Boardsort.com

Does Boardsort currently purchase printers? I am only asking because I do not like taking apart the plastic ink jet printers, and they do not seem to be worth my time to take them apart.

Thank you!

Officially, no.
If you show up with one or two you’ll likely get lower than steel rate.
If you show up with 50 they’ll probably turn it down.

The average inkjet printer is worth less than 50 cents in scrap. And takes too much time to take apart.
Even all in one inkjets rarely pass $1.50. And they take 3-4 times as long to take apart.
The lowest end stuff like a Lexmark or dell bookshelf inkjet printer takes me about 5 minutes with a giant screwdriver and slip jaws to just bust apart and that’s too long for me. I dump them whole locally for #4 (lowest grade) shred.

Laser printers will always get some love, but not enough to make it a category for boardsort.

If you have laser printers email Chris directly. If inkjet just dump them locally to a larger steel yard or use a community electronics collection option.

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-- my grades are my own and do not represent an offer from boardsort, nor are they guaranteed. Please keep that in mind.

The only thing worth any value for me on a printer is the ink jet card (on ink jet cartridges) or the little gold tab on the laser toner cartridge.

More than anything it depends on where you are.

Laser printers and commercial thermal printers (anything bigger than 4x6 pages) both have multiple valuable parts.
Commercial thermal printers have electrical cartridges that need to be replaced. Electrical cartridges have gold and silver as well as copper and rare earths.
Dead cartridges run 25č-50č.

Laser carts are easy to find buyers. Just look up sell empty toner or we buy toner.
Most sell for a few dollars max but the prices can get double digit easily.

Both of these are also heavy printers. And the majority of the weight is copper.
Making the worst payout (you should accept) as copper, or #1 electrical, breakage.

All that aside laser printers are a throwback in being big, open, and modular.
Finding parts is as easy as going to Amazon. No ebay required. And the internet is full of half way decent repair guide the day one novice can follow.
The average seller repaired/used starting rate for laser printers regardless of age is $25.
Other than personal time there’s really no reason to junk a laser printer. Even if you don’t want to fix it scrapping down to raw parts and selling them is not difficult.
I’ve even sold packages of screws from HP and Brother printers.

I don’t deal with inkjet. I charge 25č each to take them.
But I smile every time I see a laser printer.
Guaranteed payday.

_________________
-- my grades are my own and do not represent an offer from boardsort, nor are they guaranteed. Please keep that in mind.

Let's not forget the most valuable part of scrap printers:
The toner/inkjet cartridges themselves.
Yes, as lost stated, just toss the printers into the shred pile (unless your yard is anal about them).
There's some gold in the strip where the cart makes contact with the printer carrier. If you don't feel like going that route, the carts themselves can be sold for anywhere from .25-5.00/ea; carts for newer printers being more desirable and worth a bit more. There are companies online that buy them to refill and sell en masse to businesses and schools at a discount, there are also local companies (at least for me) that refill inkjets and toner carts that will buy them to have on hand to re-sell at the counter.
There's a company I have been dealing with for years, you can find them online, they will send you prepaid labels, just fill a box with them and send the box on its way. Heck, many businesses will save them for you if they don't feel like bringing them to a drop off center, another source of revenue if you or anyone is interested. It isn't much, but it's nice to get a check every once in a while for $50 bucks

Also, this blurb excludes laser printers. As previously stated, there are valuable parts in most of them.
Not to add on, I realize these topics have been previously discussed.

[quote="Thearchivebooks"]Let's not forget the most valuable part of scrap printers: The toner/inkjet cartridges themselves[/quote]

Two quick follow ups
You can also pop the contact ribbon if you desire.
I know HP ribbons when trimmed can go with clean gold fingers.
If you refine or sell on ebay you can also collect ribbons from just about any inkjet.

Cartridge buyers generally want undamaged carts though.
You’re out of luck if it leaks, is previously refilled, or is missing the ribbon/contacts.

Ink carts range from 25c (or $0 free recycling for Lexmark/Dell) to around $5 for some Xerox and Oni carts.

Toner carts start at a few bucks and generally get up to the $50 range. Some commercial level ones do pass the the hundred dollar mark though.
Prepping toner carts is more confusing. Most buyers will let you keep/remove the connector board from HP, Samsung, and Xerox carts. Because the have single write proms that are replaced anyway. Just don’t damage the mount plastic in removing the card.

On the other hand many companies refuse other toner carts without the expensive cards.

If you do sell cartridges make sure you read ALL the fine print and faqs.

Worst case you can always do the right thing and pop any carts out and recycle them for free: bestbuy, Home Depot, lowes, office MaxDepot, staples. Call your post office and ask for a free mailer for ink carts. Etc.
Don’t leave the carts in the printer when you scrap it. It’s just rude. You’re going to dump ink streaks all over an expensive shredder and make gooey gunk in the shred sort. Fastest way to piss off your buyer.

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-- my grades are my own and do not represent an offer from boardsort, nor are they guaranteed. Please keep that in mind.