I'm trying to figure how to compete with this

Went to my usual scrap yard a couple weeks ago and he'd gotten in a load of 32 computer towers and a few misc things of no real interest to me - I forget what they even were. He asked what I'd give him for them, so offered $3.50 a tower and $1 a piece for the other stuff. He asked how much per pound but I had no idea as I've never bought electronics by the pound. He was really considering it so he went and weighed one. It came out to $0.17/lb so must have been about 20 pounds. I stretched it cause I'm there quite a bit and offered $4. He wound up turning it down for his guys to have something to do this winter. Told him to keep stuff separated and I'd offer to buy the CPUs and RAM. Showed him what they were.

Fast forward to today. Hauled in a load of aluminum (and got disappointed how little I'd thrown in this box over the past two years). He still has the pile of computers and a few had started being torn apart. Comment to him about them. He'd had someone offer him $0.70/pound. WHAT??? For everything (all electronics). That means $14.00 per tower. I checked and there's nothing special. Look like maybe they came out of a school.

I can't see that he'd break even. No wonder I haven't gotten any computers in months. My first reaction was let him go broke overpaying. But, he may go broke but in the meantime, I'm beating my head against a wall. All I'm getting is a bloody head.

Any advice?

You can't compete against stupid.

There are two possibilities here.

1. The guy offering .70 per pound is refurbishing them or just doesn't know any better.

2. The guy at the yard is blowing smoke up your rear. This is probably what is happening.

If the towers are still sitting there then there is no buyer. That's my guess. Make another offer in a few months. Good luck. And stop with the head the wall always wins

Agree with above, if he truly has a buyer at that price they would be gone.. and if your going to play stud bingo aim 8" to the right of the last known stud... :)

if your going to play stud bingo aim 8" to the right of the last known stud... Iron Hunter

Sound advice. Best quote I've heard on here.... HA!!!!!!!!!!

I hear ya Mick. Iv yet to get a single computer, other than a few from my family. I cant even buy any, let alone pick em up free. Iv offered up to 4 bucks a piece for towers. 2-3 for laptops. Nothing. Im still tryin though!

At 70 cents , it has to be a bluffing. :&

Just keep the good attitude and make your offer again, but use a lot of diplomacy.


Just my 2 cents.

the most I would go would be .20

I get around .35/.38 for whole pc's and they are turning the around at .44/.48

Buyer is probably from China, they only recycle the junk, they refurbish the good ones. I went through the same thing. The only thing I could gather from the yard owner after I questioned him persistently was when he said: " you cant compete with China"... I started at $.20 He scoffed and a quick rebtle of $.30 per pound didn't even make him blink. He said when I wanted to entertain a serious offer to find him. I called or stopped by every few weeks holding my offer he never even blinked. I am guessing by his reactions, his buyer is around $.50 lb...

It's the same old story,you cannot buy any thing from a yard,don't you know they are the sharp ones,yard owners can not see a local scraper making money from something that they sell you.Its not supposed to be that way,they make the money from what we sell them believe me,being a former yard owner that's just the way it is,you see Mick you have more knowledge about electronics then he does.I believe that he pulled that number out of his asssssssss,he is just trying you.The money he has tied up in the towers is meaning less to him,I think you should have never educated him on the value of the ram and other things,he will tell one of his guys to take the easy cream items out and then throw them in the shred pile.There is no such a price as you know cause we know better.

Yea i run into the same thing all the time, but usually i am the one getting the better pricing like $100 pound vs $20 pound for high yield scrap. >:)

you can compete against someone by offering a better lineup, scrap sellers are lazy and prefer to do one and done over dealing with different buyers, thats all i have to offer

my tactic is to specialize to fill niches, the profit margin is much higher than dealing with the usual scrap items

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Copperli

If the towers are still sitting there then there is no buyer. That's my guess. Make another offer in a few months. Good luck. And stop with the head the wall always wins

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or his buyer only buys loads that have a certain weight....guy I used to sell to kept everything until he had a semi load

Don't worry about it...........I don't hear from some clients from months and all of the sudden BAM another load of escrap

And now for the rest of the story:

Yesterday, I'd just sat down to dinner when the phone rang. "Hello". "Hi, Mick. This is XXXXX from YYYYY Scrap. You still interested in those computers?" "Yes." "Come on up and we'll load you up." We arrange for today. How many can say a scrap yard has called you to sell you scrap? And at my price.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy004.jpg
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy002.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mick

And now for the rest of the story:

Yesterday, I'd just sat down to dinner when the phone rang. "Hello". "Hi, Mick. This is XXXXX from YYYYY Scrap. You still interested in those computers?" "Yes." "Come on up and we'll lpoad you up." We arrange for today. How many can say a scrap yard has called you to sell you scrap? And at my price.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy004.jpg
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy002.jpg

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I guess the guy that offered 0.70# figured out he couldnt make anything paying that much and backed out. I just got into e waste and iv already seen this sorta thing happen alot. Guys think they will make a killing, offer way too high then make a fool of themselves when the realize they cant make anything and tell whoever "sorry no can do anymore" works out well for people like us!

