Ok, I got about a good 2,000 dollars for all the high end computer parts plus box. I have everything a 3,500 dollar computer from alienware has, but I'm just wondering were should I sell? ebay? make a site for selling it? and should I pay big bucks for the intel extreme or stay with the amd X2 64000+? or should I just overclcok the x2? Final question, Will it take a while to sell? I checked ebay and theres only a couple of computers that are close to the one I have (beside the processer) I'm thinking I'll profit quite a pretty penny as long as it sells. (BTW I have a LCD screen I could bundle with it, and I already custom build a case with the antec 900 as my base and added other things to it, and I can install water cooling since I've done it before on my other computer)
Selling high-end computers really isn't as easy as it sounds. I've got two desktops that I tried to get rid of when I started college because I bought a laptop. I was selling them in the form of two entire units-- the box, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. First I tried ebaying them and got nothing. So I thought I'd take them to a store that specializes in buying and selling used computers. I went to two separate stores here in Knoxville and both places pretty much laughed at me and said my computers were "too nice" for the people who shop there. One guy even drew the analogy that people don't come into his store shopping for a Mercedes-Benz; they're looking for a Chevrolet, he said. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that you won't get anywhere NEAR what it's worth. The two I have are easily worth $1000 and $1500 in parts, and I couldn't sell them for $400 and $600, as entire units. To this day I still have them, sitting around taking up space. I can't get rid of them. Not to discourage you-- I wish you luck. Just don't get your expectations up.
I see what your saying with the analogy but I am trying to get all the high end products into one comp thus making it best on the market (ebay market) and thus making more people look at it, it'll be about a whole 1k-1.5k dollars cheaper then alienware but just as good. I looked on ebay for alright systems around 1000$ and theres 7 pages so yea I already thought about the whole building a average gaming comp and selling it but I dont see that happening.
you can't really overclock an x2 6400+ the sucker is at 3.2Ghz and the uarch doesn't scale well past it. FYI ebay is a mediocre place, you know how many people know how to build computers? If I make computers for friends, I let them come to me and ask, I'm not going to hold onto rapidly depreciating parts - that's what my own main PC is for.
So would it be a good idea to set up a website kinda like alienware and use it for custom building computers?
I have about 2k Dollars right now for a computer. I can use like 100$ and make a website and all that (I've made websites before shouldn't be too hard to do.) and use the rest of the money for my first customer and build that and seel it and then keep going from there till we get bigger?
if you set up a website dedicated to selling it, that could be a different story. if you promote the site to the right people (the gamers, the 'computer snobs,' [for lack of a better term] the people who really understand what they're getting) it could go over really well.
That's what i'm starting to lean toward to now since i've thought it over with my I guess you can say buisness partner and we think in the long run if we get even ------ big we could profit.
I wouldn't suggest just sticking to high end quality computers if you are making a site. Offer all varieties of computers; you are going to want more people. Per 1000 dollars, try to only make 300-400 dollars off each computer. Try to make your prices quite low and get people to come. Once you have over 20-30 people then you can start making more of a profit. Good luck, if you do start up a business Just remember - you have to be responsible for RMA's, customer support, and other things like that. If you are starting up a business - it will have to be pretty much full time (once it gets/if it gets big). Also, if that does happen - you need to figure out some kind of shipping method with UPS for cheaper shipping and faster shipping and whatnot.
I've already looked into that. I wouldn't exacttly need to go full time for another about a year to get all the advertising and stuff down and all the works. But thats till I could get big or so say. I could keep it small and just use it as a side job/hobby until I feel like a can go full time. (I have to get done getting through college right now.)
Well, it wouldn't be too hard. You would have to have some sort of person who is knowledgeable at coding websites; you would want a "What step am I on" kind of this (like Newegg) so people can see where they are at. Advertising is kind of the easy part; it is customers which is the hard part. You might want to start as soon as you can (a big part of your advertising scheme may be about the new Intel CPU's that are coming out). And you can't really choose to keep it as a sidejob - for all you know, it would become a booming website quite quickly =P
Lol, I think all I'm gonna need is someone to code and create a template to use and I'll pay for that I already have hosting and domain for that. I'm just going to make a frontpage and then a page where you custom build your computer. Thats about it. And I guess I could go full time, I mean i have a buisness partner with me wich he is just as skilled in computers as I am so yea.
Tell me, can you offer a 3 year return to base warranty? Can you offer 24/7 technical support line? Trust me, there is NO money in this. Until you can offer service you have no place in the industry. Hypothetically, you sell 40 units a year, I work as a technician, and I can tell you, about half of those sold, the end user will screw up/drop/break/think there's a problem when there isn't/etc and about 4-5 of those units will be faulty from the start. You will be responsible for A ) Identifying the problem B ) Requesting and completing an RMA for the part in question C ) Shipping the parts there and back (this will include the entire unit, you can't ask a customer to send back only the RAM or video card. D ) If there isn't anything wrong with the part in question, you are liable for a service charge from your supplier. You can either pass this onto the customer, or pay it yourself. 9 times out of 10, then customers are NOT going to want to pay that. Dell can do this within a week. Can you? I'm assuming you're buying the parts wholesale. If not, there goes your profit margin on any unit that has a problem with it requiring a return to base. I know plenty of wannabe industry professionals, and they usually end up with less money than they started with.
