(semi)Exotic Metals Purchasing

Well...I am kind of sitting on my hands with ebay right now, maxed out my listings for the second time in two months...now I have to wait more than two weeks to expand my account listing amounts (read:double). Which...has put me on a monetary backlog of sorts as everything filters down through ebay, local sales and active refurbs that doesn't automatically produce a return from scrap processing.

Then I got a call to buy inconel breakage from CN (a railroad company). Not much, just a usual contact of mine for carbide happened to have a bucket of inconel.

This got me to thinking...what if I started purchasing remnants of bar stock, smaller pieces etc not necessarily mangled or scrap but could I find a place that would allow me to purchase this stuff in any sort of quantity. Well I answered that question, several machine shop contacts would like to have small pieces now and then and mailing them something they need instead of ordering a 4 foot piece of bar stock for 500 bucks is a no brainer.

Anyways...my sourcing is the question, and my question to you the forum members. Can you get, or do you have small quantities of various materials (inconel, monel, titanium, magnesium) and rare earth metals like chromium, molybdenum, and even alloys. I ask because I think I can provide a more than scrap value outlet PARTICULARLY of remnant cuts, stuff as small as 2 inches in length might even have a purpose.

I also am POSITIVE I want to buy titanium fasteners in two categories, used and unused. I know this is a niche of a niche but I will throw up my carbide, HSS and tool steel prices too.

No on the metals. On to your ebay issue. You can open more than one ebay account. Mike

I agree with Miked. If something is going good, feed and nurture it.

That said, my eBay sales have been in a little bit of a slump the last 10 days. I'm sure you have times that are faster than others, too. Instead of expanding, I'd save up so that you can ride out the slow periods. I don't know your number of listings, or their types, but opening two accounts so that you can separate out your different types of items, may not be such a bad idea....

you CAN also open a store on Ebay...it gives you ALOT more options for number of free listings....granted there is a fee every month. BUT, you do save on the fee taken out at the end of the sale, SO there is a pretty easily obtained break even point where having store is the way to go. It also allows for basically "listed until sold" type of listings. You may or may not have one of these, but check into it. It is a bit of a PITA to set up, but once it is done, you are good to go.

I have two accounts......To get it started is a little frustrating.......YOu have to open a separate Pay-Pal, Bank account ETC....and also have another PHONE# they can call and verify.......YOu will also have the probationary period but once you get it going the flexibility it offers you is well worth the effort!!!.......With the promotions they give I rarely run out of free listings and if I do I just do something else until they drop another promotion (usually once a month).......Good Luck and Good Day

I already do have an ebay store, two accounts, two paypal accounts...I've been on a frenzy, that is what it comes down to. It isn't that it is slow persay...I am moving things it's just that I need to get MORE listed and have been hitting the cap on the newer account. My elder account is what I used to sell strips of movie film on. I had quite a thing going and some awesome feedback but went dormant in 2010. When I reactivated it, half the feedback was gone, the ratings changed the seller rating and it felt like starting over. Worse still, ebay set my limits at 5K/100 listings unless I opened a store on that account too...which at the time seemed futile to do when I already had another store running that I spent the better part of 40 hours getting all the categories going.

I don't need the advise on how to handle ebay...I mean, other than how overall difficult it can be I have a pretty good handle on it.

Originally Posted by armygreywolf

I already do have an ebay store, two accounts, two paypal accounts...I've been on a frenzy, that is what it comes down to. It isn't that it is slow persay...I am moving things it's just that I need to get MORE listed and have been hitting the cap on the newer account. My elder account is what I used to sell strips of movie film on. I had quite a thing going and some awesome feedback but went dormant in 2010. When I reactivated it, half the feedback was gone, the ratings changed the seller rating and it felt like starting over. Worse still, ebay set my limits at 5K/100 listings unless I opened a store on that account too...which at the time seemed futile to do when I already had another store running that I spent the better part of 40 hours getting all the categories going.

I don't need the advise on how to handle ebay...I mean, other than how overall difficult it can be I have a pretty good handle on it.

sounds like you got it covered...I guess we never know who knows the ins and outs of what (like Ebay). Wish I had info on the other stuff for you, but that does seem like a specialty market. Hopefully, someone with that expertise will chime in with some help....if not, you might have to create the market yourself....sounds like some web research.

Yea I here you webuy... and in other news just got off the phone with ebay, the newest account (the one started last fall) has been pushed to 500/25,000 so that problem is solved.

Back to the question I really have...who is interested, already has material or would potentially be interested in me buying some of the more exotic metals?

I see potential in machine shop remnants more so than breakage BUT both have intrinsic value. One of the many sources is aviation...if anyone has any connections for this kind of stuff I would love to hear from you about it.

AGW... My last job was at a machine shop in St. Louis that bought random length (20 foot) 300 & 400 series stainless bar, and occasionally monel, inconel, and high chromium / high nickel alloy bars. Diameters ranged from 1.5" to 15", and bar ends were cut before turning. They might be interested in selling their scrap ends. They also might be interested in buying from you if their distributor does not have an alloy in stock, and they need fast delivery. It was a job shop, bars were purchased as needed, and sometime shipped overnight in an emergency.
Material certifications and heat traceability from the steel mill through the bar distributer to the shop were critical requirements. You may want to look at the website for National Specialty Alloys in Houston, TX to learn more. The name of the machine shop in St. Louis is Fulton Iron & Manufacturing. Another machine shop that bought the same type of bars was Flowserve in Bridgeton, PA, but their purchasing department was in another location. If you want more information, let me know.

Mike O.

Opening a 2nd eBay account won't help.
The accounts will be linked and generally the limits are for combined accounts.

What I do when I hit my limits, which is a pain is, I just list MORE and delete the oldest listings for the time being.
At the beginning of the month I just relist them in a batch and that way I at least get a constant number of good sales from the fresh inventory.

After you doubled a few months you will eventually reach limits where all your old stuff can remain online as long as you want to.

Just WATCH the unsold stuff like a hawk. They will only remain on your account for 90 days. So make sure you cycle them through before you get close to the 90 days.

There are always ways around account linking if you wanted to. That said, that problem resolved itself apparantly....

I'd check with the welding shops that specialize in farm equipment repair. They don't use as much as aircraft places, but I know that some of the ones out here use titanium and cobalt alloys for some things....

Thanks alot guys, Mikeorloff, excellent man I will definitely make a few calls tomorrow.