Results 1 to 14 of 14

The varying conditions of scrap yard computers.

| General Electronics Recycling
  1. #1
    ryanw started this thread.
    ryanw's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Oct 2012
    Location
    TX
    Posts
    1,312
    Thanks
    526
    Thanked 1,290 Times in 648 Posts

    The varying conditions of scrap yard computers.

    This would probably be a lot better with pictures of what I find, but I rarely take any...I just thought this might make a good post. It might give some people an idea of what to expect from scrap yards too.

    One of my sources of scrap computers is from scrap yards. Most of the time, these are the bottom of the barrel condition-wise. No begging/pleading/offering more money to handle things carefully will actually make it happen. So, even if a system enters the yard in pristine condition, once it hits the computer pile, it will be far from that. Now, the yards I buy from know nothing about electronics recycling, but I got them to start buying circuit boards and computers. It's a bit of extra money for them, but not a ton. Here are common things I run into:

    1. Water and dirt. Always filthy and always left outside for the rain.
    2. Front and side panels gone. Where do they go? No idea. At least half of the units are missing these. This isn't an issue most of the time since it would only be beneficial if newer systems were nice and complete. This saves me weight when I purchase.
    3. Wire cutters. Happens a lot with the power supply wires and yanking out ide cables. Usually damages salvageable parts.
    4. No hard drive or memory. This just happens most of the time when the owner gets rid of the computer. I would too if i was dropping it off at a scrap yard...the hard drive that is.
    5. Things stuffed inside. Rocks, metal, trash, (a jar of spaghetti sauce once). Sometimes there are good things such as a bunch of wire or gold fingered cards or memory...
    6. Everything bashed up (motherboard, hard drive, etc). The previous owner I expect took a hammer to it.
    7. Completely empty. Really? I'm not buying it so I hope the yard didn't pay more than tin price.

    All that being said, scrap yards have THE BEST assortment of systems. You never know what you're going to get. It's like a treasure hunt every time I go to pick up. Profit per pound is actually much higher with these loads than business pick-ups with systems that are being retired, or auction lots. I sell as much as possible before scrapping, but even the scrap value is higher.


  2. The Following 10 Users say Thank You for This Post by ryanw:



  3. #2
    mikeinreco's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Dec 2011
    Location
    TENNESSEE
    Posts
    4,972
    Thanks
    1,257
    Thanked 5,023 Times in 2,350 Posts
    Great post........I also buy computers from scrap yards and landfills........I rarely if ever re-sale the computers themselves........Usually just makes for a scavenger hunt to find a part you may need then only about half the time will it work..........I don't ask them to handle them any better than they do because then they may want more money.........Best recent find at scrap yard was a 2TB drive showed about 600 days of usage...........I ran around 8 hours of diagnostics on the drive before I felt comfortable selling something like that I bought at scrap yard...........either way my landfills and scrap yards are usually best source for older large socket stuff as most of the gov't surplus is at least P4

  4. The Following 2 Users say Thank You for This Post by mikeinreco:


  5. #3
    mikeinreco's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Dec 2011
    Location
    TENNESSEE
    Posts
    4,972
    Thanks
    1,257
    Thanked 5,023 Times in 2,350 Posts
    oh and by the way the 5.25 floppies I sent you they were GOV't surplus removed from professional environment so they should be clean and hopefully in working condition

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to mikeinreco for This Post:


  7. #4
    ryanw started this thread.
    ryanw's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Oct 2012
    Location
    TX
    Posts
    1,312
    Thanks
    526
    Thanked 1,290 Times in 648 Posts
    My most surprising find was a newer dell motherboard with an i7 still in it (I don't remember the models). This was in the middle of a mixed gaylord of boards. The motherboard was scratched up, and had some dings. I powered it up, and tested things, and everything was just fine! I sold the motherboard for 60ish (fully disclosing the condition), and the cpu for 100. Crazy.

  8. The Following 2 Users say Thank You for This Post by ryanw:


  9. #5
    Hurrikane's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Jun 2011
    Location
    South Park,PA
    Posts
    172
    Thanks
    95
    Thanked 155 Times in 66 Posts
    Yes, I have found scrap yards are great for a mix of stuff. It's like the Forrest Gump box of chocolates line. Recently I heard that a yard I don't frequent that much had closed up. I drove down there to see and found that, sure enough it had. I saw some guy puttering around on a forklift and went over to him. Brief chat about the yard and what I was looking for. Forklift guy says "Yeah, there are some compu things in there". Ended up with 380 lbs. of old pin boards at .10/lb. Sorry to see the place close but got a great deal.

