Sell Your Motor Controls & MCCs
Motor controls are the hardest equipment to sell on your own — the market is specialized, the part numbers are cryptic, and the buyers are few. We're one of the few. Starters, contactors, individual MCC buckets, or complete motor control center lineups: we buy them all and we know exactly what each bucket is worth.
The bucket label and a shot of the inside is all we need. Text them to (951) 903-9804 and get your number.
From single starters to whole MCC rooms
At the small end, we buy NEMA-rated starters and contactors by the box — size 1 through size 6 and beyond, new surplus or clean pulls. At the big end, we buy entire MCC lineups out of plants: Allen-Bradley CENTERLINE 2100s, Square D Model 6, Eaton/Cutler-Hammer Freedom 2100s, GE 8000 series — the workhorses of American industry.
Buckets are where the money hides. A single size 3 combination bucket with a solid-state overload can be worth more than an entire pallet of miscellaneous contactors. Never scrap a bucket before we've seen its label.
- Complete MCC lineups and individual sections
- MCC buckets — combination starters, feeders, VFD buckets
- NEMA starters and contactors, size 00 through size 9
- Pump panels and irrigation control panels
- Overload relays, coils, and renewal parts
Plant closures and line changeovers
Most of our MCC purchases come from two events: a plant closing its doors, or a production line being modernized with new drives and controls. In both cases there's a room full of gear and a deadline. We've cleared MCC rooms across the country — buckets pulled, sections unbolted, everything palletized and gone inside a week.
If you're a plant manager or the contractor on the job, send the lineup photos early. Quoting before demolition starts means we can schedule removal the day the room goes cold, and you're not paying to store dead iron.
Why MCC gear holds value
Factories running twenty-year-old MCCs can't buy replacement buckets new — lead times run months and prices run thousands. So the secondary market stays hungry. Your obsolete bucket is another plant's emergency spare, and that demand is what lets us pay real money instead of scrap prices.
What motor control gear is worth
MCCs and starters are valued primarily by what is inside the buckets. Complete buckets with their starters, overloads, and disconnects intact are the value; empty structures are mostly steel. NEMA-size starters in common sizes move steadily, and drives in working, documented condition can be the most valuable items in a lineup.
Brand and series matter because plants standardize. Allen-Bradley CENTERLINE, Square D Model 6, Eaton Freedom, and Siemens lineups all have active replacement demand, and a plant that runs one of them will pay for matching buckets rather than re-engineering a section.
| Complete MCC lineups | Highest — priced as an assembly plus buckets |
|---|---|
| Individual buckets with starters | Strong; standardized series lead demand |
| NEMA starters, sizes 0–5 | Steady volume category |
| VFDs and soft starts | Value depends on hours, model, documentation |
| Empty structures and enclosures | Modest; mostly steel value |
| Overloads, contactors, pilot devices | Bought in quantity |
Preparing motor control equipment
Photograph the lineup nameplate, then the individual bucket labels. For drives, get the model and serial plate and note anything you know about run hours or the reason it was pulled — a drive that came out during a line upgrade is a very different item from one that failed.
Leave buckets in the structure. Pulled buckets get damaged in handling, and a lineup with its buckets in place is easier for us to verify and worth more. If the plant is being cleared, tell us the timeline so removal fits inside it.
Spare-part cribs deserve their own mention: shelves of contactors, overloads, and spare buckets accumulated over decades are often worth more than the equipment still in service, because that is precisely what other plants running the same gear are hunting for.
- Photograph the lineup nameplate and each bucket label
- For drives, capture model and serial; note hours if known
- Leave buckets installed in the structure
- Include spare-part cribs and shelf stock in the lot
- Give us the plant timeline early
Before you scrap anything, send one photo
Scrap is priced by weight. Used electrical equipment is priced by what the next facility needs, and those two numbers are rarely close. A scrapyard has no reason to tell you that the item in your hand keeps a plant running somewhere.
There is no cost to finding out. Text photos to (951) 903-9804 — labels and nameplates if you can get them, wide shots if you cannot — and you will have a real number, usually the same day. If the honest answer is that your lot is only worth scrap, we will tell you that too, and you have lost nothing but a text message.
Common questions
What's an MCC bucket worth?
Anywhere from fifty bucks to over a thousand, depending on brand, size, and type. VFD and solid-state buckets top the range. The label photo tells us instantly.
Do you buy VFDs and soft starters?
Yes — variable frequency drives and soft starters, in buckets or standalone, new or clean used. Include the horsepower rating in your photos.
Can you remove a whole MCC lineup?
That's our specialty. Once the lineup is de-energized, our crew splits and rigs the sections, and we truck everything to Corona. Removal cost is built into the offer — no surprise deductions.
Do you buy old contactors and starters in bulk?
Yes. Pallet them up, take a few wide shots and some label close-ups, and we'll quote the lot.
Do you buy VFDs and drives?
Yes, when the model and condition support resale. Send the nameplate and anything you know about run hours and why it was removed; documented, working drives price well.
Is a whole MCC lineup too big to sell?
No — full lineups are normal work for us. Our crew handles disassembly, rigging, and loading, and larger lots justify dedicated trucks anywhere in the country.
Related pages
Ready to sell? Call or text (951) 903-9804 or email photos to sellelectricalequipment@gmail.com.
Got equipment to sell?
Call or text us photos. We'll give you a price and take it from there.