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1. Regarding the board in this photo for example--what on this board has the value to you?

If my shipping cost is about $1/pound, it's not worth it to me to send you a one pound board in this category for a 40₵ return. I can get more locally for some components like the heat sink, copper wire, transformers without the shipping cost.

If I remove those components to get better return and reduce the shipping weight, is there any value left to Boardsort?

2. Do you buy these guys separately? I believed that they were just copper bearing, but I've just seen there may be gold in these as well.

The posted board is a poor choice for breaking down. The value and weight are one and the same. Copper incased in iron and/or steel.

I’ve played with weight reductions and this is a board I’d sell locally. As #3 electrical. Basically a copper recover shred value.

The smaller photo.
The back is the value. Normally these are nickel or tin plated copper slabs. Use is almost always consistent on a board so I use a cheap knife or screwdriver to etch one. On occasion you will find solid silver or nickel backs.
If one is copper plate they all are. If one is silver they all are.
You won’t find silver on any thing modern other than very high end equipment that is worth more as a doa board than high telco scrap to online buyers

The only time I’ve seen gold was gold plated copper, on boards that cost over $1000 new. “Look at me” equipment. EVGA, Gigabyte, ASR, and ROG stuff. The same places you find gold cap canister capacitors, gold pin mounts, etc etc.
i have a gold plated fan cage from an EVGA power supply. It’s bling. lol

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I've sent shipments to Boardsort only twice, but both times from the San Diego area. Almost two years ago I moved out of CA back to my Kansas hometown. So now my shipping cost should be a lot less, but probably still not cost effective to send anything low grade. So strip I shall, and throw what's left in the scrap steel for local.

Those diodes I have always collected and just smash the ceramic and throw the metal backplate in my #2 copper for local. But I read something about there possibly being some gold in them, which is why I asked about that.

There is some gold in nearly every solid stat component. That’s why larger non-E companies like Cozzy buy brown board.
There’s gold in far more than 99% of people realise. And it stays a “secret” because you’ll spend 10x the money getting it out.

The people who go after that gold tend to be buying 1000LB lots of junk boards on ebay for $10:

Go figure

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