$3 investment and turning it into an easy $30+ return

So, my wife and I were at the gas station this evening, and a lady and her son pulled up. She does scrap metal recycling like we all do, and I have seen her around quite a few times. So anyways, I talked to her for a few and told her that if she ever came across any pc towers or other certain electronics to let me know, and I pay her more than scrap. Sure enough 30 minutes later she calls to tell me that she has a desktop and laptop. I tell her my prices, and we agree.

I go over there and the desktop is in complete condition, and the laptop was no good..had a busted screen, but was a newer laptop.

So, I offered her $5 for the tower and $3 for the laptop.

I get home, and the desktop even though it was a bit newer, it only had a 40gb hard drive, so I will just scrap it.

The laptop, had a 160gb hard drive, and after a quick ebay search, I see it sells for an easy $30+ dollars. So I will throw a quick ad on craigslist for $35 and see if I get any takers. If not, then come tomorrow night, I will toss it up on ebay.

This later also has 2 nice looking bicycles that just need air in the tires, I am going to tell my wife's mother and I am sure for a quick $20, she can snatch them both.

This lady also had a very nice looking hikers backpack but I had no interest in that. She also had a antique snow sled (metal with the wooden surface) in GREAT condition, but also no need for that.

All in all, I am happy to have made a new contact.

Geo pop the cover on the that newer laptop and see if there is a good ram stick in it. A 1gb laptop ram stick can sell pretty good on ebay as well.

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Geo pop the cover on the that newer laptop and see if there is a good ram stick in it. A 1gb laptop ram stick can sell pretty good on ebay as well.

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Really? Thanks PTS..I have like 6 or 7 laptops laying around, so I will crack into them all tomorrow to see what I got. I know I have a lot of 1gb ram in my storage shed. Mixture of desktop and laptop ram.

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Really? Thanks PTS..I have like 6 or 7 laptops laying around, so I will crack into them all tomorrow to see what I got. I know I have a lot of 1gb ram in my storage shed. Mixture of desktop and laptop ram.

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Well then what are you waiting for cash it in. I have prices in the link in my sig line.

I just sold 2 laptops in the $30 to $40 range i got in from a local seller i paid $2 each for. Both were non working laptops and were missing parts. One was an acer netbook the other one was a dell that said core solo on it. Even after fees and shipping im looking at $30 each. Both laptops fit in flat rate envelopes.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/181037590130...84.m1587.l2649

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Really? Thanks PTS..I have like 6 or 7 laptops laying around, so I will crack into them all tomorrow to see what I got. I know I have a lot of 1gb ram in my storage shed. Mixture of desktop and laptop ram.

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i am saving all ram stick that are 1gb and larger, they sell very well, especially if you can pair them up

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Originally Posted by jghilino

i am saving all ram stick that are 1gb and larger, they sell very well, especially if you can pair them up

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Ive built a small at home business doing this same thing. Thats why I have a buyers thread on here for greater than scrap value. For the people who hate ebay and just want to make more money than scrap value. I sell them cheap and quick to keep the turn around comming. Just to give you an example. I pay $2 for a good 1gb ram stick and then post it on ebay for $7 or $8 each or $15 for a pair. So after fees and shipping and time to test the ram I usualy double my investment. Note to my fellow forum members who want to sell ram on ebay. If you dont want 100 returns test the ram good. Dont just plug it in and if it posts to bios call it good. Use a ram testing program it will save you return headaches.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jghilino

I just sold 2 laptops in the $30 to $40 range i got in from a local seller i paid $2 each for. Both were non working laptops and were missing parts. One was an acer netbook the other one was a dell that said core solo on it. Even after fees and shipping im looking at $30 each. Both laptops fit in flat rate envelopes.


Acer Aspire One 1 D250 10 1" Netbook | eBay

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Did you sell the laptops with the hard drives and ram in them, or did you take that out first?

Also, did you auction them off, or do a buy it now for $35

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Did you sell the laptops with the hard drives and ram in them, or did you take that out first?

