There is a first time for everything, I guess

[StarTech]

Your are lucky then as I couldn't sell a nice walk behind for $35 with a 90 dy warranty or a rider for $500 with 90 day warranty. Finally just quit trying to sell anything used here after I was a max of $125 for the rider. I had over $400 in parts in it. I now parting it out and done at $750 in sales from it.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I have the same problem as Star
Every second idiot seems to think I have a yard full of completely serviced mowers with brand new service parts for next to nothing.
I now keep 2 wheels by the front gate
When some one comes in for a $ 10 push mower I offer them the Victa wheel
If they want the rest then that will be $ 150 more
Same story fo the $ 100 ride ons
Wheel with new tyre is $ 100
Rests of the mowwer is $ 1400
Apart from that you can put a lot of hours into a single once only sale whereas the hours you put into a repair get paid back by repeat repairs

 

[smalltimerpm]

99% of my business is service and repair, not used equipment sales. Never had a comeback from failed aftermarket parts in 5 years. Pretty remarkable when you think of it. Way more than anecdotal evidence, not a “one off.”

First your post was about saving money over profitable parts you buy from Amazon to save money and help resale? Then you state 99 percent of your business? I have no dought you must be pretty profitable then.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

First your post was about saving money over profitable parts you buy from Amazon to save money and help resale? Then you state 99 percent of your business? I have no dought you must be pretty profitable then.

First your post was about saving money over profitable parts you buy from Amazon to save money and help resale? Then you state 99 percent of your business? I have no dought you must be pretty profitable then.

The vast majority of my business is service and repair. Occasionally I sell a mower, etc. I have a small fair markup on the parts (mainly used on customer equipment for repair). The cost of everything these days is so high, so instead of buying OEM parts at 2 to 5 times the cost of aftermarket, I normally buy aftermarket to save the customer money. Hope this clears up any confusion.

 

[smalltimerpm]

The vast majority of my business is service and repair. Occasionally I sell a mower, etc. I have a small fair markup on the parts (mainly used on customer equipment for repair). The cost of everything these days is so high, so instead of buying OEM parts at 2 to 5 times the cost of aftermarket, I normally buy aftermarket to save the customer money. Hope this clears up any confusion.

No confusion here. If it works for you then that's all that matters.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Buy then off Alibaba not Amazon
With Alibaba the vendor is not hidden behind a screen name and they are all registered business becuse it is a B2B platform.
Next Alibaba hold onto your money for up to 45 days before the vendor gets paid unless you notigy them that the parts arrived and worked
If not you get a full refund or free replacement
After 45 days they will send you an email asking if the product was good and if you do not respond then the vendor gets paid
I have bought hundreds of things through alibaba and the ony problems were items damaged in transit and after sending a photo of the damaged carbs 2 new ones were despatched without question via priority freight .
OTOH at least 1/2 of the stuff I have bought off ebay was defective
IT took better than 6 months to sort out and most times I ended up being out of pocket
I have bought perhaps 10 items via Amazon and all of them were total junk and unfit for use .
Amazon did not want to know & the US vendors told me to POQ while the HK vendors sent me replacements that were equally as bad then eventually gave me a refund .

I couldn't find the ring size I needed in the US for any reasonable price. It was some rings for an old blower. I've tried Alibaba and got exactly what I needed. But it just took so long to get them. IIRC, it was close to 3 weeks.

 

[PTmowerMech]

The vast majority of my business is service and repair. Occasionally I sell a mower, etc. I have a small fair markup on the parts (mainly used on customer equipment for repair). The cost of everything these days is so high, so instead of buying OEM parts at 2 to 5 times the cost of aftermarket, I normally buy aftermarket to save the customer money. Hope this clears up any confusion.

I always give the customer the option of aftermarket or OEM. If it's something like a Stihl blower or weed eater with good compression and no ring groves, and the customer has the money, they usually go with the OEM.
But if the equipment is older and they just need something to get them buy, even my rich customers will choose aftermarket.
Aftermarket parts don't have a warranty. OEM's do. They know this upfront.

I gotta admit though, those cheap carbs from Amazon, IMO have gotten a little better over the years. Especially since Amazon has made these sellers upgrade their refund policies. I'm a Prime member. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with anything, but 80% of the carbs (or anything else) that I bought, I didn't have to return and still got a refund on.

 

[slomo]

On Chinese carbs from Amazon or Ebay, I water test them first. Some times you have to buy from those two places. Parts no longer available.....

Place the carb in a padded vice. Hook a bottle of water to the fuel bowl inlet pipe. Take a shop vac and place it next to the throttle shaft. That simulates running on a real engine. See if the needle and seat work and you get actual flow from the main jet slash emulsion tube. Next I pressure test the carb needle again with 7psi for 30 minutes. If all is good I install and test.

Sometimes I've had to massage some internal parts or metal work to get things to function proper. Need to do a full eyeball scan and check it all over.

 

[PTmowerMech]

I've gotten some Stens aftermarket carbs that were good. So far, I don't think I've gotten a bad one.

 

[smhardesty]

Well, back to my original post. I got the cheap carb over the weekend and put it on the mower today. I obviously can't speak to the longevity of the carb, but I can say that it bolted on perfectly and started right up. It just sat there purring exactly the way it should.

I will now at least look to places like Alibaba, Amazon, and eBay for parts, especially on these older mowers I'm refurbishing. I can now make a decent profit on an under $100 mower. It sure makes a difference in what I have to charge for a refurbished mower.