Selling car parts on eBay: a guide for scrapyards
October 13, 2026 · by Portal Hero · 9 min read
Sell car parts on eBay as a breaker: business account, KType compatibility, fees, banned parts and selling to Germany, France and Italy.
A Golf VI alternator has been sitting on the shelf for three months. Nobody has asked for it at the counter or on the Spanish marketplaces. Then one Tuesday a garage in Stuttgart buys it on eBay: it pays €89 plus shipping, asks no questions and leaves positive feedback when it arrives. For a breaker's yard, that's what eBay is: the buyer looking for exactly your part, wherever they happen to be.
And it's not a one-off. Among the eBay orders of the Spanish breakers we work with, almost half come from outside Spain, mainly from Germany, France and Italy. This guide explains how to sell car parts on eBay the smart way: the account, the listing, vehicle compatibility, selling across Europe, what it costs and what you can't sell.
Why sell car parts on eBay
On eBay, used parts are bought the way they are in a parts shop: by reference and by vehicle. The buyer comes in with the OEM number of the part they've just removed, or with their car saved in "My Garage", and eBay shows them only what fits. That changes the rules compared with a classifieds site: the sale doesn't go to whoever has the nicest photo, but to whoever has the most complete listing.
On top of that, each eBay is a market with its own language and its own buyer: Spanish, German, French, Italian and British. The same catalogue can be on all of them, and for a niche part, such as a specific ECU or the gearbox from an unusual model, that multiplies your chances of selling it. If you're just starting to sell online and want to see the other marketplaces, it's all in how to sell used parts online.
Selling on eBay as a business: the business seller account
A breaker sells on eBay with a business seller account, in the company's name and with its tax details. Anyone who sells regularly is a business seller in the eyes of eBay and the law, and their buyers have the rights of any distance purchase, such as returning the part within 14 days.
Before you list your first part, set up the three policies every listing inherits:
- Postage: carrier, handling time and cost per country. An engine or a gearbox needs its own rate.
- Returns: the return window and who pays for return postage.
- Payment: eBay collects from the buyer and pays the money into your bank account.
With a large catalogue it's worth opening an eBay Shop: it gives you a branded storefront and the discount tools you don't get without one. Search Google in Spain for "desguace ebay" and the top results are the eBay Shops of Spanish breakers.
Vehicle compatibility on eBay: the listing that sells
Compatibility is the list of vehicles the part fits, and it's what sells most on eBay. Thanks to it, the listing shows up when someone filters by their car, and eBay confirms that the part fits. Without it, the listing depends on the buyer hitting the right words in the title.
What is eBay's KType
In Europe, eBay identifies each vehicle by its KType, the TecDoc code for each version of a car: make, model, years and engine. A Golf VI 1.6 TDI alternator doesn't fit every Golf VI, and the KType is what tells one version from another. eBay supports it on its sites in Spain, Germany, France, Italy and the UK, and lets you link up to 3,000 vehicles to a single listing, so a common part appears in thousands of searches.
Before loading long lists, one warning: eBay validates the whole list, and a single wrong code makes it reject all of it. If your ERP or your feed already carries the KTypes for each part, Portal Hero checks them and publishes them as a compatibility list on every eBay that supports it.
+ 2,936 more vehicles · TecDoc KType
The rest of the listing
- A title with the OEM reference, make, model, years and engine. Those are the words garages search with, and eBay caps titles at 80 characters.
- Photos of the actual part, not catalogue images, with the label and any defects in plain sight.
- Complete item specifics: brand, reference and part type. eBay uses them as filters, and a part without them disappears as soon as the buyer filters.
- Clear postage for each country, so the final price doesn't come as a surprise at the last step.
Selling on eBay Germany, France and Italy from Spain
Germany is the top destination for the parts Spanish breakers sell on eBay outside Spain, followed by France and Italy. But selling there takes more than accepting international shipping: German buyers search in German, on eBay.de, and buy from sellers who speak their language.
