The guys from Sparkfun went on their second trip to China. They checked out some of their suppliers and lots of the markets.

Via: Dangerous Prototypes

“While there were shops and floors for all sorts of electronic goods, Bunnie had heard of a special market that dealt exclusively with bulk cell phones. That’s right, you could buy a pile of cell phones. Heck yes we needed to see this!

This market was truly amazing. It was one of most dense I’ve been to, shoulder to shoulder with very little standing room. Every device imaginable was available (checkout the pile of iPads) and people were literally negotiating a spot price minute by minute. The raw phones were sold for cash and then taken to other parts of the market for parts, resale, or recycling.”