ScrapValue Learning Center
Professional tutorials for every stage of a scrap run—from the first weight and yard quote to the receipt, actual payout, and decision you make next time.
Featured product tour
See how ScrapValue turns a pile of mixed metal into a clear estimate, a documented sale, and a payout record you can use on the next trip.
Product tour
See what you can accomplish for free, what Pro unlocks, how subscriptions and Lifetime differ, and how existing owners remain protected.
You'll finish with: Choose a plan based on the records and decisions you need—not on a crippled demo.
Read the guideTutorial
Create a clear load estimate from several metal grades, keep units consistent, and save the run so the estimate is ready at the yard.
You'll finish with: Finish with a saved load whose materials, weights, rates, photos, and estimated total can be reviewed later.
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Use ScrapValue Pro to photograph or import scale tickets, review on-device OCR, and keep every receipt attached to the correct sale.
You'll finish with: Create a searchable sale record with its original receipt image, verified details, and a clean actual payout.
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Compare complete quoted payouts across yards, account for missing grades and trip costs, and save the evidence that improves future decisions.
You'll finish with: Choose a yard using the expected result for the entire load—not one eye-catching price.
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Learn what the four official monthly scrap indexes measure, how to read direction and momentum, and why index points are not a local cash price.
You'll finish with: Use Market Trends as reliable market context without mistaking a national index for a yard quote.
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Record estimates and actual payouts consistently, search past trips, and use the differences to improve future weights, grades, and yard choices.
You'll finish with: Build a useful private operating record rather than a pile of disconnected scale tickets.
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Configure ScrapValue for the way your yard quotes: choose an app language, local currency, pounds or kilograms, appearance, and workspace theme.
You'll finish with: Make every calculator label, rate, and saved record easier to interpret before starting a load.
Read the guideField guide
A practical, price-neutral method for sorting a load, weighing each grade, applying a local yard quote, and estimating the payout before you drive.
You'll finish with: Create a defensible mixed-load estimate without relying on a generic online price list.
Read the guideUnderstand why copper, brass, aluminum, stainless steel, wire, and steel are graded differently—without relying on a price list that may already be stale.
You'll finish with: Sort more deliberately and know which grade questions to ask before spending time processing material.
Read the guideA detailed checklist for current quotes, sorting, safe loading, paperwork, scale tickets, and recording what the trip actually paid.
You'll finish with: Arrive with fewer surprises and leave with the information needed to evaluate the trip.
Read the guideIdentify common copper scrap grades, understand what separates clean copper from lower-recovery material, and build a price-neutral value estimate.
You'll finish with: Separate common copper material more confidently and know which grade questions to ask a receiving yard.
Read the guideCompare common No. 1 and No. 2 copper scrap characteristics, learn why cleanliness changes recovery, and estimate each grade separately.
You'll finish with: Recognize the visible issues that often separate cleaner copper from coated, soldered, or contaminated copper before asking a yard to grade it.
Read the guideLearn what buyers commonly mean by bare bright copper wire, what can disqualify material, and how to compare stripping effort with an estimated grade difference.
You'll finish with: Keep true bare-wire candidates separate and decide whether preparation is worthwhile without assuming a guaranteed premium.
Read the guideUnderstand how conductor recovery, insulation, connectors, cable construction, and yard categories affect an insulated copper wire estimate.
You'll finish with: Group insulated wire more consistently and compare as-is value with safe preparation using measured recovery rather than guesswork.
Read the guideIdentify common brass scrap, separate red and yellow families from plated or attached material, and estimate value with a yard-confirmed grade.
You'll finish with: Recognize common brass clues while avoiding the costly assumption that color or magnet response proves an alloy.
Read the guideSeparate common aluminum scrap forms, recognize attachments and mixed alloys, and estimate cans, sheet, castings, extrusions, or wheels by yard-confirmed grade.
You'll finish with: Keep higher-clarity aluminum groups from being diluted by steel, plastic, glass, moisture, or mixed product forms.
Read the guideUnderstand why stainless grades are separated by alloy chemistry, why a magnet is inconclusive, and how to estimate stainless scrap without guessing the grade.
You'll finish with: Keep known and unknown stainless material separated and ask for the alloy information a buyer needs to make a reliable quote.
Read the guideRecognize common lead scrap forms, avoid unsafe battery or dust exposure, and build a yard-confirmed value estimate without guessing purity.
You'll finish with: Keep known lead separate, route batteries and hazardous items correctly, and ask the receiving facility the questions needed for a usable quote.
Read the guideSort, inspect, weigh, label, and transport a scrap load with fewer grading surprises while avoiding unsafe or unprofitable processing.
You'll finish with: Arrive with a documented, yard-compatible load and a clear estimate without treating aggressive dismantling as automatically worthwhile.
Read the guideRead gross, tare, net, grade, rate, deductions, and payout lines on a scrap-yard scale ticket, then compare the transaction with your original estimate.
You'll finish with: Leave the yard with a ticket you understand and a clear record of the weights, grades, rates, deductions, and final payment.
Read the guideCalculate gross, tare, and net metal weight; keep units consistent; and estimate a mixed scrap load from grade-specific yard quotes.
You'll finish with: Build an auditable weight-and-value worksheet that can be compared directly with the final scale ticket.
Read the guideLearn why commodity benchmarks, producer price indexes, national estimates, posted prices, quotes, and final scrap-yard payouts are different numbers.
You'll finish with: Use market information as context while basing a trip estimate on a current quote for the exact material and grade.
Read the guideApp story
A practical look at why the best scrap calculator is not only about multiplying weight by price—and how one connected record can improve the next sale.
You'll finish with: See where ScrapValue creates real value before, during, and after a yard trip, whether you stay free or choose Pro.
Read the guidePut the tutorials to work
Build a three-material estimate and see the workflow before you upgrade. Pro adds your own yard rates, receipt OCR, unlimited history, comparisons, market charts, photos, and reporting.
