parting out a bike, question ?

minnmac · June 17, 2009

been looking to sell my 86 and can,t seem to get what i want for it so i am considering parting it out on e-bay. i have never done this and don,t want to go thru the time and effort if it,s not worth it. has anybody parted one out recently? is the market fairly strong for this? does the title go with the engine or not? just looking at my options and thanks for any thoughts/ideas. al

June 17, 2009

as far as parts, i have no idea how strong the market is, but the title should go with the frame.

how much you asking for the bike? might be worth holding on till the right price comes along. you can easily get good money via parting out, IF the market will bear it. if not, then you are stuck with a mostly complete bike that is even harder to sell than it was before you started taking it apart.

RedRocket · June 17, 2009

It's a lot of work.

I dunno about mechanical parts, but I recently auctioned a good pile of Venture body parts, and most of it sold for next to nothing. I got a high of $ 70 on a top case.

Chrome accessory parts were the most valuble.

ventureohio · June 17, 2009

I hate to see a good Venture go it's seperate ways but if you do end up parting it out, I am looking for the vent insert for the right side engine cover.

bongobobny · June 17, 2009

I'm interested in upper and lower fairings, and possibly the trunk.

Have you considered the possibility that what you are asking for the bike is too high?? I don't know the particulars such as mileage, condition, and asking price...

Condor · June 17, 2009

been looking to sell my 86 and can,t seem to get what i want for it so i am considering parting it out on e-bay. i have never done this and don,t want to go thru the time and effort if it,s not worth it. has anybody parted one out recently? is the market fairly strong for this? does the title go with the engine or not? just looking at my options and thanks for any thoughts/ideas. al

I don't think you'll do much better on Ebay. Lately it's a buyers market, and that's going to keep the bidding down. When I do a 'Yamaha Venture -wave -cover -lighting' search I'm getting a return of over 1000 items. It's almost like Alice's Resturant.... And the Star 2ndGens items are producing most of the bidding activity. 1stGen items go begging unless it's rare, plastic or chrome.

Take a look at what whole non-reserve Ventures are bid up to. There are some real bargains on Ebay.... Those auctions with reserves are wasting their time even listing them.

Edited June 18, 2009 by Condor

Squidley · June 17, 2009

I'll play devils advocate here and say that I am not using ebay no where's near as much. When they come out and say that the only payment method is Paypal (which they own) they can go to hell. I know there are lots of others that feel just like I do so be careful with using ebay as I dont think the market on their is super good right now

Hummingbird · June 17, 2009

I'll play devils advocate here and say that I am not using ebay no where's near as much. When they come out and say that the only payment method is Paypal (which they own) they can go to hell. I know there are lots of others that feel just like I do so be careful with using ebay as I dont think the market on their is super good right now

It's not ebay that dictates how to pay - the seller has the option of his method, check, money order, etc. It's just that PayPal is 'secure'. I had an incident a while back with a larger seller (a lot of feedback) - the item was not as described, didn't work and in general was not a satisfactory purchase. I filed a complaint and within a short amount of time I got my money back. The vendor didn't respond to my queries and Ebay (PayPal) took care of it.

I'm really a big fan of PayPal as a buyer and as a seller. Sure it costs coming AND going but except for my carb sync @ MD nothing is free anymore.

BTW - thanks for the carb sync

minnmac · June 17, 2009

I'm interested in upper and lower fairings, and possibly the trunk.

Have you considered the possibility that what you are asking for the bike is too high?? I don't know the particulars such as mileage, condition, and asking price...

wanted>2,000. would take

Condor · June 18, 2009

I'll play devils advocate here and say that I am not using ebay no where's near as much. When they come out and say that the only payment method is Paypal (which they own) they can go to hell. I know there are lots of others that feel just like I do so be careful with using ebay as I dont think the market on their is super good right now

I like Paypal. I even use it in my business for credit card payments. It's secure and convienent. About 5 months ago I took a payment for an item from Dubai for $8 grand. Painless and in my checking account in a nano-sec. Plus they handled the money conversion. They also handle the Canadian Dollar when VR members up north get in on a group buy. Heck, two braces went to Sweden in the last group buy. Paid via Paypal. So I don't really care if Ebay owns it, somebody has to... Just as long as it works..., and so far... so good...

bongobobny · June 18, 2009

wanted>2,000. would take

Uhhhh, $1850????? Get real...

Yammer Dan · June 18, 2009

Uhhhh, $1850????? Get real...

Entire Bike?? What year and ails it? PICS??

Nason · June 18, 2009

wanted>2,000. would take

Ok! And I will buy the rest for $150 Right? Where do I send payment:big-grin-emoticon:

ventureohio · June 18, 2009

I may get boo'd for this but when I bought my Venture, I only paid $500.00 for it, Rode it home after push starting, Added a new battery and a used starter, has been a great bike ever since. Not trying to harsh any bodys buzz but I think asking price for a non working ride may be the non-selling factor.

minnmac · June 18, 2009

who said it was non running? runs great, just isn,t ''showroom''. have plenty of pics on my albums. not looking to retire on the proceeds, just need to sell it and eveyone who calls on craig,slist wants it for nothing.

Kandaje · June 18, 2009

Greetings...

I'm a fan of pay-pal too....

If you do end up parting it out, I too would be interested in a number of parts:

In particular order...

Battery charge sensor thingy - the thingy that you stick into the top of the battery.

Lower air scoop + mounting hardware.

VR Emblem for top cover.

Venture Emblems for side covers.

