Selling Scrap Metal on eBay: What to Sell & Where to Sell It
The one thing that affects which scrap materials to sell on eBay is the shipping cost. The more it costs to ship something, the less profit you will make on it.
Bidders will decide whether to bid on your auctions based on the total cost of the item at auction, including shipping charges.
The types of scrap that I have had the best luck with when selling scrap metal on eBay are high value scrap metals that fit well into a flat rate USPS box.
I have consistently gotten more money on eBay than the going buy rate at my local scrap metal dealer for flat rate boxes full of clean copper tubing, clean lead, carbide tool scrap and clean brass, for instance.
eBay allows sellers to list up to 50 free auctions a month, so set your start price on eBay at the buy price for your local scrap metal dealer, then let the bidders raise the price from there.
Even if you only get one bid, you are still ahead, because you do not have to haul the box to the dealer. You have your mail carrier pick it up, by requesting a pick-up through the USPS website.
I have also done well with box lots of e-scrap such as: gold circuit board fingers, green circuit boards, CPU’s, gold filled eye-glass frames, Memory RAM boards from PCs, aluminum heat sinks, hard drive magnets, catalytic converters, and other similar items from vintage computers and A/V equipment.
I was surprised that a large box of mixed tan and green circuit boards from vintage electronics sold for $28.
I have heard tons of times that you can’t sell Platinum lined hard drive platters,
because there is such a minute amount of Platinum, but there are a number of completed listings on eBay, where the seller got $5+ shipping for 25 platters.
I like to gather a large pile of vintage electronics, and disassemble them in one session, so that I end up with boxes full of similar items that I can sell on eBay.
Research materials that do well when selling scrap metal on eBay by looking through Completed Auction Items, or by browsing categories like Coins:Bullion and Business and Industrial:Manufacturing & Metalwork:Alloys.
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