CPUs: eBay vs selling direct?

Has anyone ever compared selling escrap CPUs on eBay versus direct to escrap buyers? I am asking because I've accumulated a box of different CPU types and now trying to decide which way to go. I presume one advantage of selling direct, especially if you have an established relationship with a buyer, is that it's less hassle. Plus you don't have to pay feeBay. But I am curious whether any of you who sold a lot of escrap CPUs both on eBay and directly got consistently better prices from the former, enough to justify the extra hassle, the need to deal with bad buyers and their negative feedback etc etc.

Thanks.

Hi Ilyaz. A quick search of completed eBay auctions shows scrap cpus at $15-$20 a pound and up. If you cannot easily find that type of pricing locally it may be worth the fee.

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Originally Posted by scrappychemist

Hi Ilyaz. A quick search of completed eBay auctions shows scrap cpus at $15-$20 a pound and up. If you cannot easily find that type of pricing locally it may be worth the fee.

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Thanks but CPU prices vary quite a bit depending on the type, like from $6/lb for no-pins to $120/lb for 386/486. So this average does not tell much, unfortunately.

I for one have a 100 percent positive feedback rating of 398. the bigist thing with feebay is you must be honist with your postings and not try to hide anything. Heck I got a 3.5 and 5.25 combo drive on there right now that has a bid of $15 and in my listing i said. this came from a scrap computer and I dont know if it works. they still buying it. Now I know if it was a working tested part I could get more im sure. Basicaly what it boils down to is your know how and time. If you want the quick bucks sell direct to someone who has set prices. If you want the long money then you need to test the stuff out and make sure it works. Just be willing to give money back if you ship something and is arrives DOA. Feebay is also hit and miss. I never list anything on there for less then I know I can get for scrapping it after fees and shipping. SO if it doesnt sell I just scrap it. if it sells I made more then scrap value. No harm no foul. Another example. I scrapped out a powerwheels jeep I found on trash night. I put the 2 batteries and chager on feebay. Sold them for $52. Cost me $12 to ship it and about $7 in ebay and paypal fees. So a profit of $33 bucks. Well luck would have it when the person got them they said one of the batteries wouldnt charge and were dead. I offered them a $10 refund for the trouble and all was happy. So I still made $23 bucks on 2 small batters and 2 chargers that would have been maybe $10 in scrap total. So again its all based on whats your time worth.

I hear you. Looked like most were pentium 4s with pins.

Pentium 4's can still sell pretty good on ebay if they are the upper level ones. 2.8ghz and higher with the 800mhz FSB. Basicaly if you go by scrap price one of these chips would be worth. Let me figure it out I just happen to have one sitting in a scrap computer right here.

Chip weighed in at 20 grams. Metal top p4 chip selling at $9 per pound. $9/454*20=$.40 scrap value. So if you sell it on ebay for $2 plus shipping. After fees of aprox 15% for ebay and paypal combined. Thats what I average anyway. You make $1.60 Thats 4 times scrap value. But you would definitly want to make sure they were working so you would need a P4 system or a testbench to put them into. Im thinking of turning a corner of my office into a test bench myself and get some working systems up for testing different parts and selling more on ebay myself.

I just did a quick search on ebay for p4 2.8ghz chips with 800mhz FSB looks like on average they sell for about $5 to $7 with free shipping. Get the little plastic cpu cases to ship them in and you can send them first class padded envelopes for about $2 bucks so thats even better then my original figures.

Thanks for the details, PTS. I doubt I will ever set up any sort of testing since I don't get that many computers and I simply don't have space in my basement for a test system. So I was thinking about CPUs as escrap only. I liked the idea of setting the starting bid for what I would get from a direct buyer. Simple and makes perfect sense - dunno why I did not come up with this idea! :-)

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Originally Posted by ilyaz

Thanks for the details, PTS. I doubt I will ever set up any sort of testing since I don't get that many computers and I simply don't have space in my basement for a test system. So I was thinking about CPUs as escrap only. I liked the idea of setting the starting bid for what I would get from a direct buyer. Simple and makes perfect sense - dunno why I did not come up with this idea! :-)

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Like someone said above, if you are just honest about it you can get a pretty good rate even if it might not work. I'll buy a box of CPU's whenever I can get my hands on them. I won't pay as much as if I knew they were all working of course, but most of the time it'll be better than scrap value.

Usually the processors I get are fine unless they have serious pin damage or were soaked in water. The liquid damage laptops I part out still have a >50% success rate (I don't have any facts for that, but it is my tiny anecdote) for the processor, shockingly! 0.0

If you're selling just for scrap, put it in the gold bullion section instead of the computers section. That way, somebody doesn't order it expecting it to work.