Looking to start..

I am looking to start buying some small lots of scrap to either break down or re-sale.

Not sure how to get this started...any advice would be appreciated.

-how to find small lots for purchase? (Drive around, place ads, call around?)

-what types are worth starting off with?



I have looked into recovering the gold out of PCs. And selling eveything else leftover. Is that worth the time? Is there a good enough return on that?

This is something im looking to do on my down time currently and make a small return.

Yep go for it.

you may be better off selling your boards than refining yourself. I don't know where the li ne is, but with everything there is a point at which the quantity is not enough to justify the cost of equipment.

Also, make sure you are doing it safely

best advice I can give is to spend some time reading old posts in the forum, its is all there in plain sight,

If you live in the northeast DFW metro area, my advice would be to just give up, you can't make any money at it. :p

I kid... My one single best piece of advice is to dress sharp, and head to a couple of thrift-resale stores. The kind where people drop off their garage sale leftovers & other stuff they don't want anymore. Talk to the receiving manager & tell him what you're looking to do and EMPHASIZE the benefit to him in keeping all the bulky stuff you take from filling up his dumpsters. THAT IS CRITICAL. (of course, then YOU have to find another place to dispose of it, but one problem at a time). Tell him you want anything that they're going to throw away that has a power cord or is made of metal. That simple. You'll get more vacuum cleaners than you'll ever want. You'll get TVs, VCRs, DVRs (watch for big SATA harddrives in those). One thing, though: DO NOT TURN DOWN anything they want to give you. You might not want that walmart coffeepot. It's worth nothing but the cord. Then you have to dispose of it. It's a PITA. Take it anyway. Then, one day when you least expect it, you'll be there making your daily pickup (yes, EVERY DAY... DON'T MISS ONE!!!) and the guy will say, "Hey, you said you were looking for computers?" And you'll say, "Yes sir, sure am!" And he'll say well such-and-such business/church/school/whatever just called & they have 5, or 10, or 50+ old PCs they want to donate. Can you go get them?

And that's just one idea.

It goes without saying to get yourself some professional looking cards, too. Feel free to use mine as a template if you like.

If I were you I would just go for the free stuff at first,there is alot of free stuff out there that you can break down and learn what your doing. Talk to everyone you come in contact with and tell them what your doing. Give out your name and # even if it's written on a piece of paper, go to businesses that look like they would produce scrap of some kind and ask them if you could have their scrap. Before you know it you'll have so much to break down you won't be able to keep up with it. This is just my .02. Good luck.