BUILDING PC's and selling them with a PROFIT?

[Neffx]

Hi there guys!

 

Lately, I thought about building computers and selling them with a profit.

Firstly, I would like to ask you guys about if you know what's the best way of finding parts and deals in the UK?

I know that ebay and gumtree is a great way finding these sorts of things.

 

Any recommendations? Any of you had past experience in these things?

 

*** If a placed this post in the wrong section I apologise***

[Fasauceome]

I highly suggest finding the client before buying the parts. While it is fun to just build a cool PC and send it out to the market, you'll often see bad profit from this, since people are look to get more for less on the used market. A brand new PC is not something people are necessarily interested in off something like craigslist or letgo.

 

If you are looking to make quick turnarounds on used goods, be very transparent with your parts lists. Personally, I avoid buying anything that's not properly documented or described on the used market, and if I were buying whole PCs, that would include things like PSU make and model. I fins that a lot of sellers will list "Intel i7 and GTX 1080!!!" and they've got ketchup and mustard PSU cables all over the thing. It also shows that you care about what you made, if it's cleanly documented and cable managed, it looks more professional. On the PCs that I have made to sell on the used market, be it to get rid of components I have lying around or just for kicks, I make sure to specify if I did buy something brand new (often case, PSU, and/or SSD), an price my lists accordingly. I also share some performance metrics in things like GTA V, Fortnite, and Overwatch. Also, patience is key for selling a whole system, there may be no interest for a while.

 

Of course, like I mentioned earlier, if someone reaches out to you with a budget and a performance target/use case, make a parts list that factors in shipping/tax and your rate for construction/maintenance and have them pay you to buy the parts and set it up. It's a lot more reliable in terms of income, and you can't get scammed or lowballed.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Fasauceome

[Acid Panda]

well i guess it come down to scale. selling only a few pc will not earn you enough  money (providing what age you are) as most people realistically will only charge £50 or more for the build process (complexity of build aside). larger system builders benefit from economies of scale so the more they buy the cheaper it is to buy. 

 

Another issue is that buying second hand parts people will be wanting to get the best price they can and wont just be dumping a product to get rid of it so eating into your margins for profit.

 

Getting to know site like Alibaba will help you to source parts quickly and more effectively BUT BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE SITE(s).

 

Also making something about your builds unique.

having a website is also very useful.

 

[mr moose]

 

 

So here's a question,  I can walk into one of 30 different retail outlets and buy a computer system off the shelf for X Dollars (pick any system that suits the consumers need and try to match it spec for spec ),  what does your system offer that the one from the retail outlets doesn't?  think of warranty, repair and shipping costs, legal cost should the customer try to sue you (it costs to defend whether you are right or wrong), parts quality and validation etc.

 

 

I think the unfortunate reality is that while it is possible to make money doing it, its a very long slow road,  so if you want to build an empire be prepared to make no money at first and work hard for it.

 

[Kilrah]

Usually this works in one of 3 scenarios:

- Your customers are friends

- You get parts for basically scrap value or free, and build half decent low end systems to sell for a lower price than what can be found at retail for really low budget people

- You can build clientele of very wealthy people and know how to make them happy with just the right amount of uncommon bling and seller talk of "careful custom tailored assembly" to get them to shell out 2-3x the cost of parts for a build.

[ketchupspill]

i mean isnt that basically just being a one-man prebuilt company?

 

it wont have large profits in the beginning unless you skimp on things for tech illiterate customers and in time that will come back and bite you in the ass.

 

so if you plan on doing it, be prepared for a long slog.

 

personally i  would start with just accepting diagnostic problems and then when you have enough experience accept jobs for custom builds, instead of making a generic so-and-so because if it doesnt tailor to people they might not buy.

 

but good luck, and if you do start a buisness this way, ill buy a PC from you!

 

PS(Give warranty. otherwise your consumers might hate you.)

[Luke0011]

I feel i need to contradict almost everyone here. These are the things to think about when custom building:

 

1) Your difference is customisation, no one on either amazon, bestbuy or walmart sells custom pcs, whereby someone can pick and choose the parts online....

2) This leads to the second but actually most important part, you need to build a website, you then need to build or buy a custom PC builder, you can do this using gravity forms or woocommerce on wordpress

3) I would then design 3 PC's low, medium and high spec. Display these on the site as buy now with a customisation button

4) You need a social media presence that then advertises what you have

5) You can then also get an amazon seller account and do the same there (dont bother selling on ebay, it is horrible for seller protections)

6) Get a business line of credit, so to do this you need to create an LLC and get a EIN at the very least (both super easy)

7) You dont charge for the build at all, instead you just upcharge all the parts. Initially look to make 20% profit on each machine, round up to a nice even number and end in 99 i.e $1099.99, another tactic is to price at $1099.99 (discounted $999.99) people love a discount, obviously that discounted price should account for your 20% profit.

8) Design for specific markets, so you'd design for Small Office, Graphic Designers, Video Editors, Streamersand Gamers.

9) If you dont know how to do the above research and learn

10) lastly, make a social media channel, youtube and tiktok and film making a PC in an interesting way.

11) If you cant do the above and/or dont want to, then i'd say dont bother at all. 

 

Lastly. Consider building and selling small to medium office PCs and Servers as well. 

 

I've literally just given you my business plan, so now all you need to do it enact it. Hope this helps the next person that googles this topic.

[Echothedolpin]

12 hours ago, Luke0011 said:

I feel i need to contradict almost everyone here. These are the things to think about when custom building:

 

1) Your difference is customisation, no one on either amazon, bestbuy or walmart sells custom pcs, whereby someone can pick and choose the parts online....

2) This leads to the second but actually most important part, you need to build a website, you then need to build or buy a custom PC builder, you can do this using gravity forms or woocommerce on wordpress

3) I would then design 3 PC's low, medium and high spec. Display these on the site as buy now with a customisation button

4) You need a social media presence that then advertises what you have

5) You can then also get an amazon seller account and do the same there (dont bother selling on ebay, it is horrible for seller protections)

6) Get a business line of credit, so to do this you need to create an LLC and get a EIN at the very least (both super easy)

7) You dont charge for the build at all, instead you just upcharge all the parts. Initially look to make 20% profit on each machine, round up to a nice even number and end in 99 i.e $1099.99, another tactic is to price at $1099.99 (discounted $999.99) people love a discount, obviously that discounted price should account for your 20% profit.

8) Design for specific markets, so you'd design for Small Office, Graphic Designers, Video Editors, Streamersand Gamers.

9) If you dont know how to do the above research and learn

10) lastly, make a social media channel, youtube and tiktok and film making a PC in an interesting way.

11) If you cant do the above and/or dont want to, then i'd say dont bother at all. 

 

Lastly. Consider building and selling small to medium office PCs and Servers as well. 

 

I've literally just given you my business plan, so now all you need to do it enact it. Hope this helps the next person that googles this topic.

What’s your warranty and logistics plan?