Hey /g/. How would you go about building custom PCs and upselling them for profit?
I was thinking of doing something like that to make some money on the side. I had the idea of doing it through eBay, but I'm concerned that the selling fee would cut into my profit. Anyone on here have any experience with this kind of stuff?
You won't be able to make any money that way. People who buy prefab gaming computers buy alienware or whatever, and everyone else who might need a custom computer builds it themselves, except enterprise, who buy prebuilts for the warranty.
>>51973875
What about regular computers? People don't just buy computers solely for gaming. And there's a lot of people out there that are too scared to build a computer themselves.
Pretend I'm a possible buyer.
I'm asking how much you could build it for? and how fast it would be? and could it run games? what would you tell me?
>>51973926
>How much could I build it for?
Between $500-800, depending on what you're looking for. If you want something more graphic intensive it'll be more for a better graphics card.
>How fast would it be?
The CPU would be at 3.7 GHz. Which means that it'll be able to handle most applications like browsing the Internet and listening to music easily. You'll get 6GB/second with the 1 TB hard drive, so it'll start up pretty quick and you can get right into your work.
>Could it run games?
Yes, but higher end games you'll have to run at lower graphics.
I'm starting to think it would be best to just have just one option with a certain list of specs instead of trying to make it custom for each individual person.
>>51973875
>everyone else who might need a custom computer builds it themselves
Not true, a friend went through all the effort of picking out his parts and doing research, only to pay MSI another $100 to put it together for him, even after helping me build mine and knowing what to do. There definitely is a market for dumbasses who only half ass things. Only problem I can see with OP's plan is constantly getting harrassed by clients saying shit doesn't work a week after getting their build because they do dumb shit and get a bunch of malware and what not.
>>51974041
I could say that viruses and software isn't covered. So they can't complain if they install a virus and destroy their hard drive.
>>51974030
$500-800 is quite a bit. I'm a brokefag and hang out with people that couldn't spend that much on a pc ESPECIALLY without a monitor and keyboard and shit.
I usually for my friends hook em up with a 6300 with a cheap mobo 8 GB of ram and shit and the PC itself ends up around 300-400 bucks.
THey are satisfied with it since they don't game. Gamers will make you sorry you ever did business with them to start with. They're going to cry in 5 months when their PC can't run this or that.
with the $500 build what would you hook em up with? what about $800 build?
CD drives? ssd? hdd?
Good thing about OP's idea is that with each satisfied customer is a great chance another one comes around. Satisfied customer will talk of their new Pc and their friends will probably call asking for service also.
OP, how do you plan on handling sofware? Do you pay for legitimate Windows? You going to DAZ it? or bootleg and hook users up with a possible botnet? or what?
>>51974080
What's your return policy if a part fails through no fault of the user? Are you going to cover the postage for them to send it back?
>>51974149
put my own backdoor in
>>51974106
AMD Athlon x4 860k - $80
8GB RAM - $40
1TB HD WD - $50
cheap motherboard - $60
Thermaltake case - $60
Some GPU - $100-150
>>51974041
>only to pay MSI another $100 to put it together for him
WHY?
>>51974149
You can pirate Windows 7 pretty easily. Or pay 60 dollars for it. I think I'll just pirate it.
I'm just not sure if I should try putting this business on ebay, or craigslist. Or even just asking my friends if they need a new PC.
>>51974159
If it's my fault then yes. I'll make sure to test everything before sending it out though.
>>51974202
Because he's a dumbass, he had to return it after 2 weeks because the mobo died and despite all that, he did the exact same thing later for his little brothers build, which also had to be returned after a month because the PSU died....
>>51974030
>6GB/s
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
>>51974226
Yeah, but you do know you can get in trouble for that right? real trouble? like against the law shit if customers seriously wanted to butt fuck you.
>>51974189
Bro, that build looks like shit and I'm an AMDfag
why spend $60 on a case for a budget build? for the PSU,? the pc might really stop working within a month or two. Still slowing down systems with no SSD?
>>51974030
>6GB/second
bahaha fucking false advertising
>>51974249
Dude. A lot of people don't know anything about read/write times. If you make it sound good then it's good.
