The short version
- Typical range: £20 – £400 — see the full car parts value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Vehicles
Before you photograph it
Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.
- Find the part number stamped or labelled on the component and photograph it. That number is the entire listing.
- Note the donor vehicle: make, model, year, engine and trim, plus mileage for wear items.
- Clean the part enough to be identifiable, and check whether it is a safety-critical or restricted component before you plan any postage.
The photographs that sell car parts
Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.
- The part whole, on a clean surface, from its most identifiable angle
- The part number and any manufacturer marking, legible
- All mating faces, threads and connectors
- Any damage, corrosion, wear or missing fixing
Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.
Writing the title and description
Part, vehicle, years and part number: “Alternator, [Make Model] 2.0 TDI 2012-2016, Part No. [number]”. The part number does more than any description because buyers search it directly. Say genuine, OEM or aftermarket, and give the donor vehicle’s mileage on wear items.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Part number and manufacturer
- Donor vehicle make, model, year, engine and mileage
- Whether genuine, OEM-equivalent or aftermarket
- Condition, and whether it was removed working or from a damaged vehicle
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about car parts. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.
Point to the part number and let the buyer cross-reference it. Fitment across facelifts and engine variants is exactly where confident guesses go wrong.
Say honestly whether it came off a running vehicle or a damaged one, and whether you tested it. Untested is a perfectly acceptable description; implied working is not.
For most parts yes, weight permitting. Airbags, seatbelt pretensioners and anything containing fuel or oil are restricted or refused by carriers, so check before you agree.
Pricing it so it actually sells
Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.
The car parts value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.
What you keep, compared
On a £210 sale — roughly the middle of the range for car parts — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:
| Where you sell it | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| WishThrift | £0 | £210 |
| Poshmark | −£42 | £168 |
| eBay | −£29 | £181 |
| Mercari | −£21 | £189 |
| Etsy | −£14 | £196 |
Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.
Timing and getting it to the buyer
Steady year round, and older or discontinued parts often sell better than new-model ones because there is no alternative source. Common serviceable parts sell within days.
Weigh before quoting; parts are dense. Drain any fluid, and never post an airbag or pretensioner — they are classed as dangerous goods. Keep a record of the donor vehicle for anything safety related.
WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.
Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.
Frequently asked questions
What are used car parts worth?
Typically £20 to £400, with discontinued and genuine manufacturer parts at the top. See the car parts value guide for how condition changes it.
Can I post an airbag?
No. Airbags and seatbelt pretensioners contain pyrotechnic charges and are classed as dangerous goods, so ordinary carriers will not take them. They need a specialist carrier or a local handover.
Do I need to say which car it came from?
Always. The donor vehicle and the part number together are how a buyer confirms fitment, and a part listed without either is very hard to sell at any price.
See also: what a used car parts is worth · browse live vehicles listings · condition grades explained.