OMG Has everyone seen the prices on Ebay!?!?

[leadbutt]

When I was thinking of selling off my WWs so I didn't have to melt them I looked on ebay. I just couldn't believe it. They are going for 1$ a # plus shipping on a lot of the auctions. Are you kidding me?! Wow! Things are getting crazy out here brothers and sisters. Get what you can and sit on it. It seems its worse then I thought.

L. Bottoms

[NoAngel]

I don't mean to be rude but have you been outside lately? :kidding:


It's been a dollar a pound around here for a long time now. I get better than that to the right person.

[leadbutt]

Im used to 20$ a bucket in my closed off world. See what happens when I step outside? Lol.

L. Bottoms

[NoAngel]

I feel ya. My family owns a tire shop, so I am very much spoiled. When I see what people pay.....yikes.

[dragon813gt]

$1 a pound is actually pretty low for eBay.

[RogerDat]

Lot of factors to what folks pay for WW's
buck a pound + shipping is fairly normal around here but these are generally already cast into ingots rather than raw WW's.
Local prices on WW's in the wild so to speak vary by region, and quality to some extent. Sources matter even within a region. One scrap yard is 75 cents for what another scrap yard in the area charges a dollar. Some states the ratio of lead to zinc and steel WW's is so bad that it increases prices for the lead ones.

$20 is pretty cheap, scrap yard would pay more than that for them around here. I think they give around 30 - 35 cents a pound. That means I pay around 40 cents a pound to "encourage" tire stores to sell to me. Figure a bucket (5 gallon) at around 100#

If I could not find a local source I would book mark the vendor threads in swapping and selling that sell WW and Range lead to purchase on a regular basis. Think of it as a Christmas club account. Little bit each month means at the end of the year you have a pretty decent stash built up. If you can afford $65 a month you would get 600# of good ingots by the end of the year, even at $35 set aside each month and buying every other month that is still 300# a year. Approx 13,291 38 special rounds or 9333 heavy pistol or rifle rounds at 255 grains each. Do it for a few years and you will be in very good shape for lead.

I do my own ingots by scrounging for lead, save some money overall but at the standard prices for lead in our area plus cost in propane and gas to collect required for turning scrounged lead into useable ingots the $1 a pound from the forum is not much more expensive. Difference between forum and my own cost is every so often I find a deal because I am out looking so overall it turns out cheaper. Did I mention I have plywood on back seat to stack lead on when I score some? Or that sometimes the "deal" requires a fairly large purchase right now. Or that wife won't drive my car? Doubt she would even get in it to flee a forest fire. Buckets, gloves, wood support/cover on back seat, scale and other odds and ends in there are not her thing. Nope, she is not going in that there auto without an order from god. So that is another thing to consider wear and tear, mine is an old commute mobile, paid for, and I'll drive it till it dies so not an issue.

I went far afield but no I don't pay attention to prices on eBay, if I sell any lead I do it locally or through the forum, the rest I hoard. I would recommend forum over eBay by 1000%. Scrounging then do your homework, paying lead prices for a pile of zinc will sort of annoy you, as will pewtex instead of pewter.

[Greg S]

Saw the title and thought you were talking about beanie babies until I opened it up. Alotta folks think thier
stuff is gold on that sight.

[DerekP Houston]

I don't mind paying $1 per lb shipped for clean lead to my door. Saves me the trouble and effort of finding WW and smelting the clips out. I've gotten some deals cheaper, some more expensive when i added in shipping, buyer beware.

[leadbutt]

1$ per # of clean lead is spot on but im taking about the dirty stuff with steel in it.

L. Bottoms

[bumpo628]

The scary thing is that there doesn't appear to be too many ppl selling lead here right now.
I don't see any in swapping & selling. Not much activity in the vendor sales section either.
I think the only one who has any lead in vendor sales is the Captain, but there are no recent posts.

EDIT: Upon further review, there are a few listings for lead alloys in the S&S section.

[A pause for the COZ]

I have scrapper who is dropping me off 5 gal buckets of raw WW for $39 a bucket. Think I am lucky.

[kungfustyle]

If you are looking for lead go visit the Captain in the vendor section. But yea, I'll agree, stuff is outta control. Stash lead, it may be worth $10 a pound in a few more years.

[Sensai]

But that's for the antique/original/vintage/hard to find wheel weights! :???:

[LenH]

I have gotten range lead from Zbench on the vender section. I is good clean 98/2 alloy that is packed very well and od about $1.25 per pound delivered.

[RogerDat]

Lead is a commodity, supply and demand control the price. Production will fall if price gets too low, that will reduce supply and bring prices back up. I don't see a balance point that is $10 a pound anytime soon (like my lifetime). Less is getting used in industry which increases available supply dropping prices. Over last few years prices have fluctuated but spot price has pretty much been below a dollar a pound. Tracker on the top of the page. Currently at ~93 cents which is a bit higher than it has been. Long way to get to $10. But what one will find is scrap lead will become less common, WW's are shifting to zinc and steel, old lead pipe is being replaced, roof flashing is removed and none of this old lead is being replaced with new items made from lead. Thus over time cheap scrap lead will become scarce leaving casters to purchase from places such as Rotometals at foundry prices. Maybe "clubs" will form to get volume discounts the way some ranges would do group buy powder or ammo purchases. Look for price of person to person to almost but not quite double as commercial becomes the primary supply.