Guide ยท Photographs
How to photograph a cable lot.
Five photographs, taken in a fixed order, will let a buyer read a lot without visiting it: tag, reel face, jacket print, conductor end, and the pallet as a whole.
Call or text the buying desk954-740-1983
CountFive per reel
OrderTag to pallet, five frames
LightBehind the camera
FramingOne subject, filling it
Get a buy quote
Send the reel list. A buyer reads it.
Six details are enough to start. Tags and photos can follow by text or email once a buyer has looked at the basics.
- A buyer reviews the lot: construction, footage and condition, not only metal weight
- Copper and aluminium, 600 V building wire through 345 kV cable
- Full reels, partial reels, cut lengths, pallets and truckloads
- No fee, no obligation, and no automatic pickup
Reel list · Photos
Reviewed by a buyerTell us what you have and where it sits. Nothing is moved until written lot terms are agreed.
01
First, the tag
Fill the frame with the flange tag and get the light across it. If the tag is creased, take a second frame at an angle so the crease does not hide a line. Then step back for one shot that shows the tag still wired to the reel, because the point of the first photograph is that it belongs to this reel and not to another one in the yard.
02
Second, the reel face
Stand square to the face and photograph the full circle, drum included. This is where a buyer reads how much cable is left, whether the wraps are even, whether the outer layer is dirty or sun-bleached and whether the reel is out of round. Do not crop the flange. The flange is the part that says whether the reel will survive a lift.
- The full circle, drum included
- The outer layer, unwrapped enough to read
- The flange, uncropped and square on
- The ground the reel is standing on
03
Third and fourth, print and conductor
The jacket print is the product and the conductor end is the metal. Photograph the print where it is clearest, close enough to read the legend, and where it is faded take the best available section rather than the worst. Then photograph a cleanly cut end, square on and in good light, so colour and strand pattern are visible.
- Jacket print: manufacturer, product, voltage, listing mark
- Conductor end: colour, strand, whether it is tinned
- Both in focus, with something for scale if size is unclear
- A second frame wherever the first is shadowed or wet
04
Fifth, the whole pallet
Step back and photograph the lot as it sits: the pallet, the stack, the reel count, the ground it stands on and the way a truck would reach it. This is the frame that answers the quantity question and the logistics question at once. If the pallet is in a dark corner, take it anyway and say so, because a dark photograph is more useful than no photograph.
Questions
Answers before you send anything.
If your question is not here, call the desk. A buyer answers, not a call centre.
Can I send a video instead?
A short video is a fine supplement and a poor substitute, because it cannot be paused on the tag or compared across reels. If you send one, send the five stills as well. Buyers work from stills because two reels can be put side by side.
What if the reel is too big to photograph in one frame?
Take it in two: one frame with the near flange and the tag, one with the far flange and the way the cable sits on the drum. Say which is which. A reel four feet across does not need to fit in a single frame to be understood.
Should I photograph every reel in a large lot?
Every reel that differs. In a lot of forty identical reels, photograph five and say the rest match. In a lot of forty mixed reels, photograph all forty, because the one you skip is often the one that sets the value of the pallet.
Do you need photographs of the paperwork?
Only where the paperwork carries the value, as with unopened reels from a stopped job or a rated system. Otherwise one frame of the delivery ticket is enough. The cable, the tag and the reel face are what a buyer looks at first.
Keep reading
Related pages
No fee · no obligation
You have the cable. We have a scale and a check.
Send the reel list, the tags or a photograph of the pallet. A buyer comes back with what the lot is worth and how pickup would work, before anything is moved.
954-740-1983 Call or text
- Reel tags, or the print on the jacket
- Reel count and footage, even roughly
- Where it sits and what can reach it
- Whether the cable is still energised