Is it really worth the effort to try and recover gold from computers

**Repurposer** · 10-17-2016, 11:26 AM

I am generally a copper, steel, aluminum, brass and wire scrapper. I don't run across to many computers lap top or otherwise that are intact. The few I did come across I had no clue there was really anything of value in them like gold. I am reading about gold fingers and gold plating on nickel etc on this site. Kind of confusing as to what is really worth messing with. One post broke down a pound of very thin gold plated nickel in to some kind of dollar value. The calculation I read revealed the pound of gold on the nickel was actually worth about 78 cents. Not being an expert on metal composition or an expert in math it's all greek to me but with current scrap prices in the toilet with no relief in sight I have thought about going in to some other area of scrap that might pay a little better. Gold always seems to be up there in value but in regards to these CPU towers is the gold being recovered worth the effort?

**webuyselltradestuff** · 10-17-2016, 11:37 AM

it isn't unless you are doing LARGE quantities (ie those that recover). The chemicals have a cost, are dangerous etc...there IS plenty of money in ewaste. You aren't getting several $$$ a pound for most other metals. I can make a few hundred shipping a couple of 40-50 pound boxes off vs how much steel would it take again?? HINT: my back says "ummm no". Cell phones I can collect for $3-4/pound and just pull the back cover and battery out along with sim card...done in the box, off it goes. Tell me again what other common metal pays that much for that effort?

This is why you don't see me touching regular metals...they are just a byproduct of my ewaste recycling....heck I take in steel now to the yard because I HAVE TO GET IT OUT OF THE WAY, not because I make any money for that crap.

**Scrappah** · 10-17-2016, 03:31 PM

It's a common story ... heard time and again here on the site over the last few years. Scrap metal prices are in the toilet and someone is looking to diversify.

The short answer is that timing is everything. The time to jump in was ten or fifteen years ago.

What you've got today is a lot of people with the same idea flooding in and competing for a diminishing resource.

**EcoSafe** · 10-17-2016, 04:18 PM

only in volume, only older computers and servers , as pm values rose from 300 to 1900 manufactures quickly found ways to do more with less.

**Repurposer** · 10-17-2016, 04:51 PM

My real expertise is anything cars. I pick them up now and then and bone em out selling the parts and pieces on Craigslist. Has to have a clear title though. Cannot legally get rid of them anywhere in Arizona without one however if the body/frame is torched in to pieces they will take it without paperwork. Makes no sense but that's the government. The last one I torched up used almost two full tanks of Oxygen. But this was when they were paying $210 a ton. Now at 3 cents a pound there is no money to be made if your overhead is higher than a buck or two. Used to be able to sell stuff on Feebay but with fees incured it's pointless unless an object makes decent money which most stuff thanks to overlisting and free shipping does not. My interest in E-waste was gone quickly. A mere memeory. There are sources for e-waste here but it has to be bought. Around here auction fever is rampant. People paying a hundred bucks for a dumpster load of shred steel that is really worth about 20 bucks.

**Scrappah** · 10-18-2016, 07:10 AM

E-waste is similar to doing cars.

Your most profitable option would be to fix & flip. If you're a good mechanic with the tools and a shop you can flip a car around here and sell it for at least three grand. The market for used cars is good. If you've got the technical knowledge you can fix and flip a few of the computers that come in and sell em' for around a hundred. The market for used computers in this area is poor. Consumers are looking for the micro devices like tablets and I phones and most opt for buying new.

Your second best choice is to part them out. There is some demand for used auto parts but with the operating cost involved it might not be worth doing. You can do computer parts but you need to know your stuff and the market is changing every three months or so. The item that you have in stock today is rapidly losing value. In a few months or a year it will only have scrap value.

Your third (and least profitable ) option is to go straight to scrap. You would need to be doing a lot of volume every month. Maybe around three or four hundred computers a month to scratch out enough profit after expenses to make a bare bones living ? Again, there's a learning curve of a few years. It takes some trial and error to figure out what's worth doing and what things aren't worth spending time on.

Much as anything though ..... every situation is different.

Let's say you were retired and had your house paid off. You get health insurance, a government pension, food assistance, fuel assistance, and a host of other government services provided for you. Your cost of living isn't going to be very high. Scrapping and other small ventures can give you a little extra to help ends meet.

It's the same if you've got a regular job and just do scrapping on the side for a bit of extra coin.

It's another situation if you are doing it full time as a business and that's how you make your living.

**CapitalRecovery** · 10-19-2016, 02:50 AM

here is the prices I made minus the shipping cost.
Value Recovered:
$109.61

COUNT	MATERIAL	NET	PRICE	TOTAL
1	CELL PHONE W/O BATTERY	0.12	$4.25	$0.51
2	CONTAM REMOVED	0.71	$-	$-
3	FINGERBOARDS	0.25	$4.00	$1.00
4	GREEN FIBER W/ CAP PINLESS	0.21	$4.25	$0.89
5	HARD DRIVE BOARD	0.49	$9.75	$4.78
6	LAPTOP BOARDS	19	$4.00	$76.00
7	LAPTOP COMPLETE	5.8	$1.10	$6.38
8	LI ION LAPTOP	11	$1.40	$15.40
9	LRG SKT MOBO	6.4	$3.00	$19.20
10	MID GRADE HIGH	7	$2.20	$15.40
11	RAMBUS	0.15	$5.25	$0.79
12	RIBBON WIRE	10.55	$0.70	$7.39
13	SILVER MEMORY	0.2	$7.00	$1.40
14	SML SKT MOBO	13.4	$1.60	$21.44
15	TELECOM	0.07	$5.25	$0.37
16	TELECOM	0.23	$5.00	$1.15
	Shipping	1	$(62.48)	$(62.48)
				$109.61