Scrapping Computers? KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!

[MMFJ]

I've read tons on this board on the yeas/nays of computer scrapping.

Until not long ago, I was sold on the 'nay' side, but recently I changed my mind.

We've been scrapping computers instead of just donating them (which we did by the pallet and sometimes truck loads...) and have seen quite reasonable 'wages' out of the time and effort (not to mention the good workout and frustration release you can get from tossing them in the air....

Anyway, in grabbing and going through all these computers, I've made sure to set aside any 'odd' looking boards - usually anything not a sound, video or LAN card.

Then, I sort through them and check the part numbers, etc.

Well, today that practice paid off really well - I just sold one of the cards from one computer for $225! Yep, that was ONE CARD! Sold it on fleaBay after just one week listing.

And, the nice part is - we still have another one!

These came out of just one pallet of about 25 computers. In total, we made now something like $1000 on that one pallet - not bad for stuff we used to throw away (and have to pay to haul it there to boot!)

My vote on scrapping - Yea - as long as you keep your eyes open and process all those 'funny looking' cards!

Oh, the card I sold?

 

[MMFJ]

After posting the above, I got a nice PM that I thought would be helpful if answered here;

Do you solely scrap computers whole, or do you part them out to sell by general typed of components? Do you or are you willing to sell memory or pci cards to individuals by th lb?

What we do (now) with computers is to pull them apart and take all the 'easy' stuff out - then sell the parts (collecting them for a bundle, while also waiting for the price to be 'right'...), then scrap yard the rest.

Here's what we take out;
- RAM (we haven't found that taking the fingers off is good/bad yet...)
- CARDS (we DO take the fingers off - simple to do and "good wages", at least, for us)
- PROCESSOR(s) - we toss them all in one box and eventually will sort them for sale (first to go is the bigger ones, then the 'cheap gold' ones like P4s, etc. - saving the heavy ones for prices to go way up!)
- Aluminum (various bits of heat sink on the processor and other chips)
- Copper (where we find it in large enough amounts - some servers have little bits of copper all around the edge of the cover, but they are hard to get off for the little bit there so we usually leave them)
- Stainless Steel (some of the heat sinks are actually stainless - you need to make sure you are separating them or you will not have a nice day at the scrap yard !)
- WIRES - we take the 'easy' wires out from the drives, etc., but don't cut any
- MOTHERBOARD - 99%+ we take out, sometimes they are too time consuming (if it takes more than 2 minutes to get it out, you aren't making money from this junk!)

The rest (including power supply, other wires, screws, case, etc.) all go in the scrap pile to sell at one trip to the scrap yard (when we also take the boxes of separated aluminum, copper and stainless) as 'mixed metal' (about $.10 per pound). Before you slam me on the fact that there is still value in all that 'mixed' pile, know this - we firmly believe in

Get the FAST penny, not the LAST penny!

(a phrase started in a past business, yet sticks with me still...) - which means that you sometimes leave the smaller stuff for someone else to benefit from if they can.

Out of the 'good stuff', we tend to keep the gold-heavy stuff and sell the rest (more 'bulky' items) by the pound, to the highest bidder. We have had great success with boardsort.com though are always looking for ways to increase our profits and minimize our work!

If you are interested in offering for the boards and such, send me a pricelist and let's see what we can do.

 

[gold4mike]

Boardsort will also pay you for those power supplies, with or without the wire.

I do something similar to what you're doing with my printers and scanners. I give them to another scrapper who's whole family tears them apart on the weekends. They accumulate a box of circuit boards and I buy them back from them.

I give them the material for free, then pay them for the boards. It's MUCH more productive for me not to waste my time on those low dollar items. It also leaves me with much less in the way of waste I have to get rid of.

They sell the copper, motors, transformers, etc. to the local scrap yard so they're happy to see me coming.

 

[MMFJ]

Boardsort will also pay you for those power supplies, with or without the wire.

Yeah, but since it costs me $.65 per pound to ship them and they pay only $.35, it really can never make up for it at any volume!

I do something similar to what you're doing with my printers and scanners. I give them to another scrapper who's whole family tears them apart on the weekends. They accumulate a box of circuit boards and I buy them back from them.

I give them the material for free, then pay them for the boards. It's MUCH more productive for me not to waste my time on those low dollar items. It also leaves me with much less in the way of waste I have to get rid of.

They sell the copper, motors, transformers, etc. to the local scrap yard so they're happy to see me coming.

Strangely, I've had challenges with this - in keeping a steady person to just come take the stuff directly (seems good help is hard to find - even when you GIVE it to them....). Haven't had much to work with since starting the buying phase, but we'll see how that goes in about a week as we have another load coming in soon and will (again) put out an ad to get that stuff processed, and, of course, in a similar method to what you are doing.

 

[rtl326]

Just a note: Alter is paying $0.36 a pound for power suppies in Minneapolis. I hauled in 176 pounds on 11/22/11 and they paid $63.72. I had cut off all of the wires so I can sell them for $1.12 a pound when the tub gets full. The power supplies were from compters, printers, copiers and anything else that looks about right.

 

[MMFJ]

Well, today that practice paid off really well - I just sold one of the cards from one computer for $225! Yep, that was ONE CARD! Sold it on fleaBay after just one week listing.

And, the nice part is - we still have another one!

And, we just sold the other one this week (another ~$200 after shipping....). Certainly worth watching out for the 'odd' cards!

 

[27182]

Um yeah. You see any cards from:
National Instruments
Dalsa
Coreco
Sensoray
Bitflow
Altera (on the silkscreen)
Xilinx (on the silkscreen)
Epix
Imagenation
Imperx
Agilent

Or any card like that you have a question about. I'd consider buying it or at least help you put a fair value on it. Some of these cards cost in the thousands of dollars new.

 

[goaldspektre]

I know someone who pays ten buck a pound for Ram uncut

 

[reflector]

I know someone who pays ten buck a pound for Ram uncut

$10/lb is a little low

i would gladly buy at $12/lb, and also pay your shipping cost.

 

[joem]

I get $14 a pound in this city