Selling Refurbished PCs As A 14 Year Old

[Zdos123]

Hi,
I built my first PC at the age of 9 which sported a FX-6300, 4GBx2 Crucial ballistix sport DDR3, Nvidia Geforce GTX 580 1.5GB and a 1TB WD blue in a corsair spec-03, since then it has been upgrade with a Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 which is comprable to a 1050 (Due to the 580 displaying artifacts). My 6300 is starting to affect my performance in more modern titles, i decided to refurbish my grandparents old Dell inspirion, some computer from like 2007 and that gave me a great idea if i save up some money i could buy old computers and stick in some more Ram (Only machines with DDR2 or below due to the high price of ram), Blow out the inside with compressed air and maybe stick in a cheap GPU and a new OS, then i would list the computer on Ebay and Gumtree for a marked up price and then just leave it and wait for it to sell, i just wandered what people thought about that and any ways i could improve this.

 

[greenmrt]

Your buyers might not care to much about the GPU for an old computer. Keep in mind that it may cost you $40+ dollars to ship the computer to the new buyer. Do you have available, secure packaging? Take a look at this listing and ask yourself if you want to compete: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Gaming-Computer-AMD-6-CORE-FX-6300-16GB-RAM-2TB-HDD-NIVDIA-1050GTX-2GB/202028676276?hash=item2f09d8f4b4:m:mn2_OaoOZYAx2ZKXUkmITWg

 

[WildCard999]

I wouldn't buy old outdated systems, maybe do some dumpster diving in a industrial park area where they tend to toss older systems and restore those using inactivated Windows 10. I did this for some very low income friends for free so they could browse the internet and some other basic usage to help improve my PC skills. If you are going to sell I'd sell for cheap.

TBH though you could probably earn more money mowing yards and some other physical labor that doesn't require a work permit.

 

[13thmonkey]

The PSU fails, and starts a fire, who do they sue?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi,
I built my first PC at the age of 9 which sported a FX-6300, 4GBx2 Crucial ballistix sport DDR3, Nvidia Geforce GTX 580 1.5GB and a 1TB WD blue in a corsair spec-03, since then it has been upgrade with a Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 which is comprable to a 1050 (Due to the 580 displaying artifacts). My 6300 is starting to affect my performance in more modern titles, i decided to refurbish my grandparents old Dell inspirion, some computer from like 2007 and that gave me a great idea if i save up some money i could buy old computers and stick in some more Ram (Only machines with DDR2 or below due to the high price of ram), Blow out the inside with compressed air and maybe stick in a cheap GPU and a new OS, then i would list the computer on Ebay and Gumtree for a marked up price and then just leave it and wait for it to sell, i just wandered what people thought about that and any ways i could improve this.

This is your competition:

Walmart - $165
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Optiplex-780-Windows-10-Home-Premium-Desktop-PC-Tower-Core-2-Duo-3-0GHz-Processor-8GB-RAM-500GB-Hard-Drive-with-DVD-RW-Refurbished-Computer/868369109
----------------------------------
BestBuy - $168
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-refurbished-desktop-amd-a4-series-8gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/5830102.p?skuId=5830102
------------------------------
BestBuy - $230
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-refurbished-compaq-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/5623693.p?skuId=5623693
------------------------------
Dell Outlet - $225 All-In-One
------------------------------
Amazon - $350 (i3-7100)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DM6TWM
-------------------------------

All of the above include a valid OS, and a warranty, and often free shipping.
The OS will cost YOU $100, which would need to be passed to the buyer.

You have a valiant idea, but you and I cannot compete at that level.

 

[Solandri]

Instead of trying to sell refurb systems, do what I do. Talk to local small businesses and offer your expertise in buying computers and fixing problems they may encounter. The vast majority of small business owners aren't in the computer business so don't know anything about computers, and don't have a big enough budget to hire someone full-time to take care of their computer purchases and problems. So they're more than happy to outsource this job on a per-item or per-problem basis.

If they need a new computer, I assess what features and how powerful it needs to be. I search nearby retail stores or online for prebuilt computer which matches the requirements at a decent price. Then I give the business owner the recommendation and estimated price. They give me the OK and I go ahead and purchase it. I bring it home, let Windows update, and install a basic suite of apps (e.g. Malwarebytes, Chrome/Firefox, Office if they bought it too, 7zip, ImgBurn, a codec pack if they're going to view videos on it, Recuva so they can undelete without having to install it, a PDF viewer/printer, turn on System Restore, etc). If they requested a SSD, I lone the HDD to the SSD and configure it to boot off the SSD.

They love this. One of the things you'll learn when you run your own business is that your most valuable asset frequently isn't money, it's time. And I save them a ton of time by doing all this for them and delivering it to them ready to run straight out of the box. About the only thing I have to do when delivering it is unbox it, set up all the cables, mouse, keyboard, and monitor, and install printer drivers. I charge about $50-$100 per computer for all this. They're happy to pay because of all the time I saved them, and for me it was mostly a few mouse clicks and watching TV or browsing the web while the computer did its thing.

In my case I also do the buying and include the purchase price (and receipt) in my bill. But at 14 you may not be able to do that, unless you're responsible with money and can get one of your parents to co-sign for a credit card. The beauty of this over refurbing is that you don't have tie up your own money in inventory which you hope you'll be able to sell. You're not actually buying anything until you know you have a customer who'll pay you for it. Meaning you'll never take a loss on something. (If you do this, be sure to keep good records of your expenses and how much you got paid. You'll need that when you file your taxes.)

