Sold my first batch of ewaste... hope I did ok.

Well, part of what brought me to this site today was searching for better ways to utilize my time and what can be scrapped in what ways. I've been collecting and stripping computers for the last 6 months. I can only get the innards, I have to leave the case for disposal by the company I work for. I planned on doing some gold recovery myself, but 1) I'm still reading Hoke's book and I don't feel I'm ready; 2) I'm not up for dealing the chemical waste it produces, along with the toxic fumes and acids; 3) I needed some cash flow.

I emailed Chris at Boardsort yesterday for a quote on 28# of Gold/Silver/Tin Fingered Memory, 25# of Hard Drive Logic Boards, and 2# of clean gold fingers. Here was the quote:

28 Pounds of Mixed Memory at $14.00 per pound = $392.00
25 Pounds of Hard Drive Boards at $10.00 per pound = $250.00
2 Pounds of Clean Gold Fingers at $75.00 per pound = $150.00
Total Weight: 55 lbs
Total Payout: $792.00

I accepted and have 1 55# box packed and ready for shipping tomorrow using FedEx Ground for $43.60 with $800 declared value (FedEx was the cheapest from FL to OH).

So, should I duck and cover from the barrage of replies on how much I may have lost by doing it through someone else? I would have asked here first but found SMF after accepting. I want to get the most out of ewaste recycling and tried to look at other buyers but didn't see anyone with a better deal. If anyone knows of a better deal, I haven't been paid yet by boardsort and I haven't shipped the box - let me know by 2PM EST today (Friday) and I can possibly cancel with boardsort.

I know I would have had about 1 troy ounce of gold if I processed the fingers and memory myself, but I figure I would have had to put in about $100-$200 in setup costs for refining at home, plus more of my time that I have very little of right now!

Pictures of what I sold:

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...f/28LB_RAM.jpg
28 pounds of RAM (Mostly PC100 and PC133, with 4 pounds of 72-pin)

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...ld_Fingers.jpg
2 pounds Clean cut gold fingers

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/..._Boards_sm.jpg
25 pounds of HD Boards

you should be ok, but don't take my word for it, do your paperwork, you're pretty much on your own there

what did you do with that many hard drives, sell them as dirty aluminum ? how many HDDs did that take ?

what did you do with all the cards that you cut those fingers off of, did you figure up how much they all weighed, and do you have any idea if you came out better by cutting them off ?

What did you do with the mother boards? You said you only got the innards, what did you do with the disc drives? OH and the power supplies?

This buyer is 5 min away from Chris; http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...s-metal-scrap!
This one is in Chicago; http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...more-Locations And he's in Texas; All about the same distance; Make you a spreadsheet to compare the prices; http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...uying-E-waste. And finally Florida; http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...PING-in-the-US

dang, he's got the best deal in the whole wide world and don't even know it!

Wow! Killer score and good gob. Think im ganna press a little harder for more cpu's!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bear

what did you do with all the cards that you cut those fingers off of, did you figure up how much they all weighed, and do you have any idea if you came out better by cutting them off ?

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I still have the fingerless cards. Waiting to see what I was going to do with them (find a good local payout place). I did not weigh them before/after. The cards are a mix of sizes and types. In the case of fingers, I believe you will make more by removing the fingers. If it took say 50# of cards to get 1# of fingers, if you sold them to a place like boardsort, they pay $4.15# with fingers and $3.15# without fingers. Running those numbers:

$4.15 x 51# = $211.65
or
$3.15 x 50# = $157.50 + $75.00 x 1# = $75.00 = $232.50

Is $22 worth your time to cut the fingers is the question. I can easily ship the fingers to boardsort or whoever is paying top dollar at the time, but will probably find a local place to drop off the fingerless cards due to the shipping costs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

What did you do with the mother boards? You said you only got the innards, what did you do with the disc drives? OH and the power supplies?

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Here is what I get out of each pc:

Motherboard
CPU
Heat sinks
Memory
Hard Drive
Any expansion cards (not usually any, but do get a lot of video cards and nic cards)
Logic board from CD-ROM
Logic board from floppy drive
Ribbon cables
Occasional Fans
Occasional Power Supplies

I have to leave some stuff in tact. I can't get everything, but I get enough! I was mainly interested in the gold content to process myself, but knew to get everything else I could as well.

And thanks Mechanic for the links!!!!!! Looks like I would have got an extra $25 from ewasted. Live and learn. This is only a portion of what I have. I needed some cash to flow in for some stuff I need!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bear

dang, he's got the best deal in the whole wide world and don't even know it!

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Is that "don't even know it" referring to me? I know I got a good thing going... I'm glad I found SMF because I can make it even better with help, the right knowledge and know-how. I've been working on computers for over 30 years, and to think of all the ewaste that I've discarded over the years just boggles the mind!

Quote:

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Looks like I would have got an extra $25 from ewasted. Live and learn. This is only a portion of what I have. I needed some cash to flow in for some stuff I need!

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At least it was only a 25 dollar hit, one trip I took to my buyer and by the time I pulled in the gold prices had dropped enough that I took a $400. hit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AJR

to think of all the ewaste that I've discarded over the years just boggles the mind!

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Don't feel too bad, i gave away several hundred pounds of old boards I had no idea what to do with only 5 or 6 years ago. No processors wanted less than a truck load, nobody else was buying them where i was at, the scrapyard or landfill sure didn't want em, i felt lucky to find a computer recycler who'd let me drop em off there!

Just my $0.02..I read Hoke, I spent some time on the GRF....Sell the waste and BUY gold! I started my business looking for material to refine, and have made more money in a shorter amount of time Versus refining, and dealing with the "Sludge"

Thanks for your pennies thortek. At least you tried it!

I ended up canceling with boardsort and went with ewasted. After the $42 more for the scrap, saving about $24 in paypal fees, and his prepaid fedex label, the deal is $75 sweeter! Chris at boardsort said "no worries, business is business. Keep him in mind in the future".

Thanks to everyone so far for the suggestions and assistance!!

AJ