Guide · First contact
What a wire buyer asks before anything else
The questions are always the same and always in the same order. Answer them in sequence and a lot prices itself. Answer them out of order and the conversation starts again.
Request a quote
Tell the desk what you have in What a wire buyer asks first
Send the basics and a buyer reviews the lot, usually the same working day.
- Reviewed by a buyer, not a scale
- Reels, pallets, partials or a full truckload
- Anywhere in Ohio, one desk
- 01Send the wire type, quantity and pickup city.
- 02A buyer reviews the lot and replies with a basis.
- 03Freight and release are agreed, then the load is booked.
Lot details
Everything helps, but the wire type, the quantity and the pickup city are enough to start.
Six questions in a fixed order
What is it. What metal is the conductor. What voltage. How much is there. What condition is it in. Where does it sit. That is the whole interview, and it has not changed in decades because each answer decides which question is worth asking next.
A seller who leads with tonnage and asks for a number gets a wide range and nothing else. A seller who answers six questions in sequence usually gets a figure that holds when a truck arrives, because the buyer has had nothing to guess at.
What it is, and what metal
The first question is family and construction, not brand. A reel of THHN is a commodity that competes with every supply house in the state, and it prices against a shelf. A reel of 15 kV cable with a copper tape shield is a project item that competes with a lead time. Same weight on the dock, different market entirely.
Metal comes second because it sets the floor under the lot. Copper at 4/0 and aluminum at 4/0 look alike on the rack and are not the same proposition, and the difference is not a matter of taste. One carries a substantial recovery value; the other is judged almost entirely on whether it can be used again.
Voltage sets the ceiling
Voltage decides who can buy the cable and what they must do before installing it. Six hundred volt cable can go almost anywhere, into almost any contractor's stock, with no test required. Two thousand volts and above narrows the field to industrial maintenance departments, utilities and the contractors who serve them, and each step up adds a test requirement and a handling requirement.
That is why a fifteen kilovolt reel with no test history can be worth less than the same copper at 600 volts, even though the cable is heavier and the materials cost more when it was new. The market is smaller and the proof required is larger.
How much, and in what condition
Footage decides whether the lot is a reel or a pull. Condition decides whether it is inventory or recovery. Those two answers together decide whether a truck is worth sending, which is the only question the seller actually cares about.
A single reel of two hundred feet in perfect condition may not justify a trip. Eight reels of eight hundred feet in fair condition will, especially if they are a standard size. Condition also has to be described in specifics rather than adjectives, because fair means nothing and a water-stained wrap with a bent flange means something.
Where it sits, and why that comes last
The final question kills more deals than the other five combined, and it is asked last because it only matters once the other answers are good. Where it sits means dock height and door width, forklift capacity and floor loading, whether a crane or overhead hoist can reach the rack, whether the plant will load the truck or expects to be loaded, and which hours a truck is allowed through the gate.
A reel in a basement vault behind a six foot door is a different job from the same reel on a dock, and the difference shows up in what a buyer will pay rather than in what the cable is worth. Answer the question before it is asked, and the rest of the conversation is short.
Related pages
Adjacent cities, wire families and regional briefs.
Other seller guides
All guides- Reading a reel tagWhat the tag carries and what a missing one costs
- Estimating footage by weightWhen the reel scale is the only measurement you have
- Copper versus aluminium valueTwo metals, two sets of facts
- Preparing a surplus manifestThe line items a buyer can actually price
- Photographing a reelSix photographs that answer most questions
- Medium voltage cable safetyIsolation, grounding and handling before removal
Questions sellers ask
Why does the buyer ask about metal before voltage?
Because metal sets the floor under the offer and voltage sets the ceiling, and the floor is the number that has to be covered first. If the metal content alone justifies a truck, the voltage conversation is about upside. If it does not, the voltage and condition have to carry the whole lot.
What if I do not know the footage?
Say so and give the reel weight and the size. A buyer can run the arithmetic from there, and an estimate with its basis attached is workable. What is not workable is a figure invented to sound precise, because the correction happens later on somebody else's scale.
Does the brand on the jacket matter?
Rarely for the price and often for the paperwork. What a buyer needs is the type, size, voltage and listing mark, because those are what an installer can defend. A known manufacturer helps confirm that the print is genuine, but it is not the reason a reel is bought.
Request a quote
Tell the desk what you have in What a wire buyer asks first
Send the basics and a buyer reviews the lot, usually the same working day.
- Reviewed by a buyer, not a scale
- Reels, pallets, partials or a full truckload
- Anywhere in Ohio, one desk
- 01Send the wire type, quantity and pickup city.
- 02A buyer reviews the lot and replies with a basis.
- 03Freight and release are agreed, then the load is booked.
Second look at the lot
Everything helps, but the wire type, the quantity and the pickup city are enough to start.