What works is listing on each country's eBay with the same account: title and description in the local language, postage to that country set up and compatibility loaded. Portal Hero publishes the same catalogue on each country's eBay and translates the title and description, trimmed to each site's limit, and every order lands in your ERP like any other sale.
ebay.de · Autoteile & Zubehör
VAT when selling to other EU countries
It's the question that holds breakers back the most, and the answer is short. If you sell under REBU, Spain's special scheme for second-hand goods (the margin scheme), the VAT on those sales is paid in Spain on your margin, even when the buyer is in another EU country: the Spanish VAT Act keeps these sales outside the distance selling rules. If you invoice under the standard scheme, sales to consumers in other EU countries are taxed at the buyer's country's VAT rate once they pass €10,000 a year across all countries, and they're declared every quarter through the One-Stop Shop (OSS), using form 369 from the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria). On sales within the EU, eBay doesn't settle the VAT: the seller does.
Which parts you can't sell on eBay
eBay bans airbags and anything pyrotechnic on all its sites: airbag cushions and covers, gas generators, seatbelt pretensioners and pyrotechnic modules. It removes those listings, and relisting them brings restrictions on your account. The safe move is to filter them out before publishing, so they never reach eBay.
eBay fees: how much eBay charges for selling car parts
eBay charges mainly when you sell. Adding up every fee on each order, for breaker parts eBay keeps around 15% of what the buyer pays on a typical order, shipping included, and between 11% and 17% on half of all orders. That's the figure to price with: a part worth €100 at the counter has to go on eBay with that fee and the shipping factored in.
Two free tools help close sales. The first is accepting offers with a minimum price, below which eBay declines them automatically. The second is sending offers to interested buyers: anyone watching the part or who left it in their basket gets your discount, of at least 5%, and has two days to take it.
Sync your stock: every part is unique
A breaker's part is one of a kind. If it sells on eBay, it has to vanish instantly from every other marketplace and from the counter; otherwise you'll end up cancelling orders, and eBay counts every cancellation against your seller level.
That's why the catalogue has to live in one place, your breaker's ERP, and flow from there to every marketplace. Portal Hero connects the sector's ERPs with eBay and the other parts marketplaces: it publishes each part, withdraws it from all of them when it sells on one, and sends the order back to the ERP with all its details, so you can prepare the shipment and invoice like any other sale.
The saving is in never typing anything twice: you enter the part in your ERP, with its photos and its reference, and Portal Hero lists it on every eBay site and the other marketplaces with the full listing. If you change the price or sell it at the counter, the change reaches all of them without anyone touching a listing. If you also sell on Wallapop, here's how to sync your catalogue and stock with Wallapop.
Frequently asked questions
What are eBay's fees for selling car parts?
For breaker parts, eBay keeps around 15% of what the buyer pays on a typical order, shipping included, and between 11% and 17% on half of all orders.
Do I need a business account to sell on eBay?
Yes, if you sell regularly, as a breaker does. The business seller account is in the company's name, with its tax details, and the buyer knows they're buying from a professional, with the rights of any distance purchase.
What is KType on eBay?
It's the TecDoc code that identifies each version of a vehicle: make, model, years and engine. eBay uses it in Europe for parts compatibility, and each KType on the list is a vehicle the part fits.
How many vehicles can you add to a listing's compatibility?
Up to 3,000 per listing. A single wrong code is enough for eBay to reject the whole list, so check it before publishing.
Can you sell airbags on eBay?
No. eBay bans airbags, airbag covers, gas generators, pretensioners and any pyrotechnic module on all its sites.
How do you sell on eBay Germany from Spain?
By listing on eBay.de with the same account, with the title and description in German, postage to Germany set up and KType compatibility. VAT depends on your scheme: under REBU it's paid in Spain on the margin; under the standard scheme, above €10,000 a year in sales to EU consumers, German VAT applies and is declared through the One-Stop Shop (OSS).
In short
Selling car parts on eBay works when the listing does the selling for you: the reference in the title, KType compatibility, real photos and clear postage. With that in place, the same catalogue sells in Spain, Germany, France and Italy. The rest is about not slipping up: prices that factor in the fee, nothing pyrotechnic and stock in sync so you never sell the same part twice.
Portal Hero publishes breakers' catalogues on eBay and the other parts marketplaces straight from their ERP, with translated listings and compatibility loaded. Take a look at our solution for breakers or tell us how you work.