to work for you.

I used to (and kind of still do) do this. It's great as a side hustle but I couldn't imagine it being my primary income stream. Everyone is different though. I stuck to cars and parts that I knew well, and sold (and still sell) through the forums and through Ebay, FB, and Craigslist. At least around here, like what Brett_Murphy said, there are people who go around and do this as a full time living so the good stuff is ususally gone from the yards almost immediately. I've had much more success buying cheap project cars and parting them out, especially since all my tools are already there and I'm not working in a gravel scrap lot or something. I also break a lot fewer of the small parts compared to what happens in the yards, and all those $20 ebay sales really add up when it comes to the bottom line of profit on a project.

It takes a lot of time, and people are a pain to deal with. But if you can find good deals and you know the market you're looking at, it's possible to make a few bucks.

I paid for college doing this, but I was strongly motivated to not work a minimum wage job, forums were still a thing, and I had a much more open and flexible schedule.  

I ran across one entrepreneurial person who specialized in Miata parts. ( Might have dealt in other marques, I dunno) His angle was that he would scour the junkyard and remove the high demand parts from cars an hide them in the trunk of other cars. He then posted adds for Miata Parts on Kijiji ( our Craigslist), "call with what you need". If you committed to buy something he would run down to the yard, retrieve the part from where he had stashed it, and buy the part knowing he had it sold for a profit.

After seeing the ridiculous prices for OEM 97-02 Camaro tail lights, I've thought about doing this when I find them in the local "You Pull" yards.