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to Hurrikane for This Post:


  11. #6
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Jacksonville, NC
    Posts
    4,917
    Thanks
    15,632
    Thanked 5,861 Times in 2,713 Posts
    I used to buy from a small yard(now closed) and they would put them inside a building for me. On the condition of the computers most were in good condition but some had been pulled from the shred pile and were banged up and dirty.

    The one thing is that when I get computers from repair shops I expect them not to work but parts can be resold. This is generally true but with scrap yard computers a higher percentage worked.

    It was good to get a big lump of computers in one pick up. I could quickly process the computers breaking down the ones that were too damaged or too outdated to sell parts from.

    Good thread. Mike
    "Profit begins when you buy NOT when you sell." {quote passed down to me from a wise man}

    Now go beat the copper out of something, Miked

  12. The Following User Says Thank You to miked for This Post:


  13. #7
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Youngstown, OH
    Posts
    606
    Thanks
    6
    Thanked 282 Times in 193 Posts
    There used to a small recycler close to me that larger guys used to bring semi trucks full of ewaste pallets from around Ohio to strip. Was interesting seeing how old some of the stuff was coming in. The owner would let me check them out each Friday to snag anything I wanted at 2x $ scrap weight. It was kind of shocking how much late 80's and early 90's vintage computers were still around 5 years ago. Also shocking is how much of the stuff still worked after being bounced around like trash at several locations.

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to unknownk for This Post:


  15. #8
    mikeinreco's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Dec 2011
    Location
    TENNESSEE
    Posts
    4,972
    Thanks
    1,257
    Thanked 5,023 Times in 2,350 Posts
    As long as there are no moving parts components are usually ok as long as they were kept dry

  16. The Following User Says Thank You to mikeinreco for This Post:


  17. #9
    sledge's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    2,717
    Thanks
    4,534
    Thanked 4,240 Times in 1,609 Posts
    Awesome thread. I've tried buying from one yard once.. Worked on "getting to the owner" for nearly a year. There was a small wire gaylord that I passed on my way to the shred pile dropoff for nearly 3 years.. and it was never touched. As soon as I got to the owner to ask about purchase- it disappeared and was finally touched. Needless to say.. I didn't get any of it!
    I'm so into scrapping.. When my Steel Toe Boots Wear out, I cut the Steel out of them and recycle the Toe!

  18. #10
    Mechanic688's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Warsaw , Ind. In the heart of the lakes, and down the street from the hotel where Al Capone stayed.
    Posts
    9,568
    Thanks
    11,247
    Thanked 10,730 Times in 4,728 Posts
    Ive made mention of the friends at my local yard, and some of their goodies I have picked up. The first one here ended up being a custom case computer where half the stuff (including fans-led's,) had not even been plugged in. Ended up being 6 of them being sold at $ 35. ea.



    This is typical of some worse ones that are occasionally pulled out.

    P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling.
    If you enjoy your freedom, thank a vet.

  19. The Following 4 Users say Thank You for This Post by Mechanic688:


  20. #11
    armygreywolf's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Germantown, WI
    Posts
    1,084
    Thanks
    193
    Thanked 2,065 Times in 650 Posts
    I used to pile pick from a yard in Oshkosh and another in Appleton and they all looked like that last picture, some might have been possibly a litter better than that but most were awfully bad. If it was a slow day the grapple or magnet operator would a layer off the pile and move it where I could access without climbing (A big nono). For obvious reasons I don't go picking like this anymore, but if you have a Saturday and regularly spot cases with boards in them at your local shred pile...you can BUY it as shred at or above their take prices...probably around 9 to 12 cents a lb and it's yours. I would say better than 10% of the computers received end up in shred without ever getting touched...some if not most yards now though....will send their guys to pick the piles anyways.
    WI ITAD LLC, IT Liquidation Services, we remarket, buy and sell scrap electronics No customer too large or small!

