Slightly confused on some of the scrapping game:

My name is Wesley, am a new member here; But have scrapped as a hobby for roughly 7 years. It has always been my own personal stuff, random broken appliances given by friends, etc...

No actual "Let me pay you $5 per appliance to scrap them for myself" type things.

Around here, scrap is scrap and 99.99% of it's FREE; IF you can get it. The "Scrappers" around here (Read: Random dudes in trucks) usually grab things as they come onto the "Market" (People posting to Craigslist, etc) that it's there to take.

I'm quite sure if I found some appliances at a persons' home/ business and said "I'll give you $5 per freezer to take them off your hands.", that they'd look at me weird, as if I had a 3rd eye or something.

Just not how things are done around here.


My questions are:

1.) Concerning pricing per appliance, etc... Would it be better to do it as "Hey, I'm buying these appliances @ a set amount per item, or?

2.) Dealing with Craigslist. I have had 0 luck with that one so far (One reason being that this place is picked pretty clean; And the second is that I've not offered money for them, due to question #1)

3.) I've posted to Craigslist, offering free cleanup services (And added a list of things I specifically am interested in Recycling) and have had no luck. any input on that?

Any ideas? I'm literally just trying to make ends meet here, and the scrap trail is ice cold.


Thanks in advance for any help.

_Wes

I would say something like this, "I am more than willing to help you recycle these items, and if buy any chance you have other metal items or electronics, I may even be able to offer you some money for those items..."

When I joined the forum, just a few years ago, I believe very few paid for scrap. In fact when some would bring it up others would say things like "I'll never pay for scrap I get too much for free". Well much has changed since then.

What I am getting at it may not be normal to pay for scrap where you are located but I assure you it will be sooner than you think. As I recall it was KzScrpper or perhaps another member who advertised on Craig's list that he would pay for old washers and dryers. As I recall it was a small amount and he found this made him money and would bring him more scrap in addition to the appliances.(by the way every dryer I have opened up had money inside,$20+ out of one) Perhaps he will stop by and contribute.

Many of our members get paid to pick up scrap and do clean outs. If you are not now succeeding at the level you want change some of the things you are doing.

I suggest you change your mindset a little and look at your activity as a service and get paid on both ends if you can and at the same time for quantity and quality pay for it.

Remember what you (I assume) have read here about the value of reselling appliance parts.
Best of luck, Mike

ps I know many do get much or all what they get for free I prefer to pay and know I will get something M

I will try to answer by #

1 if your seeking broken or unwanted appliances leave your phone # at a few storage places! apartment complexes and on your Craigslist ad state that you do pay and what you pay . Paying will assure you the appliance if someone has one to get rid of and there are all these people that want it free , he will call you with hopefully 10 appliances and get $50 .these are the customers/clients you want . Bulk amounts will make the most sense for your time and money .just like it makes more sense for the guy with 5-10 appliances to call you instead of someone who will remove free .

2. craigslist let me start by saying I buy 100 things on craigslist for every 1 thing I sell on there . This is me thou . I sell on ebay if it's a worthy item everything else I take to auction houses or sell to flea market vendors . These being non scrap items . I get flagged like crazy on cr but that's because I buy video games and resell on ebay . My ad for scrap is titled

electronics recycling.cell phones,computers,servers . Ewaste
I then list my prices in my region . Cr is good for a few hits a week if your paying decent prices .but IMHO the best leads come from complete strangers when I'm out and about . Prob. Because I always have a load , I don't have my magnetic signs yet .( something you should look into after your coin is correct) people like to know who they are dealing with and what you do . Just be polite when your conducting business and you should do fine .

3. Services , that may generate leads but when I see these ads I think of people hauling trash from left over estates , yard sales .
If you have a auction house in your area , go in there and tell them about what you do and how you can help minimize the dumpster costs by hauling off any unsold metal or electronics . This has been my bread and butter from brass to bike frames , grills all kinds of unsold items that generate money on my truck and cost them money in their dumpster . Take a minute and view business from your clients perspective and you will know exactly how to approach people and say what they want to hear . How you can save them money. I'm still growing and things have been snowballin for me . I hope some of this helps , not sure about your area . Good luck!

Make an easily readable ad using Microsoft Publisher That will stand out. Dont make it to wordy people will just blow on by it

Save it as a jpeg so it can be easily reposted as a picture.

Here is one of the older ones i have used

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/...recyclead2.jpg

quick and easy to repost. have similar ones i post for general scrap and others for more industry specific businesses that i can print out

right now, my local yard (Only one in roughly 50+ miles) is paying $8.50-9.00 per 100lbs of Tin, and soda cans are roughly .65c per pound.

