Scrap Copper on EBAY!

I was looking on Ebay the other day for what sellers where selling scrap gold and ran accross scrap copper. I was shocked what people were buying scrap copper for. There's one auction thats 35lbs of #1 at the current time selling for 110.01 with 15.00 shipping. That's $3.57 a pound. What the heck. Never thought about it, but some of you that don't get great prices for your copper at your local yard might try to sell 15 to 30 pounds at a time on ebay. I won't be spending 3.57 on copper but someone is. Happy scrapping

Yeah, I seen that and was gonna try my luck at it. Even if it averaged to $3.00 a pound before shipping, that is an extra $1.50 per 10 pounds for me.

Use the USPS pre-paid postage boxes. They're whatever you can fit in the box upto like 75 lbs. May save on shipping.

Originally Posted by tjlock

Yeah, I seen that and was gonna try my luck at it. Even if it averaged to $3.00 a pound before shipping, that is an extra $1.50 per 10 pounds for me.

Don't forget the fees when doing this. Listing fees and final value fees of around 10% and then paypal fees of 30 cents plus 3 %

Yeah good point. You would have to make sure you included enough in shipping to cover some of those fees.

what do the people who buy it do with the copper? they buy it for more then its worth in scrap...

Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

On this Ebay selling copper selling I think what I would do if I decided to do it was to put a big fee on the shipping so as ebay and pay pal dont take all their fees out.

tried that with coins, works for a few transactions but ebay is smarter then we think..
after a few listings, i received many messages from ebay telling me to stop or they would delete my account and never let me register again.

AZ is right...they will catch it. But I would do it until they warned you. Vamp for what I gather..they are buying it with the hopes that copper will keep getting higher

Another option is to try listing it on craigslist. No fees, and all it costs to try it is your time.

I too, was watching the different auctions for copper on ebay. One was for 15 pounds of electrical cables. Now, we alll know that if you bring that crap to the yard you aren't gonna get but maybe .90-1.00 for all the small stranded wire.
I myself just raided an old house they tore down, went up, asked if I could scrap the metal, they said sure. Sonow I am hand stripping a ****pile of BX, some tin coated and some all copper.
if there is anyone who knows how to get that tin off the copper without using abrasives, it would be greatly appreciated.

I would scrap the tinned copper as is. My yard counts it as #2 copper. Your time is better spent doing something else.

I think we all realize that copper is going for 4.41 a pound. Of course the scrap yard gives us 3.50 or around that price per pound, but that's obviously so they can make their huge profit when they sell all our copper for over $4.00. Maybe these people purchasing the copper on Ebay for 3.50+ have the same connection as the scrap yards to sell the copper over 4 bucks..... OR even shadier and corrupt, maybe these people own scrap yards or are the head of their particular scrap yard which I don't know if that would be an ethical issue or not if you owned a scrap yard and decided to purchase copper on Ebay in your spare time

I checked the prices at my yard around Dec. #1 copper was 2.20. I am thinking of going the EBAY route to get more bang for my buck.

Originally Posted by Mick

Copper closed Friday at $4.41/lb on the London Market Exchange. Not any scrap yard anywhere is getting that. A week ago, it was $4.10. The LME pricing can be used as a guide, but to say that's what they're getting is not quite accurate. If they wanted to speculate and hold a bit, they might, but they might lose, too. That's how the game is played. If you want safe assurances, go to work for wages.

Most scrap yards go by the comex for copper price not LME...LME is used for aluminum though