  21. The Following 2 Users say Thank You for This Post by armygreywolf:


  22. #12
    SMF Badges of Honor

    Member since
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
    Posts
    254
    Thanks
    103
    Thanked 306 Times in 125 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by ryanw View Post
    This would probably be a lot better with pictures of what I find, but I rarely take any...I just thought this might make a good post. It might give some people an idea of what to expect from scrap yards too.

    1. Water and dirt. Always filthy and always left outside for the rain.
    2. Front and side panels gone. Where do they go? No idea. At least half of the units are missing these. This isn't an issue most of the time since it would only be beneficial if newer systems were nice and complete. This saves me weight when I purchase.
    3. Wire cutters. Happens a lot with the power supply wires and yanking out ide cables. Usually damages salvageable parts.
    4. No hard drive or memory. This just happens most of the time when the owner gets rid of the computer. I would too if i was dropping it off at a scrap yard...the hard drive that is.
    5. Things stuffed inside. Rocks, metal, trash, (a jar of spaghetti sauce once). Sometimes there are good things such as a bunch of wire or gold fingered cards or memory...
    6. Everything bashed up (motherboard, hard drive, etc). The previous owner I expect took a hammer to it.
    7. Completely empty. Really? I'm not buying it so I hope the yard didn't pay more than tin price.

    All that being said, scrap yards have THE BEST assortment of systems. You never know what you're going to get. It's like a treasure hunt every time I go to pick up. Profit per pound is actually much higher with these loads than business pick-ups with systems that are being retired, or auction lots. I sell as much as possible before scrapping, but even the scrap value is higher.

    I only bought one load from a local scrap yard so far. The condition was almost exactly how you describe them. Plenty of side panels missing, plenty of power supply wires cut. About ½ of them were totally complete.

    The yard I bought from actually stored them inside, but some obviously sat outside before, probably in the tin pile. All bashed up etc. All the systems were thrown into a gaylord.

    But I also made out quite well on the lot, there were still plenty of parts I could re-sell. Several 2 GB RAM sticks, some hard drives (actually tested out good, which is surprising), some quad core CPU’s, and even a solid state drive!

    If they call me again, I will certainly buy from them again.






  23. #13
    SMF Badges of Honor



    Member since
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Jacksonville, NC
    Posts
    4,917
    Thanks
    15,632
    Thanked 5,861 Times in 2,713 Posts
    I would think that in particular the small yards would be willing to put the computers, towers and laptops in a protected area. Depending on your experience and ability to test and resell paying far above shred price is likely possible. 73, Mike

  24. #14
    mikeinreco's Avatar
    SMF Badges of Honor


    Member since
    Dec 2011
    Location
    TENNESSEE
    Posts
    4,972
    Thanks
    1,257
    Thanked 5,023 Times in 2,350 Posts
    I'll tell you the one that always gets me...........The yards that are small and not to busy will pull the HD's Ram etc.........THey will then want me to buy the case motherboard and power supply then the more valuable components separate..........Frustrating but I usually just offer them a low price for the metal cases then buy the rest

  25. The Following User Says Thank You to mikeinreco for This Post:



  26. Similar threads on the Scrap Metal Forum

    1. Florida | National - UPDATED!! Buying E-Scrap & Computers/Laptops/LCD More than scrap value!
      By Retech in forum Scrap Buyers & Sellers
      Replies: 4
      Last Post: 04-05-2016, 08:36 PM
    2. more than scrap- computers $10
      By Ecycle Atlanta in forum General - Let's talk business
      Replies: 5
      Last Post: 09-18-2013, 12:12 PM
    3. Atlanta - With computers to scrap
      By Orkos in forum Introduce yourself
      Replies: 6
      Last Post: 05-30-2013, 12:24 PM
    4. Buy at a scrap yard, sell at a Recycling yard?
      By ScraperRick in forum Scrap Metal Tips and Advice
      Replies: 13
      Last Post: 09-14-2012, 07:27 PM
    5. Tried to buy computers from the yard i use
      By fordsix in forum General Electronics Recycling
      Replies: 8
      Last Post: 05-23-2012, 02:16 PM

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

 
Browse the Most Recent Threads
On SMF In THIS CATEGORY.





OR

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

The Scrap Metal Forum

    The Scrap Metal Forum is the #1 scrap metal recycling community in the world. Here we talk about the scrap metal business, making money, where we connect with other scrappers, scrap yards and more.

SMF on Facebook and Twitter

Twitter Facebook