What's a fair price difference between insulated Romex wire and bare stripped copper?
Short answer: Bare stripped copper consistently pays more per kilogram than insulated Romex (plastic-sheathed household wiring), because the PVC insulation is dead weight that burns off during remelting with real yield loss — the exact price gap varies by buyer, but expect insulated wire to price noticeably below the equivalent weight of bare copper.
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List Free →Why the insulation matters so much
Romex and similar household wiring is a copper conductor wrapped in a PVC jacket, sometimes with individual conductor insulation as well. None of that plastic is copper, and it has to be burned or stripped off before the copper can be remelted — a real processing cost that gets priced into what you’re paid.
Stripping it yourself
Manually or mechanically stripping the insulation before selling converts insulated wire into bare copper, which typically closes most of the price gap — the labor or equipment cost of stripping is the trade-off against the better per-kilogram rate.
What to expect if you don’t strip it
Selling as-is, insulated, is still worth doing for smaller quantities where stripping isn’t worth your time — you’re accepting a lower per-kilogram rate in exchange for not doing the extra work, which is a reasonable trade for a modest amount of wire.
How ScrapTrade Makes This Easier
Some ScrapTrade buyers specifically source insulated wire for their own stripping operations at scale, so listing it as-is can still connect you with a buyer who values it differently than a yard pricing it purely as contaminated copper.
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