Auction Bidding Beats a Single Yard Quote
An individual clearing out a decommissioned workshop had a mixed lot of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap. The nearest scrapyard offered a single flat quote for the whole lot, sight-priced on the spot.
This is an illustrative composite scenario built around how ScrapTrade's features are designed to be used, with representative numbers — not a verbatim account of a specific named customer.
The Situation
An individual clearing out a decommissioned home workshop after roughly 15 years ended up with about 2.3 tonnes of mixed ferrous scrap — angle iron, steel shelving, an old workbench frame — plus around 180 kg of mixed non-ferrous scrap: copper wire offcuts, aluminium window frames, and brass fittings.
The material had been sitting in a garage for months. Getting rid of it the usual way meant a full day loading a trailer and driving to the nearest scrapyard for whatever price they'd offer that day.
The Problem
A single flat quote covers everything
The nearest yard's practice is to weigh the whole mixed load together and quote one blended price per tonne, regardless of the mix of grades inside it — which undervalues the cleaner, higher-value material to cover the cost of sorting the rest themselves.
No reference price beforehand
Without a market price to check against, it's genuinely hard to know whether a yard's quote is reasonable or a lowball number — most people just accept it rather than driving to a second yard for a comparison.
One buyer, no negotiation
A walk-in quote is take-it-or-leave-it. There's no competing bidder in the room to test whether somebody else would pay more for the same material.
The Approach
Split by material category
Instead of one mixed load, the ferrous and non-ferrous material were listed separately, since buyers who specialise in one rarely want the other mixed in — a non-ferrous buyer doesn't want to pay to have steel sorted out of their copper.
Sorted before weighing
Insulated copper wire was stripped where practical, and aluminium and brass fittings were pulled out of the ferrous pile before listing — the same sorting step any yard would otherwise do themselves and price in.
GPS video verification on both lots
A short walkthrough video with live location data was recorded for each lot before listing, per ScrapTrade's standard listing flow — giving remote buyers the same confidence an in-person yard visit would.
Priced as 5-day live auctions
Both lots were listed as 5-day auctions with a starting bid set near the local yard's phone quote — meaning competitive bidding could only move the final price up from what a walk-in sale would have gotten, never below it.
Execution Timeline
Both lots verified (GPS video) and listed as 5-day live auctions.
Ferrous lot receives its first two bids from local buyers.
Non-ferrous lot draws interest from a processor 300 km away, who arranges their own freight pickup.
Competitive bidding continues on both lots as the auction end time approaches.
Both auctions close. Winning bids land above the initial local yard quote for both lots.
The Results
Both lots sold above the local yard's original flat quote — the ferrous lot by 17.7% and the non-ferrous lot by 23.4%. Payment for both was held in escrow and released once the buyers confirmed collection/delivery, so the seller had the same payment protection a stranger-to-stranger sale would otherwise lack.
Profit Breakdown
| Lot | Quantity | Yard Quote | Auction Result | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferrous Metals | 2.3 tonnes | $310/tonne → $713.00 | $365/tonne → $839.50 | +$126.50 (17.7%) |
| Non-Ferrous Metals | 180 kg | $3.20/kg → $576.00 | $3.95/kg → $711.00 | +$135.00 (23.4%) |
| Combined Gross | $1289.00 | $1550.50 | +$261.50 (20.3%) | |
| Less: ScrapTrade commission (1% of auction result) | −$15.51 | |||
| Net Proceeds via ScrapTrade | $1534.99 | |||
| Net Gain vs. Local Yard Quote | +$245.99 (19.1%) | |||
Key Takeaways
- Splitting a mixed lot by category lets each buyer bid on exactly what they want, instead of one buyer pricing in the hassle of sorting your mix themselves.
- A local yard quote is a genuinely useful auction starting price — treat it as a floor, not a ceiling.
- The 1% platform commission was a small fraction of the extra value competitive bidding surfaced — in this case, about 6% of the total gain.
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