Help determining value

[goob]

I haven't had much luck offering to buy boards and such. Generally once I express interest in buying their junk, they decide to keep it because it must be worth a lot more if I am willing to give them a $20 bill. But, this whole area is a bunch of scumbags trying to rip everyone off. I'm actually sort of stuck with ~$200 of old cb radio equipment and components I don't know anything about because of what should have been a straight forward deal falling through because the guy just wants to rob me blind. I was going to give him a really good deal too. I picked the stuff up pretty cheap and I knew he only paid $4 for the things I wanted to trade it for. Anyway, back on topic, sort of....

This weekend I picked up 10 computers from a guy at a flea market for $35. Half were hp e-pc's and the other half were dell optiplex's. It took me about an hour to break them down and I ended up with 14 lbs of motherboard grade that got me $60 when I brought them to Jack from relectrocycle on monday. The chassis were $11 at the scrap yard and after adding in the power supplies, hard drives + 1.4 lbs hd boards, floppy drives, .5 lbs ram, processors and whatnot I still have, it will be close to $100 for 10 less than average computers.

I'd have payed $5 each for those computers if I had to and it would have still been well worth my time. With the price of e-scrap now, it's insanely profitable for how little work is involved. Way better $/hr than anything else I do for sure. But, it really seems like most everyone on the internet is trying to make it sound hard and barely profitable. The real problem seems to be getting people to sell you their junk, and I'm normally pretty good at that because of my sales background.

 

[MMFJ]

I haven't had much luck offering to buy boards and such. Generally once I express interest in buying their junk, they decide to keep it because it must be worth a lot more if I am willing to give them a $20 bill.

So, don't offer them anything but the chance to get it out of their site (or sight! - both are correct in this instance....). Even offer to sweep the place up afterwards as a 'bonus' (this is what I've done tons and tons of times - amazing how different the attitude is both on the fact that you 'hope to break even after hauling it all off', though then also the fact that you will make sure there is no mess left, which is ACTUALLY what most of the folks seem to think they need 'money' for - to make it worth their while to have you go in there and they'll have to clean up when you pull all that junk out....)

But, this whole area is a bunch of scumbags trying to rip everyone off. I'm actually sort of stuck with ~$200 of old cb radio equipment and components I don't know anything about because of what should have been a straight forward deal falling through because the guy just wants to rob me blind. I was going to give him a really good deal too. I picked the stuff up pretty cheap and I knew he only paid $4 for the things I wanted to trade it for.

Sounds like some pent-up frustration there! Too bad we all have no idea what you are talking about (but, hey, it looks like you at least got it off your chest!

This weekend I picked up 10 computers from a guy at a flea market for $35. Half were hp e-pc's and the other half were dell optiplex's. It took me about an hour to break them down and I ended up with 14 lbs of motherboard grade that got me $60 when I brought them to Jack from relectrocycle on monday. The chassis were $11 at the scrap yard and after adding in the power supplies, hard drives + 1.4 lbs hd boards, floppy drives, .5 lbs ram, processors and whatnot I still have, it will be close to $100 for 10 less than average computers.

I'd have payed $5 each for those computers if I had to and it would have still been well worth my time. With the price of e-scrap now, it's insanely profitable for how little work is involved. Way better $/hr than anything else I do for sure. But, it really seems like most everyone on the internet is trying to make it sound hard and barely profitable. The real problem seems to be getting people to sell you their junk, and I'm normally pretty good at that because of my sales background.[/quote]
SEE??? Just what we've been talking about - it CAN (and DOES) happen like that, all the time. As for what many say about computers, etc., I think you will see that e-scrap has gotten very much more interesting to lots of people (including myself....) lately. For at least 12 years now, I have BLATANTLY avoided anything to do with computers - until a few months ago, when I saw just what you are seeing. Oh, it is not the most money I've ever made, nor certainly not the easiest, but then, those opportunities aren't staring me in the face right now either (btw, real estate was the simplest money I ever made - until about two years ago, when I went back to Making Money From JUNK!....)

