Buyer is probably from China, they only recycle the junk, they refurbish the good ones. I went through the same thing. The only thing I could gather from the yard owner after I questioned him persistently was when he said: " you cant compete with China"... I started at $.20 He scoffed and a quick rebtle of $.30 per pound didn't even make him blink. He said when I wanted to entertain a serious offer to find him. I called or stopped by every few weeks holding my offer he never even blinked. I am guessing by his reactions, his buyer is around $.50 lb...