Can't afford auction lots for scrap anymore. A pallet of 6 towers with no harddrive and using windows vista and a couple old laptops went for $340. Two years ago, I was buying larger lots for less than $25, usually paying $2 per unit max. Maybe I should just run a dozen or so that I haven't broken down .back thru the auction

You face three obstacles right now with computers.
1) retro went mainstream with covid lockdowns
2) too many people realised there was parts value to broken stuff.

3) alt coins went through the roof with the crypto crash. Many can be stably mined on laptops and even old pentium systems. Other space-based coins: (even really) old crap makes good storage hosts.

Here’s the deal: Plug a bunch of SAS controllers into a XPCI blade board and control the drives via 232.
486 tower. $100
Old blade. $100
xPCI SAS cards. $20
RS232 card or 800bd modem. $20
FireWire 800 card $50
10kGb card. $5

File coin, space coin, stor (token) etc
You literally sell cloud space for fractions of a penny. But if you build it: … etc. just make sure you have unlimited (or very large) outbound data. And a company that doesn’t get ticked you use it. It’s literally free money when done right. If you have enough old drives and enough space.
Just remember there’s legal and tax requirements
And value isn’t fixed. Your coins are paid daily based on storage use, and grow each day file parts are stored, but a coin or token can be $0.00000000001 today and $0.000005 tomorrow.

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Oops: another pile of info nobody asked for.

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At least you're not spamming the forum like certain other persons...

*dramatic eye roll*

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Here to learn more so I can recycle more
My grades are my own opinion and not an official grade from Boardsort

You would think with the crash in FTX (Bitcoin being in the dumpster) and Ethereum changing from proof of work to proof of stake that computer prices would go back down.

I enjoy a good auction as much as the next guy, but it still blows my mind that as a scrapper you are trying to pay for lots to then strip and send to Boardsort?
I've been saying this for years: just go into town and let people know that you will take their e-waste for free and they will give it to you, assuming they aren't terribly concerned about data destruction. You will then have more free computers that you will ever want to tear down. You don't even have to be a legit entity, jut print out some "Meowpher's E-Waste Emporium" business cards and you're off to the races.
If you build it, they will come. They will gladly send you on your way with whatever they have and it saves them money on the back end, it's a literal win-win for everyone.
The good old days of bidding a buck via sealed bid are largely over. You now have to deal with every jackhole and "reseller" (thanks, youtube) and you will pay dearly for stuff you could be getting for nothing, which is where you really need to be if boardsort is your main vendor.
Over time, once people figure out that you're they guy for old and dead computers, they will call you. You will get "vintage" computers in this manner as well.
I'm not trying to yuck your yum, although it may seem like it, but rather be helpful. I hate to see anyone waste their finite time or money on any venture when it can be so much easier.
You can do it.

Auctions are a great way to get non computer bulk. Police/rescue, scientific, medical. School, industrial.

Bidding for computers is hit and miss. More often miss. There’s too many people fixing them now. Thanks covid, more than YouTube.
And because of that higher value but still profitable auction lots show up from Amazon, walmart, etc. it’s another chain you need to find and get into but the are still there.

For computers the job now is learn. Edgeumacate your self, as it goes.
Nothing has changed in “scrap is the lowest value”. Ideally you fix stuff. Sell fixed parts. Or equipment. Scrap what is left.

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I bid on the escrap when a server cabinet has boards and the like, but only if it is a damaged cabinet that no one wants, so only pay scrap iron price. My main bids are for gaylords that have a lot of plastic stuff showing, like conveyor belt links, that historically don't have much interest by the online bidders, but since I live close to the auction house, I can check out the hidden contents, not completely, but enough to know if it is all garbage or heavy items concealed. I have bought a gaylord for 10 or 15 bucks and get up to 200 pounds of brass, and sometimes stainless steel, or at least steel. Often the crew at the consignors business load the gaylord, they are cleaning out the place and throw it all in. In everyday scrapping, over the years, I have made more money on the low end items, sheet steel, appliances, than the "Classy junkers" who would only take copper and brass. Of course, I worked harder, but at the end of the week I had a good payday, where they just made get-by money.

I recently picked up a small load of auction items from a third party medical supply house. This included several dialysis machines, oxygen concentrators, home oxygen bottle fill stations, misc. lab equipment, etc., etc. I usually try to keep my bidding on unknown items to no more than the shred value (currently $0.10/lbs in my neck of the woods) on the overall weight of the item. Unless I know something about the item. Boards so far have been... 'meh'. But I am currently making up the yeoman's wages in brass and copper. Plenty of that to go around.

Those icy concentrators go for big buck if they work.
And decent money if they need repairs

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