sell pc's for profit

[molsen]

I'm thinking of building computers for people. You know, make a flyer, make some "models" (ege diff. proc speeds, memory, hd, gfx, etc.) and list prices and give my phone #. I have alot more details worked out than that but there's no point in posting them here.

Anyways, I was wondering what a fair price would be as far as mark up on the computers. $100 over cost? $50 over cost? $150 over cost? I will be ordering, assembling, installing windows, configuring, testing.

I was also wondering if anyone had any thoughts about how I should go about warranting my product. I'd be glad to inspect their system if something's wrong to see if it's my hardware that's at fault. If so, I'd happily return it to the manufacturer if under warranty. --all for free of course. Other than that, I don't really plan to offer any free service.....unless I feel like it. Good idea? Bad idea? Should I offer service during like the first week or two of ownership?

 

[Deimos]

I think Harper would know more about this.

 

[thebleakness]

I think you would calculate the mark up depending on what the customer wants. Takes abit more time to setup a RAID or w/e than just plug in the hdds. Or just go by the hour. I would like to do the same thing but im not sure if it would really be profitable.

 

[molsen]

I'm just worried that because I'm a student, I can't offer people full service after they buy their computers from me. I'll just be up front about that and let them know I'm not certified for diagnosing and repairing problems......., because I'd rather not have ****ed off people looking for me because their computer broke and they think I should fix it.

Like I said, at any point they think something is wrong, I'll come to their place and diagnose the problem to the best of my ability and if it's my hardware that's at fault, I'll send it back per manufacturer's warranty. Otherwise, I'll refer them to the local comp. repair shop. Fair enough?

I'm not looking to start a real business. Just maybe sell a couple computers here and there for some honest cash.

 

[Deimos]

yeah i wouldn't want to deal with costomers either

 

[KryptoKnight]

that's cool. I'm planning to do that for some friends, too. I'd say go around 100-200 above, because you can't forgetr shipping.

 

[molsen]

well i meant over cost which includes shipping.

 

[mrdinkel]

my take on it

a good thing to consider would be to look at DELL /HP / etc and look at what they are selling a system comparable to what you'd build would be. Then figure out a happy medium for what you can sell for and have a margin still showing you're cheaper cost and better quality than a major manufactured PC.

I guess part of it would be if you charge towards the higher end of the range, then give them so much FREE tech support; if you go to the lower end of what you were going to charge markup then i'd think that you'd be wise to not give as much tech support. If they want "your bottom dollar" then shave off the tech support to bare-bones.

 

[molsen]

im not comparing my systems with store-brand systems because they are so different. chances are my systems will be a little more expensive than store brands, but they'll be much better:

i'm using name brand quality parts that i know and trust...as well as configurations that are easily upgradeable....no cheap no-name proprietary crap. hopefully if I do this a) there will be less problems for me to worry about and b) hopefully the customer will come back to me for upgrades.

yea, if i realize i can mark them up higher, i'll offer some more tech. support i suppose.

 

[Metr01973]

Usaully you'd add something like 33% mark up. The problem I can see is that you're gonna have people ringing you up to fix their computer even when it's something totally different to hardware. I'd say 3 months for everything and then 12 months on anything hardware related.