Making money by making comps


Recommended Posts

I was just wondering if it makes any sense to make some spare scratch by making and then selling computers. (Duh, I know big companies like Gateway and Dell do that ;) ). But i mean like either:

1. Just find some components and make a nice computer that has whatever i feel like putting in it and trying to find somebody to sell it to and have the price much cheaper than Dell or Gateway would have it but still a little over the cost of all the parts so i can make somewhere from like $50 to $100 or something like that. or

2. Find some customers and find out specifically what they want and what they are willing to spend and then make them a custom comp and sell it to them still cheaper than what Dell or Gateway would do but also still make a profit for myself.

Does this make sense for a high-school age kid who has some spare time and wants some spare money? I'll admit, I'm definitely no hardware god but i built my own comp and have helped with many other hardware things so i know enough to make some nice computers for some people. Also, i have something like $700 in savings right now and i'm sure i could round up some more money for parts if i promised to pay some people back. So does it make sense? there's got to be some flaws in my plan, or else everybody would be doing this. i guess i'm just not thinking clearly enough to see them right now...anyways, all comments and suggestions are appreciated (bashing and making fun of is less appreciated :p ).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know people that have tried this. . .hardest part is to keep making a profit. One flaw is that it is difficult to offer a warranty competitive to dell or gateway. . .just somethin to think about. Good luck though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Realistically, it's hard to buy the parts and still be able to sell for cheaper than Dell or Gateway - unless you're going to use out-dated or substandard parts in your systems. Even if you're able to buy OEM parts from a local store (which is significantly cheaper than retail boxed stuff,) it's hard to beat their prices.

Unless you can get a retailer account through a distributer so you can buy parts wholesale, it's hard to compete.

Now - if you can get a super-cheap/wholesale line on good quality parts then you might have a chance. Just be ready - advertising yourself and marketing yourself isn't always as easy as people think it is! ^_^

Either way, good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your own warranties can actually, be easy to deal with. The drawback is - you have to make sure you /always/ keep a good amount of either parts or money on hand to be to honour them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know people that do this, and some do make profit out of it. But, mostly, they do it as a hobby, because they enjoy it.

HOWEVER, before you go into a business like this, you must realize one thing: Inventory will kill you! Computer hardware depreciates in value rather quickly. What is valuable and current technology will become worthless if you can't find a way to get rid of it (i.e. PUSH it on some customers).

If you get into this, make sure your eyes are open, and you turn-over your product (PCs) as much as you can.

Good Luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know people that have tried this. . .hardest part is to keep making a profit. One flaw is that it is difficult to offer a warranty competitive to dell or gateway. . .just somethin to think about. Good luck though.

ah, i totally forgot about warranty stuff....yeah, i dunno if i'm gonna go through with this or anything...i was just playing around with the idea in my head

thanks for your input :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Inventory will kill you!

The secret is - from knowing many people who've owned or at least run a computer store is to keep as /little/ of certain parts in stock at a time - most notably memory. Wholesale RAM prices can fluctuate wildly from week to week - and while it sucks when one week you buy 10 sticks at say, $20 and then next week you have to buy 20 sticks at around $40 - it can save your butt when you buy 10 sticks at $20 and then the next week it's $5 wholesale. You have to lower your price on it to stay competitive and you simply eat the loss.

Erm - I tried to explain that as well as I could. Heh. ^_^ That's how a low of stores operate though - if you're just building them - I don't know what, if anything, you'd bother keeping on hand anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ah, i totally forgot about warranty stuff....yeah, i dunno if i'm gonna go through with this or anything...i was just playing around with the idea in my head

thanks for your input :)

There is always manufactuer's warranty, plus just tell them upfront, your not responsible if they decide to get mad one day and break something, once its out of your hands you don't know what they do with the hardware, if they have software issues, i.e. troubleshooting, they can contact you if you want, or the maker of the software.

Its not hard to compete with Dell or Gateway's prices, the crap they sell for 499 is just that CRAP. My brother bought one of the 999 dollar ones advertised, and I knew it would be a POS, because he likes to actually play games. It came with a 16MB Video Card, no expansion capabilities, and two PCI slots. There is no room for another harddrive...I mean for 1200 I built my computer, obviously without operating system, but I leave that up to the owner to decide what they are going to use. Didn't have to buy speakers b/c I already had them, but thats about it. You can find good parts for cheap online, don't go to a BestBuy or CompUSA or anything, cause they rape you for parts, and half the time they know jack **** (not always but I've had some bad experiences there).

I've built a few computers for ppl, one had a problem with his, but it worked fine for me for half a year, and then his suddenly started freaking out, turned out to be something he did, so I had no sympathy for him. If anything get a type of contract on paper, that way they can't say you said something later and make a big deal out of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ah, i totally forgot about warranty stuff....yeah, i dunno if i'm gonna go through with this or anything...i was just playing around with the idea in my head

thanks for your input :)

Indeed, being able to provide long-term support to people is probably the biggest downside. Some people may very well be willing to take the "risk".

Also, places like Dell and Gateway affect markets themselves due to mass quantities they buy of particular things. Even if you'd build someone something "better", there's far greater risk that adequate drivers and the like won't be available in the future.

Stilllll.... There might be some people willing to pay you to build a custom system for them. Just be *really* clear about what is and is not included.

If you want some extra money, have some time, and want to lessen your risk:reward ratio, you might want to even look into just playing "consultant" and help people get their current systems up-to-speed. There's a huge number that do need help just setting their antivirus to do automatic updates, could benefit from learning how to use shift/control/arrow keys in selecting things, need help learning how to apply MS updates to their computer, could stand to have a spyware scan, might like to have some photo software recommended to them, etc., etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One problem that may arise from my experiences of helping friends out with their computers is the trust, or lack of it, that their parents have for a school kid messing about with a grands worth of their machinery. Despite this being totally miscalculated because there are many really smart kids when it comes to computers it still is a problem, and the main reason i decided not to go down the avenue you are. But the best of luck with it should you choose to pursue it!

Quick idea: go to local businesses and try to get a deal with them, be it for tech support or new systems, think of the mass profits you would be making :p Call yourself a systems analyst and carry a briefcase and you might make a few grand more ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over time you accumulate spare parts, i always put these together and sell them, i make a small amount of money cause they are so old. but for you to go and buy parts and build a nice one from scratch will cost you outof your pocket about $300, but now in days the consumer can goto walmart , best buy, circut city, dell, or gateways and get bundles for like $499, thats with monitor and everything. soo i dont think that it would be a good idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's a pretty good idea, except for like customer support and stuff, for each computer that you sell, if you sell any, you can make about 70 bucks, because walmart, best buy, cirtuit city, dell, and gateways give u sh** monitors worth only like $40, plus, parts are a lot cheaper than to buy a whole computer. I'd say go for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.