Make sure you and your customer understand one very important thing about OEM licenses: They cannot be transferred to another computer. Also, they can only be legally sold once.
Generally speaking, a "computer" is designated as the motherboard. You can replace a few components and be asked to re-authenticate that copy of WinXP, but that only goes so far. OEM licenses are cheap for a reason.
alright, so, if I build it and say, pawn it, ebay it, sell it here on the trading fourm, sell it to a friend, or donate etc i should include the disc and sleeve?
also: if the parts are a little over $500, then what should i sell for? $700?
you do not have to include the disk, but the computer MUST have the OEM sticker with the license key on the case somewhere.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2008
if the parts are a little over $500, then what should i sell for? $700?
Whatever you can get. There is no formula. It all depends on the market in which you intend to sell it: supply, demand, knowledge level of customers. Unless you are in a market that is desperate for custom computers, I wouldn't plan on making any profit on this computer, especially once you factor in the shipping costs for your parts. You can talk all day long about the benefits of a custom computer (and indeed there are!), but you will be hard pressed to convince most buyers that your un-branded machine is worth more than the very inexpensive box off the shelf that comes with manufacturer's warranty and customer service 800 number.
If your intent is to sell this to a good friend or relative who trusts, then that's another story. I am not trying to discourage you against building a computer; just hope that you are realistic about the market that is already saturated with sellers. Know what stores - big box and mom and pop, and custom builders are in your area. Check out Craigslist. In my area, I see many adds for custom computers. Prices start out very high, with the seller stating something like, "I put $XYZ into this computer just two months ago..." Then, just a week later the computer is still on Craigslist with a steep discount from the original asking price.
I was really just going to build it to see if i could, then sell it from there, try selling it to somebody in the area who needs a computer, or just try putting it on craigslist.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited May 2008
Build yourself a computer. Migrate parts from the old computer to the new computer that you think are still good performers. Sell what 'old' parts for whatever you can get.
tecnically, i did build my computer, but it came as a standard XPS 400 and over time i replaced all of its parts except the mobo and cpu, but I guess I could order some new parts for my current rig and move all of my old parts into a different one? I need to leik toally double my RAM...
I was really just going to build it to see if i could, then sell it from there, try selling it to somebody in the area who needs a computer, or just try putting it on craigslist.
Just a bit of a heads up craigslist has some of the cheapest people on the internet out there. You will end up with 20 emails offering you between $5 and $200 if you try to sell it for $700.
Also when I sell computers I normally mark them up 10% of the cost (10% is even pushing it sometimes if its a sub $500 computer), Ive noticed they sit around never sell if its more then 10% then new stuff will come out and you will never get rid of your old inventory. (If you do you will take massive losses)
Im in Toronto tho the market might be different where you are.
Comments
In this case, if you are building and selling the computer, the OEM is you.
woot, thanks for the help
are OEM disks reuseable if i build another computer and want to put the same OS on it?
want to know what the best deal is for an OS, trying to keep price to a minimum.
Generally speaking, a "computer" is designated as the motherboard. You can replace a few components and be asked to re-authenticate that copy of WinXP, but that only goes so far. OEM licenses are cheap for a reason.
also: if the parts are a little over $500, then what should i sell for? $700?
If your intent is to sell this to a good friend or relative who trusts, then that's another story. I am not trying to discourage you against building a computer; just hope that you are realistic about the market that is already saturated with sellers. Know what stores - big box and mom and pop, and custom builders are in your area. Check out Craigslist. In my area, I see many adds for custom computers. Prices start out very high, with the seller stating something like, "I put $XYZ into this computer just two months ago..." Then, just a week later the computer is still on Craigslist with a steep discount from the original asking price.
I was really just going to build it to see if i could, then sell it from there, try selling it to somebody in the area who needs a computer, or just try putting it on craigslist.
Just a bit of a heads up craigslist has some of the cheapest people on the internet out there. You will end up with 20 emails offering you between $5 and $200 if you try to sell it for $700.
Also when I sell computers I normally mark them up 10% of the cost (10% is even pushing it sometimes if its a sub $500 computer), Ive noticed they sit around never sell if its more then 10% then new stuff will come out and you will never get rid of your old inventory. (If you do you will take massive losses)
Im in Toronto tho the market might be different where you are.