How to start your own junkshop business

Did you know that you could make big money out of buying and selling scraps .from any color paper to tin cans ,plastic ,copper alum,stainless,and many more...I started out my Junkshop business when I was almost out of money and had to look around the house that I could sell pretty quickly ,here in the Philippines there are many places that you can sell bottles,and plastics and almost anything you could throw out ,I believe that is where the saying the money is in the trash came from because it is true money is in the trash! One day I started cleaning the house and found some old pots and pans that were rusty and holes in them,put it in a sack and the same with old books with torn pages,broken appliances ,plastic buckets .cups , old tub basins ,rusty tools ,broken lawn mower,broken steel and plastic chairs ,I put all these things in a sack and took them to the junk shop ,I was surprised to see a pedicab buyer of scraps taking out copper from the motor of an old washing machine and refrigerator and from alternators of cars !wow that was something I learned went back home and did the same thing for if you were to sell old appliances the way they are they would be a lot cheaper if bought! But if you segregate the copper from the steel from thin steel plates everything would tripple!

The secret was to being able to identify the type of scrap your selling!when it comes to precious metals ,you will know if it is valuable if the metal does not stick to magnet!and for boxes and paper ,you would have to segregate news papers from assorted paper which is from old magazines ,brochures ,to white paper ,everything has to be categorized and each has it's name...For plastics you would have to segregate the Pet or the transparent plastics from the colored ones ,the transparent plastic are more valuable than colored plastic.

After segregating my scraps I went back to the junk shop and was able to sell all the trash I was about to throw out for 4600 pesos !which is 100 USD! enough to buy food for a whole week and buy something new for the house! I took interest in scraps and started off looking around at Junkshops and observed what scraps could be bought and what I needed to get started,I sold my car to make an investment in scraps and put up a new Junkshop business!

I sold my old car which was a 1983 mirage humpback for 50,000 pesos a little more than a thousand dollars ,I rented a vacant lot bought some scrap steel roofing from a jun kshop to use as a fence for the fence of a junkyard has to be 10feet high ,a scale that was for 20 kilos and a big scale that could weigh up to 1000 kilos .The 20kilo scale are for metals and for those who sell a couple of kilos of plastics or just a few kilos of metal,and I covered half of the 100 square meter yard and put up a roof so that scrap boxes and paper will not get wet for recycling companies do not buy them wet!Take note of that !Then I went to the municipality to get a health permit and business permit and went to get a trade name with DTI .

My first day buying scraps was memorable there were so many kids who sold scrap ! they would sell 2-3 kilos of plastics and a few bottles but little kids kept coming in and sold things the whole day including many people of all ages ,my first day I made 20 thousand pesos which is almost half of what I invested! before you start out you have to look for recycling companies get their number so that when you have enough to fill up a truck you they will come and pick it up or you can deliver it to them your self !if you have a truck that is great you got something to use when delivering scraps to the recycling companies or you can have the bigger junkshops pick it up ,or you can rent a truck !big junkshops have almost the same price as recycling companies ,their rate s are usually just a little bit lower and some are the same price as recycling companies ,it depends where they deliver it and who their contacts are.

You will also be able to benefit from scraps for some people even sell antiques that are worth a fortune when they are in a hurry to use the money and some parts of cars or appliances sold you may sell as a surplus part which will tripple your profit instead of selling it to recycling companies by segregating the metals from appliances you can sell it to consumers in need of spare parts so that they will not have to buy a new part.Old electric wires from cars or from installations from old houses and buildings also can be sold !there are shops that buy electrical wires with the skin still on them but the wires are more valuable with their skin off so if you have the time and patient you can start peeling the skin off those wires ,if not then you should know for 1 kilo of wire there will be 1fourth off from the weight when you sell them ,it will depend on how thick the skin on the wire is .

Buying and selling of scrap is fun and it is a dirty job but someone has to do it ! you will be amazed what people throw out that can still be used!I remember someone sold a steel picnic table with chairs that I bought for only 500 pesos or 10 USD! but was really worth 100 USD :)

I use at home till today!I hope that those who read this article has learned something and when you do start a Junkshop business you will not only be making a fortune but also helping the environment to be cleaner!