 

[Zdos123]

Instead of trying to sell refurb systems, do what I do. Talk to local small businesses and offer your expertise in buying computers and fixing problems they may encounter. The vast majority of small business owners aren't in the computer business so don't know anything about computers, and don't have a big enough budget to hire someone full-time to take care of their computer purchases and problems. So they're more than happy to outsource this job on a per-item or per-problem basis.

If they need a new computer, I assess what features and how powerful it needs to be. I search nearby retail stores or online for prebuilt computer which matches the requirements at a decent price. Then I give the business owner the recommendation and estimated price. They give me the OK and I go ahead and purchase it. I bring it home, let Windows update, and install a basic suite of apps (e.g. Malwarebytes, Chrome/Firefox, Office if they bought it too, 7zip, ImgBurn, a codec pack if they're going to view videos on it, Recuva so they can undelete without having to install it, a PDF viewer/printer, turn on System Restore, etc). If they requested a SSD, I lone the HDD to the SSD and configure it to boot off the SSD.

They love this. One of the things you'll learn when you run your own business is that your most valuable asset frequently isn't money, it's time. And I save them a ton of time by doing all this for them and delivering it to them ready to run straight out of the box. About the only thing I have to do when delivering it is unbox it, set up all the cables, mouse, keyboard, and monitor, and install printer drivers. I charge about $50-$100 per computer for all this. They're happy to pay because of all the time I saved them, and for me it was mostly a few mouse clicks and watching TV or browsing the web while the computer did its thing.

In my case I also do the buying and include the purchase price (and receipt) in my bill. But at 14 you may not be able to do that, unless you're responsible with money and can get one of your parents to co-sign for a credit card. The beauty of this over refurbing is that you don't have tie up your own money in inventory which you hope you'll be able to sell. You're not actually buying anything until you know you have a customer who'll pay you for it. Meaning you'll never take a loss on something. (If you do this, be sure to keep good records of your expenses and how much you got paid. You'll need that when you file your taxes.)

I will take a look at this idea Solandri, i may also take a look at selling PCs at car boot sales, because they are very popular in Bristol Uk, whenever i take a PC to one i always sell it within an 1-hour or so, there is a shop near me which takes prebuilt systems for actually quite a decent price and then sells them for an even higher price to the local engineering firms, sometimes they even sell them to rolls royce. I have pretty much exhausted all of my jobs i can do, done jobs on parents Imac which was a pain, paper rounds, washing cars and can't do lawns because UK gardens are tiny and don't grow very fast, it only requires cutting every summer and that take about 2 minutes. thanks for all the advice, will try what you suggested. bye.

 

[13thmonkey]

I dunno about bristolian gardens, but mine up near Leicester needs cutting every week, pain in the backside.

 

[Zdos123]

I dunno about bristolian gardens, but mine up near Leicester needs cutting every week, pain in the backside.

I meant terrace gardens, have a look at the BS4 poscode and you will see what i mean.

 

[Zdos123]

Hi,
I built my first PC at the age of 9 which sported a FX-6300, 4GBx2 Crucial ballistix sport DDR3, Nvidia Geforce GTX 580 1.5GB and a 1TB WD blue in a corsair spec-03, since then it has been upgrade with a Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 which is comprable to a 1050 (Due to the 580 displaying artifacts). My 6300 is starting to affect my performance in more modern titles, i decided to refurbish my grandparents old Dell inspirion, some computer from like 2007 and that gave me a great idea if i save up some money i could buy old computers and stick in some more Ram (Only machines with DDR2 or below due to the high price of ram), Blow out the inside with compressed air and maybe stick in a cheap GPU and a new OS, then i would list the computer on Ebay and Gumtree for a marked up price and then just leave it and wait for it to sell, i just wandered what people thought about that and any ways i could improve this.

This is your competition:

Walmart - $165
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Optiplex-780-Windows-10-Home-Premium-Desktop-PC-Tower-Core-2-Duo-3-0GHz-Processor-8GB-RAM-500GB-Hard-Drive-with-DVD-RW-Refurbished-Computer/868369109
----------------------------------
BestBuy - $168
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-refurbished-desktop-amd-a4-series-8gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/5830102.p?skuId=5830102
------------------------------
BestBuy - $230
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-refurbished-compaq-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/5623693.p?skuId=5623693
------------------------------
Dell Outlet - $225 All-In-One
------------------------------
Amazon - $350 (i3-7100)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DM6TWM
-------------------------------

All of the above include a valid OS, and a warranty, and often free shipping.
The OS will cost YOU $100, which would need to be passed to the buyer.

You have a valiant idea, but you and I cannot compete at that level.

Walmart and Bestbuy wouldn't affect me as i live in the UK and i would sell locally (UK only)

 

[USAFRet]

Walmart and Bestbuy wouldn't affect me as i live in the UK and i would sell locally (UK only)

Things aren't any different in England.

(all including a valid OS)
Amazon UK
£130
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Core2Duo-Windows-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B01DZNQM5K

£170
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Optiplex-790-Desktop-Computer/dp/B00PFVR1GK

Newegg UK
£205
https://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ1JJ4331

Currys
£280
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/packard-bell-imedia-s3730-desktop-pc-black-10164206-pdt.html



We're just saying...this is not as easy as it sounds. You have to do a lot of investigation into this, and really, really know your market and your competition.