Fair price for gaylords full of mixed boards

I was at the yard today getting rid of my heatsinks/power supplies/etc when a yard manager approached me about buying all their boards. They pay craptastic for boards, ranging from .15 to .40 a pound depending. Come to find out, they are just flipping them to another yard for one flat rate per pound. When I asked him how much, he told me for $1.00 a pound, I could be their e-waste buyer.

I looked in the box, and it was the largest mix of PCB that I've ever seen, ranging from low grade all the way up to ram sticks. I told him I would have to think about it, and then get back to him in the next couple weeks.

I'm sure I can use an equation to figure out what % of each material type/value I would need to breakeven. Anyone else here have an arrangement like this, and if so, would you care to share what you're paying for your mixed lots?

trouble is you are taking a 90 cent loss per lb on the low grade boards. they are hard to sell and you cant afford to ship them. they stack up quickly

Offer them top dollar for the good stuff if they let u sort

Do not sign a contract, the first few boxes will look good having memory and mother boards mixed in then a few weeks latter the boxes will start having more and more low grade boards. I would offer .80# as long as you can at least look in the boxes first. Do you have a buyer for low grade boards? It seems like alot of people don't have a buyer for low grade boards.

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Originally Posted by olddude

trouble is you are taking a 90 cent loss per lb on the low grade boards. they are hard to sell and you cant afford to ship them. they stack up quickly

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If the percentages were in your favor and you had a buyer in the .20-.30 lb range for the low grade I could see you making out ok at a 1.00 a lb. My local yard pays .20 on low after I cherry pick the components off them.

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

Do not sign a contract, the first few boxes will look good having memory and mother boards mixed in then a few weeks latter the boxes will start having more and more low grade boards. I would offer .80# as long as you can at least look in the boxes first. Do you have a buyer for low grade boards? It seems like alot of people don't have a buyer for low grade boards.

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They were where I was dumping my low grade. I'm no where near ready to sign on a contract on anything like that, but I wouldn't mind picking up a treasure box from time to time, just to gamble.

I wish I could find a good source to move the low grade to. Gotta be a better way to do it.

I asked them why they weren't dealing directly with a refinery (this is a quite large yard operation). The manager told me that they didn't have very good luck the few times they tried it. He said they didn't want to take the time to sort it, so they just shipped it to Sipi as a random hodgepodge, and didn't end up getting much of anything out of it. All I could think was uhhh duhhh...you sent in a gaylord full of junk, and then the refining fees ate up what money you did get.

Bump, where do you live? If you had a local buyer then yes get a gaylord and see how it works out for you. One yard buy me buys boards for a flat rate of .15# for all boards. I sold some low grade to them once before I found a good local buyer and when I looked in the gaylord there was all kinds of boards, almost started to cry seeing all those mother boards people sold for .15#.

I'm up in Michigan.

I hear ya on the almost cried thing. I looked in the box today, and there was motherboards with processors and ram still on them. All for .15 - .40 a pound.

Mind blown...

I think I would have to take a chance on a few gaylords. Did they tell you how much they get per week or month that also would influence my decision. If they were selling there boards to another yard why not sell your low grade to that yard after you cherry pick the good stuff. It would be a chance I know especially if you were getting more low grade then the others.

Buy what they have now.. Take the hit and then show them what the crappy boards look like. And offer them 1.25 if they throw the other stuff in a different box. That's what I did and it has worked very well for me. I get PCI cards for 2.00 a lb and it is almost 100 lbs a week. Pay a bit more and only teach them what you can afford to..

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

Do not sign a contract, the first few boxes will look good having memory and mother boards mixed in then a few weeks latter the boxes will start having more and more low grade boards. I would offer .80# as long as you can at least look in the boxes first. Do you have a buyer for low grade boards? It seems like alot of people don't have a buyer for low grade boards.

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I think the best answer is going to be, It's always a matter of how much risk you are willing to take.

The yard obviously isn't going to take .80# because they have a yard giving them 1.00#.

If you want to "float along" you can easily hedge your bets and take very little risk, but in turn, you will get very little reward. I personally would work out an agreement and buy the boards for as little as I could (maybe 1.15). I would buy a few gaylords and NOT SPEND THE MONEY, instead keep rolling in back in until I went through a few to know where I was at. Sure, I could be risking about 2k but I really think the chances of losing your a** are low if you are smart.

On 500# if you are getting 20% high grade at 1.15#:

100# high grade x 3.50 = 350.00

400# low grade x .10 = 40.00

Your potential loss is only 185.00. When you throw in processors, ram, heat sinks, CBM, your potential loss is much less. With a high volume you should be able to get a better price from the buyers also lowering the potential loss. While the upside is not a huge windfall, it could easily be a steady profit and allow you to grow.

It's all about how much risk are you willing to be subject to. There is a reason that someone is paying 1.00#, there is money to be made.

In life sometimes you have to take a chance.

If your pricing is solid and you know what you get for boards on your end then make a calculated offer to where you have no way of losing but possibly breaking even. Sucks to work for free. I have been buying items lately to see what is inside even if it means paying a little more than I normally would. No risk No reward.

I'm sorry, I missread what Bump was saying. I thought the owner said he wanted bump to pay him 1.00#.

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

I'm sorry, I missread what Bump was saying. I thought the owner said he wanted bump to pay him 1.00#.

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They pay craptastic for boards, ranging from .15 to .40 a pound depending. Come to find out, they are just flipping them to another yard for one flat rate per pound. When I asked him how much, he told me for $1.00 a pound, I could be their e-waste buyer.

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Yep your right,,,

It's silly, but this is what I pictured in my head just now:

Scrapyard owner: "I'll sell you the boards for $1 per pound."
BumpRacerX: "I'm not sure if I can do that...how about $1.15 per pound?"
Scrapyard owner: "Deal."

Yeah, just to be clear, they offered to sell me all their boards, in an unsorted mess of a gaylord for $1.00 a pound.

I'm checking out of town and taking the kids down south for spring break (my deal with my oldest is good grades gets her spring break in kentucky). I think I'm going to look long and hard at figuring out who processes low/mid grades by the Gaylord full. I've found a place to deal with on my normal stuff. Now I just need an outlet for the low grade above .15 a pound.

We are above .15 per lb on the low grade :)

Put a satellite warehouse in CA please :)

Where in Michigan are u located? I haul mine just north of Chicago for .25 per pound for low grade boards.

ewasted said "We are above .15 per lb on the low grade"

ryanw replied "Put a satellite warehouse in CA please"

Yeah, that WOULD be awesome! How about it Mario?

i started one of my contracts the same way .what i did was to to convience them to do basic sepation simply by color.that way you know that your at least getting midgrade
what they do is seperate green and colored boards into one box and brown and silver into another.and i buy the green box at 1.25 a lb.either way i make profit considering i get 2.00 lb for mid grade