Stueyb

Hi there,

Im thinking of starting a business selling remanufactured IT components (and repaired maufacturer pulls) Now a good friend recommended testing the water first. So the questions are these:

1. Would you buy brand new(ie used once or twice then repaired)but repaired after failure if the price was good and I mean good. Ie a brand new Philips CD-RW unit for £15-20 inc vat and p&p ?

2. It would come with all boxes/manuals/drivers etc (unless stated otherwise) but only carry a six month gaurentee ? Would you consider this or would you need twelve months ?

3. Would you purchase such items online ?

4. If the price qouted was the same , ie very low prices for new kit, would you come back for more and recommend it ?

5. What makes you like or dislike a site with regards to navigation etc ?

Thanks peeps

Stuart

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

1. Yes

2. 6 months would be ok if the price reflected that

3. Yes ... would need to be a none company

4. If the service matched

5. quick and easy not tarty

Dave

Hanslow

Would have no probs if fault was fixed and parts under some sort of guarantee. Would also be nice to know what the fault was.

As for the website, keep it clean simple and easy to navigate. Don't go overboard on flashy bits and super duper new technology stuff. Less is more (sort of if you know what I mean )

Got any decent laptops? I'm after a new one, but cheaper than most companies want me to pay

[Edited by Hanslow - 2/2/2003 10:54:43 PM]

darlodge

Agree with everything Dave said

Darren

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

1. Would you buy brand new(ie used once or twice then repaired)but repaired after failure if the price was good and I mean good. Ie a brand new Philips CD-RW unit for £15-20 inc vat and p&p ?

For an inexpensive unit like a CD-RW drive, I probably wouldn't buy it from an unknown company that was obviously on tight margins - I'd be afraid about the speed of delivery, and quality of customer service if something went wrong. You'd probably find that it wasn't economic to offer this sort of thing anyway - even if you got the faulty stock for free, I doubt that £20 would cover the cost of a technician to open the drive, fix it, box it up and ship it.

On the other hand, I'd certainly be more inclined to buy a reconditioned or repaired PC, laptop, or other product that represtnted a larger cost saving; not only would I be saving more, but I'd know that you make an extra few £££ to spend on customer service.

It costs you the same to store, pack and ship a box whether it contains a £1000 laptop or a couple of £20 CD drives - use your time and office space to your best advantage.

2. It would come with all boxes/manuals/drivers etc (unless stated otherwise) but only carry a six month gaurentee ? Would you consider this or would you need twelve months ?

6 months is fine by me. Most IT products die within the first week or not at all anyway - if you find that it puts a lot of people off, you might find that offering 12 months doesn't make a whole lot of difference to you.

3. Would you purchase such items online ?

I ONLY buy that sort of thing online.

4. If the price qouted was the same , ie very low prices for new kit, would you come back for more and recommend it ?

If the stuff worked and arrived on time, then sure - why not?

5. What makes you like or dislike a site with regards to navigation etc ?

Things that I appreciate:

- the site should resize nicely when used on a variety of different screen sizes; it obviously needs to work on a 800x600 screen, but shouldn't look like a postage stamp on my 1600x1200 screen.

- don't waste screen area with unnecessary frames (here is a site that I quite like for ease of navigation, but which wastes a lot of screen area with an unnecessary frame on the right).

- don't bother with ActiveX; it looks pretty, but if the site doesn't work without it then there's something amiss. Spend the time on something else until your business takes off.

- lots of photos are a good thing - a nice clear photo of a potential toy purchase is a very tempting thing! It also makes it very clear exactly what you're getting; try and make sure that each item you stock has its own unique photo, and don't just use generic shots with a disclaimer saying 'indication only' or such.

Good luck

Andy.

Stueyb

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input, just need to know if im onto a winner before I splurge the old cash if you know what I mean.

I would be selling other IT bits of kit too, such as refurbed MP3 players etc, ie geek gadgets !

Im afraid I don't have any stock at all at the mo Handslow because we are still in the planning phase, but im sure something can be sorted !

Once again guys thanks for the input, it is appreciated as I haven't been at the "business end" before but rather the techie end.

Regards

Stuart

Ken E

I have accounts with a number of trade PC components distributors and I also get bombarded with mailshots from companies that do refurbished kit.

I have never bought any of the refurb stuff because the price difference never makes it worth while. For example, one of the things that cam through last week was Dell TFT 15" monitors at £160 plus Vat with a 6 month return warranty. For about £10 or £15 more I can get a brand new equivalent branded one with a 3 year onsite warranty, so that's not worth considering.

I've also had offers such as £20 plus Vat for a refurbished printer, these come with a short warranty and whatever is left of the ink cartridge. The same printer costs about £35 plus vat brand new with a year onsite warranty. If the cartridges need changing a week after it is bought then you have no saving at all and end up with a second hand thing for the same price as new.

If you could sell this stuff at significantly reduced prices then you would probably be able to do OK, but I reckon it would be difficult to do.

I'm sure these companies must make money somehow, I guess they must rely on the volume purchases, and as a buyer these are probably the only ones worth making (from the prices I've seen anyway).

I reckon this is a difficult game to compete in, hope it works for you though but be careful.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Ken: could you post the names of a few of these refurb companies so we can take a look and see what they do sell? It might be enlightening...

A colleague of mine bought a laptop from www.europc.com just before Christmas - he saved a packet and the PC looked like new, so there are bargains to be had. I was just sceptical that it might not be worth bothering with low price items, simply because the overheads would be too great and the savings you could therefore offer would be too small. Expensive gear ties up more capital, but the margins are a bit better. As a consumer, I'd put up with some risk or hassle to save, say, £200, but not £20.

A.

Ken E

Andy C

Will mail you offline, prices and the like are usually emailed on a list rather than displayed on a website.

Ken

Hanslow

Ken, can you email me (or are they not public?)

Need a decent spec laptop cheap

(scrounge scrounge)

Shark

I would second Dave again.

David

Stueyb

Ok, I had a thought and I don't know what you guys would think BUT - to test the water might it be wise to see how well the items would go on Ebay,i know its a flea market on the net type place, but thinking about it I could test the water with a minimum of exposure.

I know its not the same as having a true e-commerce site, but it lessens my exposure and potential cost should it all go t*ts up.

Ya/na ?

Ken E

Stuey

Have you looked on Ebay to see if there are already companies doing this ? Might give you an idea of how well this stuff goes without any outlay.

If I was going to have a try then I would keep it on a small scale. Then if it doesn't work you don't lose out big time.

Problem with PC stuff is that the prices always drop quickly, so if you don't shift it quick it becomes worth less than you paid for it, even though it may have been cheap at the time.

Stueyb

Ken,
that is one of my main worries tbh. There are indeed companies on ebay doing this, but not in the way I intend to do it

I will give it a bit of a go on ebay and see what happens I think.

Hopefully if it takes off I can trade up to proper e-commerce

Dr Hu

I get a lot of mail/post from these guys:-

http://www.gccl.net/specialoffers.html

but never bought anything - might be worth a look at the competition.

They always seem to have a lot of DELL kit.....