What Decides a Scrap Metal Shear Price
Nobody publishes shear prices, and every buyer wants a number before the first call. This article explains why the number is the last thing a factory can give you and the first thing you can compute yourself — the six inputs that move a quotation, the direction each one pushes, and how to build a budget range before you talk to anyone. The reference machine is the Q91-200, but the structure holds across the full range.
Why the Price Comes Last
A shear is not a product with a price; it is a configuration with a price. Two buyers can order the same model and receive different machines — different blade lengths, different motor packages, different duty ratings, different tank geometries — and the quotations will differ by a wide margin. A factory that quotes a number before knowing your material is either guessing or selling a fixed machine, and neither serves the buyer. The price is computable the moment the specification is complete, and not before.
The Six Inputs, and Their Direction
1. Force class. The largest single input. Each step up the range — 200 to 315 to 400 to 500 and beyond — is a larger frame, a larger hydraulic package and more material in the build. The class is set by your heaviest routine material, not by your budget, which is why the class conversation happens before the price conversation.
2. Duty rating. A build quoted for two shifts is a different machine than one quoted for one: frame specification, seal grade, cooling capacity and wear strategy all follow the declaration. The difference is real money in the build and invisible on a price sheet.
3. Blade specification. Steel grade and edge configuration follow your material. Abrasive or contaminated feed earns a specific blade conversation, and the blade specification moves both the build cost and the wear budget that follows it for a decade.
4. Configuration rows. Blade length, tank length, motor rating and power package — each a decision made against your site. A longer tank, a bigger motor or a diesel package each moves the number, and each is a decision rather than an upsell.
5. Site package. What the quotation includes: foundation drawings, commissioning scope, on-site installation where required. Remote commissioning is standard; on-site service is quotable and moves the commercial package.
6. Delivery terms. EXW, FOB or CIF to your port — the same machine, different commercial packages, and the difference is logistics rather than steel.
Building a Budget Range Before You Call
You can compute a defensible range before the first conversation, and the method is the same one the factory uses:
- Fix the class from the material. The heaviest routine piece and the daily tonnage pick the class — the mixed-yard guide covers the ladder of published boundaries. A 200-ton yard shopping for a 1000-ton machine is a budget error before it is a price question.
- Declare the duty honestly. The shift pattern you actually run sets the build, and the build sets a wide band within the class.
- List the configuration decisions. Blade length, tank length, motor and power package, from your site facts.
- Add the site and delivery package. Commissioning scope and the terms you need.
That range — class, duty, configuration, package — is the honest budget, and it is the document to bring to the first call. The factory’s job is to turn it into a specification; yours is to arrive with one.
The Two Traps
The cheap quote. A quotation well below the range usually omitted something: the duty rating, the blade specification, the spares schedule, or the commissioning scope. The buying notes cover how to read what a quotation leaves out — and the omitted item is usually the one that decides the machine’s second half.
The stretched quote. A quotation above the range is usually quoting a class the material does not need. The discipline to quote down is the same discipline that quotes up, and a factory that will do both is describing a specification process rather than a sales target.
The Class Ladder, Priced
The largest input to any quotation is the force class, and the ladder is public — the full range publishes the boundaries per class from 200 to 2000 ton. A buyer who fixes the class from the material rather than from the budget arrives at the price conversation with the right machine; a buyer who fixes it from the budget arrives with a negotiation about a machine nobody has specified.
The ladder also disciplines the conversation in both directions. A 200-ton yard shopping for a 1000-ton machine is a budget error before it is a price question; a 1000-ton operation shopping for a 200 because of the headline number is a specification error. The class is set by the heaviest routine material and the honest daily tonnage, and the price follows the class rather than leading it.
The Budget Document
The four-part budget range — class, duty, configuration, package — is the document to bring to the first call, and it is also the document to bring to the second call, with a different factory. Written honestly, it makes both conversations shorter and both quotations comparable, because both are answering the same specification rather than two different guesses.
It also protects against the two traps. The cheap quote is detected by mapping it onto the four parts and finding the omission; the stretched quote is detected by checking whether the class the material actually needs. Both detections happen before the deposit, which is the only cheap moment they exist.
The Configuration, Priced
Within a class, the configuration decisions move the number in predictable directions, and knowing the directions keeps the budget honest. A longer blade is more steel in the carrier; a longer tank is more structure and more floor space; a larger motor package is more power equipment and a bigger supply conversation; a diesel package is a different power train entirely. None of them is an upsell — each is an answer to a site fact, and the quotation should say which fact each one answers.
The site and delivery package moves the number in the other direction: remote commissioning is standard, on-site installation is quotable, and the delivery terms — EXW, FOB or CIF — move the logistics rather than the steel. A buyer who knows which direction each input pushes arrives at the price conversation with a range rather than a hope, and the range is what makes the comparison between two quotations meaningful.
The Price as an Output
The deepest point about price is that it is an output rather than an input. The specification produces it, the way the build produces the machine — and a buyer who negotiates the output before the specification is negotiating the shape of a machine nobody has designed. The six inputs in this article are the specification’s components, and the price is what they sum to.
That is why the honest budget conversation starts with the material list and ends with the number, in that order. The hidden-cost guide prices what cheap quotations omit, and the buying notes cover the sequence in full.
Buyer FAQ
Why will nobody give me a price on the first call?
Because the machine is not specified yet. Force class, duty rating, blade specification, configuration and package all move the number, and a price quoted before those are known is a guess dressed as an offer.
What is the largest single input?
Force class. Each step up the range is a larger frame and hydraulic package, and the class is set by the heaviest routine material rather than by the budget.
How do I build a budget range before calling?
Fix the class from the material, declare the duty honestly, list the configuration decisions from your site facts, and add the site and delivery package. That four-part range is the honest budget.
Does a cheaper quotation mean a better deal?
Only if the specification is complete. Map both quotations onto the four sections and compare — the omitted item in a cheap quote is usually the one that decides the machine’s decade.
How quickly does a priced quotation come back?
Within two business days of a complete inquiry — material list, duty declaration and site facts — with the specification sheet attached and the class recommendation in writing. The four-part range also makes two quotations comparable, because both are answering the same specification rather than two different guesses — and the comparison between complete specifications is the only honest one. Bring the four-part range to every factory you talk to, because it makes both conversations shorter and both quotations comparable — two suppliers answering the same specification is the only comparison that has ever produced an honest answer. The four-part range is also the document that makes two quotations comparable, because both suppliers are answering the same specification rather than two different guesses — and the comparison between complete specifications is the only honest one there is.