Scrap pricing has its own vocabulary, its own arithmetic and a set of habits that separate people who get paid well from people who get paid the posted minimum. These guides cover that ground in plain language: how a price is built from the exchange down to the yard, how copper and aluminum are graded, what changes the number from one day to the next, and how to prepare and sell a load so it grades as high as it should.
The guides
How Scrap Metal Prices Are Determined
From LME and COMEX benchmarks to the number a yard writes on its board.
How to Get the Best Scrap Price
Sorting, stripping, weighing and comparing quotes: the steps that raise a payout.
Copper Scrap Grades Explained
Bare bright, number 1, number 2, insulated wire and mixed copper, and why each pays differently.
Aluminum Scrap Grades Explained
Cans, extrusion, cast, sheet and wheels: how aluminum is sorted and priced.
Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous Metals
Telling them apart with a magnet, and what the difference means for price.
How Scrap Yards Calculate Prices
Margins, contamination deductions, moisture and tare between the market price and your receipt.
Why Scrap Prices Change Every Day
Commodity markets, exchange rates, freight and mill demand all move the daily number.
Best Metals to Scrap
The metals and items that return the most per pound, and the ones not worth the trip.
How to Prepare Scrap Metal for Sale
Cleaning, separating and loading scrap so it grades higher at the scale.
Scrap Metal Recycling Guide
How collected scrap becomes new metal, and why recycled supply matters to prices.
Calculators
Each one runs on this site’s live prices rather than on typed-in figures, so the answer moves with the market. Several of them recommend against a purchase when the arithmetic says so.
Scrap Car Price Calculator: Today’s Rates by Weight and Grade
Most calculators multiply your weight by one number and give you a figure that no yard will match. This one uses two…
Catalytic Converter Net Cost Calculator
Enter the repair quote and your vehicle. Returns the net cost once the core value of the unit being removed is credited,…
Where to Sell It: Scrap Yard or Specialist Buyer
Choose what you are holding and see what a general yard pays against a specialist, the multiple between them, and what kind…
Battery Pack Cost Per Usable kWh Calculator
Three battery quotes are never comparable as quoted. Enter them and each becomes one figure: dollars per usable kilowatt hour, after state…
Wire Stripping Payback Calculator
How much stripping gains you a month at live copper prices, and which machine tier that volume actually pays back. Not a…
Minimum Load Calculator: Is the Trip Worth Making?
Fuel plus your time divided by what each material pays. The smallest load of copper, aluminium, steel or motors that clears the…
Scrap the Car Whole or Part It Out? Calculator
Removing the drivetrain drops the whole vehicle to shred rate. Tick what you would pull and see whether it beats selling the…
Which Copper Grade Do You Have? Grade Finder
Four physical checks that name the grade and price it at today rate, plus what would move the piece up a grade.
Scrap Prices by Country: Compare 20 Markets
One grade across twenty markets, each in its own currency and unit, with what the market factor does and why a higher…
Core or Scrap? Rebuildable Part Checker
The checks a rebuilder actually rejects on, part by part, with core value against scrap value for each verdict.
Circuit Board Value Calculator: Sorted vs Mixed
Enter your board grades and weights to see what a sorted lot is worth against what a general yard pays, plus what…
DPF: Clean or Replace? Decision Tool
Soot burns off and ash never does. Work out which you have from mileage and symptoms, then see the net cost once…
Copper Granulator Payback Calculator
How many pounds of fine cable each machine tier needs to pay back, at live copper prices, and when stripping is the…
XRF Analyzer: Buy, Rent or Neither?
Whether an analyser pays at all comes before which model. Avoided mis-grade cost against ownership, rental at 2026 rates, and the detector…
Scrap Scale Picker: Capacity, Class and Certification
Whether you legally need a certified scale turns on one question. Capacity, accuracy class and the five checks that apply to any…
Buying and repair guides
What a piece of equipment or a repair actually costs, worked out before the recommendation rather than after it. Prices are checked against published trade figures and the core value of what comes off is counted, which most repair estimates leave out.
