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    Strip the cable or sell it intact? Calculator

    Enter the weight, what it is made of, and a buyer price. You get a first answer without an account. Everything is your own assumption, and you can change every number.

    The short answer

    Stripping pays when the price gap between the stripped grade and the intact grade, times the copper you really get out, is larger than the extra costs plus the extra hours at your hourly value. With thin cable and small lots it usually is not.

    Where are you?
    The item

    Anything in that weight which is not the material itself.

    Material weight used: unknown

    Material and evidence

    Only a check you made yourself counts as verified. Colour in a photo is not evidence.

    No material from live installations, public infrastructure, skips or building sites without the owner’s consent.

    Route 1: sell it intact to a metal buyer

    The grade your buyer would put the unprocessed item in.

    A quote I got · entered by you

    Without a buyer this route is not available.

    Could someone reuse it?

    Usable lengths, bars or cable often sell for more than scrap.

    Route 2: strip or sort, then sell

    Mechanical stripping or sorting of material that is already disconnected. Never burn insulation.

    Costs and your time

    Fuel, van, inspection trip. Applies to every route, also to a free item.

    Your target

    A single allowance for what may go wrong, such as a lower grade. Do not also add it to the costs.

    Paste the listing text (optional)

    We read it for material, weight and price basis. It stays in your browser.

    Only you see this.

    Kept as a link for you. FlipGap does not fetch the page.

    What we would do

    Add the missing figures

    Fill in weight, material and one buyer price to get a first answer.

    Based on the user’s own assumptions · All figures are before your personal or business taxes.

    Check this next

    1. Clear up ownership and whether it is disconnected first. Until then this route is closed.

    Result

    Routes side by side. They are alternatives, not a sum. Three scenarios from your own ranges. They are not probabilities.

    Resell for reuse

    Not available
    • • Clear up ownership and whether it is disconnected first. Until then this route is closed.

    Margin after your time: unknown

    Sell intact to a metal buyer

    Not available
    • • Clear up ownership and whether it is disconnected first. Until then this route is closed.

    Margin after your time: unknown

    Questions for the seller

    • What is the net weight of the material alone, without reel, packaging or fittings?
    • Does the stated weight include anything else?
    • What markings or type codes are printed on it? Could you send a photo of a cut end?
    • Is the price per kg, per piece or for the whole lot?
    • Are there usable lengths or pieces, and how long are they?
    • Does it belong to you, and where is it from?
    • Is everything already disconnected and removed?
    FlipGap never messages sellers for you.
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    The formulas

    • saleable metal = material weight × copper share × (1 − losses)
    • cash surplus = sale proceeds − purchase price − other cash costs
    • margin after your time = cash surplus − your hours × your hourly value
    • maximum offer = cautious sale proceeds − other cash costs − your time − risk reserve − target profit

    All figures are before your personal or business taxes. Three scenarios from your own ranges. They are not probabilities.

    Is a stripping machine worth it?

    Only with steady volume. Divide the machine price by the extra margin per kg it gives you. That is the number of kg before it has paid for itself, and you need the cash up front. We show no break-even figure here because we have no measured throughput data. Do not buy a machine for one lot.

    Frequently asked

    Because the intact price already reflects the copper share the buyer assumes. If your cable has less copper than you think, stripping brings less than planned. Weigh a sample, strip it, weigh the copper.

    Because it depends on the exact cable type. We have no measured data to publish, and we do not invent it.

    Scrap prices change weekly and differ between buyers. On the German site you can fill a field from a dated dealer list. Your own quote is always better.

    All results are before your personal or business taxes. Whether and how your sales are taxed depends on your situation and country.