Buying/Selling PCs

[XJ75]

Thinking about doing this in my spare time. I don't intend to make a fortune, I just enjoy tinkering with computers and wouldn't mind making some money from it.

Was thinking about buying broken PCs on eBay or similar, fixing up and selling on.

Main concern is the cost of putting a fresh Windows install on each PC.

Has anyone done anything similar?

[SystemParanoia]

not a road to profit without huge volume unfortunately
lots of ebay sellers doing the same that absolutely do not value their time going for margins thinner than rizzla paper.

I recommend doing ANYTHING else!

[anonymous-user]

Unless it's retro or specialist I would stay clear....

because...

1. Anyone who buys from you can't do it themselves and therefore will continue to bug you forever about their 'problems'
2. Quickly people talk to their mates who are more of an expert than you and cheaper and you'll look like the bad guy
3. Computers are generally a pain in the ass, we all know this, do you really want to try and make money from them!

however...

1. Buckets of cash finding, cleaning and ebaying old computers (ZX Spectrum, Amiga's etc.) Don't buy from ebay however
2. Same for retro consoles PS1 etc

Seriously look through the yellow pages, freeads and facebook buy and sell, loads of people trying to make a buck.

However if you've already thought of all this, crack on why not

[loafer123]

Can't you put Windows 10 on for free, but with some features disabled?

Check out Buildapc on Reddit.

[arcturus]

XJ75 said:

Main concern is the cost of putting a fresh Windows install on each PC.

You could apply to become a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher which would then entitle you to buy licences at discounted rates.

Just checked on my distis website and a 3 pack of Windows 10 Pro Refurb edition is £103, so quite a saving.

Edited by arcturus on Thursday 15th June 00:30

[48k]

ciege said:

Unless it's retro or specialist I would stay clear....

because...

1. Anyone who buys from you can't do it themselves and therefore will continue to bug you forever about their 'problems'
2. Quickly people talk to their mates who are more of an expert than you and cheaper and you'll look like the bad guy
3. Computers are generally a pain in the ass, we all know this, do you really want to try and make money from them!

however...

1. Buckets of cash finding, cleaning and ebaying old computers (ZX Spectrum, Amiga's etc.) Don't buy from ebay however
2. Same for retro consoles PS1 etc

Seriously look through the yellow pages, freeads and facebook buy and sell, loads of people trying to make a buck.

However if you've already thought of all this, crack on why not

This x 1million

Get yourself around bootsales, jumblesales etc. snaffle some old consoles and home computers and get yourself a bucket load of Retrobrite. And some rubber gloves.

Broken/old PCs are broken/old for a reason. Not worth the time and hassle.

[sgrimshaw]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Have you got any info on that?

Thanks

[Guvernator]

The big manufacturers will sell you tin with the latest hardware and a 2 year warranty with very little margin, there is no way as a one man band you'll be able to compete with that. Why would someone pay you £400 for a refurbished old computer when they can buy a new one for the same price?

Also teaching old people how to use computers, you'd have to have the patience of a saint. I'm not sure anyone could pay me enough to do that job.

You'd probably do better putting an Ad in the local paper as a PC repair\handy man. You could probably make a a bit of money just charging people to clean all the virus\malware off their PC's which is the number 1 reason friends etc contact me asking for advice. "My PC is running really slow", yeah that's because it's got 100 viruses from all the porn sites you've been visiting you dirty bugger.

[daemon]

Guvernator said:

You'd probably do better putting an Ad in the local paper as a PC repair\handy man. You could probably make a a bit of money just charging people to clean all the virus\malware off their PC's which is the number 1 reason friends etc contact me asking for advice. "My PC is running really slow", yeah that's because it's got 100 viruses from all the porn sites you've been visiting you dirty bugger.

Even that isnt worth the pain IMHO. You could wally about for hours removing viruses / malware from somebodys PC and getting it running "right", THEN a month later you get the phone call "I've just tried to open (my hacked copy of) Office and its not working since you worked at it a month ago"

I did it for a couple of years - people will drive you scatty.

People will happily pay an engineer to fix their TV, or get their boiler working, or sort out an electrical fault, however people begrudge you a few ££ to fix their PC.

[Guvernator]

daemon said:

Even that isnt worth the pain IMHO. You could wally about for hours removing viruses / malware from somebodys PC and getting it running "right", THEN a month later you get the phone call "I've just tried to open (my hacked copy of) Office and its not working since you worked at it a month ago"

I did it for a couple of years - people will drive you scatty.

People will happily pay an engineer to fix their TV, or get their boiler working, or sort out an electrical fault, however people begrudge you a few ££ to fix their PC.

That's because it's still not seen as a proper job despite the fact IT tech's have been around for over 50 years. Computer "experts" are everywhere apparently, the amount of times I've heard people say my 11 year old son is quite handy with computers, I bet he could fix it. Well why didn't he then? These days when people expect me to fix their computers for free, I just tell people I don't do that kind of IT work, I work on big servers, just saves so much hassle. As you said PC's are easy, it's the people that are the real pain in the ar*e

[SystemParanoia]

Guvernator said:

daemon said:

Even that isnt worth the pain IMHO. You could wally about for hours removing viruses / malware from somebodys PC and getting it running "right", THEN a month later you get the phone call "I've just tried to open (my hacked copy of) Office and its not working since you worked at it a month ago"

I did it for a couple of years - people will drive you scatty.