Also, did you auction them off, or do a buy it now for $35

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i left the laptops exactly as is, they both had ram and hard drives in them, i took the core solo one to the computer store and the guy hooked it up to a power adapter and the screen stayed black had it booted up i wouldve kept it for my own, sold both as buy it nows in my ebay store (fixed price with make offer option) im still waiting on payment on the netbook so it looks like i will have to relist it, the dell core solo already shipped out

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Ive built a small at home business doing this same thing. Thats why I have a buyers thread on here for greater than scrap value. For the people who hate ebay and just want to make more money than scrap value. I sell them cheap and quick to keep the turn around comming. Just to give you an example. I pay $2 for a good 1gb ram stick and then post it on ebay for $7 or $8 each or $15 for a pair. So after fees and shipping and time to test the ram I usualy double my investment. Note to my fellow forum members who want to sell ram on ebay. If you dont want 100 returns test the ram good. Dont just plug it in and if it posts to bios call it good. Use a ram testing program it will save you return headaches.

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well i have 3 1gb pairs desktop ram i havnt ebayed yet, and about 30 1gb sticks of ram i cant make pairs with, a couple of them are ecc, do you buy all 1gb sticks for $2 each?

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

She also had a antique snow sled (metal with the wooden surface) in GREAT condition, but also no need for that.

All in all, I am happy to have made a new contact.

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Don't tell me it was a Flexible Flyer Arline model??
Antique Airline Racer No 60 Flexible Flyer Sled Planet Jr Farm Garden Tools | eBay

Some go for $100 and up on a regular basis.

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Originally Posted by JPete

Don't tell me it was a Flexible Flyer Arline model??
Antique Airline Racer No 60 Flexible Flyer Sled Planet Jr Farm Garden Tools | eBay

Some go for $100 and up on a regular basis.

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I cant see those pictures enough to know for sure, but looks like it might be. If so, I will offer her some quick cash for it.

good call, i love seeing people keep/resell that stuff rather than it going as scrap

Well thanks to the great advice from this thread, and other threads related to selling laptops on ebay, I have made just a little under $100 from 3 scrap laptops.

Nothing wrong with them except missing batteries and hard drives, and cracked screens. Took a change and paid off nicely!

The 3 laptops have less than 20 hours to go, but all 3 have a bid on them. I had a older, grey laptop: Toshiba Techra 510CDT Non Working Laptop | eBay that didn't receive no bids, but I wasn't expecting it to.

Take care guys and girls!

George, those old heavy vintage laptops like that toshiba usually have a desktop sized ceramic cpu in them. The motherboard is heavier also. You should do very well on it if you scrap it. The pentium logo is a dead giveaway its a ceramic cpu. This was right before they figured out how to make the cheap fiber cpus that started with pentium 2.

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Originally Posted by jghilino

George, those old heavy vintage laptops like that toshiba usually have a desktop sized ceramic cpu in them. The motherboard is heavier also. You should do very well on it if you scrap it. The pentium logo is a dead giveaway its a ceramic cpu. This was right before they figured out how to make the cheap fiber cpus that started with pentium 2.

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Yeah, I will wait it out for the listing to end, and then come this weekend, it will get scrapped.

I am going to give scrap laptops a few more test runs on ebays, but if I can sell each one for roughly what I am selling these 3 for, than I will let some of my contacts know, I will pay a few bucks more for each laptop that they come across. Just to ensure that I get them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Yeah, I will wait it out for the listing to end, and then come this weekend, it will get scrapped.

I am going to give scrap laptops a few more test runs on ebays, but if I can sell each one for roughly what I am selling these 3 for, than I will let some of my contacts know, I will pay a few bucks more for each laptop that they come across. Just to ensure that I get them.

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I am doing the same thing on laptops now. I get the model number from each one and then decide how much to offer the seller based on what i think its worth. I am paying $2-$30 each for broken laptops now, I also buy broken gadgets, like cell phones, tablets, gps digital cameras and so on. There is alot of money to be made selling them for parts on ebay.

