Auctioneer considering scrapping on the side.

Hi all! I'm actually an apprentice auctioneer, and won't be able to directly benefit from my auctions until next year. Until then I've been looking at ways to support myself on the side that doesn't interfere with my apprenticeship and now am thinking about scrapping. Some lucky guy lives behind our hall and at the end of our auctions all of our unsold items that contain metal magically end up in his yard.

I was thinking about starting to take this stuff down myself and even start buying stuff at our auction. The hall is a little unusual, because most auctioneers with a building try to take lots that hopefully would sell for at least $25+ to cut costs but I guess my sponsor has it worked out so she still profits by selling big heavy box fulls of screws, chains, among other household junk for $1 or $2.50 even though we would rather make more of course. Anyway I figured next time something like that comes across the block I'll see if I can't buy a heavy box full of metal for $1 and try to learn for myself if it is worthwhile or not. In any case we have lots of metal that could possibly be put to better use and the scrap yard is literally just down the road.

Some concerns I have:

I don't have a lot of space to operate, so I won't be busting stuff up (definitely not at the hall, and definitely not at home on shared property). I hope casually bringing in some stuff will be worthwhile. Like brass fittings, copper from stuff, even crappy silver plate, generic bronze/brass candlesticks decorative objects with no real value etc... As an antique dealer I would love to sell my stuff at scrap yards and then find actual works of art being sold at spot prices but that's just a pipe dream. Just don't scrap your Roycroft copper, or genuine pre 1840's sheffield plate, etc..

It would blow to load my regular ford pick up full of heavy metals to find out it's only $10 worth of stuff. For example we are selling a dangerously heavy iron wood burner next week but iron is $20 per ton right? Scrapping it would only bring like $6?

I'll continue to look stuff up and introduce myself to the scrap yard people this week. In the meantime, any advice on stuff you would find at someone's household would be appreciated. Tools that don't sell are probably my best bet, but what about things like metal folding dog kennels, metal bed frames, those dumb exercise bikes that always seem broken, and all that.

should be way higher than that, per ton like $125 or more. To me persoanlly I do not have the space aswell so I do not waste my time with steel or iron, concentrate on aluminum, copper and brass.

20 per ton? lol. thats a cent a pound. if your yard is paying that, tell them to shove that stove up their as s. last time i went in (im guessing the stove is cast iron) and it was .13 cents a pound and 280 per ton but im going to guess prices have dropped a bit.

some prices to go by...here in bangor maine

copper is around $3 a pound
brass is around $1.75
tin (thin metal, less then 1/8th thick) was 9 and a half cents a pound
#1 iron (which would be the stove you have) is any iron over 1/4th thick. i throw my metal that is 1/8th-1/4th in with my #1 pile too.
Like i said above, these prices were a few weeks ago, and may be different at your yard.

if you have any more questions just ask, there are some guys that will tell you EVERYTHING youd ever need to know on here

Quote:

---

there are some guys that will tell you EVERYTHING youd ever need to know on here

---

AND some thing you don't, lol

You might want to specialize since you have limited storage room. Maybe concentrate on copper (for example, as copper is a high dollar, low storage). Can you find a few electricians to give you there scrap wiring? Then strip the insulation, nearly tripling its scrap value. A side benefit - you can haul a lot in your car and no need for a truck or trailer. Just a simple idea - there are many other possibilities. Mainly - read old threads on here for background information and to get other ideas. (Advise - Don't start out trying something like catalytic converters or electronic scrapping. Wait till you've gotten your "feet wet".)

Oh yeah. First, go to your scrap yard and get a price sheet. "$20/ton" was the clue you need to do that.

Heh, it's obvious I need to do a lot of research. I've been going through all the old threads here and articles on other sites, so soon I should have at least some idea. Though I do have a couple of questions off the top of my head:

Are there any normal household items in particular that are good or extremely bad to collect? Are aluminum extension ladders a waste of time?
As an auctioneer I wouldn't mind catering to scrappers to an extent. What attracts you to auctions? What would you like us to do differently?

Thank you all for your warm welcome and quick responses!

For anything with Freon, you legally need to do "refrigerant recovery". Anything with a cord - cut off the cord and the plug from the cord. The cord is "Insulated Copper Wire" and worth about 10x the appliance. The cord could be stripped of insulation and the copper is now "#1 or #2 Copper" and worth about 2 to 2.5x what it was as "Insulated". There is other tear down stuff with almost every appliance.

Any household appliance is relatively easy to scrap. Washers, dryers, furnaces, boilers and water heaters are a few good things. As for ladders, they have a few steel bolts and rivets in them and the scrap yard might only give you "dirty aluminum" price because of them. Call or go to your yard and ask if they'll give you full aluminum price for them.

I have done pretty well at auctions, lots of cheap pots and pans usually tables full for a dollar or sometimes 5. All kinds of kitchen appliances with cords. I don't buy anything anyone else is bidding on. I love to hit estate auctions, especially when there are multiple estates at the auction. I have a friend who is an auctioneer and gives me a heads up.

As far as ladders, craigslist!!! if it's a working extension ladder in at least working condition it's worth far more than scrap!

Took my first load down: *drumroll* ................ 23.40!!

Not a whole lot but I'm not disappointed. You know what I did? Nothing! Unless you count "clean out the auction hall for scrap guy/trash/goodwill" which we do every week anyway. & I learned something new/ met the scrap yard people which will help in the future.

