[BrucieBonus]

Firstly im new so hello, ive been thinking about starting up my own business online building bases and selling them on the internet. Now i dont plan to go all of the uk, i'm going to advertise local because i know i can beat the prices of currys and PC world.

The thing is i've never built a computer from scratch before, that may sound crazy but i do understand alot about them and i can work this out using common sense, imo it just takes bravery.

So today i ordered some parts and installed a new cpu and memory in my own pc, just to remind myself i could do it, and im about to take the plunge in business.

So for the last few days ive been reading through forums like this trying to get a grasp of things, for example it was only today i realised what the 667MHZ stood for in RAM and how it related to building a pc.

Im no expert, but i pick things up fast, i only recently found out about sata etc and what that was and all that. At this moment i can find parts that will work together and build a good spec pc for a good price.

So the question, do you think im crazy for going into business when i have so little experience. I know right now i cant work out what works well together to give optimal perfomance. But i do know that the basics and thats all im trying to do right now.

My target market are the people who dont know too much about pcs and want a cheap one with good specs.

So again, am i doing the right thing or am i crazy? Can i learn as i go along? am i getting in over my head.

I hope the answers are positive because ive been wanted to go into business for so long, but ive never really had the guts, but i think im gonna take the step this time.

so honest opinions?

Cheers!

[Krlll]

I think you are are brave to start up your own business.
But how fast can you learn?
People often learn by their mistakes as the saying goes but in this case mistakes will lead to disgruntled customers and though you may be willing to put things right your reputation will suffer.
Fixing mistakes will also cost you time and money.
But I think reputation is hugely important.
I sell PCs myself locally on a small scale,mostly older PCs that I can get for cheap then sell to people that are maybe buying a second PC or just want something simple and cheap.
The vast majority of people I deal with are people that have heard from others I have dealt with before,showing how word of mouth spreads so quickly.
People want minimum of fuss with a PC especially the "people who dont know too much about pcs".
The damage done to your reputation by even one person that buys off you and has to keep bringing the thing back will be very bad for business.
This is especially true when you are selling things locally.
Most of the people I deal with are people that have heard from others I have dealt with before.(Proving the importance of reputation and word of mouth).
This led to lots of work doing basic repairs and removing viruses etc which IMO is far more lucrative as often it only requires time and not hardware.

Edit:I dont claim to be any kind of businessman and this is mostly a hobby for me but I hope my advice is of some use.

[BrucieBonus]

I appreciate you reply. I know there are some major risks but he way i see it is ill have 3 different base units a value for money package, then a good pc capable of gameing and them a hi spec. Before i will sell from my website.

I might sell a few on ebay,to get used to bilding them and making sure they work . I'll also be learning. I might also put a few in the buy and sell as "unwanted gift" and sell it there. Obviouisly i'll test it all before hand.

I'm planning on sticking to one line to learn it well before trying anything too tricky. That will be Athlon based system using Socket Am2

Do you think this will be ok?

Also i would like to know what you think i might need. Eventually i plan to get into upgrades and virus removal .

What type of tools/ software would you recommend for this type of work?

mabye an external harddrive containing anti virus software etc

Thanks again.

[Krlll]

I would have thought it would be difficult to compete with online prices but if you can then good for you.
The PCs you are selling depend of course on your target market.I would love to sell high end gaming rigs but I know I wouldnt sell many.
Something that has "speakers/printer,the lot"seems to be a favourite.
Most people will give you that far away look when you start talking about the finer points of hardware.
Just make sure it runs smoothly.

Tools for doing upgrades would be a screwdriver.LOL
Im joking but you dont really need many tools,maybe a voltmeter and a soldering iron but once you get to that stage components may as well be replaced.

I would always have spare parts lying around and never throw anything away,even stuff that seems old and useless.Many times people have come in with old PCs that needed new or more ram,real ancient stuff.
For viruse/spyware I would use the usual (hijack this,spybot,ad-aware)I would also scan the hard drive form my own PC if necessary.
Worst comes to worst I would do a fresh install so having product key finders(like magical jelly bean etc.) before going to work is a must.