Big Venture emblem on the front under the windshield, either the emblem or the entire piece of silvered plastic, if it fits on an 89.

Passenger arm rests.

The radio controls on the left deck panel.

The entire CB, panel controls and all - I think mine is entirely fried.

Or the entire audio system - as a complete unit if the price is right...

The antenna and mount.

Passenger audio control box.

Though I too hate to see a working example parted out - we, 1st gen'ers unfortunately, have the need to resort to cannilbalism whenever possible...

But yeah, as others have said, It's definately a buyers market. In the last two weeks, I watched sadly - as a complete set of both passenger armrests and backrest in excellent condition - sold for $25 - Sadly, I couldn't even scrape up that before the auction ended! Last year at this time - they would have went easily for over $300...

People just don't have the money anymore...

minnmac · June 18, 2009

Ok! And I will buy the rest for $150 Right? Where do I send payment:big-grin-emoticon:

the ''shipping container'' is the whole bike itself. was just trying to say that,s all i wanted for all the parts, all together in one piece, ha ha

Dragonslayer · June 18, 2009

been looking to sell my 86 and can,t seem to get what i w:thumbsup2:ant for it so i am considering parting it out on e-bay. i have never done this and don,t want to go thru the time and effort if it,s not worth it. has anybody parted one out recently? is the market fairly strong for this? does the title go with the engine or not? just looking at my options and thanks for any thoughts/ideas. al

My honest opinion:

I've been parting out a bike for the past year on ebay and by offering parts on this site by offering them to members and I must say it is a slow slow, labor intensive, and frustrating process. When you consider the time spent, dissassembly, parts testing and clean up, listing and advertising the parts, packageing and shipping parts for pennies on the dollar for what they should be worth. Here is what I've found out.

Before I go further let me say how much I appreciate those on this site and through Ebay that have bought parts from me and you know who you are. Thank you very much.

Plastic body parts, mirrors and the parts that are damaged when the bike falls over and move quickest and for the most money. But even though end up selling for a small fraction of what Yamaha sells the factory original parts. The next layer of parts that might sell are the things that fail or are hard to find as aftermarket replacement parts, such as,

electrical components, starters,brake calipers, rotors. Here again they still don't bring much money.

The motor and frame you might as well take to the scrap yard and sale for it's weight value in recycled metal. Complete engines often sale for $100.00 on ebay.

90% of the things I list on ebay don't get any bids and don't sell but you still pay the listing fees if the item sales or not. Ebay rule of thumb that I have noticed is , Anything that I am interested in buying will have multiple bidders competeting against me driving the price up, but, anything I'm trying to sell No bidders and Ebay is the only one getting paid.

Even offering them to members on this and the other site, which you would think would be a good target market. It takes a lot of time answering pm and e-mails back and forth about parts, do you have, how do you troubleshoot remove and install a part, shipping and payment instructions, packageing, trips to the post office, then the banking hassel of trying to cash out of state checks. Then I hate to say 50% of the inquires from this site end up taking up a lot of my time while the person inquiring drags thier feet in actually sending the money and buying the part while they watch ebay and ends up sniping the part off ebay for next to nothing.

When I started this a year ago, I was considering used parts on ebay as a home based business. I have averaged two to three hours a day trying to move parts for the past year and have maybe broke even on cost not counting my time spent on the project.

Ad the inconvenience of having your yard, shop and rooms of the house cluttered with parts that are being staged for listing, packageing and shipping.

All in all the biggest satisfaction has been being able to help out a fellow member when I could. But financial you would probably be better off collecting aluminum cans to recycle.

Dragonslayer · June 18, 2009

I'll play devils advocate here and say that I am not using ebay no where's near as much. When they come out and say that the only payment method is Paypal (which they own) they can go to hell. I know there are lots of others that feel just like I do so be careful with using ebay as I dont think the market on their is super good right now

I hate paying paypals fees too, but, when you consider that the payment transaction is instantaneous and secure that the money is there it is much better than the wait time of snailmail to get the payment. Then the wait time of the payment method to clear the bank with the arbitrary banking rules on holding out of state checks and cashiers checks. After the frustration I have been through I will only accept paypal or Postal Money order. I can cash a postal money order at any post office with no hassle.

Dragonslayer · June 18, 2009

Greetings...

I'm a fan of pay-pal too....

If you do end up parting it out, I too would be interested in a number of parts:

In particular order...
Battery charge sensor thingy - the thingy that you stick into the top of the battery.

Lower air scoop + mounting hardware.

VR Emblem for top cover.
Venture Emblems for side covers.
Big Venture emblem on the front under the windshield, either the emblem or the entire piece of silvered plastic, if it fits on an 89.

Passenger arm rests.

The radio controls on the left deck panel.
The entire CB, panel controls and all - I think mine is entirely fried.
Or the entire audio system - as a complete unit if the price is right...

The antenna and mount.

Passenger audio control box.

Though I too hate to see a working example parted out - we, 1st gen'ers unfortunately, have the need to resort to cannilbalism whenever possible...

But yeah, as others have said, It's definately a buyers market. In the last two weeks, I watched sadly - as a complete set of both passenger armrests and backrest in excellent condition - sold for $25 - Sadly, I couldn't even scrape up that before the auction ended! Last year at this time - they would have went easily for over $300...

People just don't have the money anymore...

I've got a lot of the parts your asking for pm me if interested.

minnmac · June 19, 2009

oh man, thanks. i think i,ll sit on the bike for awhile and see what happens. i don,t have the time or space to work for free. alMy honest opinion: