Question are flipping pcs worth it to gain experience with building computers alongside making afew bucks from it?

[AI_Gaming]

i wanna start flipping PC's to gain more experience in building custom PC's. I'm not a complete noob and i know what im doing when it comes to PC's (just never sold them). also will it possible help me to get a job if i wanted to apply for somekind of custom pcs store?

 

[USAFRet]

i wanna start flipping PC's to gain more experience in building custom PC's. I'm not a complete noob and i know what im doing when it comes to PC's (just never sold them). also will it possible help me to get a job if i wanted to apply for somekind of custom pcs store?

Your competition is CyberPowerPC, iBuyPower, Microcenter, Dell, HP, BestBuy. and whatever is on Amazon/Newegg.
They have the advantage of buying parts by the tens of thousands, with the relevant corporate discounts.

They have the advantage of buying OEM Windows licenses in bulk, from MS, for MUCH less than you can.

They also have a warranty dept. Are you going to answer the phone or text at 2AM?


You're just a regular guy, like all of us out here.
You're buying parts at no more of a discount than anyone else can.
So what value add do you bring?

Convince me to buy one of YOUR PCs.​

 

[AI_Gaming]

Your competition is CyberPowerPC, iBuyPower, Microcenter, Dell, HP, BestBuy. and whatever is on Amazon/Newegg.
They have the advantage of buying parts by the tens of thousands, with the relevant corporate discounts.

They have the advantage of buying OEM Windows licenses in bulk, from MS, for MUCH less than you can.

They also have a warranty dept. Are you going to answer the phone or text at 2AM?


You're just a regular guy, like all of us out here.
You're buying parts at no more of a discount than anyone else can.
So what value add do you bring?

Convince me to buy one of YOUR PCs.​

im not planning to sell world wide like dell hp etc, just want to sell locally on the local marketplaces. + i live in the UAE and there are very few selling PC's online, only in stores

 

[punkncat]

i wanna start flipping PC's to gain more experience in building custom PC's. I'm not a complete noob and i know what im doing when it comes to PC's (just never sold them). also will it possible help me to get a job if i wanted to apply for somekind of custom pcs store?

Good for you!
If you see the need in the market and can latch onto what your audience wants, why not give it a try?

There are a lot of people that try assorted businesses and fail. Those first few years can be really tough while you try to get some recognition, a customer base, be known in your market. Make sure you go into this with enough funds to carry yourself for a year or more. Don't expect to go in broke and make something of it...not to say you can't, but it isn't really the smart play.

As above, you will need to consider what aspects of the process you bring to the table that others aren't. You need to consider that you don't have the backing of an internationally known business entity and (as pointed out above) those folks are your competition. It is easy to recognize shortcomings in their builds, but can you convince people that don't know you to take a chance on yours and why.

I wish you the best with it.

 

[USAFRet]

im not planning to sell world wide like dell hp etc, just want to sell locally on the local marketplaces. + i live in the UAE and there are very few selling PC's online, only in stores

"+ i live in the UAE"

Well, that would have been very relevant info to know.

But you're still competing with Dell, because that is where your potential customers are shopping.

Can you make a few $$? Maybe, maybe not.
Would it help you get a job? Only if you don't get any nastygrams from dissatisfied customers.

Try it. See what happens.

 

[Lutfij]

The best advice I could give you is to stick to it, regardless of any ups and downs. For the time being, you can think of it as a hobby, learn as you go and whatever you make off of it, you save. Yes over time, given your experience you could apply as technician or systembuilder but they usually have a tall order.

Remember how I mentioned region? If access to second hand, good quality parts aren't possible where you're located, that might be a tough climb. You could contact your local retailers(in the future) and see if you can be granted distributor pricing. I get that since I'm in contact with product managers for my region/country. The pricing means you have a small margin you can keep as your profit.

Where are you located again?

 

[AI_Gaming]

"+ i live in the UAE"

Well, that would have been very relevant info to know.

But you're still competing with Dell, because that is where your potential customers are shopping.

Can you make a few $$? Maybe, maybe not.
Would it help you get a job? Only if you don't get any nastygrams from dissatisfied customers.

Try it. See what happens.

yes while my competition maybe dell and hp here in uae, they are still non flashy all black prebuilds thatcost 700$ and dont even have a gpu.

i also wanna mention that ppl here aren't really interested in building PC's themselves, 60% of them if not more would much rather get a prebuild even if the specs are abit lower for the same price

i also wanna point out that i am willing to spend an extra 30-40$ on my PC's to make them look more aesthetic and for them to sell better faster and maybe for more $, for example. RGB ram, cable extension, and rgb fans

and as I've said earlier. i dont want to start the next "DELL" or smtng. i dont even want much profit, and even if i was to have profit, I would spent that on my next build

i just want to do it as a hobby and to obtain some skills along the way, and to get closer to the PC market.

 

[palladin9479]

i wanna start flipping PC's to gain more experience in building custom PC's. I'm not a complete noob and i know what im doing when it comes to PC's (just never sold them). also will it possible help me to get a job if i wanted to apply for somekind of custom pcs store?

I mean, it might be a great upper body exercise but it's gonna get banged up if you flip it too many times.

 

[ilukey77]

Thought of doing this my self because i adore building computers ..
BUT
Problem is buying power all the big companies have massive buying power if you were building in bulk say 50 at a time you could ultimately save in bulk priced parts so the out lay is huge ..

Then trouble shooting warranty etc etc then where do yo sell ebay which take fees etc etc..

Flipping ive also looked at but with in its self you can find yourself replacing to much stuff ..

Ive built about 5 stand alone computers and ive lost count on how many times ive rebuilt my main ( usually trying new coolers and cases )

Due to build my all intel soon in a fractal define 7 nano ( will post pics in member systems when done )

Then selling them everyone wants something for nothing ..

Just sold a whole bunch of pc parts my 6900xt 6700xt and currently selling a MSI mobo 5800x3d and gskill neo rbg 4x8gb ram as a package and people are low balling me !!

sold my 6700xt spectral white hellhound was selling for 700aud some guy lowballed me at 300aud then abused me because i wouldnt sell it at 300 and said i wouldnt get more than that !!

Dropped the price to 500aud sold a week later at 500aud

 

[USAFRet]

Problem is buying power all the big companies have massive buying power if you were building in bulk say 50 at a time you could ultimately save in bulk priced parts so the out lay is huge ..

Add 2 zeros to that "50".

 

[DaleH]

i wanna start flipping PC's to gain more experience in building custom PC's. I'm not a complete noob and i know what im doing when it comes to PC's (just never sold them). also will it possible help me to get a job if i wanted to apply for somekind of custom pcs store?

Any knowledge one gains is not wasted.

 

[stonecarver]

Where you can really excel in is getting your name out there in repairing systems. There is no overhead and your not on the hook eight months later if a part goes bad.

I don't mind building someone a computer here or there but I have them buy the parts and get or don't get extended warranty's is all on them. Again no overhead and if a part goes bad there the one who bought the parts. Up to them to do all the foot work if it comes to that.

I used to just get all the parts myself but it never fails and bites you later if issues come up.

I have gotten very comfortable them just bring me there PC with issues. I don't care what's under the hood to me it's just a box with parts.

If there computer needs hardware to complete there repair it's a lot less risky to get memory or an SSD and to someone who has a non working computer and you get them working and in a timely manner there your customer for life and they tell someone and they tell someone kind of thing.

Soon you have a shop full of computers to repair and the item your selling is your knowledge, Most of the time they just screwed up Windows.
The other repair that comes in a lot is when someone with good intentions tried themselves to do an upgrade and hosed the computer. When you get it working you end up getting more work from those people. And trust is a big part.


Food for thought.

 

[punkncat]

I would mention a business model that worked out pretty well for me for a couple of years.

First, I had a connection inside a very large IT program that used leased PC. This gave me an inside track in being able to get these PC not only from a 'first pick' situation, but also super low low pricing. This stuff was available to others as well, but they didn't have the heads up that I did concerning the hardware.

In this instance I would have option on CPU, RAM, HDD/SSD, and very seldom GPU that fit these form factors. I would also have option on lots (like a group of sold as one) of cases that typically contained motherboard, power supply, and not much else. The trick here was to pick the pallet that had the best looking and most complete machines to pair up with the other hardware acquired above. Most of these were Dell business class PC, almost 100% of the time Optiplex, and more often than not half height desktops and less often mid tower or desktop. I mainly avoided the SFF unless there was something special about it.

I could get this hardware and have a working PC typically ~$50. At the time this went well (up till W11 released minimum specs) and generally could be sold on Craigslist for around $80-120 according to what was in them. I split a part of my profit side with my partner, so it wasn't uncommon to make $15-20 for the effort. I would generally get ~10-15 of them at a time and then sell those off over the next month or so. It was not uncommon for other small mom and pop shops to pick up lots at a time direct from me, and still leave them room on top to make some money.

A couple of flaws in my own situation were that there was no steady stream of these machines due to the upgrade timing of the businesses. I never really knew what was going to be available before that heads up, but could generally guess that they would be 4-6 year old Optiplex class machines. The other being that I had no storefront and the way they were sold didn't really generate a model that was easily recognizable as "me". IE they didn't go to my eBay page or whatnot knowing who/where I was. When the market changed I got stuck with the last lot and given the tight margin I already had it pretty much ate the year. I have actually one of these machines left and it's been on CL for two months at $50 for a complete running PC with a monitor. I have had one flaky party feign interest.

The takeaway being, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

edit- Another aspect I didn't mention, don't mess with i3 CPU. Even when older, just having an i7 was almost always a quick sell. i5 do pretty well, but i3 just sit. Given the class/age of the PC stock I was getting, AMD wasn't in the picture at all.

 

[ilukey77]

Where you can really excel in is getting your name out there in repairing systems. There is no overhead and your not on the hook eight months later if a part goes bad.

I don't mind building someone a computer here or there but I have them buy the parts and get or don't get extended warranty's is all on them. Again no overhead and if a part goes bad there the one who bought the parts. Up to them to do all the foot work if it comes to that.

I used to just get all the parts myself but it never fails and bites you later if issues come up.

I have gotten very comfortable them just bring me there PC with issues. I don't care what's under the hood to me it's just a box with parts.

If there computer needs hardware to complete there repair it's a lot less risky to get memory or an SSD and to someone who has a non working computer and you get them working and in a timely manner there your customer for life and they tell someone and they tell someone kind of thing.

Soon you have a shop full of computers to repair and the item your selling is your knowledge, Most of the time they just screwed up Windows.
The other repair that comes in a lot is when someone with good intentions tried themselves to do an upgrade and hosed the computer. When you get it working you end up getting more work from those people. And trust is a big part.


Food for thought.

Then it kind defeats the purpose of enjoyment of building computers

Dont think i want to just keep fixing other people mistakes or software issues ..

bring me the parts and ill build is fun though ..

Not sure i want to fix software issues over and over and over ..

I would have applied for a job at one of the many PC stores in my state that ive seen over the years but they wanted software trouble shoot etc etc ..

I like to build not spend hours on google looking for answers !!

 

[USAFRet]

Then it kind defeats the purpose of enjoyment of building computers

Dont think i want to just keep fixing other people mistakes or software issues ..

bring me the parts and ill build is fun though ..

Not sure i want to fix software issues over and over and over ..

I would have applied for a job at one of the many PC stores in my state that ive seen over the years but they wanted software trouble shoot etc etc ..

I like to build not spend hours on google looking for answers !!

Welcome to the world of IT, where you get paid to mess with computers!

It is boooooring! And repetitive. Did I mention boring?


Building systems on your own, for 'profit', gets old after about the 3rd one.

 

[ilukey77]

Welcome to the world of IT, where you get paid to mess with computers!

It is boooooring! And repetitive. Did I mention boring?


Building systems on your own, for 'profit', gets old after about the 3rd one.

Ill stick to wasting my money just building them ..

In actual fact while i love it my all intel build im going to do is going to be my last for a while till next gen parts come out and ill rebuild my main ..

Still deciding if ill go Nvidia or AMD next gen ..( if AMD drops the ball next gen i might go big big on the 5090 )

But ill stick to AMD CPU's Intel just cant compete with x3d yet or socket life ..

Yeah thats what i thought getting old( alot of people liked my builds i posted in the members PC thread )

But my issue was where do i sell them how much for
Dont want the issues that come with face to face sales
Then selling on ebay attracts a sales fee almost negating any profit really..

So i didnt bother !!