[alex]

Firstly, I hold my hands up to you. It's a brave move, and you're halfway there with your willingness to committ.

Look at TCF if you want a prime example. Dave (the owner) sat down for a year and learnt VB, he also runs his own business building and selling computers.

He puts a tremendous amount of time and effort into both.

A year ago this site was a bit of a ghosttown; people signing up and making one post, very few signups etc.

With a bit of effort and perseverance Dave made it happen. Now look at us; we're growing all the time, we've got superb mods in the shape of SocialWarfare and Evilfantasy. We've also some great members: Krill, Cyberspacegenie, Cew27, Emrys88, Blackmirror, Historygirl, McBee. G'awd the list goes on.

Definately understanding your market needs, and marketing your product plays into it, price is also the number one factor in your proposed market segment (people who don't know about pc's aren't so fussed about build quality for instance).

The majority of your business initially will come from word of mouth, so always do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it. Have a card handy to give any customer's (then maybe they'll pass it on), obviously be polite, explain but don't patronise and look neat and tidy when visiting. First impressions count.

But so is customer service, anybody who buys from you puts a lot of credence into that as well.

[alex]

**Thread moved to Business Discussion**

[BrucieBonus]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Like i said i dont plan to get in over my head. I've found cheap parts on ebuyer and aria etc as well as from a local hardware supplier who operate close to me.

I plan on saving money by buying oem parts as much as possible and later on bulk buying. I dont mean offence when saying people who dont know to much about pcs. But what i mean by that is im not going to try and bluff my way with some serious gamer looking to improve the performace of his top noch pc. With wather cooling and RAID and all that.

I'm going to stick to what i know and explad as i learn. I'll start off small so im not risking alot of money in the beginning. Ive be investing all my profits straight back into the company.

I plan first to set up my company then go and get more trade accounts. Source the cheapest parts and build what i would consider to be a bargin I mean

Amd Athlon 64 x2 Dual core 3800+
1GB DD2 667MHZ Ram
MSI 256mb Graphics Card HDTV out
160 GB Sata HD
20 x sata DVD RW with lightscribe
Windows XP
Edit to add thats with a 450w PSU sata and 24 pin
10/100/1000 ethernet lan


£279.99

Then add postage and packaging

does that seem reasonable?

[alex]

Considering your customer's are not going to be gamer's but just the office/internet type you may want to add some form of office software into the bundle.

Other than that the price seems fine to me.

[BrucieBonus]

You actually made a good point there. If im selling to home users the will want certain things with it, so ill looking into adding some printers and office software etc.

[cyberspacegenie]

You may have already done this but just in case....

If this is going to be your main source of income then I would suggest that you put together a detailed business plan. Its something that seems to be a bit of a pain to do but is very worthwhile. A business plan kinda forces you to look into and think about every element of the business, not just the production but marketing, finance, sales, customer services, competitor research etc. It should go some way to helping you to spot potential problems before you start the business. For example, in your area there may be someone already doing something similar (apart from PC world, etc) by researching before you can decide what they are doing well and what they are doing badly and adjust your business as a result. It will also, for example, show you clearly how many computers you need to sell a month to make a decent living. There's nothing harder than to start doing something and then to realise that there were a few things that you didn't consider beforehand.

If the business takes off, it will also be good practice for forecasting, which is something that will be essential if you suddenly need additional finance. A good business plan will also help you to gauge how you are doing and to adjust things. I am currently putting together a business so I speak from experience. After putting together the business plan I realised that if I did the business the way I had initially planned I would need more people, although it hadnt seemed that way beforehand. I'm not saying that this will be the case with you, but there may be other important things that it will bring to light. In a nutshell, good planning will show you any potential hassles/problems on paper so that you can avoid them in the real world.

So go for it wholeheartedly, I'm sure all the people on here support you on what you are doing.