North Dakota Scrapper Finally Checking In

Hello Everyone,

I've been browsing the threads here heavily for the last month. Received some computers from an accounting firm clean-out & finaly decided to see what the innards were really worth (Had been selling them whole to one of the local yards for $2 for the last 2 years, before that had basically been tossing them minus the wire & aluminum). Wow what an education I have received here. Makes me cringe at the money thrown away in the last 2 years or missed out on.

A quick history of me, started selling on Ebay in 1998, new & used toys, Pokemon cards, clothing, etc. Got tired of the time involved & the fees. In 2001 started selling books, which I did full time until Spring of 2004, boy has that market changed. Actually quick selling all together for a few years, just started again last fall.

I started scrapping in the summer of 2006, had started dumpster diving after reading another board (some of the names here look familiar). Was actually looking for books, ink cartridges & things to sell or use at the time. Met a veteran scrapper who showed me the ropes (though I learn something new everyday it seems). We have an annual spring clean-up week every year here. I somehow pick up more each year.

I am lucky enough to have access to a large building that sits vacant in the summer time, so storage & having a break down area is convenient. I work more then full time about 6 months of the year, the other 6 months I am working part time, was looking for a way to supplement my income in the "off season" back in 2006.

Hauled in around $1,800 worth of scrap since starting up this season (March 18th), (everything from Aluminum, Light Iron/Steel, Brass, Batteries <nimh, nicd, leadacid, Lithium Ion>, stainless, #2 Wire, Electric Motors, Copper, Power Supplies, CD/DVD/FLoppy Drives & Harddrives, etc> also sent in $400 worth of ink cartridges (I'll admit I got lazy and had not sent them in since 2008).

Right now after just 3 weeks of collecting, sitting on about 8lbs of cell phones w/o batttery, 75lbs of mixed Mother boards, 107lbs of Telcom boards, 19lbs of Finger Cards, lbs of 4lbs of RAM, 1 3/4 bounds of mixed CPU's, 1 1/2 lbs slot processors & 15lbs of Gold Ends. Took apart around 70 computers, I lost count. The Telcom came from another dumpster diver. Have a big load coming this weekend (i hope). Plan to send my stuff in shortly.

Thanks to everyone that is posting all the useful & helfpful posts, questions, etc. I think I am addicted to this forum. Read the posts on my smartphone every free minute I have.

TJ

Welcome to the forum! What part of ND are you in?

Thanks joe, I am in the Eastern part in the big city of Farrrrrgooooooooo. Working on a Craiglist Ad now, keep getting nicked by the local competition on my ads there... Driving me nuts.

Where can you "haul in" power supplies and dvd/floppy drives in ND. Might make my life a little easier... and where do you send your ink/toner? Oh. thank goodness you are in Fargo... don't need anyone (else) this experienced in Bis! :) I know of a buyer of boards around Fargo... maybe that's who you use.

Welcome to the forum. I am glad you are profiting from the information share here. Mike.

Wdaddy, hmm there is a guy in Horace who will buy the Power Supplies & Drives, the price isn't the best, but it's about what I would get after shipping them. I don't know of a buyer of boards here (well besides the guy I sell the Power Supplies too, but his prices are way too low for me).

Ink & Toner, goes to either Ecycle Group, Cash4Empties or Toner Buyer.

I honestly haven't been to Bismarck other then thru it on a chartered bus a few times and driving thru on my way to & from the Seattle area. I know what you mean about competition. Seems everyone is a scrapper nowadays. I personally know atleast 6 others that I am friendly with and see on a day to day basis. No one into E-Scrap yet. Though there is quite a bit of other competition including in Escrap that I don't know or am not friendly with.

Miked Thank you for the welcome, I do appreciate the posts here.

TJ

Wdaddy, I was reading some of your posts just the other night, didn't realize you were a fellow Dakotan... Though I had a feeling the competition might be on here, so I am a little guarded in what I reveal. LOL, Oh gosh just from the wild & crazy days of selling books. People jumping over each other at Library Sales, haven't bothered to go to one in 9 years. And won't ever go again.

My buyer is in Hankinson, ND.... His prices for boards are comparable to boardsort and he answers his emails quicker. He answers right away. If you want an email address I can send it to you. He buys low grade, power supplies, and floppies also... My son's going to school in Fargo in the fall, so I will be taking loads there when we come visit him.

There are DENVER buyers that come up to my FOL sale. Crazy! But, I take the day off and still make enough each sale to come back twice a year. I won't travel for them... just the local one.

wdaddy, you may have just made my Day.. Hankinson is definetely driveable from Fargo. I take it this where you have been sending your boards? Yes please send me the information. Thank you... TJ

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Originally Posted by wdaddy

My buyer is in Hankinson, ND.... His prices for boards are comparable to boardsort and he answers his emails quicker. He answers right away. If you want an email address I can send it to you. He buys low grade, power supplies, and floppies also... My son's going to school in Fargo in the fall, so I will be taking loads there when we come visit him.

