Craigslist or the Scrap yard?

I was just curious what the general consensus from everyone here in the scrapping community is on selling things we find out there in the "field". For example if its a local garbage night and you find a TV or a refrigerator do you just break it down and sell its contents at your local scrap yard or will you check to see how the item works and if it is working throw up an ad on Craigslist or something to get a much higher value for it? Personally over the last 3 days i have found about 8 older TV's and most of them seem to be in working order. I was considering taking a picture of each, putting them on Craigslist for like $20 a piece or something and see if anyone wants them rather then breaking them down and only making $5 or so per TV.....

try it! it's free :) I post stuff on there hoping(sometimes beyond chance) that someone will pick it up. But me, if they want to buy it at scrap price, I'd just as soon scrap it(sometimes I'm just reluctant to do so ; )

I once went to a friends house to pick up some scrap metal. Low and behold 3 houses up the street was a minifridge with a free sign on it. Took it home plugged it in and it worked. Sold it in 3 days on CL for $50. Another story. I was out speed junking with recycle this. We came across an aluminum outdoor table set. 6 chairs and table with umbrella stand. He was like lets just scrap it. I said let me try and sell it first. took pictures sold it in 2 days for $150. Always worth trying CL first if you have the room to store stuff. It it doesnt sell scrap it.

Mini fridges and outdoor table sets are a whole different ballgame than CRT televisions. I would go to CL, click on the FREE heading, search TV, search television, see what your competition is. If you don't see a lot of freebies, it might be worthwhile to list a couple. Over here in NJ there are about six bajillion free tvs on CL. I scrap about two a week I find on curbs, could pick up six or eight with little effort. Some of them work beautifully, but demand on this side of the Hudson is zero.

amen, volvo... i take them as a favor to friends and family.. only. i cant deal with the large volume of crts around here. its a problem to say the least

I have a bigscreen from 07' that's not HD, I can't even give it away and its a Sony 53".

My wife lugged this monster home last night. It's a 46" Samsung LCD TV. It had a bad fuse on the power supply. A three cent fuse later......

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/...1/100_4666.jpg

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/...1/100_4665.jpg

LCD, LED, and Plasma are the only TVs we pick up anymore. I'm not sure she wants to sell this one, but I've done really well fixing TVs and throwing them on CL.

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Originally Posted by volvoscrapper

Mini fridges and outdoor table sets are a whole different ballgame than CRT televisions. I would go to CL, click on the FREE heading, search TV, search television, see what your competition is. If you don't see a lot of freebies, it might be worthwhile to list a couple. Over here in NJ there are about six bajillion free tvs on CL. I scrap about two a week I find on curbs, could pick up six or eight with little effort. Some of them work beautifully, but demand on this side of the Hudson is zero.

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I think you need to read the OP a little closer. HE was using tv and fridges as examples not the reason for the post.

craigslist has not impressed me. most of the time its, dogs,cats,kittens,puppies, trees or scrap construction wood someone is trying to get hauled off,so they dont have to.or old couches and chairs which will be on the curb.

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Originally Posted by Arkansaw

craigslist has not impressed me. most of the time its, dogs,cats,kittens,puppies, trees or scrap construction wood someone is trying to get hauled off,so they dont have to.or old couches and chairs which will be on the curb.

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i agree totally Arkansaw, craigslist sucks this part of the state too.

Welcome to the forum, I havent been up your way in several years. do they still have that great buffet on Race street? I think it was China Star.

Well, alot of folks here tend to say use craigslist to sell stuff. Personally, I don't like CL, only because sifting through the garbage emails (spammers, scammers, etc) to find maybe one real person, is not worth it. However, I think this mostly applies to metal related stuff and all the hype that has been created about scrapping metal, as I have sold furniture before.

9 out of 10 times I will take it to the scrap yard before attempting to sell it on CL or even eBay.

There are occasions that I have some working stuff, and know people who are looking for this thing that would be willing to buy it. And there are people that know I always am picking up stuff, so they will ask if I have whatever they are looking for. That's my extent of reselling for more.

