For people that use e bay?

Selling custom built computers on e-bay (worth it)?

• 1)I have built many computers for friends and family in the past, and I am fairly tech savvy. I also know how to find good deals online. Would it be worth it for me to try and build a computer and sell it on e-bay? I am assuming that someone out there has access to much cheaper parts than I can ever dream of because these people buy them in large quantities, and I simply cant afford to do that. Still, I want to hear your opinion. 2)Shipping costs... Which particular service do people use to ship these things? It seems the high shipping costs kill the deal for many people. 3)No operating system/installed operating system. If I do not provide an operating system with a PC, does this really kill the deal for many people? What about Linux, how do people feel about that? Is it legal to install a copy of my Windows on a computer, but not to provide a disk? 4)Overclocked PCs. How do people feel about these?

• Answer:

  I build sell and repair computers and I suggest you forget about selling computers on Ebay. I used to make good money selling low-end rigs but those days are long gone and now I only build the high-end towers. Reason is that you cant even buy the parts for what Dell HP etc sell their cheapo rigs for. Real money is in repairing them and the high-end $2500 plus gaming rigs. "Overclocked PCs" doesn't mean anything because, as soon as their rig loads the setup defaults, for whatever reason, they go back to the standard clock. Only the big boys like Dell offer factory overclocked rigs because they buy boards with proprietory bios that sets the cpus at the overclocked speeds by default. You have a good idea but youre about 5 years too late. With tons of competition and a lot of people now building their own a 10% profit is all you should expect on a $2000 tower. If you want to make money make some business cards and charge $75 an hour to repair them. Establish a reputation locally and, if you're good, word of mouth will bring you more business than you can handle. I used to sell rigs on Ebay but now, with the fees and shipping costs so high and not a lot of Ebay buyers for the big rigs its necessary to sell to make any money, I quit that 3 years ago. Using a corporate version of an OS system and installing it on a bunch of different computers is illegal. I include a full OS and key with every rig I sell if they want an OS. Either sell your towers without an OS or charge them for the OS and include the disc and key when you ship it. Otherwise you're going to have some major legal problems. Building and repairing computers for friends is one thing. Doing it to pay the bills is another.