>>51974030
Don't listen to NEETS on job info. Go for it. And yes, productise. Come up with a price list rather than trying to customise for everyone, you'll end up confusing some people. Remember the average person DOES want to just plug and play.
"Anon, that computer you made me 3 years ago hot a virus, I want my money back".
You can make more money doing dumb shit like that lego pc. Some stoner might pay money if you do something creative with an old nintendo or some turntable.
>>51974261
Okay, I guess I'll add the official Windows if I'm selling over the internet.
All cases that are cheap look like shit though.
Also, 120GB of storage doesn't look good for someone computer illiterate.
>>51974261
Also, what AMD chip would you recommend? I use intel, I just know that AMD is cheap but good for the money.
If you seriously want to make a profit you're going to have to save money the parts to build the system. I would build system like this one http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KVx8d That's the $300 build
for another $50 you could add a 1 TB HDD like this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QwvBXL
No video card on this build but the mobo has onboard video and you can play around with adding a video card for so much more whatever you think is good enough for the customer and even play around with replacing the 6300 with an A10 or something with a decent CPu and FPU.
in any case I don't think you should be ruining your reputation by NOT installing an SSD on the computers you sell.
>>51974396
I posted this for OP or >>51974393
>>51973847
There's a guy near me who does this on Craigslist. I bought a computer from him last summer: $500 for an FX8320e, HD7870, 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 8 GB RAM, and watercooling. Obviously not a steal for me but I didn't get totally gypped. I saw some of his other builds and it looks like he manages to get bulk deals on parts like cards and hard drives and then pieces together the rest on clearance cases and CPU/mobo bundles from Microcenter. I think this might be your best bet.
Just be sure your builds are clean (the cable management was immaculate), your ads are well-written and contain good photos, and keep at least 2-3 ads out an any given time with similar photo settings (backgrounds) so they know it's you. Basically, have your shit together and make sure people know you're legit.
>>51974413
On the other hand, I've also seen retards who posts a ton of random numbers and abbreviations that don't mean anything in the CL description, and fill the shitty PC with red LEDs. That also seems to be successful. People are dumb.
>>51974413
>Microcenter
OP if you live by one you can get a deal. In store bundles save you at least $40 per cpu/mobo combo. They also have returned video cards and parts that work perfectly fine. And with them while putting them together you can easily return the part instead of wasting your time and energy RMAing shit by mail and what not.
>>51974472
Yeah, I've seen that too.
ALSO, if you ever want a laugh, just browse your local Craigslist computer section. Seeing some of the shit people try to sell, or the "gaming PC's" that people put together just kills me.
>>51974396
That case really doesn't seem like something that people would go for in my opinion. I do like how cheap it is though.
Anyway, thanks for all this advice it was really helpful. I still need to figure out how I'm going to market this, but I think I have a good idea.
>>51974508
Well, I hear ya on that the case looks cheap. But honestly the people that need to be impressed by a case are the kind of people who will need to have that look matched with performance too.
You can probably get a cooler case for like $20 more or whatever. Play around with it until it looks right for the people you know would want it. If you're selling to people younger than $30 I guess looks can be very important especially as a selling point. It will get their attention. I prefer selling to older people that just want something that works.
Here's a similar build to >>51974396
but added a 750 ti and it's $470
>>51974504
>tfw no Microcenter in the northwest
We have a Fry's though but I've never been there. Do they have good deals in-store?
>>51974842
I never been to fry's
>>51974316
if its local, offer up a warranty for software fixes, and just do a complete wipe and reinstall windows, problem solved unless they got a rootkit.
offering hardware warranties will also be good, a 2 year 50$ warranty will on average make you 50$ a person, and if you only deal in ssds even less likely for anything to die, just make sure the psu is good.
if its over the internet, all sales are final, and give them all the info you can so they can deal with warranties themselves.
