more than scrap- computers $10

Came across an ebay store that is based in California that deals in reselling old computer parts. On their site they list a purchase price of $10 for each old computer. Most of us already know enough to sell online anything that is worth "more than scrap", but I find it interesting that they are willing to pay that much without knowing exactly what they will be receiving. I was thinking of making a list of the next 100 computers I receive and get some percentages of how many contain re-sellable equipment. Has anyone already done this? One of my most recent lots of computers contained two 5.25 floppy drives and 486 processors, but the other computers had nothing more than scrap value. I certainly wouldn't pay $10 for each of those, but I wonder if it would pay off in the long run. any thoughts?

This would depend on where you are getting your computers from, but I would estimate 50-60% of the machines I get have something I can re-sell as working parts. Sometimes it's a 5.00 item, and sometimes it's a 100.00 item. I get the majority of my computers from larger businesses who are upgrading to new machines, and they usually are not already scavenged. I have not run the actual numbers but I am pretty confident on the estimate.

They probably figure that they will at least break even on most of the ones that only have scrap value, and profit from the ones with good parts inside. They probably also get a crapload of computers if they are paying that much.

I remember reading somewhere on here of an average weight of computers that someone gets being around 27lbs. For the ones that aren't parted out, if they are sold for 0.50/lb, that is 13.50 per computer on average.

There are different categories that make old clunkers worth more then scrap. They don't even have to be that old. High end anything still sells to collectors (multi processor motherboards, gaming video cards, rare oddities). Working AT power supplies for example can be sold for parts on ebay. The vast majority of space saving DELLs are worth nothing more then scrap (and since they have no cards and tiny power supplies they don't even weight much). You can refurb machines a few years old and sell those as well.

Let Me help you folks out... I own two business.. and I enjoyed this conversation.
One busienss I own is Bit's N Byte's out of Sioux Falls Yes You may google it.. LOL and the other of course PC Scrapper.

When I buy a computer, I would take a peek at it and see if its worth it, and 7 out of 10 times it's I've turned around a 6.00 computer into maybe a 100, or 200, or sometimes a 400 dollar computer, So, yes it's worth it, to resell some of your items, but here the catch.. You trully don't know whats going on with that computer, maybe its intermitten, or maybe its STOLEN.

So... you've to weigh the risk or selling scrap computer, I do, and I take the risk, and I make a profit if I bought 100 computer at 10 bucks for example I would still make a profit in the end.

So .. When you buy computers eyeball them when they come in.. but don't lose your poker face, don't git all giggly about it, especially when the customers says.. THEY ALL WORK. yeah you can belive them but again.. Keep a straight firm face and say.. I gotta pay you my scrap price because they may WORK. but they can Be STOLEN.

So.. good conversation here.. and Thanks for letting Me spit my three cents out.

Happy scrapping.

The reason they will pay that is because*the upside of a working part (I pay $10 for computer and sell the checked hard drive for $40 for instance) far outweighs the loss I take if I just have to scrap it. 95% of the time the dvd drive works and is worth $5 plus the scrap vale for rest...ie they break even unless they are selling large quantities of parts for recycling.

Basically they make money...sometimes alot of money if you just know how to test some of the components and replace the non working ones...they only break even or lose a very small amount only a very small % of time.

If you have some basic knowledge of building computers you too can do the same. Its not hard.