Selling Copper

A bucket of copper pipes from the heating conversion, a roll of earth cable, a carton of copper sheets from the workshop. Selling copper means first: find out which grade you have in mind. For the proceeds do not depend on the weight alone, but on how much of what lies on the scales is really copper.

This page describes the sale – how you determine the grade, which ways to us and what ends up in the account. What copper brings today per kilogram is on the side Copper price and changes daily.

What's your copper worth?

The value of a lot consists of three sizes: grade, weight and daily price. The grade you decide for yourself, the weight we determine on a calibrated scale, and the daily price is on our price pages every working day.

What is often underestimated is that there is a considerable gap between the highest and lowest copper grades. One hour of work with the pliers – peel off insulation, unscrew brass fittings – often shifts a lot a whole grade upwards. With a handful of cable remains, that's not worth it. It's almost always worth it with a carton.

A minimum amount of 25 euros applies per operation. This includes the expense of weighing, booking and paying out in no proportion to the proceeds.

The four copper grades recognize

We buy copper in several grades. These four cover almost everything that comes from household, craft and business.

Millberry – bare line

Millberry copper is bare, unalloyed copper wire without any wrapping: coiling wire from motors, drawn wires, collecting rails. Millberry is the highest grade, because nothing weighs that is not copper. You can recognize it on the evenly bright, reddish surface without any inrun.

Berry – slightly started

Berry is bare copper with a darker surface, often older tube or sheet. Chemically, it is the same copper; the oxide layer costs a small distance to Millberry. Pipes from a heating renovation usually end up here – provided the fittings are off.

Candle – mixed heavy copper

Under candle falls copper with beige: soldered tube pieces, plates with paint residue, moulded parts with small foreign parts. The soldering at the end of the tube is the most common reason why a lot of Berry moves to candle.

Copper cable – copper plus insulation

In the case of cables, the percentage of copper in the cross-section, not the gross weight, counts. A thin data cable with thick coat has a percentage of little copper, a finger-thick earth pipe a lot. The grades and what cable type brings stand up Copper cable purchase.

Further grades and the complete table can be found at Copper scrap and in Copper group.

How much copper can you sell as a private person?

For private individuals there is no limit on the volume of waste metal sold. You can bring a kilogram and you can bring a ton. What is added from certain amounts is the obligation to prove: From a payment of 1,000 euros, the money laundering law requires a valid ID card and we cannot pay out without it.

Two things are to be separated from it. First, copper must be yours – we only buy when the origin is clear and document every process. Secondly, in the case of regular sales, there may be a greater degree of industrial activity; this is a tax question and not a question of buying-in. Those who once vacate the cellar are not affected.

Can I sell copper as a private person?

Yeah. Private individuals can sell copper without an appointment and without a commercial registration. You need a valid ID, and the copper must be yours. A commercial license is not required.

The difference between private and commercial lies with us only in the billing: businesses receive a credit with VAT card, private individuals a billing without. The purchase price per kilogram is the same.

Three ways to bring your copper to us

Which way fits, the crowd decides.

Send in all over Germany. You can send copper to us as a DHL package up to 1,000 kilograms. You register the sale online, we provide the shipping label, you give the package. After weighing is settled. This is the way for everything that can be carried and packaged, and it works from all over Germany – not only from the Rhine-Neckar region.

Pick-up from 500 kilograms. From half a ton we pick up with our own fleet, Germany. The pick-up costs are based on the distance and will be mentioned to you before confirmation. On request, we provide containers for businesses.

Self-delivery to Ludwigshafen. Our recycling yard in Ludwigshafen am Rhein accepts copper from Monday to Saturday without an appointment. You go to the scales, we weigh, you get your money. This is the fastest way for customers from Ludwigshafen, Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar region – often you will be back on the road in twenty minutes.

The three ways in comparison are: Delivery, collection and dispatch.

How to settle

Weighing is done on a calibrated scale. What is determined is the net weight of the grade – adhesions, foreign substances and moisture do not pass as copper. Choose the grade yourself at the time of registration; the actual grade will be billed on the scale.

The payment is made within 24 hours after weighing, by bank transfer or in cash. In any case, you will receive a weight, grade and kilo price bill – even if the classification is different than the registration.

Collecting pure grades pays off

A mixed lot is billed according to the weakest grade. This is not a strictness, but a calculation: if you throw bare wire, soldered pipes and cable remains into a bucket, you make one of three types, and then you have to separate them from someone else. This is precisely the cost of the lower price.

If you have copper regularly, you don't need a workshop. Three buckets or three cartons suffice: one for bare copper, one for everything with soldering points and coating, one for cables. Labels, ready. The difference in the calculation is greater than the amount of effort involved in sorting.

Two things are worth separating, because they are often overlooked. Brass fittings on copper pipes are a grade of their own with their own price – they bring down more than when they pull down the copper pipe. And electric motors do not belong in the copper: they contain copper wraps, but also iron and cast iron, and are billed as an engine.

Copper from plants and machining

The same daily rate applies to farms, but a different procedure. Production residues are coming back in the same grade and in a predictable quantity – for this purpose, we place containers on site and pick up as needed. Copper chips from machining are a separate grade, because cooling lubricant weighs along; the decisive factor is how dry they occur.

If you come for the first time with a larger crowd, you can ask for a Supply The Then the price is fixed before the ride, and you can compare it.

One kilo of copper – is that even worth it?

A single kilogram of copper is less than the minimum amount of 25 euros. So it's not worth it as a separate process. It becomes meaningful as soon as several kilograms come together or the copper goes together with other scrap metal: brass, aluminium and stainless steel are billed in the same process, each grade with its own price.

Those who regularly have small quantities are best collected in separate containers. That's nothing and keeps the game up.

Frequently asked questions about copper sales

Do I have to clean the copper first? Nope. Clean sorted brings more than dirty mixed, but you don't have to wash anything. Remove what is not copper – insulation, screws, brass parts – and leave the rest as it is.

Do you accept small quantities? Yes, as long as the process is over 25 euros in total. Several grades may add up.

What if I can't determine the grade? Send us a photo in advance. We'll tell you what kind it is before you drive or pack.

How does the copper price come about? It follows the copper market and is checked daily. The current values for each grade stand on Copper price.

Do you also buy copper from plants? Yeah. For production residues, machining scrap and recurring quantities there are framework agreements and containers on site. Please contact us at Contact The