Buying scrap metal?

Hi I have hot the point in time that I thought I would try buying scrap metal and then strip it if it's wire or break it down as in transformers. Ideas on what I should pay for insulated wire or transformers is there other things I should buy to ?. Do scrap yards sell stuff to customers???. I was thinking if they did I would try and find mcm insulated then strip it. Thoughts?. Maybe a website that's not eBay I try and stay away from that. Thanks. I tried putting business cards on places that failed sadly. I did partner with a guy at work that worked pretty well he brought me stuff to my house like wires and I stripped them and took it in then gave him 40% of the bare wire profit I took 60% cause I did the work haha. Maybe I should ask a electrician and pitch the same deal or maybe go 50/50 split?. You know cause not everyone has time to strip wire. Maybe that would work with a HVAC guy to???. I like doing it I just don't have the scrap haha.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Good luck...with current scrap prices people will require top dollar for most copper bearing materials

Yea I know I have never really bought stuff though.

Originally Posted by mike1

Yea I know I have never really bought stuff though.

The easiest way to lose money is to get into a business that you don't know very much about.

Buying and selling is a different way of making money. The idea is to buy low and sell high. You make your profit that way.

It's not like what we do. We take the material in and process it. We make money by putting our time & labor into it.

Well I consider my time and labor not a factor haha. Just the buying insulated and stripping it into bare or number 1 copper wire.

Originally Posted by mike1

Well I consider my time and labor not a factor haha. Just the buying insulated and stripping it into bare or number 1 copper wire.

Ohh Mike .... time is the most precious thing you will ever own. You can always make more money but you can't make more time. With every day that passes ... the time you do have is a little bit less. Some day you will run out of time.

Don't sell yourself short.

Originally Posted by hills

Ohh Mike .... time is the most precious thing you will ever own. You can always make more money but you can't make more time. With every day that passes ... the time you do have is a little bit less. Some day you will run out of time.

Don't sell yourself short.

Well let's hope not anytime soon maybe I'll find the fountain of youth ha.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Good luck...with current scrap prices people will require top dollar for most copper bearing materials

Just loaded my old 97 Dodge Ram with scrap got $1252.00 for the truck and scrap metal which was computer and microwave case's. Pat drove me home from the yard.

Almost forgot, had to make a 2nd trip to the yard because I had forgot my keys in the Dodge, brought a buddy with me and he bought a set of small oxygen and acetylene bottles for $100.00 - the one people own privately with out the need for a contract.

Neat good stuff.

I buy scrap all the time... See my garage sale boo ya thread. I buy anything I can scrap as long as it is cheaper than scrap... Sometimes I buy gems for cheaper than scrap prices

Retired from iron, going full organic.

I got 3 AC Split systems for $20 once. The guy wanted to scrap them but he didnt know how nor had the time. He called the yard and told him what he had and they said .08/Lb for them (shred price). He figured they weighed 50lbs ea and the indoor blowers were plastic so he said I can take them and buy him lunch one day. Gave him $20 and i ended up with over $100 for myself.