Well, with all the Joe's getting, we just couldn't be totally outdone.....
I've been running an ad on craigslist for several weeks and getting some pieces here/there (we've had a few dozen computers come in with various e-waste stuff - the only 'big' thing was several pounds of ram came in a few weeks ago), but nothing really worth reporting - until now.....
On Thursday, I put up a new craigslist ad. Not much different than before, in fact, I'm not sure exactly what made it work so well, but I can tell you that I made sure to put in lots and lots of ACTION statements ("Call Steve right now to sell your e-waste for TOP DOLLAR" and such, over and over in the ad - nearly every other line....).
Thursday night, I got a call from a guy that told me he had 25 computers 'left' (he had taken two truckloads to Goodwill before he saw my ad....
and some various odds-n-ends that he wanted to "get something out of". I told him our e-waste price and he said to come on over Saturday... (btw, we only go to pick up if the load is substantial - over $100 payout. this was 'borderline', but seemed worth the risk, and since we hadn't much else going on anyway...).
On Friday, we had a guy bring over 70 motherboards, along with some other bits-n-pieces. It filled a complete 'dish pack' box that we got ready to ship out to boardsort, but decided to wait until after we saw what the weekend appointment might bring.
We got to the guy's house with '25' computers and we were welcomed to an open garage door with some signs of computers, but I wasn't sure there was all that much there. He showed us around in the garage and then said "follow me"..... out to his 4000 sq. ft. 'workshop' in his backyard!
For TWO HOURS we searched through there - much like American Pickers, opening drawers, looking in boxes and of course, hauling out computer after computer and boxload after boxload of cards, cables and parts that he had stacked up (yes, with several boxes of keyboards and mice....). TWO LOADS later, here's what we came out with....
While we were loading, we got another call from a guy that wanted us to come out today - said he has several servers and over 400 motherboards! Seems this new ad is really pulling in the right kinds of folks! 8)
Unfortunately, the guy never called this morning and didn't answer when I called him (so does he really have 400 motherboards?) so I spent the whole day today scrapping out much of the 2000 lbs of e-waste we got from the one location. My helper found several Apples and a few 'interesting' looking pieces in this lot and when he checked online pricing, we decided to offer them on fleabay instead (a couple items from Black Box look to be worth several hundred dollars - ALWAYS check before scrapping!)!
Tomorrow, I'll get pictures and tally on the 'bits' (we had one box of just hard drives that took all two guys could do to put in the truck).
Unfortunately, we've found NO Pentium Pros in the computers, but, the box sitting on top of the 'stack' had TEN of them, so we aren't too upset!
Most all the computers had ceramics (one gold-cap/bottom Pentium), a few with slot processors and several black MMXs. Plus, we have several pounds of wire and quite a few PCI cards, with most of them being "old style", from the AT machines.
So, it looks to be a good haul.
Oh, to be clear, we PAID for this load (and all the stuff we are getting lately). We have had only dribbles from our "Recycle Your Old Computers" ads and/or those pulling at heartstrings to keep e-waste out of the landfill, etc.
The only ad that has worked at all in our area has been for paid e-waste, and this latest one really hit some nerves out there as we have had three big loads in just as many days (after we got the second van full to our shop yesterday, we paid out another $72 for a load that had over 20 pounds of cell phones in it!) Just like anything it is a numbers game, with having to take a LOT of calls from folks needing cash that say "I've got an old computer that I want to sell - I think it still works - when will you come over here and buy it (with the implied 'and make me rich'.....)?" and then when we tell them 1. our e-waste per pound price and 2. that we don't pick up unless the load is >$100, we often have to go through a reality-check with them on why we price it that way, what e-waste really is, etc........ - hey, take the bad with the good.....
We won't have the total on these last three loads until next week, but we feel pretty good about hitting over $2000 and maybe $2500 if the fleabay stuff pays off and once we count up all the fingers and processors. Not bad for three days of e-waste buying and scrapping (with an outlay of ~$600). Having loads like that is worth paying for and even having to hit the ATM TWICE in one day!
And, all because of a small change in the ad! So, if your ad is not working and getting results you want, change it a bit! Try some ACTION words and phrases in there. In fact, DO IT NOW!!!! :lol:
