Sell Your Used Tow Bar — 0% Fees

A used tow bar typically sells for £40 to £250, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Tow bars are vehicle specific, so the listing lives or dies on naming the exact make, model and years it fits — a generic description will not sell one.

The short version

Typical range: £40 – £250 — see the full tow bar 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.

Identify precisely which vehicle it was removed from, including model years and body style.
Check whether the electrical kit is included and whether it is 7-pin, 13-pin or both.
Check all mounting bolts and brackets are present, and inspect the ball and neck for wear.

The photographs that sell a tow bar

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 tow bar whole, laid out
All brackets and bolts arranged together
The electrical socket and wiring loom
The ball and neck, plus any part number and every worn or corroded area

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Vehicle fit and type: “Tow Bar for VW Golf Mk7 2012-2019, Fixed Flange, 13-Pin Electrics”. The vehicle and year range is the entire search. Say fixed, detachable or swan neck, and whether electrics are included.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Exact vehicle make, model, body style and year range it fits
Type — fixed flange, detachable or swan neck
Whether the electrical kit is included, and 7-pin or 13-pin
Whether all brackets, bolts and fitting instructions are present

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a tow bar. 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.

“Will it fit my car?”

Give the exact model and year range, and the part number if there is one. Tow bars are vehicle specific and a near miss is a complete miss.

“Are the electrics included?”

Say so and specify the socket type. Wiring kits are a substantial cost separately and often vehicle specific too.

“Are all the bolts there?”

Lay them out and photograph them. Missing high-tensile mounting bolts are not something to improvise with, and they must be the correct grade.

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 tow bar 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 £145 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a tow bar — 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	£145
Poshmark	−£29	£116
eBay	−£20	£125
Mercari	−£14	£131
Etsy	−£9	£136

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 with a spring lift as towing season starts. Common vehicle fitments sell within days.

Very heavy for its size, so weigh before quoting postage. Fitting should be done properly since it is a structural and safety component — say so rather than implying it is a simple bolt-on.

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 is a used tow bar worth?

Typically £40 to £250, with detachable types and included electrics above. See the tow bar value guide for the bands.

Can a tow bar be fitted to a different car?

Almost never. They are engineered for a specific vehicle’s chassis mounting points, so the model and year range must match. Give both precisely.

Should tow bars be professionally fitted?

It is a structural safety component with a legal type approval, so proper fitting matters. Say so in the listing rather than presenting it as a straightforward DIY job.