What Percentage of Real Gold and PM Value Buyers Paying?- - Page 3

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

I was asking what refiners/buyers pay compared to the actual spot value of gold. Same thing I would do if I took a 14k ring in to sell. I'd want to know what percentage of spot I was getting. Shady guys try to get around the question - good ones tell you exactly. <<

not a good analogy. karat material is governed. which does not always mean that you are getting true karat value when it was manufactured. 14 k is usually 13.5 not 14. ( i have seen it lower.) i would agree that the average person would not be aware of that. you are not the average person. so you would know. ergo, you would know what your return should be. and what the value should be in relation to what you were being offered or what an assay showed for return.

plating requirements for electronics are not held to those same standards. plating requirements are set by the client and the manufacturer, who may or may not strictly adhere to them. depends on how good there quality control was on that day. or that run. while a certain cpu or circuit board has an average, that is all it is. an average. and the average can vary considerably. which means that your question is not a black and white answer. at least as far as a determined set value between comparable items.

it is more comparable to sterling silver. regardless of the hallmark, depending on where the item was manufactured and when, it can run from a true % of 80% to 95%. big difference.

electronics are the same way. with a few exceptions. military, nasa, etc. but those items make up a very small amount of the total ewaste being recycled.

shady guys just keep asking the same question in different forms hoping someone will just hand them a cheat sheet.

what were the recovered amounts you received from those telecom boards?

Good info - thanks - you are right. I guess I can get a ballpark (and that's all I wanted) by taking the actual gold content of a given CPU, determine how many CPUs in a pounds, compare that to what some of the buyers are offering to pay per pounds and then from this I can determine what percentage of actual gold content they are paying to the seller. Once I do this I'll post it here. Not exact of course but it will be a good rule of thumb for some, for me at least.



It's been a long while re: the telcom boards. Gold was at around $300 and I was getting upwards of $20 a pound as I recall. Some was made back in the early 70s, some in late 70s and early 80s. Gold plating on this stuff was much thicker than it is on today's electronics but it varied a lot as well. Amazing was the thickness of gold plate on attenuators - big chunks of brass weighing 1/2 pound or so. I removed the plate from this myself using a cell I put together after reading and corresponding with both C.W. Ammen and George Gadja. I'm guessing again but I think I was getting an ounce of gold for every 40 or so attentuators. Those days are gone, but maybe not in some of the very expensive military stuff - too much competition there for me.

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

well, the problem with a dore bar is getting an accurate assay from it. just for some numbers. lets say you took in 10,000 lbs of circuit boards. and the processor recovers a 1000 lb copper dore bar. and there is a whole 30 oz of gold in it. that small amount of gold will not be spread evenly. depending on when and where the sample is taken can make a huge difference in the assay you are going to paid on.

a refiner separates the metals until they have all of the gold back to a pure state. well, hopefully they know what they are doing and manage that.

what all of that means is a refiner is far more accurate and will be more likely to recover more of the pm'sthan a processor.

personally i would prefer a refiner. an honest accurate refiner. there are a few who do use the big refiners to process their material. none of them are going to be willing to discuss returns.

it is a bit difficult to imagine cascade or any processor/refiner being able to tell you how much your return should be for electronic items. there is no way they could no just how heavy or light pins had been plated. you can have an estimate, but that could be off quite a bit. too many variables.

Hi - You're right. They can only estimate before the fact. In my case I would take in scrap, they would refine, tell me how much gold they recovered and how much they would pay me for it. It was quite simple to then determine what percent of the spot price of gold they were returning to me in cash. If I went to a place that paid based on an estimate then it's a different story but that's not what I was asking. Actually, thinking through all these posts and all I realize I could do it myself. All I have to do is take the actual gold content in a given CPU, determine the number of CPUs in a pound, look at what a buyer is offering to pay per pound and compare that to the actual gold value per pound. I know that gold content varies, but at least I could see if I was getting AROUND 20% or 50% or??? Just curious and trying to figure it out. I'm really sorry I bothered you all with such a simple question. It sure did create a lot of anger, angst, suspicion and really unfriendly vibes. Later and thanks.

now. where would you like me to send the bill for the consulting time.

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

now. where would you like me to send the bill for the consulting time.

Let's call it a draw. Really really sorry I ever asked the question. What a waste of everyone's time. Only hope is perhaps some that read it, will learn a bit - good or bad. Pretty much done with the forum or at least the e-scrap for now. Back to salvaging - can't make $$ doing this

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...Circuit-Boards

Originally Posted by Scrap Master J

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...Circuit-Boards

Thanks very useful info. I appreciate the help.

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

shady guys just keep asking the same question in different forms hoping someone will just hand them a cheat sheet.

I disagree! Shady guys are the ones that react defensively, go into attack mode, question motives, make personal attacks on ones character - in short, do anything to distract so they don't have to answer the question. My intent in asking this extremely simple question is to determine who are reputable buyers and who are not. I have to take care to assure my people that they're dealing with someone on the up and up. After 30 plus years in the biz, defensiveness is tops when it comes to avoiding the answer and these are the guys who are likely shady. At least I wouldn't lose a dime on them to find out. I don't want to send my people to something like a cashforgold scam. Not saying any of the e-scrap buyers are of that ilk, but you never know til you ask and whether I got answers to the question or answers about character I've learned a lot.

I'll be posting my list of actual gold content per pound of CPUs once I have it worked out - my own answer to my own question

Originally Posted by KZBell

You said you were done over an hour ago...

RecyclingSecrets is an author. Authors write.

Originally Posted by KZBell

You said you were done over an hour ago...

I'll be done when there's nothing left to respond to. A simple question sure shouldn't have taken this much to get an answer but.... none yet.

Originally Posted by Ewasted

>>>>>>>>>> Your question wasnt about who was a reputable buyer. It was how much money do buyers make...

Right, but the answers I got lead me to believe that some buyers may not be oh so reputable if they can't answer directly.

Originally Posted by Ewasted

You are taking the information on here and profiting from it in some way, shape or form, correct? (in regards to your subscribers/readers)

I was first trying to find out what percentage of spot gold price I could expect to get for my scrap. So yes, I profit from that by getting a decent answer. And no, my subscribers/readers don't pay anything unless they've bought the ebook. I spend way more time salvaging than I do on the net, but what I do learn I do write up and share with my visitors. I mean come on, you're profiting by being on here, right? So what's the profit question all about. We all try to make a dime.

Originally Posted by KZBell

True that is what we are all here for but I can see right through RecyclingSecrets motivation for being here and does not sit well with me. Maybe Admin would like to chime in via Public or Private Message.

My only motivation is to find out what percentage of spot gold price i could expect to get for my scrap. I never did get an answer to that but I can figure it out for myself with the help of a couple of posts, but I did get some answers that I didn't expect at all. One way or the other I always learn something.