Profit?

Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
edited April 2008 in Hardware
is there any profit to come with buying cheap computers of EBay, refurbing them, and selling them on EBay?

Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Probably not when you take shipping into account. It usually becomes a dealbreaker when you're talking about something as heavy as a PC case.
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    EBay = buyer pays for shipping. Isnt hardware like books, you get a break on shipping?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Buyer pays shipping - as in, you do when you buy the hardware. You'd have to mark it up pretty heartily after you refurbed it to cover that initial shipping cost.

    As far as I know, you can't ship a whole PC media rate.
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    would i be better off building one from scratch for ebay?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    ebay is a terrible place to sell computers, my friend. Fraud, too many saavy buyers, razor thin profit margins. It won't be worth your while. Try to sell locally. Put up flyers or something.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Or donate 'em to schools for a tax writeoff.
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    mertesn wrote:
    Or donate 'em to schools for a tax writeoff.

    I got to a magnet school for computers and I dont have a job >.<

    any other way to make a profit out of building/reparing computers?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    any other way to make a profit out of building/reparing computers?
    This depends on your community. Look in the yellow pages, on Craigslist; visit mom & pop shops, ask around. What you need to determine is if there is a market. For instance, if you look on my local Craigslist you will see boatloads of used computers for sale. It would be hard to break into the selling market here. 10 years ago, becoming a freelance builder/repairer was not too difficult. New computer prices were very high and there was not a large base of hardware-skilled individuals. Prices are LOW now on new computers and there are many, many hardware savvy folks like us. Another factor is that in general, PCs are much more reliable than they used to be.

    Considering eBay auction fees, a flooded market of cheap computers, and shipping costs, it would be very difficult to make a success of selling low-end or mid-range computers on eBay.

    Look for an angle. Does your community have a source for custom computers? Does it have a mobile PC repair business, or is it limited to expensive shops?

    So, two things. Know your market well and know what services are or are not already available to your community.
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