But if I want to do this I really need to step it up. As an apprentice I have no income from my job & am still trying to find a second job. Though it would be mighty nice to stay self-employed so I can continue visiting other auctions/ meeting auctioneers/sellers/collectors, and in general keep focused on my career rather than spending 40 hours a week doing something completely unrelated. That'll help me financially for now but might actually hold me back in the long run.

So far I have wasted some gas driving around our rural countryside looking for older looking places to drive up to & offer to clean up but that hasn't worked so far. A lot of the times I end up with someone behind me and I can't slow down to check for a good spot where someone is actually home. & when I try to turn onto empty roads they usually end up being giant soybean fields or something. Oh well, I only tried twice so far and need to keep trying & also plan areas that have small businesses that I can connect with. I usually end up driving around aimlessly anyway if I don't have errands so I can practice my auctioneer chant so it's not a complete waste of time.

Pyro....congratulations on your first trip to the scrap yard. Are you still reading through the posts and threads. There are several that have advice about where to look. I admire you for taking a stab at scrapping pt while you work on your career. Love that chant. I have a good friend who is doing very well as a charity auctioneer and I remember well how broke she was right after school...but jazzed about being an auctioneer. Good luck to you, Pyro.

to Re-cycler: The stuff I had was pure trash. My sponsor's auctions always run way too long and usually the audience runs away before we can get a bid on the boxes of the most obscure miscellaneous. Though we are allowed and do sometimes bid on our items which is legal if disclosed.

We don't do it very often though because:

1. we would go broke quick if we thought something was going cheap and had to have it.

2. if we had something to sell we'd most likely just sell it at auction anyway. Sure lots of auctioneers end up becoming dealers too since we learn a bunch & can find other auctions that don't get the prices we do on certain things or make good buys at garage/estate sales, but it can be a hassle. We spend so much time advertising and taking care of our own business that renting a $130+ booth in some random antique mall on top of that isn't very appealing. Items typically do very well at auction even if they seem to be going cheap, and turnover is a huge factor to consider. I'd rather get somewhat discounted prices on my stuff then reinvest that money every single week rather than wait month after month to get an extra $20 on one item.

Dee:

Thanks for the post! I still do go through the messages here when I have time. What I really need to do is apply them but it really is hard being so broke. Making some cards for $30 is actually a big deal in this couple of weeks and I have to be extra careful with how I spend my gas. Being this broke really sucks.

It's funny to hear your friend when through the same thing. A lot of other auctioneers I've talked to went through the same (unless they were retired and wanted "something fun to do on the side") and it makes me feel better about my own situation. I worked my ass off to save up for the tuition and auctioneer fees and since then it's been a roller-coaster. Just have to remember you have to spend money to make money and it takes awhile to get started in this business. Fortunately this one allows for a lot of creativity and doesn't require much overhead until you feel like it.

Look her up...her name is April Brown and she has lots of videos on you-tube for training new auctioneers and you can see her at work. BTW, I don't have cards yet. I'm pt, too and I just go to dumpsters and have a few electricians, plumbers and contractors who bring me stuff. And I do a flea market once a month and pass out a simple flyer requesting stuff for recycling. So far, I have not had a haul over $200, but I keep trying to break that record.

I love auctions. That's where I make most of my money.

Last haul I had I paid 1,450 and resold it all for just over 7k.

I got a dishwasher yesterday it weighed 32 pounds. So if you take 32 times.05 cents a pound it would be $1.60. But i took a 9 pound electric motor out as well as a pound of copper wire. So i ended up getting $1.60 + $2.25 for electric motor + $2.20 for the copper. total 6.05. I always take things apart

But you forgot to deduct 9+1 (.05) = 0.50 from the original $1.60.

Quote:

---

Making some cards for $30 is actually a big deal

---

Just do what I did, till my "reworked" cards come back from Vistaprint. I went to W*lmart and in the office/school section pick up the Avery white business cards #28371, cost is 3.59 for a 100 cards. Go on Avery's website and download the business card template to match the cards and design "your" cards the way you want them. Print them off and separate them and there is your starter kit. Can't get much simpler or cheaper than that. They can be as simple or fancy as you want. If you need possible ideas, Look at mine.

What the hell kinda dishwasher only weighs 32lbs? Most I get easily weigh 100+.

Thank you for clearing up the cards. I did read about them and must have gotten confused with the Vistaprint thing. There are topics on that and something else which people use a kind which runs $30. Must have combined the two and thought it was just the vista/walmart for $30.

Dee, you know April Brown!? I've watched her videos along with others a bunch when I was fresh out of school. Good to see that she's succeeded with her career even though she started out at square one like me.

Auction yesterday was great but we have a ton of leftovers. Maybe I'll get a good load this time if we give up on most of it. But I have a quick question: What do you all do with semi-useful stuff if you don't have time to set up at a flea market? We end up with a lot of uhh just pure miscellaneous is the best way to describe it. Like generic lamps that no one bids on but I still feel bad tearing the metals out of it and just tossing the rest or giving it to goodwill. Or things like working but needs some simple soap and water waffle griddles. I wrote a bunch more on this but ended up getting some ideas & besides I will try to avoid ended up with that kind of stuff in my own hall. It has just too many downsides on both our end and the client's end even if the client doesn't understand why.

Hard to answer that (about storage ) since we don't know your living situation, but it seems like the auction house would have an empty room or corner that you could put stuff in and somewhere you could clean stuff up. April and I went to college together (a while ago) and have remained friends. I watched her struggle to find her role in life and have been so thrilled to watch her amazing success story evolve. She is truly a beautiful person, inside and out. If anybody else is interested just google April Brown. She is primarily an animal activist, but also noted for any type of charity fundraising. She's a trip.