Find your first sellable part.
Four quick questions about your printer and what is lying around your house, and we point you at the category to start with. Then browse all 43 parts from the guide, filtered to what your printer can handle.
About 2 minutes. Nothing is sent anywhere, and it works offline.
- Answer the questions, read your starting point, then open the explorer.
- Every part shows why it sells and what to check before you print it.
- Star the ones you like, then copy your shortlist into your notes or your Claude.
You are not selling a 3D print. You are selling the only remaining answer to somebody's problem.
Start here.
What you told us
Suggested next steps
The parts.
Prices are the band the part tends to sell for on eBay UK. Where a band is marked est. we estimated it from the category rather than from our own sales, so check sold listings before you commit.
Difficulty and print time assume a standard desktop printer with no special setup.
Check the licence on the file page, every time.
- Public Domain or CC0: sell away.
- CC-BY: credit the designer in the listing.
- CC-BY-SA: credit them, and share any changes on the same terms.
- Anything with NC in it is not for selling. Move on, or message the designer and ask.
Then check the market, and the title.
- Search the part on eBay UK with sold listings switched on. No sold listings, no market.
- Never put the words "3D printed" in the title: buyers search for their problem, not your method.
- Use "replacement", "spare" or "fits [model]", and put the fitment word before the brand name.
What to print it in
PLA is fine for anything indoors, dry and out of the sun. Toys, models, remote covers, blind caps.
PETG for anything wet, warm, outdoors or under load. Shower parts, hot tub parts, garden and shed hardware.
ABS or ASA for heat and sunlight. Dishwasher parts that see hot washes, anything near a barbecue lid, anything living outside all year.
Where it flops: printing a dishwasher rack wheel in PLA. It will soften in the first hot cycle, the buyer will leave you a review about it, and they will be entirely correct. The material tag on each card is our reading of these three rules for that part.
The 4-step method, for when the list runs out
- 1. Spot the part
- Look for plastic that breaks on things that outlive it. Hinges, clips, handles, catches, battery covers, wheels, brackets. Your own house, your parents' house, and any forum where people complain about a specific model.
- 2. Check somebody actually wants it
- Search the part on eBay UK and switch on sold listings. Sold listings tell you what people paid, not what sellers hope to get. No sold listings, no market. Move on without sentiment.
- 3. Find a free file
- Printables first, then Thingiverse, then MakerWorld. Search the part number as well as the name. Check the licence while you are there.
- 4. Print one, photograph it, list it
- One unit, a decent photo of the real thing on a plain background, and a title that says "replacement", "spare" or "fits [model]". Save the honesty for the description.
The numbers from the eBay guide
- The floor
- Under about £13 is not worth listing whatever you do. Below that the fixed fees and postage take more than half of what the buyer pays, and one return wipes out several sales. The shape that works: one piece, under 100g, under 25mm thick, sells for £15 to £25, and sells often enough to keep on a shelf.
- List wide, then stock what sells
- List a spread of parts to see which ones move. The ones that sell, batch-print and put on a shelf. Picking from stock instead of printing to order saves about £2.10 an order and drops your minimum price by about £4.75.
- Postage
- eBay charges its fee on the total including postage, and its search prefers free delivery. Build the postage into the price and advertise free UK delivery.
- The one rule that can end your shop
- The compatibility word comes before the brand name. "Wall Bracket Fits Dyson V11", never "Dyson V11 Wall Bracket". Three strikes in 90 days and the shop is gone.
- The free file trap
- Everybody else found the same file too. Free files are how you learn. Your own designs are how you earn.
Words we used that might need explaining
- NLA
- No longer available. The manufacturer has stopped making the part.
- STL
- The standard file format for a 3D model. The thing you download and feed to your printer.
- Sold listings
- eBay's record of what actually sold and for how much. The only demand signal worth trusting.
- Creative Commons / NC
- The licensing system most free files use. NC means Non-Commercial: you may not sell prints of it.
- Item specifics
- The structured fields on an eBay listing, like brand and material. Leave them blank and the filters cannot find you.
- Large Letter
- Royal Mail's cheaper format. Under 25mm thick is the limit that matters, not the weight.
- INAD
- "Item not as described". A return where you pay the postage regardless of your policy.
- Batch
- Printing many copies of the same part in one go, filling the print bed.