Trust and partnerships when working long distance deals.

Hello all,I have another lead on 12000 plus pounds of whole cellphones without batteries,only thing is the guy is about 1100 miles from me.I have all his contact info and he sent me a good set of pics of them in gaylord boxes ready to be shipped.How could I trust him if I decided to pay him first,and how could he trust me if he decided to ship first. I'm thinking maybe an agreed upon freight broker can act as a go between to work out all details between us. Would even a buyer here go with me on a situation like this.I'm looking to make 3-4 times the money on this. How have some of you guys worked out a situation like this?

For 12000 lbs I would be willing to drive out to see it in person, shake hands and strike a deal.

I would if I could make it back to work on time.Just wondering if someone trustworthy enough that lived closer to him would help me on this.

Where is he located? I'm sure a close enough member of the forum would be willing to broker it for a small fee or a hand delivered 6-pack.

Is it just me or does this seem strange. Someone with 12000 pounds of cell phones willing to sell to someone that can triple or even quadruple his money. Never knew the margins were that high (I can see big returns on a few individual items, but not a 12000 pound load). I must be doing everything wrong.

Location would be helpful. To tell you if anyone would be willing to go take a look for ya. It's details like that, that will help us help you.

Far as why would someone want to sell 12k in boards to someone else who will profit? Same reason people sell me their ewaste an cell phones. It could be many factors on why. Maybe the seller doesn't want to do the work get that extra profit. I mean it's not like you just send in cell phones whole. You still have to break them down, remove plastic or metal from the boards, etc etc. That is if your trying to max your profit.

Cell phones have always brought good profit. I've made several posts on that subject over the years. Even now..the boards still sell good, an heck you can even resell the hell out of some cell phones, as parts, working, whatever. Just like with anything else tho..profits an results may vary.

I can tell you this though....I've never regretted dealing with cell phones. Can't say the same for other items. Ha ha!

To the OP...good luck.

Everyone else..Wish the man luck. It's not like he's just wiring the dude a blank check. He's trying to actually get someone to go eyeball it, an all that fun stuff.

12000lbs of cell phones...now that's a problem I wouldn't mind having. ;)

Sirscrapalot - Sitting on the dock of the bay... - Otis Redding.

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Originally Posted by irondale

I would if I could make it back to work on time.Just wondering if someone trustworthy enough that lived closer to him would help me on this.

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OR, maybe schedule a vacation day at work and just (must be 2 of you) take the trip and after you have personally inspected the goods then rent a Uhaul/Hertz truck for the return trip.

Your inspecting it yourself is assuring that the seller didn't fill up the bottom of the boxes with worthless bulky electronics like has happened in the past.

He is in livonia,mi.Who wants to go?

If you don't buy it let me know, I'm local and interested. I'll even cut you in on the $$

When would you like for someone to go?? Wish I would have gotten on here sooner.

Anyone ever get into this deal? Just curious!

I'm wondering the same thing.As far as I know the phones are still available.

I'll say I tried, I called, I even received pictures, we went back and forth but this guy will not move off an unworkable price nor will he show close ups of the lot for me to see if theres any smart phone content. Thus...I shied away.

He responded to an ad in which I said I was buying scrap cell phones for $1/lb.After several days by email and then finally talking to him by phone he finally tells me that he paid $4/lb,and wants at least $4.50 for them.The last time I talked he said he was willing to go to $4.I figure the only way to make good money from this deal is if there is a good mix of smartphones to resell for much better than scrap value or have the means to break the phones down and sell the boards to have them refined or a combination of the two.If you have good knowledge of which phones has the best individual resale value,and which phones has good precious metal content you should do well on this lot.You have to treat this as an investment that will eventually pay off vs. The faster but lower return by scrapping.

That was exactly my intention with him. I am knowledgeable on phones but even after taking the best look at these phones it appeared they were all pre-2007 phones, thick bodied, low PM content phones, basic scrap in my eyes. I made an honest offer, to wit, he never responded.