ebay selling prices for gold e-scrap exceeds value of gold

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am totally new to this forum, which by the way is just awesome.

I am confused about ebay prices for computer scrap gold.

For example, my best analysis so far is that pentium pro cpus contain about
1/3 of a gram of gold, which amounts to about 50 worth of gold dollars per pound of pentium pro cpus.

On the other hand, recent sales prices seem to average at least 50 dollars, and up to as much as 75 or 80 dollars per pound, and that does not include shipping prices.

I have noticed the same thing on just about every auction for mb's, daughter cards, etc.

Why would people be paying prices on ebay that exceed the price of gold?

Thanks So Much.

 

[Anonymous]

they get to bidding and end up with holes were thier brains should be, also, some of them most likely use the parts ( I would hope so anyways).
I could not figure this out myself but I have taken advantage of it. I baught some gold jewerly on sale at K mart and got nearly 20 percent more than I paid for it. I am going to buy some more this week or next with gold going down a little I may wait until it starts to go back up.

 

[skyline27]

People are bidding blind with no concept of yield. They are guided by emotions, not reason. This is fine if your having fun at the casino. The sucker birth rate has dramatically increased since Ebay went online.

 

[draftinu]

It is knowing what you can extract from something, not knowing this they will pay dearly!

 

[Platdigger]

OKeeeee, but, could it be, that some of these buyers are set up to grind up and extract all the metals.....and perhaps still make a small profit....even with the prices they are paying...........is it possible?
Randy

 

[skyline27]

No

 

[pilotdan]

If you look at the feedback of the buyers, many of them have just started buying scrap within the last few weeks. I found one guy that was spending about $1000 or more a day buying up lots for scrap value, and that is just what I found based on his feedback and watching the auctions. I think they just simply have no idea.

Maybe someone should write a buying guide for scrap recovery items and post it to eBay. Although, I doubt anyone will read it until they are scratching their littles heads wondering where the gold went. :roll:

 

[skyline27]

Ebay already has all sorts of guides for sale. I'm not sure the type of people making wild, foolish purchases of e-scrap can take their finger off the "buy it now" tab long enough to open a book. I get the sense alot of the stuff gets passed around. I have sold and later repurchased the same cpus and sold them again. Put something on for tomorrow. NPR has an electronic scrap segment on Morning Edition Wed.
Should get those wheels turnin'!!!

Don't look past the collectors value of some of these parts. Especially cpu's, vintage systems, eproms etc. Some people really like to buy this stuff for reasons other than recovery. How many Pentium Pros exist today? How many will be in existence in 5 years with guys (and gals) like us around? The vintage stuff is going the way of the buffalo. Maybe some of the fools aren't so foolish.

 

[Anonymous]

ok.. I said I wasnt going to chime in untill later.. but.. old CPU's that can barely run a word proc program!!! c'mon.. why would you want this.

then again.. I collect old rusted cars.. lol

Value is alla bout how much one person wants it.. I heard on the news.. something about some paintings going for crazy numbers. I wish they could just give me 2% of that money!

 

[Scrapman]

LOL

 

[Rag and Bone]

"I do not worry much about the price I pay now, because years down the road it will be worth much more."

That seems like an unecesarily risky venture. If you pay in excess of spot value today, you may have to wait years just to break even. That same money would likely peform better in stocks or bonds.

Has anyone noticed the huge increase in the price of scrap memory on ebay latey? It usually sold for $5-6 and now I see auctions going for $10+ per pound consistently. The big lots of memoy used to be a good deal to get fingers cheap. Now I can't afford it. What gives?

 

[calgoldrecyclers]

rag and bone,
it really dosnt make much sense, does it? the items still have to be processed and refined. gold! it's haunting and haunting....
thats a great song, by the way.

 

[goldsilverpro]

I read many newsletters by gold gurus in the early '70s that predicted that gold would soon hit $1000. It took 35 years. I made a good living for 40 years in the gold scrap industry. The best lessons I learned was to never listen to gold gurus and to never play the market.

 

[eagle2]

Those airheads on e-bay are buying it to sell to new airheads on e-bay.

A pyramid scheme that will crash one day.

 

[Rag and Bone]

It's fun (and sometimes sad) to look back on the recent purchases of the ebay gold hounds. I get the feeling that it's an addiction in some people. I've made a few sales that went waaaay beyond the PM value. Makes me feel a little guilty but hey, I'm a merchant not a teacher. If they weren't buying overpriced computer junk then they'd be buying pokemon cards or plugging a slot machine.

 

[eagle2]

Hey, I like that!

I`ve got hundreds of circuit boards, that I will never have the time to scrap out by myself. Now if only I can get my ancient computer to download pictures again? Hmmm.

 

[pcecycle]

I always feel a bit guilty when one of my scrap lots goes way high. I usually throw in a few extra boards or something.

I wish I could find something as profitable as Pokemon again. I started out selling a few cards on eBay and wound up with a lot of duplicates and commons, so I made up some grab bags for the kids and later started selling individual cards in my shop. I sold them for below the low price in the price guides and still made enough in 3 months time to buy a laptop for myself and a dining room suite for my Mom!

Mike

 

[banjags]

Dont feel bad. We all do this to make money. If the people on ebay wanna pay far more than what it worth thats their own probem and my profit. Look before you leap.

 

[Eric]

It seems like the real way to make money on ebay is to buy up as much old junk as possible and sell it for a higher price. It seems like to me that old junk is more valuable when it is entact and loses value when you scrap it.

 

[Drewbie]

Nice link spam, belinda!