Metal is quoted by metal but paid by grade
Metal prices are quoted by metal, such as copper or aluminium, but they are paid by grade. A grade is a description of how clean, how pure and how ready for the furnace a batch is. Two loads of the same metal can fall into very different grades, and the price follows the grade, not the metal.
Grading is the process of sorting and describing your material so it matches a recognised grade.
What a grade actually means
A buyer is not paying only for the metal in your load. They are paying for the metal minus the work it takes to make it usable. Clean, uniform, single-metal material can go almost directly into the furnace. Mixed, dirty or coated material needs sorting, stripping or extra refining first, and that work costs money. The buyer subtracts that cost from the price they offer you.
That is why grades exist: to give buyer and seller a shared shorthand for how much work is left. A buyer who sees a lot described as clean bare copper wire knows roughly what they are getting before they inspect it, and can offer a price that reflects it. If the lot turns out to be something else, the price follows, or the deal falls over.
The grades you are most likely to meet
| Metal | Higher grade | Mid grade | Lower grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper | Bare bright wire and clean tube, no coating, solder or paint | Copper with light oxidation, some solder or thin paint | Copper still inside insulated cable, or heavily tarnished and mixed |
| Steel | Clean, heavy structural steel and plate (often called HMS 1) | Lighter, mixed or painted steel (HMS 2) | Thin, light or heavily contaminated sheet and mixed scrap |
| Aluminium | Clean, single-alloy extrusions and sheet with no attachments | Cast aluminium and mixed clean alloys | Dirty, painted or attached to steel, rubber or plastic |
| Brass | Clean yellow or red brass, no steel parts attached | Brass fittings with some attachments | Plated, mixed or heavily corroded brass |
| Stainless | Identified, clean 304 or 316 with no attached steel | Mixed stainless grades | Unidentified or magnetic mixed items |
The exact names and definitions vary by country and by buyer, and many regions publish their own specifications, so treat the table as the direction of travel and not the legal wording. Your buyer's price sheet is the authority for the grade names they pay on. The Scrap Metal Terms Glossary explains common names such as HMS, UBC, bare bright and shredded.
Four practical steps to grade up
Separate by metal first
Start with the magnet split described in Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous Metals, then divide non-ferrous into copper, aluminium, brass, lead and zinc. Each of these sells separately, and a single mixed bin is priced at the lowest common denominator. Use buckets, bags or labelled bins, and keep the sorted piles apart.
Clean off contamination
Dirt, oil, grease, food residue and loose paint are not metal but they are weighed as if they were. Wipe off visible grime, drain any fluids from engines or appliances, and keep material dry. Moisture adds weight that buyers will deduct, and wet scrap can corrode.
Remove easy attachments
Take off anything non-metal that comes away without damaging the metal: plastic housings, rubber hoses, wooden handles, glass, foam. A radiator with the plastic tanks removed, or a pipe with its fittings detached, moves into a clearly cleaner grade for very little effort.
Do not mix the piles back together
A bag of clean bare copper dropped into a bin of insulated cable is priced as the blend, not as the best material in it. Keep every sorted category in its own container until the buyer weighs it.
Graded and sorted? Check a reference price for each category before you list.
Check live pricesA worked example with copper
Copper shows the biggest grading gap of any common scrap metal, which makes it the clearest case to study.
Imagine three loads, each containing the same weight of copper metal. The first is clean pipe and wire with no coating, which is the top grade, usually called bare bright or number one copper. The second is copper with light oxidation, a few soldered joints or a little paint, which sits a step down. The third is the same copper still inside plastic insulation, which a buyer has to strip before they can melt the metal inside.
The metal is the same in all three. The price is not, because each load needs a different amount of preparation. The cleaner the load, the higher the percentage of the weight that a buyer can actually sell on as copper. Our Copper Wire and Cable Scrap Price Guide explains where the gap comes from and how to decide whether stripping cable is worth your time.
The same principle applies to every metal in the table above. Ferrous grades have a smaller absolute gap because steel is cheap to begin with, but the proportions are similar: the cleaner and heavier the steel, the better the rate.
Is grading worth the effort?
"It sounds like a lot of work for a small difference"
For a small, casual load of ordinary steel, the time may not be worth the saving. For copper, aluminium, brass and stainless, or for any load approaching business quantities, grading is usually the highest-return job you can do before you sell, and the difference can be large. A useful rule is to compare the time spent with the price gap between the grade you have and the next one up. If an hour of sorting lifts the whole load a grade, it is usually time well spent.
A word about stripping cable and burning
Some sellers consider stripping insulation off copper cable themselves. Hand-stripping small amounts with the right tool is safe and can pay off, but never burn the insulation off. It is illegal in most places, it releases toxic smoke, and it reduces the quality of the copper. Many buyers accept insulated cable as it is, at a lower price that already accounts for their recovery cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth grading scrap for a small load?
For a very small, casual load of ordinary steel, probably not. For copper, aluminium, brass or stainless, or any business-sized load, grading nearly always pays for the effort and can substantially improve the price compared with a mixed, uncleaned lot.
What is the difference between copper number 1 and number 2?
Number 1 is clean, unalloyed copper such as bare wire, tubing or bus bar with no coating, solder or insulation. Number 2 has some solder, paint, thin coating or light oxidation. Number 1 sells for more because it needs less processing.
Should I strip insulation off copper cable myself?
It depends on volume and whether you have the right tools. Hand-stripping small amounts can pay off, but never burn insulation off, which is illegal in most places and dangerous. Many buyers accept insulated cable as it is at a lower price that already allows for their recovery cost.
Does grading matter for ferrous metal as well as non-ferrous?
Yes, though the gap is smaller in absolute terms. Clean, heavy steel such as HMS 1 is worth more than mixed, painted or light steel, but ferrous metal starts from a much lower base price than copper.
What happens if I describe my scrap as a higher grade than it is?
The buyer will check the material on receipt. On ScrapTrade they have 24 hours to confirm it matches the listing before the deposit is released, so an over-claimed grade is likely to end in a dispute or a reduced price. Describe your material honestly.
Graded and ready to sell?
Check a live price, then list for free and let verified buyers respond to a listing that shows exactly what you have.
Related reading: Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous Metals · Copper Wire and Cable Scrap Price Guide · Scrap Metal Terms Glossary · How Much Is My Scrap Worth?