Need some input.

As I am getting ready to go full time starting next Friday. I am wondering what I could do to try and drum up more business here from the forum. What is it that forum members are looking for from a buyer like myself in order to want to send them better than scrap value material.

Here are a few things I am considering once im in to the new place and completely set up for business.

1. Pay for shipping chargers for any box that nets over $100 in material.
2. Setting back up with fedex for prepaid labels now that I have a business address.
3. 3 business day maximum turn around time for processing tested orders under 100 units. Hard to test 800 cpu's in 3 days.

Any other ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to grow the business and once again would love the help of this forum in doing so.

main things really for me would be fully detailed and updated price lists for everything you buy. including scrap prices as some have had them so low its worth testing and reselling at home lol as for shipping and rates they are all over the place anyway so really the idea would be to set up prepaid when you can to get rates better for all but most of us send in enough good scrap and include certain percentages in our overhead for these things to cover shipping or even have our own accounts as well. you said it abit up top but also make clear to all buyers any minimums for special discounts or higher prices.
when you get set up i will hit you up to send some material i will go over your page and see what i can do to try you out since i have not sold to you before and congrats on moving forward and growing

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

As I am getting ready to go full time starting next Friday. I am wondering what I could do to try and drum up more business here from the forum. What is it that forum members are looking for from a buyer like myself in order to want to send them better than scrap value material.

Here are a few things I am considering once im in to the new place and completely set up for business.

1. Pay for shipping chargers for any box that nets over $100 in material.
2. Setting back up with fedex for prepaid labels now that I have a business address.
3. 3 business day maximum turn around time for processing tested orders under 100 units. Hard to test 800 cpu's in 3 days.

Any other ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to grow the business and once again would love the help of this forum in doing so.

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Shipping would be asome. I will be sending about 80 cpu, a bunch of older 1 gb memory and about 50 hard drives soon. I'd be very excited with you cover in shipping.

Terry,
Do something with antistatic trays and packaging material for hard drives. If I were to send you 4 trays of cpus, send me 4 empty trays for my next shipment.
post a video on how to pack and ship items to ensure they don't get damaged.

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Originally Posted by mthomasdev

Terry,
Do something with antistatic trays and packaging material for hard drives. If I were to send you 4 trays of cpus, send me 4 empty trays for my next shipment.
post a video on how to pack and ship items to ensure they don't get damaged.

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Those trays are not cheap. i buy them in bulk for $1.50 a tray. I do suplly them to some of the people who send me 100's of cpu at a time. I will definitly give it a try once I get into the warehouse though. Thanks for the input.

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Originally Posted by travistemple202020

main things really for me would be fully detailed and updated price lists for everything you buy. including scrap prices as some have had them so low its worth testing and reselling at home lol as for shipping and rates they are all over the place anyway so really the idea would be to set up prepaid when you can to get rates better for all but most of us send in enough good scrap and include certain percentages in our overhead for these things to cover shipping or even have our own accounts as well. you said it abit up top but also make clear to all buyers any minimums for special discounts or higher prices.
when you get set up i will hit you up to send some material i will go over your page and see what i can do to try you out since i have not sold to you before and congrats on moving forward and growing

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Thanks for the input will for sure put this in.

Buy breakfast for any slug that walks in off the street and gives you a hard time.

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Originally Posted by KzScrapper

Buy breakfast for any slug that walks in off the street and gives you a hard time.

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I think you still owe me a breakfast :)

As both a seller and a buyer, I'll try not to get into a conflict of interest with myself.

As a seller, I'd rather wait for someone who pays better and does good testing than would I use someone who tests quickly, but pays less or doesn't do a good job. I also prefer anything that makes selling easy. Shipping prepayment or reimbursement is nice, but $15 won't break me. It'll make me feel better, though.

As a buyer, I'd like to see everything easy to sort. I'm working on a form that people can print and fill out with their details to make testing easier. They don't have to, but it'll make it easier for me. As a seller, I'd gladly do it. If you would like, I can send you a copy of it when I've figured everything out...

I'd go with the trays too, but I'd charge a deposit on them. I'm sure you've seen how some lots of RAM are packaged- the peace of mind helps the buyer,.... and it helps me too! ;)

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Originally Posted by matador

As both a seller and a buyer, I'll try not to get into a conflict of interest with myself.

As a seller, I'd rather wait for someone who pays better and does good testing than would I use someone who tests quickly, but pays less or doesn't do a good job. I also prefer anything that makes selling easy. Shipping prepayment or reimbursement is nice, but $15 won't break me. It'll make me feel better, though.

As a buyer, I'd like to see everything easy to sort. I'm working on a form that people can print and fill out with their details to make testing easier. They don't have to, but it'll make it easier for me. As a seller, I'd gladly do it. If you would like, I can send you a copy of it when I've figured everything out...

