Making money with parts

Making money with parts

Hey there, Moose here again.  Today I want to talk to you scrappers out there about how really boost your money making potential with scrapping.  When you scrap something, you are getting by definition, the lowest value for it.  You are getting scrap metal value.  The possibility to make more money is HUGE!!!!  People throw out things all the time that often still work or just need minor repairs.  You don’t need to be a mechanic, or electronics repair person and fix these items up and resell them although if you are, you can.  All you really need to know is if it works or not, and if not what the problem is.  Most people will tell you what went wrong if anything.  You can take that very little amount of information and hit the internet.  There are great sites out there where all you need is a maker and model number and you can pull up details pictures of your item pulled apart, what each part is called, and how much its worth!  I have three great examples.  The first is a microwave.  I would scrap these puppies all day long!!!  Easy to test, just try to heat up a cup of water.  You can take an old microwave and sell it in a yard sale for what, $10-$20?  OR, you can take it apart and make 4 times as much!!  There are components that are inside that never get nasty looking that sell for lots of money on ebay.  Here are some of the items inside and their value:

Magnetron  20-40

Turntable motor  5-10

Thermostat 4-7

Fan motor  5-10

Transformer  10-25

Hv capacitor 5-10

Glass plate   5-20

The next item is the treadmill.  You can find loads of these on Craig list.  People just want them gone!!  The firs thing you need to look at is the walking belt.  If its in good shape, you can get up to $100 for just the belt!!!  I have also sold the power supply module for $30, motor control module for $20, motor for $30, power supply cord for $20 and that was all from just one treadmill!!  Still want to just haul it to the scrap yard?

The last example I am going to give you does not even involve taking anything apart.  Lots of people are mad with gold fever and are ripping apart everything to get to it but what some people don’t realize is that even though something may contain gold, it maybe only be a few dollars worth and you destroy everything else to get to it.  The big item I am talking about is cell phones and laptops.  There is actually very little gold in these buggers.  BUT  there is a LOT of value in them for parts!!!  I have yet to make more than $10 in gold after hours of work from a laptop, however, I make at LEAST $20 for each laptop for just 5 minutes of work listing it on ebay for parts after removing the hard drive. 

SO there you have it.  Whenever possible, find out if parts still work and what they are worth online.  It really does not take much time once you are used to it and pays off!!