Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
Today I spent $70 on some computer scrap. I got 5 creamic intel cpu's, five creamic amd cpu's, one creamic cyrix 686 gold top cpu, one pentium 4 cpu, 5 green fiber cpu's, a few other small cpu's, atleast 20 pounds of motherboards, about 10 pounds of finger boards, a pound of computer wire and some other small stuff. Do you think I atleast broke even?
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Check the buyers section and do the math.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
Ive done some math going off ewasted prices but since I dont have a pound of some things like the cpu's. would they still buy less than a pound?Originally Posted by billygoat
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I don't know. Ewasted has an email listed on his thread. Or you could PM him.
Edit: To arrive at the scrap value of an item that is less than a pound, I divide the price per pound by 16 (ounces) and then multiply by the weight of the item (in ounces).
Last edited by billygoat; 12-19-2012 at 09:45 PM.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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There is only one way to find out. And sitting on it does you no good so go for it and see what happens.
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assuming worst case shipping costs, 30lbs combined weight of motherboards and finger cards at $3 is $90 with other stuff not counted, and probably low balled the price ridiculously. don't forget the shred weight too
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And besides, we all make mistakes. Or sometimes we make mistakes and still make money. It's all part of learning by doing. Experience is my best teacher.
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You should double your money depending on who you sell to.
P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling.
If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
How long should I wait before sell my stuff? Is there a weight most people like to ship at and how many different things do you ship at once?
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You can cram it all in a box if you want to. Fedex likes the boxes less than 70 lb. Check in the buyers section but I think you have one close to you.
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I cash in my stuff whenever I feel ready to. Contact a buyer and ask him if there is a minimum. I don't think there is, but it's best to find out.
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You should make up your investment on your boards, everything else is gravy
Scott
At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. -- Carl Sagan
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I wouldn't start worrying about losses until they get into the 3 or 4 digits. Scared money doesn't make money.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Could not have said it better myself. A loss of twenty bucks here, even fifty there... is not going to hurt anyone. It's all a learning experience. But, you don't want to gamble on hundreds or thousands if you're not very sure of what you're doing - and then you're probably not gambling.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Ewasted does buy less then a pound to answer your question. As do most of the buyers on here. I send in to my buyers whenever i feel I want to if they dont want what I send Im sure I will hear about it
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good take ! doing any thing for the first time can be scary in one way or another unless you are a senseless adrenalin junkie like me, I don't recommend it, the cost later in life is serious
like playing poker the first rule of business is eliminate as much gamble as possible. read , and I mean study this forum like a college course in business and you can not fail. if you follow it like a bible of scrap business.
If you just want to collect a little scrap for extra cash that's one thing. If you want to be in the scrap business that's quite another.
"anyone who thinks scrappin is easy money ain't doin it right!"
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As a refiner I have noticed a shift in just the last few months in the scrap market for smaller lots.
I am very lucky in that I have more scrap coming in than I can currently process. The excess material I sell on ebay in small lots. The reason I do this is because I have noticed a huge number of new people who are hobby refiners. It seems like there are a lot of people who are just learning how to refine, and doing so purely as an interest and not as a business. What this means is that they are looking for smaller lots, and willing to pay closer to the actual value rather than beating scrappers up over pricing.
This is just a suggestion, but I promise you that if you do this, you will make double your investment with very little work involved. Not that I am promoting laziness, I am not, my intent is to help you make a profit off your first investment so that you can keep growing your business.
Put your material up on ebay in small lots. If you have around a lb of your CPU's put them up all together, if not. if you have more than a couple lbs, put them up in lots around a lb, and sell them separately. All you have to do is search on ebay, to see what any individual type of material is selling for currently. Or if you are willing to put in the time, look at the history of gold prices, find a similar time frame then limit your google search to look for past ebay auctions during that time period. In any case, if you are smart about it, put up small lots, you are going to at the very least double your money.
Another suggestion is to wait until after the first of the year when gold prices start going up again. Gold is down about $50.00 compared to just a few weeks ago. When gold falls, people expect a much larger discount that isn't really in relation to the price of gold falling, but rather the fear it will further fall. If you watch the gold markets, and read the precious metal trends you will better know when you put your scrap up for auction. In doing so you will make a better profit, honestly. This is what I do, and it works perfect for me. I literally figure out and track this type of information, and have over a few years now. And not to toot my own horn, I'm not about self promotion honestly and I don't want to give the wrong impression, but I have over 1,000 ebay sales in scrap and have never made less than twice my investment on any given type of material I sell, with the exception of gold pins.
Scott
Last edited by NobleMetalWorks; 12-20-2012 at 03:28 PM.
Don't worry about it, like the other say use it as a learning experience. I'm laying out 350.00 on Saturday, my largest purchase to date. Like old dude said, I researched and should come out on the plus side but it's a gamble and like russel said scared money won't make money, I can ill afford to lose 350.00 but gotta try. Let us know how you make out.
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