Most of the time I would think machines that make it to a recycler have "issues" or they would have gone to other people or ebay (anything non PC related). Most of the working gear that does make it there is too old to be usefull and too new to be collectable (that is why it is next to worthless and if you have space that is what you need to snag and keep a while, atleast the better models anyway).
All recyclers are bullshitters: "there is alot of gold in these boards", "I can get $X money for this elsewhere", etc. If you think the prices they ask for as-is gear is too much you need to walk away and come back another day. From what I hear from collectors of much older machines who frequent recyclers they seem to use you to figure out what things are worth (give a high price and see if you bite, then drop it a little for the next guy untill somebody buys it). They know some items are worth money on ebay and will hoard that in different sections of their junk. You will have a hard time getting deals from that guy now that he knows you will pay good money for junk, lesson learned.
It's pretty much ruined with this guy, but maybe I'll have luck with the next. What I need to do is go in with a very hard price set for what I'll pay per system, $10 per PowerBook or $5 per desktop or whatever and refuse to budge from that, and walk away if he's not willing to deal.
The problem is if you go in and ask for Apple or Amiga or something then they're going to think immediately you have found some way to monetize on such things, or if you just want one or two they'll charge you a boutique price.
There's a few other recyclers I am going to try, other ones that get lots of random computers from recycling drives and such where I might get lucky. This time I'm going to try a completely new strategy and I will walk away if the terms aren't favorable. I guess it takes one bad experience to learn the ropes but I think I'm better prepared now.
