Parting out

[Ranger06]

I have been toying with the idea of parting out wrecked bikes.  Is there really any money in it if you can get a deal on the bike?  Here's an example, 2005 999, wrecked but not too bad, mostly bodywork, some rash in the usual places, front wheel destroyed.  I can get it for 4K.  Figure, forks, rear wheel, swingarm, tank and remus CF exhaust should net 4K easy, right? 

[scduc]

Problem is, if people know the bike was wrecked, most will "not" buy the forks. If you dont tell them it was wrecked, then you are bing dishonest. I think for you to buy a bike and then part it out, probably not a good investment. However if it was your ride and the insurance co. gives you the option to keep bike and take less payout. then yes you can make some good cash if not too badly damaged. If most of the parts are undamaged, alot of people will buy just for replacement parts. We all know how expensive they can be.

[Duck-Stew]

Yes there is money in it.

No, it's not enough to live on.

Too much hassle turning one thing (wrecked bike) into 100 things for sale (think: returns, bounced checks, wrong parts, etc...)

Bored?  Collecting unemployment?  Need a LOT of the parts for yourself?  Then you may make a few extra 'side' bucks but going off of my FHE, not really a viable business.  All the people I know who part out Ducs do it as a 'side' thing.

[crankcall]

there are people making a living doing this, not just wrecked duc's but multibrands. You need a very good network of supply, some volume is required and a work area. Could be an interesting sideline, there are several motorcycle wrecking yards in my area and they do get some ducati's in there. Ebay has made it sort of easy to broker stuff.
Regardless of car/airplane/motorbike, 95% of used late model parts come from wrecked vehicles. Its a given that a '07 fork set probably came off a wreck, 2% of the population may change that out as a modification.
Your reponsibility would be to ensure whatever you sold was usable, most used parts from a dealer have 30 day warranty.

[Desmo Demon]

Depending on the purchase price of the bike and how much you can get for all the parts, you can end up getting absolutely no money for the time you had spent in taking the bike apart. Not to mention the eBay posting and selling fees, PayPal fees, the cost of boxes, the time involved in packaging the items, money in gas to drive to ship the packages, time spent standing in line at the USPS/FedEx/UPS, and potential miscalculations in shipping costs. Then you also have to consider all those parts you will not be able to sell......these are the little obscue parts that you probably will not even try to sell or ones that nobody ever seems to need. Are you going to keep these parts and store them? Start a website showing those parts for sale? You going to throw them away?.......While rebuilding my '87 Ducati Paso 750, I ran across a few parts that are no longer available through Ducati that I needed, and they were little pieces that no one ever listed on eBay. When someone was parting a bike out, I'd always try to contact them about these hard-to-find parts. What always made me cringe was this comment I got on occasion......."I didn't think anyone would want that, so I threw it away."

The whole key to making money is keeping up with the market to know what the parts are worth. I bought an ST4 engine from a guy and wanted the swingarm with axle assembly that he had, but he thought the swingarm was worth $150+ by itself and the axle assembly was worth another $100 or so. I tried to be as honest as I could with the guy, but I surely don't think he believed I was, so......I picked up a swingarm from eBay for $20 shipped to my door and the axle assembly for another $50. With the ST bikes, no one wants the steel swingarms....it's the aluminum ones from the ST4s that everyone wants.

[Bill in OKC]

......."I didn't think anyone would want that, so I threw it away."

I have gotten a similar line from a Porsche salvage yard.   I wanted a radio antenna...   "We always throw those away..."  followed by a look like I was asking for the impossible.  Throwing away parts that are no longer available is just wrong.

[Speeddog]

Best advice?

Do an experiment.
Buy a bike, and part it out.
Keep an accurate record of the time you spend doing it, and compare that with what you make off of the deal.