Mick, I think it's just like 1956 was saying, I don't think there ever was that offer. You were just able to wait him out.

Sometimes people are just liars or don't know. I have many times had this happen. You go to a place and they want to be the top dog. Say they are claiming to be getting .90 cents for auto batts. That's almost 30 bucks each. Your there buying at 12 with no margin. You know it's wrong.

I kill them with kindness.
Say "hey thats wrong man, no way its not market" guys says "no I'm waiting for this guy he is coming tomorrow".

Okay this next bit is a nice way to stop this bs. " just so happens I have 200 batts on my truck" your guy is coming......."

now watch his or her hands squirm and body position change. Usually people back up. " I'll sell you my batts for 20 bucks" A price you know isn't feasible.
Tell them " you can make 10 dollars a unit on 200 that's 2000 net now today" and shut up. Watch the back up now......
"oh uh my guy just text he can't come or it was two years ago".

Now your done you called a bluff or lie with out being a jerk.

This works everytime. I'm nice and don't like to piss people off. I know my end of batteries better than anyone. You know more come see me. I'm the sponge I'll suck your information dry. "that sounds bad lol. What you think I was going to say"

This works its nice and you are calling people on their bluff with out being a jerk. You want to buy is cats or rotors or rims right if you can't get the batts Now. Maybe not today but next week or year. I don't know about you Im in this for the long haul.

It works great with cats. The best one is when you are pricing am cats and person says I'm getting 29 bucks for them. Great here's 50 of mine. You'll be rich. Buy them at 12 bucks. Now your making twice what you were going to. Actually whats a am worth 6 or 7.

Love this business. It's all about making people smile. It takes a lot of investment to source customers right.
Don't blow them out with ego. That's my bigest battle. When I know I'm right I use to frees when I heard a lie. Now I just go with it. People sell to who they like. Not always who pays best. If your guys only care about what the top buyer is you'll never make $$ and have consistency unless your buying 10s of millions of pounds. Million of dollars in sales at a crappy margin is working in the red.

You guy watch there will be blood. I'm a battery man. Ive earned the right to have you call me a batteryman. I have concerns all over this state, any lead you have on you lease Ill guarantee my enterprise pays you best. Why I've fixed it for you and me.

Something like that. I Gota watch it again. It's all about simple man of your word hand shake deals. Why do complicate stuff these days.

Aaron with Stillwater.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mick

And now for the rest of the story:

Yesterday, I'd just sat down to dinner when the phone rang. "Hello". "Hi, Mick. This is XXXXX from YYYYY Scrap. You still interested in those computers?" "Yes." "Come on up and we'll load you up." We arrange for today. How many can say a scrap yard has called you to sell you scrap? And at my price.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy004.jpg
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...Yardbuy002.jpg

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Ya should have done to him what he would do to you and tel him the price has droped to .15 an lb. but being a typical yard owner he would probably turn you down.

As a cat buyer, I see these classic BS bluffs regularly. Occasionally, it's a seller, but the funniest one is my local competitor core buyer. Of course, same thing when I ask him "Well, if you're getting XXX like you say,how many do you want for XXX? Quick, easy money, man." His reply: "Oh, well, I don't want to get used to getting that much for them in case my buyers change their mind." Me: "So you don't want them, then?" Him: "Yeah, I'll buy them, but I can only pay XXX" Me: "That's less than I pay for them." Him: "Oh, I see."

Just for fun one time, I asked this same guy what grade and price he was getting on a converter type that doesn't even exist. I seriously just made up a BS variation of a Chrysler converter and described it to him. Not wanting to admit that I knew something he didn't, right away it was "Oh, yeah, my buyers told me what those are, they're the high-grade ones." He's probably still wondering why he's never seen one yet >:)

It sounds like the yard guy really had no idea what the material was worth, so he threw out a crazy number to see if he could get a bite. Good work, Mick, I'm glad you ended up getting the material for a fair price.