how do I figure out what an electronic board is worth?

[ilyaz]

I have been collecting various boards from different pieces of electronics that I scrapped. Basically, I have four piles:
1. computer motherboards
2. boards pulled from CRT monitors
3. boards from old tube TVs -- some are probably 15-20-25 years old -- and other non-computer electronics like boomboxes etc
4. PCI boards of various types like wireless cards etc
So how do I figure out whether they are worth anything? PCI cards all have gold fingers, so I guess that's good. But what about all the other types? Also, if I do try to sell them on ebay in bulk, do I have to first remove large components like capacitors? Do I cut up the bigger boards into pieces that are more valuable, or do I keep them intact?

Thanks!

[theirrationalist]

There is a huge market for the main PC and the PCI boards because of their (relatively) high gold content. The CRT monitors have no gold components that I know of, and neither do the TV boards. My yard buys those as shred steel. I would throw your motherboards up on Ebay, or check the wanted ads on craigslist. I would sell any RAM sticks and CPUs separately, as these often get bought by gold refiners. You may even want to ask around on http://goldrefiningforum.com/ for potential direct buyers. just a thought.

The Non-computer electronics boards are of no significant value other than whatever your yard will buy them as. I've harvested a lot of scrap from CRTs a while ago. The most value stuff in there is the copper...and I guess the lead, but that's unscrappable. How do you dispose of the tubes?

[Dr. Cadmium]

Some yards will buy the low grade boards (TV, monitor, stereo boards) as electric motors ($0.15 - $0.20/lb right now), so they're not worthless. Many will also take them with light iron/shredder scrap, especially in small amounts mixed in with appliances.


The problem with eBay is high shipping costs and fees will take a huge chunk of your profits, and the whole process is more time consuming than turning in normal base metal scrap at your local yard. If you have the occasional small lot of high grade material it can be a good way to sell, as most companies that deal in this material don't want to deal with the general public directly.

[ilyaz]

How do you dispose of the tubes?

Our city has a very serious recycling program (my recycling bin usually contains more stuff than my garbage bin on a trash day), so i can request a pickup of electronic scrap. However, since they only do such pickups once a month, I am not sure what will happen if I start requesting pickups of dozens of monitors/TVs at a time. I also gave a few monitors to the local BestBuy for recycling, although this can't be a large-scale operation either.

[slumba]

Motherboards and PCI cards have the most value, anywhere from $2.25 per lb on up, depending on who you sell to. Having more, like 200lbs, is more likely to get you a better price.

[theirrationalist]

Who have you heard of that buys motherboards for $2.25 per pound?

[silversaddle1]

Who have you heard of that buys motherboards for $2.25 per pound?

$2.25 a pound??? That's giving them away. Right now our local yard will pay over $3.50 a pound!

[theirrationalist]

Really? My local yard shuns them entirely. They only pay $1.75. I wonder what the hold up is? They must have lost their buyer.