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PM has been sent. He buys 775 processors one at a time. Some for .25 and some for $5 each.

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Originally Posted by wdaddy

There are DENVER buyers that come up to my FOL sale. Crazy! But, I take the day off and still make enough each sale to come back twice a year. I won't travel for them... just the local one.

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Exactly insanity... Though I used to contribute to this, I used to be there on the last day of the sale with helpers & buy 50 bags of books at the bag price... Just got tired of it. I have a regular source of bulk books & do some scanning at local sales & thrifts also. Enough to keep me content. Back in '02 had nearly 9,000 listed, the 2007 reinventory brough it down to around 4,000, last falls reinventory brought it down to about 2,500, have added around 1,000 or so since March (probablly went thru 3,000 or so books from the bulk source to get that).

Uggg... I carry around 500 right now. I scan and only buy gems... I tried to buy bulk at the last day... ended up recycling all of them... lost $30 on that venture.... I had a feeling there were scanners in Fargo... whenever I went to visit I would scan the thrift stores and always come out almost skunked.

Now I gotta look up what a 775 processor is. What's really funny back in 98 when I was looking for a side-business I started out doing home phone & networking cabling, then moved into building & repairing computers, my knowledge from that is ancient, haven't built or upgraded my own computer since around 2000 (other then sticking a card in or what not)... Oh to have all that junk back...

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Originally Posted by wdaddy

PM has been sent. He buys 775 processors one at a time. Some for .25 and some for $5 each.

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Trust me I only buy the gems, the rest of the bulk stuff is coming in very cheap w/ scrap metal. I guess I am not really scanning just looking up w/a smartphone widget I have. I remember back in 03 was about to get a scanner, but then didn't. When I went back to buying this spring, realized my knowledge on books was completely outdated, kept bringing home junk, now I look it all up. Kinda a great way to spend some free time (when I have free time)

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Originally Posted by wdaddy

Uggg... I carry around 500 right now. I scan and only buy gems... I tried to buy bulk at the last day... ended up recycling all of them... lost $30 on that venture....

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775 are the Pentium 4 and dual core size processors without pins. You may get more for them on Ebay, but for that low value I would not rather deal with the fees for $5 items...

I wouldn't do it without a scanner and pda. You get results in 2 seconds... you can fly through a stack in no time. Definitely worth the investment.

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Originally Posted by wdaddy

I wouldn't do it without a scanner and pda. You get results in 2 seconds... you can fly through a stack in no time. Definitely worth the investment.

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wdaddy, the scanner is on my list of "wants"... Right now doing ok the way I am, gotta do my research and get the best setup I can. Yes there has to be other scanners here, I do pretty well with what I find, but i also do very well with non-isbn or non-scannable books. Amazing to me is I still sell books that I acquired over 10 years ago to this day (at very good prices)

I have no aptitude to find value in old books. Without a scanner and database I would be useless and loose more money then I make.... always brought home penny books when I used my gut feeling. Upgraded to a smart phone over a year ago. Nice for a few scans at Rummage Sales, but takes to long. It's perfect for ebay values on other items though. Having the internet at your finger tips really pays for the $30 a month it costs.... And then you can write off the $30 a month as a business expense. Always found the right tool for the right job really helps TONS.

wdaddy,

I agree on the smartphone, was talked into one 4 years ago by the cell salesman (the phone I had was falling apart after nearly 3 years). I can't live without e-mail & the net at my finger tips. I trust my gut to an extent, I know which books used to be or could be valuable. I check them out online first. I am using Road Tools from AOB which manages my inventory, also use SellerEngine to input my inventory (had them since '02, used to use Fillz but it's gotten to expensive)

And yes it's nice to be able to do the tax write-offs

Hmmm. I do everything old school with manual entries... but I can't find enough bulk to need to use a software program to help list and inventory.... maybe down the road, but I'm finding less and less and seeing more scanners at the sales, I think the Amazon days are in a downward spiral. I will look up some of these tools and see what they can do for me. Thanks!

Nice talking to you. Time for some coffee and to check my addenda for the day.

Let me know about your experience with the buyer I sent you to. I have never done a deliver to him in person and would like to see how fair he is with his floppy and power supply prices. I have only sent him things through the mail. He pays me up-front in paypal. another plus.

Will do, yes I need to fill up the coffee and decide what adventure to embark on today too.

Thanks again,
TJ

Okay well I ended up doing some garage sale-ing on both Friday & Saturday. Picked up some books & items to list online. Also picked up scrap metal, wires, etc from a source both days. Sales online have been good. Checked on my big load and the gentleman is saving it for us to pick up after the Holiday weekend. Also ran into another scrapper who was into computers at one point, but didn't know much about them, might end up trading him for the computers he has on hand. I did tell him the prices are better then what he was getting a few years ago.

TJ

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I did tell him the prices are better then what he was getting a few years ago.

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Loose lips sinks ships,,,