Not everyone agrees with it. My stuff, my choice.

i don't have much luck with it either rca, but i still keep stuff listed on it and renew the ad every now and then

The more i look i have been noticng that other than more modern TV's people cant even give them away soooooo ive just been smashing all day yesterday on Thanksgiving.... really enjoy that anyway lol and as far as China Star i dont know never been but if you head over to my neck of the woods anytime soon i can lead you in the right direction for good Chinese lol..

I would have to disagee about CL..........If you live in a larger city you can practically run your biz off craigslist............But there is a big difference....I moved back to Knoxville from Nashville and Knoxville is about 1/10th the size of Nashville. In nashville I could literally get two to three truckloads of scrap off CL in a weekend but in Knox I only use it to sale select items.........I have had alot of luck selling flat screen monitors and a few computer related items.......I think it all depends on location

It has been my experience that the more rural the area, the less CL is beneficial. If you live near a city or colleges (younger generation/people into computers/etc), CL is a common part of life. I actually only started scrapping metal to pay for the gas that i use while curb hunting stuff to sell on CL. In the last 6 months, i have made probably double from selling vs scrapping. I do not pick up large items like washers/dryers/refrigerates because i cant manhandle them...so that might make a difference. i dont know how much you guys make per washer/dry/large items scrapping.

i keep hearing about people saying they get spam from CL but i have never had any... maybe ive been lucky and ****ing myself now. lol

edit; exception being crt tvs. i cant give them away. pawn shops will nto even take them anymore.. i tried to give one to a pawn for 5$ w/ no go.

why would someone buy a used tube tv when they can do the same thing that you are and get them for free? I scrap out any tube tv/monitor i can get my hands on they are a great source of copper.

I have sold some stuff on Craigslist, ebay, and have recently been exploring using Linked In. Linked In is good for finding outlets for large quantities of product. I have also located local buyers. One pawn shop I deal with buys RAM, Hdd's, and other parts at times. I gave him a box of like 25 assorted keyboards for free, kind of a getting acquainted gift. Anything you pick up in the trash, from a hauling job is almost always good for resale by someone.

I just recently remover about 10 tons of retail shelving from a Rite Aid that moved to a new location. This job was a real heart breaker. I had to have scrapped at least $5000 worth of resalable product maybe more. I just did not have space to store or time to manage the stuff. I had one day to get it out or lose it. Took the clean tin price and moved on.

Google should become your greatest tool. Am hour spent researching and learning could result in profits that far exceed any expectation you may have. This is the age of technology. If you are on this forum you already are using your computer as a tool to maximize profits. Just take it to the next level.

depends on how much room you have to store it, how long you want to hold on to it, and what you want as your actual return on investment (factoring in your time to make sure it works/fixing it, posting it for sale, storing it/moving it around, finding a buyer, and getting it to the buyer).

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Originally Posted by Arkansaw

Welcome to the forum, I havent been up your way in several years. do they still have that great buffet on Race street? I think it was China Star.

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Yep its still there, foods just as good as it always has been

if its decent quality then sure why not, im sure theres someone out there who would pay 10 for a crt just cause theirs broke, they hop on cl and see that you have one for sale bout 1 neighborhood away. i just wouldnt hold onto more than 2 or 3 tvs at a time,

Selling things on craigslist takes time. You need to calculate the time it will take to reply to inquries, arrange I a pick time( a good precent of the time cl buyers are no show flakes), as well as cleaning and testing. For me, I would not put myself thru that for less then 15 an hour. CRTs can not yeild an acceptable profit for me but ACs, mini-fridges, flat-planes, game consoles and much more can. Also if you can, a 'delivery for a fee' part of your cl ad is great way increase sales and profits. The buyer may even have some scrap for you to take.

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Originally Posted by Scrapuggle

Also if you can, a 'delivery for a fee' part of your cl ad is great way increase sales and profits. The buyer may even have some scrap for you to take.

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That could be nice, but it always worried me, as in door to door salesman, that puts you on their turf. Especially an item that needs be known working, such as fridge, monitor, etc. After you take it there, hook it up, prove it works, aren't they in a lot better position to say, "i'm not sure about(some minor scratch/smudge), would ya take( 1/4 original asking price)?"

Yeah you would think post delivery haggling would be an issue but it really has not for me. Most people i have delivered to have been more greatful than anything else.