ebay for scrap and where to sell nickel

Hi. this is my second post and my first question.

New to scrap I started looking on ebay and watching what some scrap items sell for there. I happened across a new listing for some nickel alloy form computer scrap. I know nickel is close to 10$ a pound but the yard I have gone too will only give 25 cents a pound wether it is nickle or nickel alloy. I sold them a small bucket scrap once that i thought was stainless but they said was nickel

Why is there such a difference between the spot price of this item and what the yard will pay. Is there a better place to sell Nickel than the local scrap yard (Like ebay)? I think there must be because one person has bid on this lot and is paying over $1 a pound so he must know something I don't know (not surprising).

I'd like to know also.

Is ebay a good place to look for copper and other metals? I was actually looking into computer scrap but really have no idea what good prices are so i have not bought anything.

You are going to find that every yard has different pricing. Your best would be to call around locally or however far you are willing to drive to to check prices. As far as nickel... I have never recycled it myself. Dont know where I would run across enough to even think about it.

I dont think it would be worthwhile to buy "metals" on ebay, because once shipping is figured in there goes any chance of a profit. People will buy gold on ebay because they have the ability to refine it themselves.

Good place to look for metals.... Start in your own neighborhood. Put an ad on craigslist to pick up scrap metal. Always be on the lookout for scrap. Let everyone you know that you are recycling...word will get out.

You'll need to ask around for a specialist nickel scrap dealer. You should be getting around $6-7/lb

Originally Posted by harrisvh

You'll need to ask around for a specialist nickel scrap dealer. You should be getting around $6-7/lb

Thats what i was thinking. At the time I sold my first small pile of nickel i didn't know any better. It wasn't until recent that I found out how expensive nickel was. thats why when I saw the ebay listing I thought it would be worth buying if I only knew where to sell it at.

Who would I ask? The scrap yard I go too would probably rather me not find out seeing I let them sucker me into selling it to them so cheap.

Look on the net for a specialist dealer near you and phone a few of them up. Hopefully there will be one not too far from you.