SMF Knowledge is $$$

Reading from the forum has gotten me into actively seeking and even buying E-Waste right now. So far, I've made back most of my investment just on the steel cases and the cords. Occasionally I get a P4 or newer that I sell on CL to cover the remainder. I give my Father In Law a bag of printer cartridges every month and the staples credit goes to his business. I haven't cashed in the other parts yet, but I expect a nice pay day (and profit) when I do. It's not much work to tear them apart. I've given away scrap parts in the past just to get rid of them.

A few weeks ago, I had a person call me about selling a few computers based on ad add I had. He met me at a gas station. 4 towers, 4 laptops, a CRT monitor, and a tub full of various electronics and parts. I like this guy because he's ex-military and now is a single father. I offer him $40 (all that I had on me), and at that I wasn't sure I was going to make enough of a profit to be worth my time. He was ecstatic because he figured it was all junk and if just happy to get some money. I made the comment that I felt a little bad giving him so little, because I know he probably had thousands invested in this - a decade ago. He agreed and made the comment that there was a broken Alienware laptop in there. NICE!

I still felt like I had paid too much until I was reading on here and learned about selling parts laptops on Ebay. I gave it a try and CHA CHING - $61 on that laptop alone (it was missing the battery and charger). Two of the other laptops are older, so I'll research those and see if they're worth selling. I'm looking to at least triple my investment and likely more.

May not be a huge score to many of you, but thanks to everyone for sharing. Otherwise, the laptop would be a pile of parts by now and my wallet would be empty.