Building & Selling Computers on Ebay

frogboy

I've been thinking about building and selling PC's on Ebay since I built my own a few months ago. I know it's hard work, frought with problems and not much fun, plus I'm not sure if there is actually much money to be made, but people wouldn't do it if there wasn't..

I know you can't really buy PC components from suppliers at greatly reduced prices, so say I sourced all my parts from popular online retailers am I just going to end up breaking even? or are people willing to pay a premium for a pre-built system?

I was thinking of building PC's with high quality components, rather than generic rubbish.

Opinions welcome..

Thanks

justpaper

high quality components

thats the thing ur avg. pc user dont care/dont know whats in his/her pc they just want to email and surf,. then u got ur advance pc user ppl who do dvd editing, web designs running something like 3D max, but them ppl have a higher chance of buliding ur upgrading there own pc,

my guess is u'll just make a bit of cash or break even...

just give it a go and see what happens as for selling them on ebay thats a different story

m00nie

a pc isnt light so postage and packaging is going to cost you.

what warranty you going to give?

are you going to sell it up and runing with an os on it? costly again/ what happens if they delete something they shouldnt, get a virus etc etc

buy from a shop you can a)have phone support b)have an engineer come round c) take it back to the shop

just some factors off the top of my head,

good luck in what you decide tho

Nobby_Nomates

Selling computers on EBay will be difficult as the market is flooded with people doing the same thing.

Just search and you will see loads of new computers for sale at very cheap prices.

The best way to start selling computers is to friends and family and build a good reputation.
I have been building and repairing computers for the past eight years, you have to decide what sector of the market you intend to sell to too. The cheap and cheerful sector £300 to £400 is proliferated with the big boys Dell, Packard bell ect, so it difficult to compete on price. So it’s better to focus on personal service.

About six years ago all shop bought computer were a £1000 so it was easier to be competitive on price. But sadly those days have gone.

The difference between trade and retail prices for components is very small around 6% to 8%.

I now only build high spec computers; if somebody wants a cheap computer I point them in the direction of PC World and Dell.

I am lucky enough to have built a large customer base over the past eight years, but it’s still just a hobby, as I run a successful cleaning business as well.

Even with building quality computers I only make £45.00 to £50.00 per system and I sell on average three systems a week (not enough to keep my missus in handbags and shoes) I would need to sell around fifteen systems a week to become a viable business proposition.

culpepper

Ive built most of our home machines for the last 7 years..A couple of times people at OH's work have asked me to build them one but Ive said no because I cant give any real warranty, some people are constant mind changers or blame people for things that are unavoidable (eg software crashes), I have no insurance to cover myself if things go awry and they want a refund.
Most people seem to want a bargain but dont want you to make any profit as they see you as just someone who potters around for fun, which is true except the fun isnt there if you are stressed out just incase there are complaints.

Curry_Queen

I think the problems you would run into here are that you are looking at two types of PC user ...

1) End users who don't have a clue, or even care about the components inside their PC as long as it does the job they want it to do.

2) The more technically minded who know exactly what they want and which components they need to do the job required.

People falling into the first category will often opt for the cheapest model available to suit their budget and won't care whether your machine operates better/faster if they can get away with a paying less for a crap generic model.

Those falling into the second category are more likely to be capable of building their own machines (as I do) and will be able to source components just as cheap as you can.

The only gap in the market that I can see is for those wanting machines built to specific specs but don't have the knowledge or confidence to do it themselves, so in effect you'd be selling a service as well as a product which is difficult to do on Ebay. If this is the way you want to go then you need to target your local area really.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do

biblejohn

Ive been building PC`s for myself, friends, workmates and family for about 10years now and many many times ive thought about setting myself up doing it full time. But, there is just so much competition out there there just isnt any profit to be made at all.

Most towns have little computer shops who will knock out a "system" for 250->300quid and most local papers have several companies advertising in the back of them offering the same.

As others have said on here. A lot of buyers dont care what bits are in the pc as long as its "3ghz" or what ever. So, these cheapie system builders end up sticking a 150quid processor on a 20quid motherboard with on board sound/network/graphics then stick it in a cheapie case with cheap memory and sell it.

Ive had a lot of people come to be time & time again over the years and recommend me to their friends to build them systems, as at least when i build one i use decent upgradable components and always seek to offer them the best value for money. I can also tailer the system to exact requirements.

But, there just isnt the amount of demand for systems like that, when people knock out some systems so cheap.

Even Dell are offering serious competition now with their 200quid systems. A lot of people will buy Dell just because they want a decent warrenty, even if the system is crap.

So, personally i wouldnt bother trying to build & sell systems on ebay. The profit you`ll make is next to nothing, and if someone had some problems with it and wanted to return it, you`d loose all your profit paying for the postage to exchange the item.