What to send first when selling cable.

Six details that fit in one message

Location first, because it decides whether collection is practical at all. The address, or the nearest cross streets if the yard has no number on the gate, is enough to start. Say whether the material sits at a contractor yard, a warehouse, a plant behind a fence or a demolition site, since each of those has its own access rules, its own loading equipment and its own hours.

Then the cable itself: construction, conductor size, voltage class and rough quantity. Construction means what the jacket says, such as THHN, XHHW, TC-ER, 15 kV EPR or ACSR, rather than what the material is used for. Quantity can be a reel count, an estimate in feet, or both together. Condition goes last and in plain words, including where the reels have been stored.

Two sentences of history help more than a paragraph of description. Say whether the cable came off a job that closed out, a plant turnaround, a demolition or a shelf that is being cleared. Each of those produces a different mix of material, and the answer tells a reviewer what else is likely to be in the same pile.

Three photographs, all taken in daylight

The reel tag, shot straight on and close enough that every character reads. Tags are paper, and paper fails in this humidity within a season, so the photograph may outlast the original by years. If the tag is already gone, photograph the jacket print instead, after wiping a section of it clean with a rag and reading it in direct daylight rather than under a shed roof.

The cut end, in focus, showing conductor, strands, insulation and any shield that sits under the jacket. This is the frame that settles arguments later, once a reel has been moved, rewrapped and separated from its paperwork. The third is a wide shot of the reels where they stand, which shows quantity, how they are stored and what equipment can reach them without shifting anything else first.

• The reel tag, flat and fully readable
• The cut end, sharp and close
• A wide shot of the reels in place
• Jacket print, if the tag is missing

Send the images at full size. A compressed photograph of a tag is often unreadable at the other end.

What a complete first message gets back

A message carrying those facts usually comes back with something useful: whether the lot fits at all, what else would help, and how a collection might be arranged around the gate hours. It rarely comes back with a firm figure, because footage and condition are still claims until somebody stands in front of the reel with a tape and looks at the jacket in daylight.

It also puts the lot in a queue rather than a conversation. Lots that arrive complete can be compared with one another, grouped by side of town and scheduled into a single run. Lots that arrive as a question need an answer before anything else can happen, and they wait behind every lot that did not, which is where most of the delay in this work comes from.

There is a second effect that sellers tend to notice later. A well documented lot is easier to re-offer if the first route does not suit, because the material has already been described once in a way that travels well. Nobody has to walk back out to the yard in August and start the identification from the beginning again.

Details that can wait for the next message

Plenty of information is useful later and unnecessary now. Termination hardware, splice kits, the diameter of the reel, the empty weight of the wood, the name of the crew that pulled the cable: none of it changes a first read, and asking for all of it upfront slows the seller down for no return at all. Ask at the inspection stage, when it can be checked on the spot.

Two things should not wait. Say if the cable is still energised or connected to equipment, and say if it sits inside a plant or a secured site, because both change what has to happen before anything can be moved or even looked at closely. Everything else can follow once the lot is understood, and that includes the paperwork.

• Termination and splice hardware
• Reel diameter and empty weight
• Crew names and job history
• A preferred collection window

A short, complete message beats a long, vague one every time. If a fact is unknown, say it is unknown rather than leaving the gap to be guessed at.