i would personally make tiers,
1) erey day computer, this is a facebook machine that can play videos
2) erey day power, this is a build that will do everything 1 can but more powerfull so it feels faster
3) gamer t1 this is an entry level everything will work at 720p
4) gamer t2 same as above but everything will work at 1080p
5) gamer t3 everything will be maxed out at 1080p
6) gamer t5 this is the most powerful computer you can build for gaming alone, likely able to 60fps 4k
7) no expense t1 - 6 core intel 1tb of ssd raided, 4-8tb of hdd raided 2 way sli/crossfire
8) no expense t2 - 8core intel the same as above
mark up about 20-50%
You have to have a catch that other people don't have. You need to buy extended warranties and offer on site troubleshooting and repair. You need to be prepared to replace faulty parts and face it like a company would for idiots trying to rip you off.
You need to find parts cheaper than Newegg. People don't care about components and you need to not care about them either. If somebody wants a "High end gaming pc for 1,000" then you give them AMD and a 970. Zotac. They don't know the different between crucial or Kingston RAM. They don't know that a 450w budget psu isn't the best choice. They don't know that the 75$ mATX mobo can't overclock or doesn't have a video oriented north bridge. They don't know the case you sold them has shitty airflow.
Build low and sell high unless they specifically ask for a certain brand, then you tell them it may affect up front costs. Offer more than gaming Pc's. Offer professional workstations, multimonitor bundles, mini setups for living room media centers, home servers. If you start a name for yourself maybe you could start doing small businesses. They love the chance to get 3 or 4 computers and security cameras hooked up at insanely low prices. They'll spread your name around, pay you more than the average person and get you business.
You're not a pre-built seller, you're a custom build seller and technician/installation servicemen. A+ certification will provide credibility to you. It will give other people something to trust in and actually does certify you in knowing your shit despite what the idiots of /g/ will tell you.
Always know your shit is my final advice. Customers never want to hear you stumble on your words or search up things. Worst case scenario say that you've never had this kind of issue and would like to see what other solutions there may be that are cost effective. Customers love saving money.
There is not much money in it except for few neiche cases, i.e building one for a friend or family member, who you could rip off, if youre a jerk.
>>51973847
What do you do when the PC encounters a problem like a HDD failure or if the custo mer is a stupid fuck and gets a virus on it within the first week? You can just tell them to go fuck themselves because it isn't your
fault, but try convincing a normie that they are to stupid to use a computer.
Also if you don't provide some kind of support for stupid people then they are obviously better off buying a Dell.
Companies like dell have entire armies of shitskins to handle this kind of stuff.
I will never build a PC for someone who isn't my friend or close acquaintance at any point.
>>51973847
I do it. I advertise and sell exclusively through ebay, though once the holiday season is over and I have more time to spread my disease I will be printing "business cards" that give a brief summary of what I do and then offer a QR code that leads to a google form which quizzes them on what they want, then sends me the results with a way to get in touch with them. I will be distributing these in front of computers at bestbuy and walmart because fuck those nerds.
Basically the thing to remember is that you need to cater to the customer and that you need to bring your knowledge and apply it properly, because you have a very specific market: people who know enough about computers to know that you CAN customize them and that it is a good idea to do this, and people who don't know/don't care enough to do it themselves.
Working from that premise, you want to be extremely flexible and design custom builds for each customer, but you also need to remember not to pepper them with bullshit options they know nothing about. Just find out, as specifically as possible, what they will be using the PC for, their budget, and then build the machine that will do that best for them within the constraints of the budget. Be honest and advise them about exactly what kind of performance they can expect from your build vs. store-bought options. If you do it right you will seldom have to admit defeat anyway. Be honest and do not use pirated software. Don't use used hardware without first getting the consent of the buyer.
Finally, don't accept financial risk. You will probably not make enough money on this for it to be worthwhile financially - I just use it to make funny money for me to spend on my gaming habit, and because I like building PCs. Don't buy parts in anticipation of customers, and don't accept builds up front without payment. You need to have cash on hand before you do anything for anyone.
>>51982115
meant to say craigslist, not ebay
And one more thing:
This WILL create trust issues with craigslist buyers, and rightfully so - so you need to offer to have them buy the parts and you assemble them, or have them come over for a demo, etc.