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Originally Posted by jghilino

I am doing the same thing on laptops now. I get the model number from each one and then decide how much to offer the seller based on what i think its worth. I am paying $2-$30 each for broken laptops now, I also buy broken gadgets, like cell phones, tablets, gps digital cameras and so on. There is alot of money to be made selling them for parts on ebay.

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And the only thing you need is a model number, and you can see what (if any) it will potentially sell for on ebay?

For the laptops, I thought that the max they sold for, was roughly $30, so how can you pay that, and still make a profit?

Once my wife and I get our taxes back, I plan to get heavily into buying stuff like scrap gold jewelry (so many resources to come by it where I live, it is like me seeing gold mines everywhere) for gold refining, and stuff like PC ram and ceramic cpus.

I was also thinking of buying broken/non working stuff like cell phones, tablets, etc for the same reasons as laptops. Thanks for confirming that this will be a possibility.

If its an i7 or a quad core gaming laptop $30 is a small price to pay for what you will get. I had a lady contact me the other day said she had an asus rog gaming laptop with a bad keyboard. I told her id pay $100 cash for it. But she never showed up with it. For $30 i could replace the keyboard and turn around and resell it for $400. Never pass up an opportunity that comes your way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jghilino

If its an i7 or a quad core gaming laptop $30 is a small price to pay for what you will get. I had a lady contact me the other day said she had an asus rog gaming laptop with a bad keyboard. I told her id pay $100 cash for it. But she never showed up with it. For $30 i could replace the keyboard and turn around and resell it for $400. Never pass up an opportunity that comes your way.

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Well now that your talking about a gaming laptop, I can see why you would pay $30 or more. I thought you were simply referring to any off the way type laptop lol

What do you generally pay for the other stuff?

I buy cell phones for $1 each. I get alot of 3g and 4g smart phones coming in now. The go for about $10 each for parts. The ones i have tested and gotten to work/partially work they go $20-$50 each. GPS can be the same way if the screen is not broken all they usually need is the internal battery replaced, then you can turn around and get the full used price for them. That is if you like to fiddle with electronics.

I forgot to mention that if you are doing this right and fixing and reselling used electronics at some point you are going to sell something that has been reported as stolen. It is going to happen its just a matter of time. I had it happen to me last week on a cell phone, fortunatly via the ebay auctions i had a paper trail to prove where it came from. I get gps units in that work that are password protected, open them up and disconnect the internal battery, wait about 10 minutes then reconnect the battery put it back together and turn it back on and it will reset the system.

Does everything you get (free or paid) generally sell?

All of it sells, if not it gets scrapped out. i dont list stuff thats not going to sell. I check the model number in completed listings to see what it has sold for in the past. Then i set my buy it now price 20% below that and its gone within a week. I have 3 cd drives and 1 pcmica card up right now, the rest has sold. Im gonna give them another couple weeks then pull the listings if they havnt sold. All of my cell phones and gps and laptops have sold.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jghilino

All of it sells, if not it gets scrapped out. i dont list stuff thats not going to sell. I check the model number in completed listings to see what it has sold for in the past. Then i set my buy it now price 20% below that and its gone within a week. I have 3 cd drives and 1 pcmica card up right now, the rest has sold. Im gonna give them another couple weeks then pull the listings if they havnt sold. All of my cell phones and gps and laptops have sold.

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cant beat that.

So, all the laptops and hard drive sold, minus the really old laptop.

The only one that sold for more than the rest, was my Toshiba Mini which had the battery, hard drive, and everything else but a power cord to it. It sold for almost $64 plus $12.50 for S&H

The other 2 sold for $31 and $21.50 also with Shipping and Handling for both.

Not bad for it all I say. and actually, if you count the hard drive that said for $27 today as well that came from one of the laptops, then 2 of the laptops sold for over $50 a piece. Definitely not bad at all! I will take that any day of the week! Especially when I got them for free or just $1.

I know what I will definitely do with them all from now on.

However, my question is this, when I get laptops that are complete (battery, ram, hard drive), should I wipe the hard drive, and then sell it as a complete unit, or take out the hard drive and ram and sell those separate?

Thanks to jghilino's advice, I will be listing 2 motherboards that I have that look like they sell really well on ebay.