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#1
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Do any of you build for
profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My
brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. |
#2
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TC wrote:
profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. He might be disappointed and he might not. It boils down to who can sell their services i.e. if he's a good salesman he might do OK. I doubt he'll get rich as it is a small niche market. -- Stacey |
#3
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"TC" wrote in message . com... profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. I can't speak for over there but over here (new zealand) every Tom, sick and harry and his dog are building PCs. It is a very compeditive market with prices dropping daily. And now with ordering over the net so common I really don't pity anyone in the trade. It is really hard to make a dollar. |
#4
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Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My
brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. it;s going to be quite tough considering the extremely low price of commercially built machines |
#5
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I used to do custom builds, but got out of it when everyone started bringing
me the Dell ads asking me to build them a system for $399. My cost for decent name brand components was easily over $399 for the parts. I won't even mention the technical support some people demanded of me. One guy found my number at my real job and bitched me out because his computer did not play DVD's. When I built the system for him he said he did not want any software installed. I guess he had an old copy of Win2K and loaded that. The day after he picked it up it was back because it was not working right. On boot up I found that he was too stupid to load the motherboard and video card drivers. Anyway that was day one. On day three, I'm closed on Sunday, one of my staff gets me out of my 9:00 meeting at my 'real' job. This guy is on the phone irate as all hell. I can't play a F***'n DVD....you don't know crap about making a usable system....I could have paid less for a flippin Dell or Gateway!!!!! I told him to bring the computer back to the shop I would refund his money just to be rid of him. Also reminded him that he was the one that was too cheap to pay $30 upgrade for a DVD/CD-RW combo instead of getting the CDR/W standard drive. If he would have kept the system my net profit on that would have been $56. Not enough to keep my lights on. Anyway this is just my story. I started charging to build systems because I got tired of doing free builds for some friend of a friend's. They were bringing me junk components and expecting a high end game machine. Or worse yet an AMD processor with a Intel Motherboard. "TC" wrote in message . com... profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. |
#6
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"TC" wrote in message . com... profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. I build for friends only. My price? Dinner at Outback, Roadhouse or TGI Fridays ;-) And I would starve to death if it wasn't for my "day job". FRH |
#7
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TC wrote:
profit? Is it profitable to build and sell home-built PCs? My brother-in-law is planning to move from England to America. His business is good there, but I can't possibly see how he could compete here. He said his niche is customization but I told him that's fairly common here. I just don't want him to come here and be disappointed. The margins are very thin..which is why is seems like every local builder who is actually maintaining storefront is also vending wireless phone services, etc. You probably better be able to set up basic networks for (and establish service relationships with) small businesses (and...get out the beeper...cause you're gonna be tethered to it!). I've often that that if you were in Florida --or another area with a high concentration of seniors-- there'd be a decent market for custom builds and 1-on-1 training for older folks who want to explore computers, but are intimidated by what they see as youth-focused technology. On the other hand, doing custom builds for individiuals on a parts plus (whatever the market will bear..including dinner at the Outback as somebody else mentioned) basis could be a way to keep a little extra cash rolling in. Just hope you are building machines for smart users who will recognize a stable build, and then NOT do things to screw it up...and get your post-build service policies firmly established up front:-) |
#8
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