I don't have much money to play with, as for paying for scrap, to resell; So I obviously can't be paying $20 per item and get $25 back.. Good way to go broke FAST.

I do however, appreciate all the input so far. Definantly has helped open some ideas up!

i suggest paying $20 - $25 per pick up load

I think a couple of people pay about $5. ea for appliances. Winder, do you have any "business" cards yet??

If not check this out and hand one to everyone you meet or know, that is the beginning of the networking.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...ess-cards.html

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Originally Posted by Sidewinder

Around here, scrap is scrap and 99.99% of it's FREE; IF you can get it.

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I think this is the wrong mindset from the outset. Unless people are just dropping scrap off in your driveway, it certainly isn't free. Even if you don't pay for it, it costs time, gas, and wear n tear on your vehicle. These costs certainly need to be factored in if you want to be successful. Otherwise, your going to find after you leave the yard and put gas in you are going to have empty pockets.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

I think a couple of people pay about $5. ea for appliances. Winder, do you have any "business" cards yet??[/URL]

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Yeah; still trying to use up my old business cards from about 2 years ago.

they don't specifically say "Recycling" on them; But it has my name, and 2 contact #'s. I use Vistaprint, as they're the cheapest for ME. YMMV as for pricing, etc.

thanks for the link!

*I've always gotten comments on "How random it is for a young guy (I'm 25) to have business cards with his name, etc on them..."

Yet, I seem to get random calls for different stuff because of them. Best $10 I ever spent.

It was just how I and my partner started out a few years ago, printed a few up to have something to hand out.
Changed them up and added things as our "business" changed. Got my first few permanent contacts with those freebie cards. Money well spent.

Well I am one of the guys that pay for appliances, I pay five dollars each, now you say that it is very hard to get scrap appliances in your area well I can tell you that Craig's list has done very good for me with a couple of adds that say we pay five dollars each, now a lot of guys on here do not like to pay for anything, the days of getting scrap of any kind with out paying for it are basically over, let me also say that when you pay for something, rather than getting it for nothing it entitles you to say in your ad, WE DO NOT !!! remove your appliances from inside your home, all appliances must be disconnected and outside your home or in the garage. The next time you are in some ones basement dragging that dryer up and you scrape there wall because there is a three inch space and you need it to be five inches or I am sure this has happened you get there and the appliance is still hooked up now it takes you thirty minutes to unhook the water line you know what I am talking about how much did you really make,

I refuse to go into people's homes to get an appliance. too much chances of something going bad, and I do NOT want to be on the short end of that stick.

I could handle paying $5 per appliance; Just was wondering if that was too much/too little. Never did it before.

Again, thanks for the input!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sidewinder

I refuse to go into people's homes to get an appliance. too much chances of something going bad, and I do NOT want to be on the short end of that stick.

I could handle paying $5 per appliance; Just was wondering if that was too much/too little. Never did it before.

Again, thanks for the input!

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Seems to be the "going rate" around the country based on some old conversations we've had here before.

I built my biz on offering $5 for appliances. Like 1956 said...It puts you in the drivers seat because by paying, you become the customer. Yes the $5 adds to expenses, but if you are legit you can write it off and it should bring in more volume to offset the extra expense. I also would only pay for pickups within a 5-10 mile radius but got calls outside of that from folks that didn't want the $5 but would still follow the guidelines in the add.

I have working this deal with my scrap supplier guy.
I scrap whatever he has, I keep the nonferrous and give him the money from all of the ferrous metals.
Since it takes time to scrap the metal down, I'm probably just getting 'paid per hour wages' it just on how much time I put into it. And how hard it is for me to scrap down.

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Originally Posted by KzScrapper

I built my biz on offering $5 for appliances. Like 1956 said...It puts you in the drivers seat because by paying, you become the customer. Yes the $5 adds to expenses, but if you are legit you can write it off and it should bring in more volume to offset the extra expense. I also would only pay for pickups within a 5-10 mile radius but got calls outside of that from folks that didn't want the $5 but would still follow the guidelines in the add.

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Are you writing up receipts for these transactions? I'm thinking the taxman could want to see some sort of paper trail.

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Originally Posted by Otto

Are you writing up receipts for these transactions? I'm thinking the taxman could want to see some sort of paper trail.

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Yes, whenever I pay for something an invoice is involved. Nothing fancy...name, address, item and amount.