How to Sell Car Parts Online Using Amazon

The global value of the auto components market is estimated at $378 billion, with annual growth of 4% predicted. However, the trend toward online auto part sales is more significant for e-commerce sites.

Replacement components like water pumps and brake pads are as popular as performance add-ons like improved alloy wheels among internet shoppers. Some people choose to do it themselves, while others take their vehicles to a professional garage to have the new components installed. It is the DIY crowd that is responsible for the fastest sales expansion.

Although Amazon remains the best place to sell car parts online, selling auto parts and accessories presents many difficulties for vendors. It might be challenging enough to acquire approval to sell car parts on Amazon, let alone the additional work involved in making sure your fitment data is exact, complete, and presented appropriately.

All the info you’ll ever need is right here – read on to learn more!

What You Should Be Selling: High-Quality Car Parts for Maximum Profit

What we sell and why we sell it is a complex equation that belies its apparent simplicity. Do you seek general automobile market success or do you prefer to focus on a narrower range of products?

Amazon is one of the best places to sell car parts and, if you know what you’ll be selling, you may better organize your e-commerce site such that it offers a positive user experience (UX) and encourages purchases rather than lost visitors (bounces).

Some common instances of auto parts that shoppers seek out on the web are provided below.

Externals

External auto parts sell the best on sites like eBay and Amazon because they are easier for the average person to install. It is easy to evaluate if a non-OEM part will fit or if an OEM part will need to be replaced.

These external components are less delicate than their interior counterparts but still require substantial shipping containers.

Internals

Even while internal sales are smaller than their exterior counterparts, they are still sizable. Internals, such as wheels and suspensions, are often installed by a mechanic rather than the end user.

These items are more likely to break during delivery, thus extra precautions should be taken to protect them.

You’ll face similar dilemmas when deciding on a shipping provider and method to offer your customers. Packaging and shipping supplies may also need to be stocked up on.

Tools

Tools can range from something as lightweight as a wrench to something as hefty as a jack. They are marketable to both individual consumers and wholesalers of vehicle components.

Shipping these things requires careful planning to ensure they arrive safely and undamaged.

Wheels and suspensions

Since sales performance is comparable, wheels and suspensions are typically classified as outside components.

However, unlike standard externals, their installation necessitates a trip to a shop or mechanic. This is a B2B transaction, as the customer will most likely resell the components to other companies, who will then arrange for their own delivery.

Know Your Customer Base: Understanding the Demands and Preferences for Auto Parts

Online shoppers for auto parts span a wide range of age brackets, income levels, and sex distributions. Customers can be classified as either wholesalers, like local garages, or retailers, such as people making a one-time purchase online. When creating an online store, it’s important to know who you’re selling to.

You can learn more about your present audience by using analytics software like Google Analytics if you already have a website and are considering integrating an e-commerce platform into it. Audience demographics such as age, gender, country, and interests can all be monitored in Google Analytics.

If you don’t already have a website, you can learn about the shopping habits of people interested in the automotive aftermarket via studies conducted online.

If you want to sell auto parts online, you need to know who you’re selling to. Some typical target demographics are listed below:

Auto shops

You’re a business-to-business distributor who supplies independent shops, which in turn supply consumers. B2B sales have the potential to bring in more money because of the stability of sales, reduced expenses, and increased volume.

Regular customers

You’re targeting the teenager who wants to pimp out his 2002 Honda Civic with a custom exhaust system. It’s a B2C audience. Selling direct to consumers might have advantages, like the possibility of providing faster shipping for smaller orders.

Maximizing Car Parts Fitments for Sales Success

A car part’s fitment data lists which automobiles are compatible with that item. Parts finders, compatibility checkers, and vehicle lists seen in online listings all rely on fitment data to ensure that shoppers are purchasing the correct component.

Locator services for replacement components on the most popular online markets. Amazon auto parts finder will ask you about the vehicle’s trim and engine. Fitment is not an issue with some components like tires because they use their own unique size schemes. Similarly, dash cameras and other universal devices for cars do not require fitment information. However, fitting information is crucial for all vehicle-specific components and add-ons such as alternators and brake discs.

Accurate fitting is not always easy to achieve. Numerous variants of the same car model are common, and exterior styling is frequently updated. Make, model, year, trim level, and engine are required to narrow down the list of suitable automobiles.

A high standard of fitting data requires that it be:

• You shouldn’t advertise a part as being compatible with a vehicle for which it is not, as this will invite returns, complaints, and low ratings.
• Components from manufacturers like Bosch are used across a wide range of automobile models. You’ll be missing out on sales opportunities if you don’t include all of those cars in your statistics.
• In the right structure. You’ll need to make sure that your fitment data adheres to the correct standards and formats for each market.

Surprisingly limited fitment data is not uncommon. You should do your own study on compatibility issues because suppliers rarely have the answers and consider it the responsibility of the seller. The next question elaborates on the specifics of how to accomplish this.

Buyers can double-check that they have the right part by looking at more than just the fitment data provided. The other two main factors are:

• Images that are easy to see and compare from all sides, for the benefit of prospective buyers.
• If you offer the OE manufacturer component numbers that your product is interchangeable with, potential customers can use those numbers to either find what they’re looking for or verify your listing’s accuracy.
• You should strive to gather as much compatibility data as possible, including fitment data, pictures, and part numbers.

