Is it worth pulling EPROMS?

Originally Posted by bpatnoe

Leave them on high grade boards. Take them off low grade

no take them off all boards under $6/pound as long as your buyer doesn't deduct for you removing them.

The only boards i have found i need to leave them on is hard drive boards. Never got any telcom over 6/lb

Pull the sticker off to be sure it's an Eprom. I got a few boards with stickers on them, and I thought they were Eproms, but they were just normal IC's.

Originally Posted by Bear

Can't you tell by feeling of it in most all cases? As far as I know, you can feel a slight indentation through the sticker

Good point. Never thought of that.

Check with your buyer they will have the last word on leaving on or taking them off. I take them off. I still havent seen any buyer here who has given a definitive answer on prices for the eproms. I have seen prices for ic chips at $4.00# but not for the gold and silver eproms.

I have them listed at $4.00 /lb.

Originally Posted by BarrenRealms007

I have them listed at $4.00 /lb.

regular ics are going for over $10 pound on ebay, mighe be a good outlet for those, i pull and save all of my socketed chips and all ic's on low grade boards, im seeing silver windows going for $30 and gold windows going for $50, gold windows with gold legs are going for $70+

Scrap IC Chips | eBay

I used to run a lot of ceramic eproms, not the plastic, depending on different factors they generally yield between 1-4 grams of gold per lb and some types will yield other PMs as well. If you have a refiner that knows eproms, proms, and ICs, processes them on a regular basis, they should pay dependent on yields. Or if you can find a refiner who is willing to toll refine them for you, you can make more.

Being a refiner who used to toll refine this might sound strange, and I will explain why I say this. There are a lot of truly good refiners who are honest and will treat you with respect and dignity. If you choose to use one of these refiners I would ask on GRF first, and then ask for recommendations from others on GRF . There are some toll refiners who are less than honest, they give the rest of us a bad name. Ask and be sure so your experience is a good one, I would like to see the day when refiners are thought of as being honest rather than not. And by suggesting this, I hope whoever decides to toll refine has a positive experience.

Scott

Barren i assumed that that price is for reg ic chips, are gold and silver windows priced the same? I would have thought that ic's would be priced lower than gold/silver eproms? The again you know what happens when people assume...lol

Originally Posted by Bear

I can't see where they're even worth messing with. Even at the $10 rate JG posted in that Ebay thing. There's at least a hundred chips there, and if you can find and pull them in less than a minute each, you're excessively well streamlined for targeting $10lb chips.
So, lets say they only costed you 90 minutes there, how much was the listing, not only in fees, but in time? The packing, and the shipping? Then, the possible chargebacks?
Now, lets go the simpler $5 route. You've got at least an hour and a half into these 90-100 chips that's worth $5, when most likely the boards you pulled them from bring $4, so you're making a dollar every hour and a half?
It just don't make sense to me

This makes allot of sense bear thanks. while pulling IC's off boards may not make sense selling loose ones for $5.00# doesn't either.

Last month I was given 20# of IC's in tubes I now I can sell them for $5.00# to buyers or have them refined for close to ten times the amount in gold recovered. even if a toll refiner charged 60% which is very high that's still 4 times the amount i would have revived. Some times the fast money will cost you.

Ebay is the worst place to sell stuff in my opinion the fees are high and you have no control over your money.

Eric

Originally Posted by Bear

I think there is serious confusion still, between IC chips, and EPROMs.
I also think there are lots of discrepancies in the values of them all

EPROMs are IC's a particular type yes but IC's the same. The ones that the OP was talking about are reprogramming with UV rays that is why they have a window. there are also EPROMs that are made with the same polymers as the other black IC's and have no windows.

Eric

Originally Posted by Bear

I can't see where they're even worth messing with. Even at the $10 rate JG posted in that Ebay thing. There's at least a hundred chips there, and if you can find and pull them in less than a minute each, you're excessively well streamlined for targeting $10lb chips.
So, lets say they only costed you 90 minutes there, how much was the listing, not only in fees, but in time? The packing, and the shipping? Then, the possible chargebacks?
Now, lets go the simpler $5 route. You've got at least an hour and a half into these 90-100 chips that's worth $5, when most likely the boards you pulled them from bring $4, so you're making a dollar every hour and a half?
It just don't make sense to me

First of all i can pull the socketed ones out is less than 10 seconds with my bare fingers. Your blowing the ebay/problems thing way out of proportion. I average 1 return per 100 items sold. The shipping and fees are minimal also with a paypal merchant account and an ebay store, my fees average 10%. So say i sell 10 pounds of ic's for $100 after fees and shipping im still gonna clear $85 or $8.50 pound on them. If all i can get from a refiner is $4 im gonna go the ebay route every single time. Just saying.

As Scott said you should be getting more out of your IC's when refined and gold returned. this is why I want the trimmed ram I can pay half and still make money. This isn't for everyone and that's cool some need the money. Refining IC's is not easy work. Some things should be sent on to buyers and others should be horded.

Eric