New to scrapping, how to optimalize profit scrapping PCs

Welcome to SMF from the Dakota's. I am not into ewaste, but when I need information I have found the old threads contain a wealth of information. Sometimes I find answers to questions I never knew I had. There are some great resources here on the forum and some of the buyers specialize. Finding your own niche is the key. Good luck.

Originally Posted by oresteia

Thanks for the replies guys!
For the first big batch I will be sending the boards untouched, although I will try to do the match about the different yields. Difference between sending boards untouched, and between selling oscillators, capacitors and IC separately.

this has already been shown in multiple discussions that depopulating boards (unless on a LARGE scale) is a mistake. Unless you have access to literally 100's of pounds of boards, it won't be viable. You have assay costs and then you have to have someone toe represent you in many cases when you are getting these done...ie they take a cut and you have to rely on them to give you a straight answer. you also have not even factored in your time to do do the depopulation.

Seriously, this isn't hard. You have ALL the info you will need in this forum FOR FREE. MANY people here have done everything under the sun to try to squeeze more out...some pretty smart people.

You should concentrate on getting more product and turning it over....unless you have people bringing it to you by the car load.

1) motherboards - how much to scrap? I see people scrapping connectors, valuable capacitors, 'crystals' and IC chips and selling those in bulk. Should I scrap as much valuable stuff from it as I can?
I do pop off tantalum, the cpu, pull ram and remove heatsink (no reason to ship AL or CU). Otherwise, into the pile it goes.

2) does anyone have a full list of most common golden plated connectors? Some are easy to see, some aren't. Like IDE.
gold connectors are not worth much right now...I mean for every POUND of them you might clear another .20. Take alot of pounds to hit my per hourly goal.

3) should I throw all cables in one bulk, or separate them - like ribbon wire?
Ask your buyer...communication cable (networking) can be worth more and most ribbon cables are really just steel

4) assuming that answer to n.1 is no... can I still sell the scrapped motherboards, or should I Just trash them?
This is where reading this forum would have answered this...umm...NO NO NO, do not throw them away...they can be worth $1.50 to over $3 a pound

5) with small cards that have golden fingers. Should I sell them as they are, or strip the finger and IC chips?
Sell as finger boards (last ones I sent were $3 pound or so).

AGAIN, to see how much stuff is selling for, jump on buyers section and look. Ewasted has a HUGE price list as does many others. If you aren't educated on what things are, then DO THAT before you do anything else. KNOW, what components are in a computer at least. The rest will be an education on the job so to speak. Some boards (when you send a pic will go for more than you though...some not so much). Eventually you will have a pretty good education in about 5-6 months if starting from scratch. BUT READ...the "gold" is right here in this board...real world experience and knowledge...all for FREE.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff

this has already been shown in multiple discussions that depopulating boards (unless on a LARGE scale) is a mistake. Unless you have access to literally 100's of pounds of boards, it won't be viable. You have assay costs and then you have to have someone toe represent you in many cases when you are getting these done...ie they take a cut and you have to rely on them to give you a straight answer. you also have not even factored in your time to do do the depopulation.

Seriously, this isn't hard. You have ALL the info you will need in this forum FOR FREE. MANY people here have done everything under the sun to try to squeeze more out...some pretty smart people.

You should concentrate on getting more product and turning it over....unless you have people bringing it to you by the car load.

1) motherboards - how much to scrap? I see people scrapping connectors, valuable capacitors, 'crystals' and IC chips and selling those in bulk. Should I scrap as much valuable stuff from it as I can?
I do pop off tantalum, the cpu, pull ram and remove heatsink (no reason to ship AL or CU). Otherwise, into the pile it goes.

2) does anyone have a full list of most common golden plated connectors? Some are easy to see, some aren't. Like IDE.
gold connectors are not worth much right now...I mean for every POUND of them you might clear another .20. Take alot of pounds to hit my per hourly goal.

