Well i got to thinking, somebody has to put together the pre built PCs. And somebody has to buy them. Now, i like putting together PC Builds... why can't i sell them?

So i looked on ebay, and i found this. The seller has a 'Buy it Now' price of £2200. Fair enough... some people obviously buy it. So i put together a build on Novatech (see below) that's better than theirs in most aspects (as long as i overclocked it). And the total price? £1250. I bet i could shave off a bit as well. But the principle is sound:

• Buy components
• Put them together
• Install OS and Drivers
• Overclock
• Check that it all works
• Put it on eBay
• Wait for somebody to buy it
• £1000 profit
• Rinse and repeat

You need never work again... if you could do it say twice a week, that's £2000 per week. 2000*50 is 100000. That's £100,000 per year for putting together two PCs every week. What's stopping you?

I can see my future

It would be great if you could actually do that instead of working

I think Ebay would be a bit risky for using long-term though. Use it to get some money, then start your own computer company with the proceeds

Sounds like a plan... but then why would people use your company over the big brand names? At least with eBay you don't have that problem.

Seriously though... if people actually buy the computers then as far as i can tell you could do that instead of working

Have a range of builds: Budget, Student, Gamer etc.

Even as a small company, if you made good-value builds you'd soon get a good reputation. Having a good website and promoting yourself on search engines would also help. I think that you should stick to a very small number of builds to keep things simple - at first at least. Maybe just an 'office' or budget build, a medium spec build, a high spec build and a gaming build. People find warranties very attractive so maybe offer a free 5-year warranty? That may sound a bit much, but so many more people will be interested in your builds if you have that sort of warranty.

Once you'd made more money, you could send your best builds to PC magazines for reviews. Whilst you lose money in the short term doing this, if you get a good review then your sales will suddenly soar

The more I think about this the more I want to start my OWN computer company

I know... you just need a small ammount of money to get it started off. Like, £1000. Then you can get twice that, and again...

Still, if you send it in for review then wont they realise that you're charging twice what it's worth?

I thought that earlier this week, just with ebay there is no hard income, but i guess even if you fail to sell it, you've got a pretty good computer.

As i was thinking, there is no real pc competition in the market besides pc world, and dell is the closest thing to custom builds, its just seeing if the market is big enough.

To be fair there are a lot of PC companies. And Dell isn't the only one that does custom builds, there's PC Specialist for one.


No Most PC companies are charging way more than their builds are worth. If you keep your prices a bit lower than the main companies, people will think your computers are good value, but you'll still make a profit. Admittedly not quite as big a one, but if you charge too much people won't buy from you. You need to find a balance between profit and value for the customer that works, which is not as simple as it sounds

Yes but you need the money to make money.

It requires a decent capital investment.

Not really. You start off with say, £1000. Then you use eBay to get a decent amount, say one years worth. Then you can set up a proper business, although you would have to pay tax, but that's a given.

The best ways to make these PCs attractive is to have a really good website, give them warranties (as mentioned above), if it's just you building them then phone/email the buyer (good customer support), pre-install games/other apps like Firefox/AVG (even Linux) if the buyer wants - essentially, offer lots of choice and don't appear to be just bundling it together like everyone else's. Garuntee on the website to package them nice and securely as well

Ebay's not a good medium for this, as you don't have the option to show-off your awesome website or let the customer express the choices as easily.

Actually eBay have a place where you can embed your website, in the product description. In a way... but no, i can see this really taking shape.

Well, it's either a pre-defined build on Ebay with only after-market customisation after the purchase, or completely customisable on your own website, unless you sell your services as a system builder on Ebay very cheaply and then charge them for the build after you've built it which could perhaps be construed as being dishonest with pricing?

Ooh, and another suggestion - bundle peripherals/cables/adapters to increase the overall positive sentiment towards your establishment

I haven't really thought about this, it probably has been stuck in the back of my head, but this is a REALLY good way to make some good cash. That is, if not lots and lots of people are doing it. I'm actually thinking of doing this myself, my dad said that he would be interested in making an investment. Maybe I'll start off with a budget system, use $250 and sell for $450 or $500. Good money.

100+/-% is a large personal profit margin.

As a personal salary, you'll probably get less.

It's hard to start a business, and material isn't the only disbursement you'll have.

Good luck though.

Maybe it'd be cool for a side job, but I doubt you'd have a steady income. Just because someone lists it for two grand, doesn't mean someone will buy it.

Oh, and he is projecting 100K per FY.

His profit will be 46.25K per FY.

My dad does this with dual core builds not i7's mind you, on a smaller price cost to this. we sell in the local paper.

What you are forgetting is how much money other people have. sure there might be some guy who wants a 2k pc, but are there 50?

50 might not sound big but there is the other sellers to consider. you will have to price accordingly. whereas in a local site or newspaper there might be 100 pc sellers, on ebay there are lots more and you have to make sure yours is cheaper and more attractive. why would someone by your 2k pc, when another seller is priced at £1800? sure he makes less profit per pc but he sells more.

you have to compete for a share of the market. some guys might be able to afford several dry weeks of sales, with another job etc, but can you?

Also you WILL have to tell them you overclocked it if you are giving a warranty. This may make people think it wont be as reliable, especially rich pc-noobs.

You also have to consider that the majority of people buying gaming machines are not idiots they know how much hardware is worth or will have tech knowledgeable friends.

That is if you can actually get people to buy the computer
Good idea though
~Vincent

A friend of mine does this for people around the town we live; he says that he tends to get nothing for long stretches, then get several in a short period of time. So, yeah you can make money doing this, and it's not a bad thing to get into, but if you're looking for consistent income, then look for a company that does this and ask about open positions.
If you don't mind the sporadic income (because you have another source of money,) or if you're looking to start a business doing this, by all means, go for it! Just make sure you have all sorts of builds available, and that they can specify how much they're willing to spend/what they'll use it for, etc.