eBay 4.4 lbs gold fingers lot sold for $454.50. Why?! - Page 2

Originally Posted by directrecycle

Thats actually not to far off. Fingers that are solid ( no large gaps) and double sided I am currently receiving 100 dollars a pound for. Expected average recovery is said to be approx 3 grams per pound. Gold is 56.04 per gram X 3 (grams recovered per pound) = 168.12 x 4.4 pounds = 739.72. Not counting the cost of chemicals thats a 285 dollar profit

I figured I would post some pictures in support for this argument.

As a refiner, if I were to purchase fingers I would look for exactly what derectrecycle is talking about above.

Here are some pictures of fairly common fingerboards. Some have smaller gaps than others, some are not close cut, it's pretty much a good example of what you find on ebay.







Those are low to mid range fingerboards. Matter of fact, if I were buying this type of material on ebay, I would be very careful how much I spent because these lots, at 1lb each, will probably only yield between $80-$100 in actual refined gold.

Here are examples of the type of material that was probably sold on the ebay auction this thread is about.





If you compared and noticed the difference, you will see that while the boards in the pictures I posted first, are fairly common and good material to run for the right price, the boards I posted at the bottom have little if no PC board between the gold. You have 50%-100% more gold plating on those types of boards, than you do others.

You can throw anything up on ebay and sell it. However, if you are a scrapper, and selling material on ebay, you will always make more if you explain the material and point out things like the fact the fingerboards are close cut with very little PC board. Or the fact that there is very little space between the gold leads.

In my refining business, I command a premium for my refined metal for several reasons. First, because I always exceed industry standard, meaning 99.95 is industry standard for gold purity, yet my gold is always 99.999+. Same with my silver, industry standard is 99.95, and yet I always refine to 99.99+. By doing this the buyer knows I have put in extra work and effort. They are assured not only of the purity but that there is little if none metals like lead or cadmium.

As a scrapper, if you take pride in your work in the same way. If you close cut your fingerboards and take the little extra time to explain that the gold content is more because of the lack of gaps between the gold leads, you can command a premium as well. If I were buying on ebay today, those are the type of keywords I would search for. I would be willing to pay a little more because I know the yield is twice as much.

So although I cannot see the pictures of the material in that particular auction, I have to assume that they were close cropped. I already know that the space between gold leads was very little, if none at all.

Scott