Building A Scrap Income Into Your Computer Business

If you run a computer business, you've probably had customers ask if you recycle computers or electronics. If you don't accept old computers, you may want to change your tune. Breaking down old computers into their scrap components can yield some serious cash.

Breaking Down RAM

Most sticks of ram feature gold fingers at the end of every stick. To process sticks of RAM properly to be sold as scrap you need to get your hands on a band saw. The goal here isn't to pick off every single gold finger, but to saw them off in one solid unit. Collect them and place them in a bin, they fetch higher prices when turned in in bulk.

Identify High Grade Boards

The scrap industry values high grade boards. High-grade boards are usually included in CD/DVD drives, printers, and wireless routers. You can tell you're looking at a high-grade board if you notice a lot of gold components. These boards feature precious metals like palladium.

The value in a high-grade board is in its multi-layer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs. These capacitors are what have palladium in them. The capacitors look like small brown boxes with a white line on them.

Cases and Hard Drives

Many cases are made of steel and are perfect for scrapping once all the other components are removed. If the case your breaking down features a plastic window, remove it to fetch a higher price.

Hard drives are easy to scrap whole, but you may want to break them down. Hard drives have powerful magnets that can be worth a lot. These magnets and their brackets are made of a rare metal called neodymium that corrodes quickly and is covered in nickel. The rest of the hard drive is easy enough to scrap as the case is made of aluminum, and the cover of the hard drive is stainless steel.

Bringing It All Together

To make scrap harvesting from old electronics more lucrative you should set aside a small area for separating the scrap components by metal type. Many businesses who take e-scrap prefer it to be in bulk and will pay more for it.

If you're looking to build a side income stream into your computer business, let your customers know you want to accept old computers and electronics. After you develop a contact in the scrap industry, such as Freedom Metals LLC,  it's easy to turn and additional profit by breaking down old computers. 

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