New to computer recycling

i mainly junk cars and don't know much about computers. i was thinking of getting into computers as well are they worth scraping them out?
also how much should i pay for non working computer boxes? i seen them on ebay for $20-$30 but not sure if thats a decent price to pay or not? don't want to pay that if the return is less than that. basicly i want to make money not cost me money. i just took my own computer apart that blew up after i bought a new computer. so i know the differance from a motherboard,memory,cpu,power supply and so on. only problem is i don't know what the stuff is worth vs what i should pay for it?
any idea's?

Pay as little as possible.........Precious metals are going down every day.........Only pay $20 if you know what your doing and can refurb the computer and re-sell.......Good luck there is more info on E-waste on this site than anything else

It's been discussed in other threads but the average going rate that you would pay for a computer that you intend to scrap out seems to be about five dollars. If there are parts & pieces missing then you deduct a dollar for each missing item.

It would be prudent to assume that you'll make two or three dollars profit on each unit after expenses.

You can check the buyers forum for prices. A lot of us use the same buyer (Don't know if I can mention him or not, but he's easy to find), and he puts his prices up.

I ran an analysis a couple of months ago and came up with this:

Older (Before Pentium 4) machines have about $15 worth of components (NOT including shipping fees)
Newer (Pent. 4 and later) are worth about $12 in parts.

I don't know your area, but out here, I don't pay for computers. I take them for free, but spend on newspaper ads. I'd try to get a few free ones first. Newspaper ads, Craigslist,...

You'll get a few. Take them apart, and send them in for scrap. Just count what you put in the box, and you'll get some pretty accurate numbers.

My $12-15 range seems to apply to almost any desktop I get, though.

so far i have 2 newerish motherboards,9 memory sticks,1 cpu,1 power supply,3 fans,2 hard drives,1 cd drive,1 video card

Todays computers are worth about $8/$10 scrap wise, if you know what your doing.

Servers are worth about $25/$125 if you really know what your doing.

Let me warn you, Picking up one computer at a time from Craig's list is not the way to go, fuel will eat your lunch. that said.

don't know what your paying for cars in your area, but if done right computer scrapping can be a 100% or better profit margin with a lot less work. feel free to pm me.

One thing to watch for : The real cost of running a pickup is somewhere around .60 cents a mile these days.

Try to keep your driving to a minimum because that invisible cost really bites into the bottom line. The exception would be if you're doing volume like half a pickup load of e-waste at a stop.

My advise is to hold on to what you have for now. Take any computers you can get for $3 or less. READ all the threads in the Electronics section you can. Remember that prices for board have gone down considerably over the last year+.

You can make money with ewaste but really all the information you need to succeed is in the old threads. The biggest profits are in selling used computers and good parts from computers.

The reason why its not a simple answer to how much should I pay is a complicated answer is like everything else we scrap but more so. Do you break things down before you bring them to the yard? We all do to some extent but it depends on how busy we are and what scrap we get. Best of luck Mike

ps The previous answer to how much to pay ($5 and less if missing items) is a really great general answer. Mike

$12-$15 for a computer! thats all i would make? heck thats not even worth my time for. other than maybe hobby money.
but thanks guys for the help. i think i will stick with junk vehicles instead pays lot better. least there i average $300-$500 depending on the vehicle.
guess i will look at other things to make money with. not to say if i come across some computers probably still take them to help my hobby account out some lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmerritt

i mainly junk cars and don't know much about computers. i was thinking of getting into computers as well are they worth scraping them out?
also how much should i pay for non working computer boxes? i seen them on ebay for $20-$30 but not sure if thats a decent price to pay or not? don't want to pay that if the return is less than that. basicly i want to make money not cost me money. i just took my own computer apart that blew up after i bought a new computer. so i know the differance from a motherboard,memory,cpu,power supply and so on. only problem is i don't know what the stuff is worth vs what i should pay for it?
any idea's?

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Here you go, just one of many.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/e-was...breakdown.html

The reason I do E-Waste is that I have a refurbishing arm in my company.

We've had three "standalone" E-Waste places fail out here.

As I always say, though,"E-Waste is my most profitable thing". I get free inventory, and when I can sell a desktop and make $100, it's not bad.

There has to be value. People bring stuff to us. We don't pay anything. I can take 3 PCs apart in an hour. So, I make about $45 an hour. But, as a standalone business model, it doesn't work out here.

If you can get a truckload, that's different. I have about 50 Core 2 Duo Dells ready to sell at Christmas time. I'll be very happy on December 26th ;)

< sigh > Business is ruthless. Most people just starting out don't survive. If e-waste is like anything else 90 - 95% of the people doing it today won't be doing it five years from now.

A positive mental attitude, a good work ethic, and having the courage to strike out on your own will take you a long way but that isn't enough. You've got to be really hard nosed and pragmatic about things. If you've got something to sell there has to be a market out there ready to buy. If you are pinning all of your hopes of success on something speculative you might be setting yourself up to fail.

For the time being, it's not too much of a problem to sell salvaged electronics boards. There are any number of buyers out there ready to do a transaction at a moment's notice. The value of the things we're salvaging is gradually trending downward but it will be okay for awhile.

There is a market for used computer parts that aren't too far behind the times. That market is smaller and it takes more time and effort to sell those things.

The market for refurbished towers and desktops is questionable. Most consumers follow the trends and they want the latest cool electronics toy to play with. They're fascinated with shiny things that have bright lights and fancy features. Years ago, the trend was away from that clunky old desktop to laptops. Nowadays they're trending away from the laptop to things that are even lighter and more portable like the tablets and I - phones.

There's still some market for a tower that's less than 4 years old and running windows 7 or better but otherwise it's iffy. An older machine might still run great but that's not really what people are looking for. They want something that's fairly up to date.

It's better to be practical and focus your efforts (and expectations ) on the things that are proven to work.

There are better chances of survival that way.

think i'll pass on computers for only $10-$15 at most not really worth my time. vs junking vehicles and scrap metal.
unless i find it like at a garage sale or something. which is probably not very likely.