What does your yard consider a "complete" desktop?

I found a local yard that recently started accepting "complete" desktop towers for $0.20/lb. I am trying to decide if I should continue stripping the computers that I get or sell them to this yard. In part it depends on what they consider a "complete" tower. When I called them I could not get a straightforward answer, but surely they must inspect them somehow otherwise they run the risk of getting a lot of empty steel cases. I will make a trip there one day to try to find out but I am still curious what your yard considers a complete desktop. What if RAM is missing? Or CPU? Or the power supply? Where does your yard draw the line? Thx

I do a little bit of buying and to me complete means complete. Hasn't been messed with. There are certain "tells" i look for and if things don't look right i start deducting for missing pieces.

ram cpu power supply motherboard hd = complete in my book

I wonder if they are just looking at the outside for a power cord?

IDK ...missing finger (video) cards and optical drives can be a pain if they're been yanked. All depends on if the computer is going straight to scrap is or is a possible candidate for a refurb.

Traditionally, i was able to pay more for any scrap computer because i knew a small percentage could be refurbished.

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Originally Posted by Scrappah

IDK ...missing finger (video) cards and optical drives can be a pain if they're been yanked. All depends on if the computer is going straight to scrap is or is a possible candidate for a refurb.

Traditionally, i was able to pay more for any scrap computer because i knew a small percentage could be refurbished.

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I didn't think about the drives and finger cards.......Mostly what I see pulled is the memory (I guess its easy to pull and doesn't take up alot of space).........Dvd drives are fairly common at least for me

I think at .20 that you'll only make between $ 4.00 and $5.00 average, and I think teardown value is still $8.00 to $10.00. Just my opinion,,,

I see a variety of things. Even if a computer is going straight to scrap, pulling the drives & finger cards devalues it. It lowers the overall average yield that i'll see over fifty or a hundred that get scrapped out.

<sigh> That means i can't always pay as much per unit to the guys that bring them in. About all i can do is pay based on what is there. It sucks for them because they don't know what to expect. It sucks for me because now i have to be nitpickey about the details.

What can you do, though?

Our yard just has an "E-Waste/Appliance" category, so I can't help you too much. As for me, complete means complete.

Of course, you'll be amazed how many computers come with only one stick of RAM! ;)

I had a dude tell me he would sell me complete desktops.. I opened them up and the HD and RAM were Completely gone..
v:)

I buy a lot of complete and incomplete desktops. Complete means complete means complete. If it is missing anything, it is incomplete. I do a fair amount of training for our local yards. I had to teach them that. They finally listened when I told them the difference in what I would pay. I literally had to open the computer and show them the difference in between complete and incomplete. Well, I had to teach them what the parts were. Most recycling yards are metals yards. Ewaste is a specialty all its own. To put it another way, if you are selling to a yard, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.