I'd go with the trays too, but I'd charge a deposit on them. I'm sure you've seen how some lots of RAM are packaged- the peace of mind helps the buyer,.... and it helps me too! ;)

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I have a spreadsheet I use for payout sheets. Just doesnt look good to use for a report. Ill be working on this for when I get to warehouse. Also looking at getting website done professionally so that it will be all automated so I can just type the stuff into forms and have it generate the reports. Thanks for the input.

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Those trays are not cheap. i buy them in bulk for $1.50 a tray. I do suplly them to some of the people who send me 100's of cpu at a time. I will definitly give it a try once I get into the warehouse though. Thanks for the input.

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Terry,
as others have mentioned, i'd set up the trays with a deposit or you could send trays back to sellers. I'll be sending you 4 trays of cpus and 1 of memory. I'd love to get 5 trays back so I don't have to buy them.

Price and convience are the two biggest factors for me as a seller

1. Prepaid shipping would be great or reimbursement. Either way.. works great.
2. I like the fact that you are stating up front that you have to have a minimum to get a prepaid label. That is an important tidbit of info to know.. If I don't have $100 in items.. I'd either build up to get to the minimum or know I'm eating the postage. Fair all the way around!
3. Communication with a seller. We all have tracking numbers when we send items.. but a quick email saying "Hey got your package.. and by the looks of it.. I'd say I'll have it processed in say 1-3 days" is perfect.. Also to let a seller know "Check went out today" is always nice. With Paypal.. as long as they open their email they know they have been paid.

Just my humble .02

Agreed completely. I'd rather have quality over speed. I sent a pallet in to a large buyer, and wasn't posted of any updates for three weeks. I eventually did a chat with them to make sure that everything was alright. The payout was great, but they had me worried for a little while.

I'd also agree completely on the database if there is more than one person processing- it makes everything neat and quick.

I like to see a pay sheet for both good and bad material; it helps me keep track of where I get my good stuff to send you. Trays would be nice to have; but I'd rather buy them up front and have you send me back what I send you with the check (keeps your life simple and mine easier). I wouldn't think a 3 day turn around is a good idea; give yourself time to do it right and those who want sloppy work can go elsewhere, 7 days is reasonable. Pay a bit better for sorted material, saves confusion on both ends. You already do great work, keep it simple!

For me I agree with Travistemple. A detailed and updated list of stuff. The one you have now is very good. There are some buyers that I don't even look at cause some of the stuff is too confusing. I like that you have the CPU's listed and the lettering you are looking for. Obviously communication is another good thing cause you never know if the post office lost a package or not.

Free shipping , CPU trays ect. are all good. but the only thing that gets my attention is my bottom line. The only thing that helps that is, price avg over entire shipment per item + shipping cost.

Second is service and dependability. Don't get ahead of your self. It would do me nor any one else any good to get better prices free stuff and free or lower shipping if I lose a shipment down the road to some one trying to grow too fast.

Our country is in the tank because 40% + Americans and a whole pastle of those who arn't legal or citizens are getting free stuff.

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Originally Posted by olddude

Free shipping , CPU trays ect. are all good. but the only thing that gets my attention is my bottom line. The only thing that helps that is, price avg over entire shipment per item + shipping cost.

Second is service and dependability. Don't get ahead of your self. It would do me nor any one else any good to get better prices free stuff and free or lower shipping if I lose a shipment down the road to some one trying to grow too fast.

Our country is in the tank because 40% + Americans and a whole pastle of those who arn't legal or citizens are getting free stuff.

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Yeah I am not going to grow to fast for sure. Least not if I have anything to do with it. Spent the last 2 plus years growing to this point. There is no hurry now.

Terry:

This one's a toughie and i don't see any easy answers.

The people selling to you are working on a thin margin with shipping costs and all. A few units in a load that don't test out can either make or break the seller. Better packaging will help them survive shipping as well as the choice of carrier. That's possibly a solution to the problem ....

I would suggest that for the time being you offer to ship the units that didn't test out back to the seller at your cost. It's a risky step but it builds trust.

Terry,

I think you need to keep doing what you have been doing all along. You are making profits for yourself and your customers. I believe I was your first customer and am posting my original review of your service below.

I just wanted to put a big Thank You in for PartTimeScrapper. I sent off two separate boxes and they were processed very fast. He was extremely helpful throughout the process providing suggestions to make future shipments even more valuable. I do wish there was a payment option besides paypal but that is by no means a deal breaker. It is great to be able to send off a box and get more than scrap for it without doing multiple ebay/cl/etc. transactions. I will be sending more!

Full article at Scrap Metal Forum: http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...#ixzz3ZqamGWOE

Is paypal still the only option? You could provide your suppliers a few more % profit by bypassing paypal fees.

Thanks for providing your service for our material.