Sourcing & monitoring plan — physical AI-trade brokerage

Prepared Oct 13, 2026. Model: middleman broker — buy below end-user market, test/verify, resell to ultimate end users. Categories in scope: memory (DDR5/DDR4 server), enterprise storage (NVMe/SAS SSD), complete servers for part-out, used GPUs (A100/H100/H200 class).

BUY SIDE — where Muse reviews for deals

Tier 1: auctions & liquidation (cheapest entry, untested/as-is — where the spread is born)

• BidSpotter / Proxibid — aggregators carrying most industrial IT auctions (e.g., PRS Auctions server/UPS lots). One search covers dozens of auction houses.
• Heritage Global Partners (HGP) and Tiger Group — large data-center and corporate decommission sales; where fleet-refresh GPU/server lots surface.
• Liquidation.com and B-Stock — bulk-lot marketplaces, pallet-level IT lots.
• GovDeals and Public Surplus — government/university surplus; servers often drive-stripped (good: cheaper) but DIMM/CPU-rich (good for part-out).
• HGR Industrial Surplus — warehouse surplus incl. electrical/power gear.
• eBay (buy side) — bulk lots and mispriced Buy-It-Now listings from small sellers; saved searches + alerts on target SKUs.
• Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist (Seattle–PNW) — local pickup lots; PNW data-center corridor (Quincy WA, Hillsboro OR) sheds gear locally. No shipping cost = margin edge.

Tier 2: dealer & ITAD channels (priced between auction and retail; relationship-driven)

• BrokerBin — B2B dealer exchange for used IT; wholesale asking prices, want-to-buy boards.
• TradeLoop — wholesale marketplace for used electronics with bulk lots and want-to-buys.
• ITAD firms direct (EPC, NewServerLife, SMS Assembly, Exit Technologies, BuySellRam for memory) — they buy decommissions; building two-way relationships gets first look at harvested inventory (DIMMs, SSDs, GPUs) before it is listed retail.
• OEM refurb outlets (Dell Outlet, HPE Renew) — occasional mispriced configs; also a resale-price benchmark.

Tier 3: price intelligence (not buying venues — the ruler every deal is measured against)

• eBay SOLD listings — ground truth for what end users actually pay, per exact SKU.
• GPUSmith GPU Price Index and Mercatus GPU Index — weekly used/new GPU pricing direction (critical: H100 still deflating).
• TrendForce / DRAMeXchange coverage — memory spot/contract direction; shortage guided through 2027–28.
• ServeTheHome forums + r/homelabsales asking prices — live read on end-user demand and what sits unsold.

SELL SIDE — to ultimate end users (not other brokers)

• eBay store — deepest end-user pool for components; expect ~13% fees (already in margin rules).
• Own Shopify storefront — no marketplace fee, repeat-buyer capture; Ambaum builds it in-house.
• r/homelabsales, r/hardwareswap, ServeTheHome classifieds, HardForum FS/T — fee-light, knowledgeable end users (homelab, small AI startups, indie hosters).
• Direct outreach — PNW AI startups, small neoclouds/hosters, university labs: the buyers who pay for tested + warrantied + available-now.

DEAL RULES (apply before any buy)

• Projected net margin ≥ 30% using the conservative resale price (25th percentile of recent eBay sold, not the median).
• All-in cost = bid + buyer premium (~10–15% at auction) + shipping/freight + testing time + expected DOA/return rate.
• Max hold: GPUs 30 days (deflating), servers/part-out 45 days, memory/storage 60 days (rising market, reversal risk after).
• Verify before money moves: serial numbers, seller history, actual-unit photos (stock photos = red flag), iDRAC/iLO/RAID license state on servers.
• No export-controlled gear to offshore buyers; domestic end users only.

MONITORING CADENCE (Muse)

• Daily scan (weekdays): auctions ending within 48h on BidSpotter/Proxibid/HGP/Tiger/Liquidation.com/GovDeals matching target categories; new eBay lots/mispricings on target SKUs; GPU index + memory spot direction check. Output: short deal sheet — lot, current price, conservative resale, projected margin, verdict (bid / watch / pass) with max-bid numbers. Nothing is bid or bought without Chad's go-ahead.
• Weekly: part-out candidate deep-dives (manifest math: sum of parts vs lot price), core-SKU price tracker update (DDR5 RDIMM 32/64/96/128GB; enterprise NVMe — Samsung PM-series, Micron 7400/7450 class; A100 80GB; H100 SXM/PCIe), sell-side performance review.
• Monthly: profit & turns dashboard vs the $20k/month target; category mix review (what actually turned, what sat).

FIRST TARGET SKUs (watchlist v1)

• Memory: DDR5 RDIMM 64GB/96GB/128GB (Samsung/SK hynix/Micron OEM sticks), DDR4 RDIMM 32/64GB (EOL premium).
• Storage: enterprise NVMe U.2/U.3 3.84TB/7.68TB (Samsung PM9A3, Micron 7450 class), SAS SSDs.
• Servers for part-out: Dell PowerEdge R650/R750/R760, HPE Gen10 Plus/Gen11, Supermicro X12/H12 — chosen for DDR4/DDR5 + Xeon/EPYC part value.
• GPUs: A100 80GB (SXM & PCIe), H100/H200 — auction lows only, 30-day rule.