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hoosier

Struck out

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hoosier

Hi guys. I hauled a rusted out old trailer from my work to a nearby scrapyard Thursday. While the crane operator was unloading me I spied a Raider 10 sitting off to one side. No engine but complete otherwise. Had a decent looking deck and cast wheel weights. The hood was damaged from the 'claw'. I asked the operator who I should talk to and what might it take for me to drive away with it. Talk to the owner, he says, but he usually won't sell anything off the lot. He said he would set it aside for a couple days for me just in case. Cool! says I, and thanks. I finally tracked down the owner by phone Fri. afternoon and he said he would be at the location Sat. a.m. and we would talk. Great! I'm thinking. I was there bright and early today, introduced myself, and took a stroll to the Raider with the owner. I made my offer (3 times what I figured it was worth as scrap) and he went off. His words... 'It's thinking like yours is the reason I don't sell anything from this lot. I can't sell scrap for scrap prices.' 'I'm not going to sell it.' I apologized and asked how much it was worth to him but he was done with me by then. I said I was sorry for wasting his time and walked away. Guess I took the wrong approach with this guy and blew it. Another one gone to the smelter. How do you guys approach people in situations like this. I just figured if my offer was too low we would dicker . Not that the guy would flat out refuse me. Okay, I feel better now :omg:

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Rollerman

Hoosier I've been there too.

My local scrapper "Omni Source" will not sell anything off there lot....safety reasons?...insurance?...what ever....the guy who works the scale house always has items pulled off to the side.

To bad I we don't have a scrap yard near buy like Kelly does.

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Kelly

Well I buy quite a few out of my local scrap yards, they sell the scrap for usally double what they buy if for, so if you offered at the price they paid, they are losing money, I nomaly ask what they would take for it, then they ask me what it's worth, if I low ball I don't always get it, so if I really want it, like if it had cast wheel weights, I offer what the weights are worth to me and get the rest for free, they know I sell some of the stuff on ebay, to make a buck so they help me out, and I sometimes give them my scrap for free, just say remember this next time you have something I want. it works good for me.

So I guess ask first what they want for it, then offer a fair price, that is their living they are selling.

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Kelly

Yup, I must have posted at the same time you did, Stephen, I just bought a front pair of cast iron wheel weights of a Simplicity, I paid $20 for them a good price for me and them.

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Nick

Without knowing your offer my guess is he might have just been the kind of guy that wouldnt be happy with any offer you made. Like Kelly I think I would size up what the tractor parts or any attachments were worth and offer what I think is a fair price. The only tractor I did see at my scrap yard they said one of the workers wanted so Ive never ahd to make an offer. :omg:

How much is scrap now? I havent hauled any since the big price drop when I was getting around $300 a ton. Last I heard it was something like $30 a ton and some smaller places wouldnt even pay for it.

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hoosier

Nick, this yard is paying $50 a ton. The trailer I hauled in weighed 2680. Got $67. 2.5 cents a pound. My guess on the weight of the Raider\ less engine probably put it at less than $10 scrap price. I offered $30. The 'claw' had done more damage since I first saw it but thought, what the heck, it's not gonna hurt those weights, which is really what I wanted most. The thing that bothers me is that when I asked what it would take to make a happy deal for him he refused to even talk with me. From the start he would'nt set a price but told me to make an offer. I truly was'nt trying to pull a fast one on the guy, (I was willing to go more and told him so) just trying to salvage one forlorn tractor from the scrap heap, but was'nt given the opportunity to even continue the conversation. I had previously heard the guy was difficult to deal with but I had to try.

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Kelly

I just now got back from the scrap yard hauled some junk engines and tin, price here is $75 ton I got $30 for my stuff and picked up a Nice 60" deck for a Simplicity, must weigh 200lbs no kiddin, it was all me and my 18 year old boy could do to load it, and I got a steering wheel, a starter and coils off what looked like a new Kawasaki V twin with a hole in the block, I got it all for $45 heck I'll make good money off that stuff.. If it was me and they were WH weights, I'd have offered at least $75 or tried to buy just the weights

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