Why do small appliance motors pay so much less per kilogram than large industrial motors?
Short answer: Small appliance motors like those in fans or hair dryers have a much lower proportion of copper relative to their overall weight — more plastic housing, less winding — compared to larger industrial motors, which pack a higher percentage of copper into their windings, so the per-kilogram price for the intact unit tends to be lower for small appliance motors even though the copper itself is the same material.
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List Free →It’s about copper ratio, not copper quality
The copper wire inside a small appliance motor is the same material as the copper in an industrial motor — the difference is proportion. A small motor is often mostly plastic housing and a thin steel shell around a modest winding, while a larger industrial motor devotes more of its total mass to substantial copper windings.
Why buyers price by the whole unit
Unless you’ve separated the copper, a buyer is weighing and pricing the entire intact motor — housing, shaft, bearings, and all — so a unit with a lower copper-to-total-weight ratio will naturally price lower per kilogram than one with a higher ratio, even before any grading differences.
What changes the math
Pulling the windings removes the ratio problem entirely, since you’re then selling pure copper by weight rather than a mixed unit — see the windings-pulling question for when that trade-off is worth it for smaller units specifically.
How ScrapTrade Makes This Easier
Grouping small appliance motors together as a bulk lot, rather than listing them individually, is often the more practical approach on ScrapTrade given their modest per-unit value.
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