3) should I throw all cables in one bulk, or separate them - like ribbon wire?
Ask your buyer...communication cable (networking) can be worth more and most ribbon cables are really just steel

4) assuming that answer to n.1 is no... can I still sell the scrapped motherboards, or should I Just trash them?
This is where reading this forum would have answered this...umm...NO NO NO, do not throw them away...they can be worth $1.50 to over $3 a pound

5) with small cards that have golden fingers. Should I sell them as they are, or strip the finger and IC chips?
Sell as finger boards (last ones I sent were $3 pound or so).

AGAIN, to see how much stuff is selling for, jump on buyers section and look. Ewasted has a HUGE price list as does many others. If you aren't educated on what things are, then DO THAT before you do anything else. KNOW, what components are in a computer at least. The rest will be an education on the job so to speak. Some boards (when you send a pic will go for more than you though...some no so much). Eventually you will have a pretty education in about 5-6 months if starting from scratch. BUT READ...the "gold" is right here in this board...real world experience and knowledge...all for FREE.

Good luck!

While I respect your opinion and I know you do well I would have to disagree on the wire

Copied and pasted from Ewasted price list

$0.55 Mixed Computer Wire
$0.80 Ribbon wire with ends (Must be PRESORTED from other wire)
$0.75 Cat5 with ends (Must be PRESORTED from other wire)

So yes my ass sorts all that ribbon

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

While I respect your opinion and I know you do well I would have to disagree on the wire

Copied and pasted from Ewasted price list

$0.55 Mixed Computer Wire
$0.80 Ribbon wire with ends (Must be PRESORTED from other wire)
$0.75 Cat5 with ends (Must be PRESORTED from other wire)

So yes my ass sorts all that ribbon

You are spot on, I might not written that clear enough....I sort my wire as well...ribbon in the steel pile, not the computer cable pile. And YES communication separated from the rest. I just do not take the time anymore to pull the ends, sometimes if enough time I will do the ribbon ends (hurts me that my local buyer for cables want ribbon separated and thrown into steel....the gold there just pains me to let it go LOL). I actually use a simple device...a lever paper cutter...cut those ends right off easily.

Would it not be to your advantage to save ribbons and send them in....

Originally Posted by HipoGear

Yes, I agree. There is no way those ribbon cables are steel. Tinned copper is more likely. At $0.80 a pound, it makes it worth while to send it in.

yes you are right...tinned copper (I even checked just to make sure). Again, my local buyer doesn't want them mixed, they run them as shred because of the high amount of pcv coating vs actual wire. YMMV depending on your buyer. I guess if I still got TONS of it, I would ship it out, but the amounts I get, just don't add up ($$$ vs work). I just KISS (keep it simple stupid), shed it after end get chopped on those and off I go.

Each has their own personal situation of course. Was just my 2 cents.

May I just add. Some of the buyers like myself do buy stuff for more then scrap value. For instance 1 lb of ram 1lbs and larger can yield way then scrap if tested. So if you really want to make extra money use one of us buyers who buy certain items for more then scrap.

Originally Posted by oresteia

Thanks everyone for all the answers. I've been looking through forums a lot lately. I only have one last question. Removing tantalum capacitors, crystal oscillators and smd ceramic capacitors devaluates boards? I've been trying to ask Mario, but got no response.

I remove all tantalum and have never been devalued. I send those in separately to another buyer. I really haven't seen a market for crystal oscillators, so I would just not do those (most likely not worth the time or effort otherwise buyers here would be buying them ), I can tell you from experience that pulling SMD was not a good use of my time. I weighed up what I had done and it was disappointing to say the least. Unless you are processing the entire board (say stripping it of all components, separating etc at a massive scale), it just will not work out for you. If you DID come across some old rolls of SMB capacitors (say someone who makes specialty boards) certainly do not get rid of them. There probably is a buyer somewhere, but I am betting it isn't for much...Mario does not buy SMD capacitors BTW (I asked him right before sending in my last load as I have a jar full).

Charles