People will happily pay an engineer to fix their TV, or get their boiler working, or sort out an electrical fault, however people begrudge you a few ££ to fix their PC.

That's because it's still not seen as a proper job despite the fact IT tech's have been around for over 50 years. Computer "experts" are everywhere apparently, the amount of times I've heard people say my 11 year old son is quite handy with computers, I bet he could fix it. Well why didn't he then? These days when people expect me to fix their computers for free, I just tell people I don't do that kind of IT work, I work on big servers, just saves so much hassle. As you said PC's are easy, it's the people that are the real pain in the ar*e

you need to get this printed onto a t-shirt

http://turnoff.us/image/en/ode-to-my-family.png

[daemon]

Guvernator said:

daemon said:

Even that isnt worth the pain IMHO. You could wally about for hours removing viruses / malware from somebodys PC and getting it running "right", THEN a month later you get the phone call "I've just tried to open (my hacked copy of) Office and its not working since you worked at it a month ago"

I did it for a couple of years - people will drive you scatty.

People will happily pay an engineer to fix their TV, or get their boiler working, or sort out an electrical fault, however people begrudge you a few ££ to fix their PC.

That's because it's still not seen as a proper job despite the fact IT tech's have been around for over 50 years. Computer "experts" are everywhere apparently, the amount of times I've heard people say my 11 year old son is quite handy with computers, I bet he could fix it. Well why didn't he then? These days when people expect me to fix their computers for free, I just tell people I don't do that kind of IT work, I work on big servers, just saves so much hassle. As you said PC's are easy, it's the people that are the real pain in the ar*e

Yes, thats exactly it. They've probably had little jimmy, the kid next door sorting it out for free but now they've had to pay you because its beyond little jimmy, they resent you for it

I did a RAM upgrade on a familys PC a while ago and a general tidy up to improve the speed of it. Left them very happy and with a much faster PC.

The next day i'd the woman on - now very irate - telling me i'd effectively robbed them because the RAM upgrade had never been fitted. So i'd to DRIVE back to her house to look at it. It transpired the 12 year old daughter had looked at the internet speed and had expected it to go up, and had told her mum that i hadnt installed the RAM. So who had she believed? A 12 year old girl or an IT expert with a business reputation to preserve? Well her little angel obviously!! I'd to physically open the PC and show them the RAM, and show them the difference in systems settings etc. So wasted an hour of my life (which i didnt get paid for) so that she didnt bad mouth me off to friends and family.

I could write a book on it.

I'd rather st on my hands and clap than do PC work for the general public.

[Zoon]

arcturus said:

You could apply to become a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher which would then entitle you to buy licences at discounted rates.

Just checked on my distis website and a 3 pack of Windows 10 Pro Refurb edition is £103, so quite a saving.

Edited by arcturus on Thursday 15th June 00:30

Or buy them off ebay for £4.50 each.

[daemon]

SystemParanoia said:

you need to get this printed onto a t-shirt

http://turnoff.us/image/en/ode-to-my-family.png

Once i saw the light and stopped doing it i got - and wore - this t shirt.

[Zoon]

daemon said:

I'd rather st on my hands and clap than do PC work for the general public.

Agreed, I had a retired couple trying to use an old 386 on the internet with a dial up modem.
I explained it was out of date and that they needed something newer.

A few days later a friend of my mothers had contacted her about a friend who needed her computer looking at.

Turns out it was the same couple who didn't believe the guy who came round the previous week.

Needless to say, I didn't bother looking at it a second time.

[daemon]

Zoon said:

daemon said:

I'd rather st on my hands and clap than do PC work for the general public.

Agreed, I had a retired couple trying to use an old 386 on the internet with a dial up modem.
I explained it was out of date and that they needed something newer.

A few days later a friend of my mothers had contacted her about a friend who needed her computer looking at.

Turns out it was the same couple who didn't believe the guy who came round the previous week.

Needless to say, I didn't bother looking at it a second time.

People are nuts.

I used to sell hardware too - laptops, PCs, printers from a retail outlet.

Had a bloke rang up, asking about a specific printer - i quoted him £210. I said i'd call out and set it up for him for free. I'd dealt with him before so i knew he'd need help.

He said he could buy it off Amazon for £180, so could i price match. No, sorry, thin margins (plus i knew this bloke would be a pain).

So he then said "well, if i buy it off amazon, will you install it for me?" Yes. No problem at all. £30 call out charge to do that.

Penny starting to drop now with him "so if i buy it from you its £210, but you'll install it" uh huh. "If i buy it from Amazon i wont know how to set it up so you'll charge me a £30 call out?". Yup. Bingo!

"But you would do it for free if i bought it from you, why wont you do it for free if i buy it from Amazon?"

And we saw that sort of attitude every day....