Free printableBuying and orderingTSP-BU-05
Comparing scooter parts suppliers
Price is the least important column. Whether they will answer a dimension question is the most important one.
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TSP-BU-05 · version v1.0 · September 2026. Opens in your browser's PDF viewer, where you can print directly.
The problem it solves
Parts for these machines come from sellers who range from specialists with real knowledge to marketplace listings that are a photograph and a price. Buyers compare on price, which is the column that matters least when the risk is receiving something that does not fit.
The single most useful thing you can know about a supplier is whether they will answer a question. Send a message asking for one dimension — the length of a belt, the bore of a carburettor, the height of a brake pad — and the reply tells you almost everything.
A seller who answers with a number knows what they have in stock. A seller who answers with the listing title again does not. A seller who does not answer at all is one you will be arguing with if the part is wrong.
The second column that beats price is the returns policy, read before ordering rather than after. A part that is ten pounds cheaper and non-returnable is not cheaper on any order where the fitment is uncertain — which, on these machines, is most of them.
The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent
- Comparing on price alone, when the real cost is a part that does not fit and cannot go back.
- Not asking a dimension question before ordering, which is the cheapest test of a supplier there is.
- Reading the returns policy after the part arrives.
- Ignoring postage and any import charges until checkout.
- Not recording which supplier a good part came from, so the next order starts from scratch.
Who it is for
- Anyone choosing between several listings for the same part
- Owners building up a list of suppliers worth using again
- Anyone who has been burned by a non-returnable wrong part
What is on it
- A comparison table with the columns that actually matter
- The dimension question test, and how to read the answer
- Total cost including postage and any charges
- A verdict column for next time
How to use it
- 01Ask each candidate one specific dimension question before ordering anything.
- 02Record the answer and how long it took. Both are information.
- 03Work out the total including postage before comparing prices.
- 04Fill in the verdict after the part arrives, so the sheet gets better each time.
Use it with the registry
Other sheets you may want
- Before you order a scooter part: checklistTwelve checks that take ten minutes and prevent the single most common expensive mistake these machines produce.
- Scooter parts order and returns recordWhat you ordered, when the window closes, and where the evidence is if it has to go back.
- Parts that fitted: the log worth keeping for a Chinese scooterThe single most valuable page you can keep for one of these machines. What you bought, from where, and whether it actually went on.
Free to print, copy, and share — including in forums, clubs and workshops. If you find a mistake on this sheet, tell us and it gets corrected. Quote TSP-BU-05 and the version so we know exactly which sheet you mean. All printables.