I say CONGRATS on getting that load - even as a paid one.

Keep looking, you will find many more that are FREE as well - you just have to ask, and be ready for the answer to be YES!

Oddly, most people aren't ready for that answer so they never ask the question! I was just doing some private coaching today with a long-time student and all of a sudden realized that he had changed not only his vocabulary (he recently began speaking in "lack" instead of "plenty" terms - a sure sign of soon-to-be poverty!) which we'd been working on, but in our session today it came out that he really doesn't understand the VALUE he can provide to others and the trade-off is that he gets stuff for "FREE" (no money out of his pocket - which is very, very different than "something for nothing"!). Now that it has come out that this is really his 'hidden' issue, we'll get to work on that ASAP because this is the CORE of all this JUNK business!

Keep up the good work, and let us know how you are progressing!

 

[goob]

...

You weren't meant to know what I was talking about with the radio equipment There is a whole back story that would explain everything, but it's not important. And, I call the people around here scumbags on their better days. If I was frustrated I think I could come up with some other things to call them :lol: Really, it's just bad people in this area. They live by the motto "do unto others before they do unto you."

As far as scrap computers, I don't generally start with offering money for old computers. Mostly I use a "save them from the landfill" type thing, as an opening line, and then they tell me they always throw that stuff out right away or they are a hoarder and I'll get it when I pry it from their cold dead hands.

 

[joem]

...

You weren't meant to know what I was talking about with the radio equipment There is a whole back story that would explain everything, but it's not important. And, I call the people around here scumbags on their better days. If I was frustrated I think I could come up with some other things to call them :lol: Really, it's just bad people in this area. They live by the motto "do unto others before they do unto you."

As far as scrap computers, I don't generally start with offering money for old computers. Mostly I use a "save them from the landfill" type thing, as an opening line, and then they tell me they always throw that stuff out right away or they are a hoarder and I'll get it when I pry it from their cold dead hands.

You would be surprised how many people hoard stuff like this, thinking they would be worth something. Once they see the work involved in getting the cash that want they usually give up quick. I deal with these people by empasizing the amount of difficulty involved in recovering gold ( acids and fumes) or the space and travel time needed to work this business, then I offer them part of my profits and let them know I offer a completly free service ( if it's a business) because I have the contacts and the time. About half take up on the offer because I know they really don't have the time and resources to do it all.

 

[MMFJ]

Had my first encounter with a 'hoarder' yesterday - he had responded to my ad for buying used computers/parts and told me the only reason he would sell is because "my wife and I need the money"....

After buying the THREE computers he brought (only a few bucks, but he was happy - so was I as one of them had a 200GB hard drive in it!!), he told me he has OVER ONE HUNDRED COMPUTERS that are sitting in a storage room - where he is paying $197 per month! (No wonder he needs money!)

I was able to convince him (of course, he was ready to listen - 99.999% of the 'convincing' part!) that it was costing him a fortune to keep them and that, depending on the condition, etc., I would pay him up to one of his unit month's rent for the lot - at least recapping a bit of his "investment".

We have an appointment to chat on Tuesday to finalize a time for us to take the truck there Wed morning (I explained that I was renting a truck to pick up another load on Tuesday and he was very willing to work with me to keep my costs down!).

Before he left, he even told me of a friend of his that has "about 300 computers" along with "buckets of processors, ram and cards" mixed in/around "stacks of motherboards" - yeah, I didn't sleep very well last night...... :shock: He wants me to keep the truck handy for Friday as he believes she will be ready by then (unfortunately, she has stage 4 cancer, so she knows she needs to clear stuff out, but can't lift anything herself) - "computers in her bedrooms and all through the house, in/around her hot tub and outside storage..."

She has been 'collecting' for about 15 years, so who knows just what we might find in there!

It will be an adventure and I'll keep you informed!