Aftermarket vs OEM Catalytic Converter: What You Save Now and Lose at Scrap Time
An aftermarket converter saves hundreds today. It also carries a shorter warranty, is illegal in four states unless CARB-certified, and is worth…
Alternator: Remanufactured, New or Core Exchange, and Why the Part Number Beats the Brand
Four routes priced, the battery test that saves the whole job, and why two Denso units carry core charges of $68 and…
Buying a Used Catalytic Converter: The Legal Test Before the Price Test
Used converters are conditionally lawful, not simply legal or banned. The certification rule, the seven states with ID requirements, the penalties, and…
Catalytic Converter Replacement Cost: The Bill, the Options, and the $50 to $450 You Get Back
Every replacement-cost guide gives you the bill. This one gives you the number they leave out: what the failed unit you hand…
Copper Granulator Buying Guide: The Volume Where Chopping Beats Stripping
What granulation is worth per pound at live rates, the material volume each tier needs to pay back, and the four cases…
Cutting Tools for Scrap: Which Blade Turns a $3.68 Pound Into a $5.95 One
Every cut is a grade decision. What each cut is worth at live rates, where the consumable cost exceeds the gain, and…
DPF Replacement vs Cleaning: The Cost, and the $700 Filter You Should Not Give Away
Cleaning runs $150 to $900, replacement $2,400 to $6,500, and the filter you hand over is worth $20 to $700 to the…
Handheld XRF Analyzer for Scrap: Buy, Rent, or Do Without
Framed by mis-grade cost rather than features. What the tiers cost, why the detector sets the price, when LIBS is the better…
Hybrid Battery: Replace, Rebuild, or Scrap the Whole Car
The three-way decision with the number most guides omit: what your old pack returns. Dealer, specialist and salvage pricing, the 50 percent…
Nissan Leaf Battery Replacement Cost Today: New, Salvage and Rebuilt
You have a dealer quote, a salvage pack lead and a rebuilder pitch, and none of them are comparable as stated. The…
Nissan Leaf Battery: New, Salvage or Rebuilt, Priced Per Usable kWh
Three Leaf battery quotes are never comparable as quoted. This guide converts every route to cost per usable kilowatt hour, and the…
Scrap Hauling Setup: Trailer, GVWR and the Load Size Where Fuel Eats the Payout
The minimum viable load by material, worked from trip cost. What you can legally tow, trailer or pickup bed, and the five…
Scrap Metal Scale Buying Guide: Legal-for-Trade or Not, and Why It Decides Every Dispute
Only a certified reading counts in a weight dispute. What NTEP requires, the three accuracy classes, what certification costs, and how to…
Scrap Price Apps and Trackers: Yard-Reported vs Benchmark-Derived
Two models, opposite failure modes. What user-reported prices do well, what benchmark-derived prices do well, and which to use for which decision.…
Scrap the Car Whole or Part It Out: The Completeness Paradox Explained
Stripping drops the rate on everything that remains. The five parts worth pulling anyway, what to leave attached, and the arithmetic that…
Scrap Yard, Specialist Buyer or Refiner: The Same Part Is Worth $3 or $700
One routing table, many parts. What a general yard pays against what a specialist pays, why the gap is a multiple rather…
Selling Circuit Boards and E-Scrap: Yard by the Pound or Refiner by Assay
Why nobody pays gold spot, the three to seven times gap between a yard and a proper buyer, board grades and 2026…
Starting a Scrap Metal Business: Licence Costs, ID Laws and the Minimum Kit
The licence is the cheap part. What registration actually costs by state, the record-keeping that gates the business, and the minimum equipment…
Tesla Battery Pack: Why Chemistry, Not Model, Decides What You Pay and What You Get Back
New, refurbished or salvage, and the module repair most owners never hear about. Plus the chemistry check that decides what your old…
The $10 Scrap Sorting Kit: Magnet, File and Cutters, and What Each One Proves
Three tools settle almost every grading question a scrapper faces. What each one proves, what it cannot, and the three free tests…
Wire Stripping Machine Buying Guide: The Monthly-Pound Number That Picks Your Machine
Not a top-five list. Three price tiers mapped to monthly pounds of cable, using live copper grade prices and the 48 percent…
Where scrap comes from
Sourcing rather than selling: where the material actually is, what permission it needs, and which sources are worth the effort once the metal is weighed against the time.
Where to Find Scrap Copper
Copper arrives inside equipment being replaced. Where it actually sits, how much is in each source, and which are worth the effort…
Where to Find Scrap Metal Without Getting Charged for It?
The legal position turns on ownership, access and intent, and scale increases the risk rather than reducing it. The permissioned sources that…
Where to Find Scrap Silver
Silver is in many things and worth collecting from few. Contacts, relays, solder and film, the cadmium rule, and where it is…
How to use them with the live board
Each guide links to the parts of Scrap Price Today it relies on: the live price board for today’s indicative figures, the price charts for the trend, the scrap value calculator for a quick estimate and the country pages for local currency and selling rules. Guides are reviewed against the grade specifications and market data they cite, and the review month is shown at the top of each one.