Data points like part numbers can often be difficult to track down. For a variety of reasons, such as when a component is moved to a different supplier or when a numbering scheme is revised, it may be necessary to create one or more superseded or equivalent part numbers. Make an effort to include everyone.

Exceptions should also be considered. For instance, if your part is compatible with all but one engine size for a certain vehicle model, be sure to specify this.

How to get fitment data

When it comes to vehicle parts, Amazon offers its own compatibility guides. If the product you are selling can be found in their catalog, you will not need to supply your own fitting data.

These catalogs tend to err on the side of prudence, which means that some automobiles may be left out and potential sales may be missed. You can update the fitment information for components that you didn’t make on Amazon, but on eBay, each seller has their own listing, so they can supply their own list of compatible automobiles.

Either purchase the data from a fitment data supplier or conduct your own study to determine if the item is compatible. You’ll need to convert the information into a format accepted by online marketplaces like Amazon once you have it.

Most frequently, e-commerce vendors who purchase fitment data choose a turnkey service that not only acquires the data but also converts it and makes it available to buyers. Channel Spyder (when combined with ShowMeTheParts), myFitment, PartsPal, and Optiseller (UK) are also viable alternatives.

Finding the original equipment (OE) part that your product is meant to replace, or a comparable part from a competitor, and then copying the vehicle compatibility data from that product is a frequent approach to doing your own research.

It’s a lot of work, but if you only need to find fitting data for a few items every so often, it could work. Using a commercial data supplier is likely to be more cost-effective and error-free if you require fitting data for a big number of individual parts.

How to Get Approved to Sell Car Parts on Amazon

Amazon restricts access to its Automotive and Powersports section. To sell items in this category, vendors must first submit an application for clearance. A few necessities are:

• A business-to-business sales account.
• Images of your products that conform to standards, and which may be viewed on either your site or another image hosting service.
• Universal Product Codes are used by all major brands.
• If you want to sell things on Amazon, but only to customers with specific automobiles, you should check out their Part Finder and Fitment Data page.
• Any used or refurbished items you offer must come with a manufacturer’s or remanufacturer’s warranty.

Through Seller Central, you can submit a request to sell auto components and accessories. Sellers who are new to Amazon may be asked to provide additional documentation, such as invoices from their suppliers or links to their own online stores.

It’s crucial to be aware that category gating is just one form of Amazon’s various restrictions. In addition, there are gated brands, which require a separate clearance process. If you want to sell authentic BMW parts, for instance, you’ll need both automotive category approval and BMW brand approval. Supplier invoices and manufacturer authorization letters are typically required for brand clearance.

To ensure that only legitimate vendors and genuine products are sold on the marketplace, Amazon has placed restrictions on the automobile category and on certain automobile brands. While this may add some extra paperwork and time, it does prevent the more speculative vendors from entering the market.

In accordance with legal and safety standards, several product categories are prohibited from sale on Amazon. These include items that interfere with emissions control systems and products that disguise license plates.

Best Practices for Selling Auto Parts on Amazon

Selling auto parts online involves many factors, only one of which is ecommerce. Before you dive headfirst into creating an ecommerce website, you need to do some preliminary planning and define the scope of the project.

As with any significant shift, planning is the key to ensuring a smooth transition.

Consult with auto experts and enthusiasts before proceeding

You should consult with some local mechanics or automobile aficionados before proceeding. A piece that no one else has could be in their possession. Your objective could be to become the exclusive source for that one-off component.

Talk to them and find out what kind of interaction they’re hoping to have.

• What problems do they have?
• Have they ever made an online purchase? If so, how did they like the experience?
• Why does a customer buy?
• Which is more important to you: cost, quality, or ease of use?

You can learn a lot about how to provide the greatest experience possible from this study.

Study what your competitors are doing

Check out the competition on all relevant sales platforms, such as eBay, Amazon, and others. Learn from their pricing strategies for auto parts to see whether you can hold your own.

Simply conducting a web search using the component’s name should yield adequate results. Take note of who and why ranks highly. Verify how the site works for users, how much it costs, and the full customer experience.  All of these things can serve as motivation for creating your own internet shop.

Reach out for quotes to study the market

Once you have an idea of the price range you need to stay within, you can start requesting quotes from vendors on sites like Alibaba.

You may continue dealing with the same vendors, or you could explore other options. Make sure the minimum order quantity is reasonable for your online store. Find multiple sources from which to purchase vehicle parts.

Send purchase orders

Purchase orders (POs) should be sent to the selected auto part manufacturers once a thorough quality check has been performed. The importance of quality in consumers’ minds cannot be overstated. Avoiding problems like product recalls might also help you save money in the long run.

How to Carve Out Your Own Place in the Car Parts Market

Following is a summary checklist for learning how to sell car parts online. As we’ve seen, the success of your online auto parts company hinges in large part on your level of preparation and planning:

• Is your target market all Dodge owners, or just those who drive a model produced between 1970 and 2000? Find out what your competitors are up to and figure out how to beat them with your online auto parts company.
• For decades, several automakers have relied on the same suppliers, making it simple to swap out worn components. Look for uniform producers who are reliable and whose ideals align with your own.
• Specify each feature and aspect of the product you’re describing. The safety of car passengers might rise or fall depending on the quality of specific components. Make sure to specify whether or not the components are OEM replacements.
• In an online shop, customers can quickly identify high-quality photographs from those that aren’t. Your online auto parts store will benefit from professional photography to enhance the user experience.