What Percentage of Real Gold and PM Value Buyers Paying?-

Hi - Years ago I salvaged a lot of high grade telcom boards. I hauled them to Cascade Refining in Utah and they paid 85% of recovered gold and silver. I checked several things and they always seemed to be real close to that - never felt ripped off.

I'm wondering what the various dealers who buy outright are paying as far as a percentage of gold and silver recovered. I know that boards all vary, but say just on the basis of 386 CPU chips. I see that Boardsort pays $123 a pound for them. How much gold value are they recovering from this pound of 386 chips.

Get my drift. I'd just like to know if I'm getting 10% or 80% of PM value or somewhere in between. I'm hoping that boardsort, easyrecycle and others will chime in.



Thanks for your time

Mike

Thanks Ewasted, That's the answer i was hoping some one would give. I have a strange feeling with his past few posts he's looking for info to spice up his "pay for scrapping tips" E-Book

Look around. This place is full of info.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...t-in-CPU-chips

i wasn't aware that cascade processed boards much less refined them. i am not aware of any board refiner in this country.

other than that i concur with e and easy.

I can see both sides of the discussion. In any business opportunity I want to have as much information as possible about the financial considerations. I definitely wouldn't begrudge anyone their profit margin though. We are all looking to make as large of a profit as we can and knowledge of a system is how we accomplish this.

That being said, if I was the one buying up inventory, taking the risks and paying for assays, I wouldn't want to give away the data either.

I can't begrudge someone wanting to know (I'd love to know too) and I don't begrudge anyone with that info wanting to keep the info private.

why would any one obviously writing one of those e scam booklets be so bold as to expect to get info (secreat info) from those who have worked so hard to earn that info. the idea here is to help each other to make something out of little, not, get something for nothing. the idea is a great one, but it is a 2 way street, give and take. not get and run. not pointing any fingers at any one in particular, just courious.

mods are right , I probably shouldnt have posted that, my apoligys to the forum.

Originally Posted by easyrecycle

trust me...our profit margins are not huge...on a pound per pound you all make more money than us when you send it to us...how we make our money is by how many pounds we buy...so the more we spend..the more we make. So we have to do what we have to keep prices good to get as much scrap as we can to make our loads and load count...if we don't get X amount of pounds....we lose money

Hope this gives you the insight you want...

I don't doubt you at all. Commodities are a hard business and that is what this breaks down to.

easy is right. i wish i made the margins some of you do.

Originally Posted by olddude

mods are right , I probably shouldnt have posted that, my apoligys to the forum.

tis a free country. you should be able to voice your opinion. this is a tough business. takes a thick skin. and it could use a bit more honesty.

Originally Posted by olddude

why would any one obviously writing one of those e scam booklets be so bold as to expect to get info (secreat info) from those who have worked so hard to earn that info. the idea here is to help each other to make something out of little, not, get something for nothing. the idea is a great one, but it is a 2 way street, give and take. not get and run. not pointing any fingers at any one in particular, just courious.

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Thank you for this response. I was expecting this forum to be a give and take exchange - a friendly place. A few weeks ago I recommended that all my subscribers check out this forum. I'm really quite shocked by the mostly negative responses I've gotten to such a simple question. I wonder if I should rethink my recommendation?

To answer a few.

Cascade Refining did a lot of my telcom scrap in the 1980s. Since then they've changed hands a few times and I don't believe they are doing e-scrap refining at all anymore. I haven't yet contacted them, but that's what I gather from their website. I've mostly done my own refining since then. BTW when I dealt with Cascade I did take the leap, pay for independent assays to see how it compared to what I received. I have taken the risks (after doing the research) over and over again for 30 years.

I wrongly assumed that the buyers I see on the internet and some that have responded here were refiners. I see now that they are not refiners but middlemen. Nothing wrong with that. I don't care if middlemen get 1/2 the pie or 3/4th - I just want to know.

I don't sell a scam e-book - that would be against everything I believe in. I believe in helping. I haven't put anything in the e-book that I haven't done myself. It is based on my experience in the salvage and recycling business since I began in the early 1980s. I DO pass on what I learn from other folks, tips, etc. to folks that subscribe to my website and blog and who have purchased my e-book. It's very satisfying to hear how I have helped some folks succeed. I do it because I want to help people. Everyday I get emails from folks with questions about some aspect of the business. I spend my time answering what I can and finding the answers to what I don't already know.

Maybe I'm too thick skinned to recognize "rude" - always a few rude dudes in any business - but I do recognize defensiveness. I was basically trying to find reputable, reliable, honest and open buyers of e-scrap that I could tell my subscribers about. Defensiveness is a BIG turnoff and I certainly would not recommend that any of my subscribers deal with any firm that comes off being defensive. Openness is where it's at.

Seemed like my question would be easy to answer, but after reading a few responses to my post early today, I've decided to refine a couple of pounds of 386/486 myself and see what I get out of them. Then I can give ome useful information to my subscribers, folks on this forum and other forums, and anyone who reads my blog or website.

If nothing else, I'm beginning to learn who to recommend and who to stay away from and I thank you for that. Thanks too, to the few who offered helpful responses. I hope to be able to help others on this forum with good and helpful answers to their quesions.

Originally Posted by NoMoreScrapLeft

I live 3 blocks from Cascade Refining in Utah. I have sold them alot of gold and silver in the past. I went in the other day with some 24kt. They told me that they were only paying 53% of spot price. It was like $23 bucks a gram. I said HELL NO!!!

It isn't worth the 2 hour wait. Though I meet some interesting people when i'm there. To answer a question asked above the buy computer boards for arount $2 a pound and cell phone boards for around $5 a pound

When I dealt with Cascade in the 80s they did their refining in-house. Sounds like maybe they're like a lot of middlemen and maybe don't do their refining themselves anymore. Does it seem like the do or don't. They used to be really good on e-scrap. I moved tons of telcom e-scrap through them years ago and was always really happy with the return but things change and all sorts of creeps come out of the woodwork with gold prices so high.

BTW - when I started refining my own gold I found a pawn shop - of all things - that paid 94% of spot for my gold. You just never know who you are going to get a good deal from until you do your research. Unfortunately that means getting whacked over the head a few times - so to speak. Good luck

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

I have used Boardsort twice now but I would have to say that all the buyers on this forum come highly recommended.

Good to know - thanks!

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

tis a free country. you should be able to voice your opinion. this is a tough business. takes a thick skin. and it could use a bit more honesty.

Amen!