Value of recovered circuit boards continue to slide - Page 2

Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

You are making the assumption that most of the general public that read that article have a modicum of common sense like experienced cyber scrappers, when most don't. all you have to do is look at reality shows and see how they have affected the pricing of most every available source we have. server and computer buy prices continue to rise while pay outs continue to decline.

In my perticular case, my morality in business and stupid loyalty factor dosent allow me to switch from a fellow moral and loyal buyer for a few pennies more per lb. that said when that price turns to $1.00 or more per lb. and all other things being equil,service, payment , processing etc. then I have to take a look at each individual situation. Same as e bay sales, as much as I hate e bay I wil sell 4x4 ram for $49 to $129 all day long rather then sell them to my buyer (ewasted) for a lb. that is not a loyalty factor but a common sense factor.

In the last year I have seen servers go from .12 per lb to .55 per lb last sample I took was that the best of servers scrapped out at about .54.

If my computer store/repair customers read that article half of them will tell me that 5 lbs of boards in that scrap computer are worth $35 so I want at least $25v or $30 per unit now.

Full article at Scrap Metal Forum: http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...#ixzz2PxHfvy9h

First I dont believe the general public will ever see that article since it looks to be from a recycling trade website. Yes, you are absolutley correct that the general public does not have a modicum of commone sense when it comes to ewaste. I have been told that there is hundreds of dollars of gold in a computer tower by people that have answered my cl ads. I tell them that when they find out who will pay that amount to please let me know so I can sell to them as well.

Hopefully your computer repair store customers have more common sense than the general public considering the business they are in. I have spoken to a few repair places and I buy from two with a third hopefully beginning next week. The people in the indusrty know the value of the scrap that they have and most places are looking to get rid of it due to space restrictions. The places I deal with do not have the time or employees to dedicate to breaking down towers, sorting parts and/or either going to a scrap yard or shipping it out to wait for a check. As a matter of fact the places that I do buy from I pay less than what the biggest buyer near me pays, because I offer the service of picking up their scrap.

I dont think the article is going to put a run on circuit boards or drive up the asking prices of sellers to buyers. That article does shed a bit of light on what can possibly be gained by going direct to a refiner with a large load of material. It also shows what some of the larger buyers in the country, like a Boardsort, may be looking at on their ROI. Granted the buyers have ALOT more overhead than myself or you or anyone of the other thousands of scrappers that are members or lurkers here. But for someone that does have the space and time to gather boards,ram etc it gives them an option on what to do with their materials.

I will ask this though and I do not expect you to give an answer nor am I asking anyone else here to answer this either. If someone is a buyer on this forum and they advertise prices that are lower than the bigger buyers here, like an ewasted, barren etc, and they have always sold to these buyers, but now their business is growing and doing well in their areas, are they going to continue to sell to ewasted or barren or are they going to go direct to the refiners looking for the larger payout?

In my perticular case, my morality in business and stupid loyalty factor dosent allow me to switch from a fellow moral and loyal buyer for a few pennies more per lb. that said when that price turns to $1.00 or more per lb. and all other things being equil,service, payment , processing etc. then I have to take a look at each individual situation. Same as e bay sales, as much as I hate e bay I wil sell 4x4

BC: didnt intend to be argumentative. My buy prices are aimed at the local small e scrapper to save shipping rates by delivery. and sell larger lots to e wasted. the more attention on "thars gold in tem there computers" by noobs who don't bother to do their homework here, and those with no common sense does drive up the price for those who sort of know what they are doing. that was my point.

It has happned in every aspect of our business. used cars, junk cars, catolytic converters, storage lockers e waste, iron etc, not long ago most of that stuff was free or even payment to haul it away.

Thanks for weighing in on the subject Mario I was waiting to see something from one of the respected buyers that are on here...again I agree with what you said. Everyones business is different. Some are bigger/ smaller than others. More/less overhead. The bigger ones have many different aspects to them and sometimes have businesses within their business. Like dealing with the one box a month customer and also the one pallet a week customer like yourself.

Listen going the refining route is not for everyone, but it may be an option for some. While you may only see a 20% ROI (guessing)because you are bigger and have more overhead, someone like myself would be looking at a larger ROI since it is just me,myself and I. I will say I am doing my homework on the subject and making sure my t's are crossed and the i's are dotted before making that decision.

Olddude never when reading anything you have posted on this topic did I ever take as argumentative. The spoken word gets lost in translation some types when the only communication is thru a keyboard. I hope my post did not come off that way either. The people that try to drive the prices up citing refining returns are going to find no one to sell to. What has to be understood, which alot of the newer people don't get is that you have to have minimum weights of at least 2000# or more ready to go even before setting foot in a door way and be prepared to sit on the material until they have that much.
I also commend your loyalty and morals in the way you conduct your business as well as the majority of the buyers here. I think that this is and hopefully will continue to be a constructive discussion on this topic and hopefully we all learn something from it.