Buying Bulk

[Minibiker]

Hi all

As a little job on the side/Hobby I'm thinking of buying a few older PC's as a bulk buy and fixing them up to make a bit of a profit, There are a couple of reasons why I'm thinking about doing this,

1. Bit of a hobby for me to do in spare time
2. May make a bit of extra cash selling them individually once up and running with newer software etc
3. Gets me more Hands on with working with PC's

Just thought id post this here to get your opinions, Shall I spend some spare cash on this or is it not worth the hassle

Cheers

 

[Caged]

Have you done the sums on this? How much time is each one going to take up vs. the profit from the final sale.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Are you going to offer any future support when selling on as it'll just end up a nightmare with the types of individuals buying knocked together PC's.

 

[Minibiker]

Have you done the sums on this? How much time is each one going to take up vs. the profit from the final sale.

I haven't really thought about time just thought about buying around 4 units and fixing them up whenever I have spare time, Not something I'm in a rush to do..

Are you going to offer any future support when selling on as it'll just end up a nightmare with the types of individuals buying knocked together PC's.

Only thing I could offer people would be support and if any future issues I could fix it, I'm new to this but I really want a good future for my little family and maybe one day have my own business like my parents do

 

[Biz.Kid09]

This question comes up a lot and for me it really isn't worth it. I always believe my money and time would be best off invested in equipment which I could use to gain qualifications and experience to further my career. Could this apply to you at all?
What do you do at the minute? are you looking to move into IT if your not already.

These older machines your buying could end up having any kind of problem that either you will have to deal with and fix or the next owner is going to blame you for, by updating with the latest software I assume you mean you will do this legally and purchase Win 10 keys etc which immediately will swallow up any profits your hoping to make.

Unfortunately, the market is pretty much sewn up so your chances of making any real living and future out of a scheme like this is very slim.
By all means if this is something that you can afford to do and want to buy 3/4 to start with then give it a go and see how you get on but I certainly wouldn't want too.

 

[Minibiker]

This question comes up a lot and for me it really isn't worth it. I always believe my money and time would be best off invested in equipment which I could use to gain qualifications and experience to further my career. Could this apply to you at all?
What do you do at the minute? are you looking to move into IT if your not already.

These older machines your buying could end up having any kind of problem that either you will have to deal with and fix or the next owner is going to blame you for, by updating with the latest software I assume you mean you will do this legally and purchase Win 10 keys etc which immediately will swallow up any profits your hoping to make.

Unfortunately, the market is pretty much sewn up so your chances of making any real living and future out of a scheme like this is very slim.
By all means if this is something that you can afford to do and want to buy 3/4 to start with then give it a go and see how you get on but I certainly wouldn't want too.

I am currently studying Comptia A+ and looking to become a IT engineer or something along those lines, I currently work in DPD warehouse so nothing special and 7 years has been to long now in this job... I will take most peoples advice which seems to stay away from this idea of mine...

 

[Biz.Kid09]

Great, so you are working towards something which will help for your future ambitions.

Depending on the costs/how much you have to spend. I would look at picking up a 2nd hand server, installing something like ESXI and just learning/practicing/having fun with a nice big chunk of hardware. You can setup web servers, play with Windows Server, install some version of Linux, practice networking and generally just have a play with using some enterprise hardware.

If you can go into a job interview and be able to say you have a X and Y server at home where you have done A, B and C. You are a better candidate than the man who just says hes built his own PC.

Alternatively you could pick up some Cisco gear and dive into the mountain of things you can do with all that and if you find you have a real flair for it then again this will be great experience and skills you can recall and show to employers. Being able to show experience and genuine interest in expanding your knowledge and skills by doing things at home can be so crucial to getting a job.

I am only 22 myself but have about 5yrs experience in IT Support roles so I have been through plenty of interviews etc and I have learnt what employers are most impressed by to just get you in the door. Once your there then who knows which way you will go.

I started off aged 17 in a local place just repairing laptops and desktops etc, 5 years later (and a Comp Sci degree) I work for a hedge fund and I am now working with their infrastructure stuff so VMWare, PCoIP and so forth.

 

[edscdk]

You will likely make nothing, I bang out recon pcs for £250 I buy for upto £100 (hp g1s off the bay) but you have got to find customers and you ain't gonna do that for nothing.. You are not going to sell them back on eBay for a profit (unless very lucky).. I've posted 1000s of leaflets all my sales come from referrals or someone calling with PC issues (then I go out and sell the PC if they need it)..

You want all the machines the same make and model I've found the hp g1s very reliable, last year I was using hp 8300s (which I consider too old now)

 

[Mujja]

Snip

Great advice in both posts.

Many years ago when I was made redundant I also thought about starting my own business repairing computers. But coming from a background where everyone I knew was self employed I wanted time to myself and do something I would enjoy. Didn't want to be stuck in a van or workshop all day even if I was making decent money.

My gaming laptop was powerful enough to run a few VMs and I started from there.

I sold that laptop today after 7.5 years and while pricing it up and looking on Gumtree etc and you would have a hard time selling anything which didn't include a "genuine" install of Office Pro, even on a £100 laptop. You would need to offer a 30 days warranty to be competitive and then be prepared for all the scammers/buyers returning broken computers for a full refund, which will take up all of your spare time.

What I did notice, I probably could have made more money stripping the laptop and selling the parts. Maybe this is something to look in to. However, I'd be worried about ebay buyers returning their broken parts and getting refunds from paypal.

 

[Caged]

If you're going to learn something now then I'd pick a scripting language and a public cloud over ESXi, personally. I can't see there being a future in the small-medium size shops that would have been the target market for a couple of blade chassis and a bunch of VMware licensing, at least not for an internal IT role - the future of these is going to be outsourcing to somebody else in a country with lower wages, utilising local hands where needed.

You might just catch the tail end of it, or be able to find a role in a particularly slow-moving employer but it's hardly great for career development as it's a bit like skating to where the puck used to be. I'm sure there will still be a need for large VMware clusters in certain industries, just don't rely on the fact that regulation or the cost of connectivity might currently prevent specific workloads being suitable for public cloud.