NEVER PACKED & SHIPPED PARTS BEFORE? Being willing to pack & ship your parts around the country is the key to increasing the sales of your parts. It is ok to only do business face to face with cash. I currently sell a lot of parts in my local Auto Locator. It works well, but most people won't travel more than 100 miles one way. Since we're now dealing on the "world wide web", limiting your customer base to 200 sq. miles seems silly. If your willing to pack & ship, your can increase your customer base a 1000 times. It's easy to pack & ship parts and I'll tell you how.

     The first things you need are boxes. It's easy to find boxes. Your local supermarket throws out 100's every week. Just stop and ask any employee of the store how you can get these boxes. I've found these are not the best boxes for shipping car parts though. I get all my boxes from a local auto body shop. Those boxes are a lot tougher and often come with packaging material. The boxes always vary in size from small parts boxes to big fender & hood boxes. I like using the bigger boxes, then cutting them down to the size I need as I'm packing.

     A safe way to collect funds for your parts is to only except a cashiers check or money order. Always make sure it is clear who is paying for the shipping. Usually, the buyer pays shipping. In this case, you'll need to tell the buyer what the shipping will be. For packages under 75 lbs, I pack the part first, then go onto the UPS web site and use their cost calculator. I simply type in my zip code,  the buyer's zip code, the height, width, length, & lbs. of the package, and the calculator figures out the shipping for me. I then e-mail the buyer to send a cashiers check or money order for the cost of the part + the shipping. I don't ship till the cashiers check or money order clears and I have cash in my hand. Then I go to my local UPS drop off site or the post office. You can also use Fed-ex if they're close by. For packages over 75 lbs, UPS may still be used up to 150 lb's but special arrangements will need to be made for pick up. For parts over 150 lbs., consult you local phone book under listings for LTL carriers (less than truck load), Freight, or Trucking and call to establish packing & shipping rates.

Once you see how easy it is to pack & ship parts and how much your sales increase, you'll wander why you didn't start shipping parts sooner.

- David H. Lehr (Owner of ClassicJunkYard.com)