The Gaming PC Refurbishing Experiment

[neurotix]

So sorry this happened Ultra. Maybe you need to do it on eBay, or perhaps use social media (FB) to set up a local avenue for doung more volume.

[UltraMega]

1 hour ago, neurotix said:

So sorry this happened Ultra. Maybe you need to do it on eBay, or perhaps use social media (FB) to set up a local avenue for doung more volume.

I do have one listed on ebay right now as an auction. 

[neurotix]

Right on. Hope it sells. Lots of bids or no?

[UltraMega]

36 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Right on. Hope it sells. Lots of bids or no?

 

Currently bid up to $500, about 30 watchers and a 3 days left. 

[neurotix]

What did it cost to build?

[UltraMega]

14 minutes ago, neurotix said:

What did it cost to build?

$940. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by UltraMega

[neurotix]

Well, hope you don't end up losing money if its an auction...

[UltraMega]

12 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Well, hope you don't end up losing money if its an auction...

If it doesn't go up high enough, I can just cancel it. Really just an experiment to see what one would bid up to. 

 

Right now I just need to do the applications for Amazon and Newegg, which requires me to get some other things in order as far as licenses and tax info, so it's a process but I'm workin on it. 

[UltraMega]

Just an update on the Etsy stuff.

 

They did indeed perma ban me, and they won't tell me why. Seems to be a common occurrence with Etsy. My only guess is that it's because I said I used to work at digital storm on my listing, or just that I got so many fake orders that they decided to just ban me as an easy fix. 

 

Etsys means of handing stuff like this is shockingly bad, but it is what it is. 

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, UltraMega said:

Just an update on the Etsy stuff.

 

They did indeed perma ban me, and they won't tell me why. Seems to be a common occurrence with Etsy. My only guess is that it's because I said I used to work at digital storm on my listing, or just that I got so many fake orders that they decided to just ban me as an easy fix. 

 

Etsys means of handing stuff like this is shockingly bad, but it is what it is. 

 

Sorry to hear that you got in a spot of bother with them. I am shocked if there is no form of appeals process, that would be particularly bad. I wish you all the best with the Amazon/Newegg process bud

[UltraMega]

37 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

 

Sorry to hear that you got in a spot of bother with them. I am shocked if there is no form of appeals process, that would be particularly bad. I wish you all the best with the Amazon/Newegg process bud

 

Thanks! Just finished signing up for Amazon, should be live in 48 hours or so assuming my application goes through smoothly. Signing up for Newegg will be more complicated, I'm not sure if they allow sole proprietorships on their platform. Either way, I've got to imagine Amazon alone will be a lot better than Etsy for this sort of thing. This won't be my first time selling on Amazon, but it will be my first time selling products on Amazon; before covid I was an Amazon service seller and that worked out really well for me. Selling products will be a lot different I'm sure, but hopefully I can get some traction. 

 

Etsy does have an appeals process, and that's what they responded to today. They just said they won't reconsider and won't tell me why they banned me in the first place. So while I assume it's because I said I used to work at Digital Storm, I can only guess. I'm fairly certain if I said that on an ebay listing, it would not break any rules. I'm no expert, but I'd imagine if I had said I used to work at Google on an Etsy listing, that would have been fine. Either way, the one thing that's clear about Etsy is they have too many sellers right now and thus are very happy to get rid of some for very minor reasons. 

 

It's also entirely possible I just got too many fake orders and they decided my account was just too problematic. Since I was trying to sell PCs, the sale price was way higher than 99% of the stuff Etsy caters to so it's totally possible they just didn't want to keep dealing with $1000+ fake transactions that they presumably have to spend time dealing with. 

[UltraMega]

Looks like I'm already approved for selling on Amazon. That was fast. Time to make some listings. 

[UltraMega]

Just sold the AMD 7700/3070Ti system I had ready, for profit, to a local customer. 

 

Now I just have two left and those will be the ones I advertise on Amazon. 

[UltraMega]

Just an update on the Amazon stuff;

 

Amazon has a system in place that makes it very easy to sell existing products/products their system recognizes via product codes, which obviously a custom gaming PC won't have. So what I have to do is create a brand, and that brand needs to appear on the product/packaging. So basically, I need to make some stickers with my branding/logo on them, then take pictures of that and upload them to amazon to be able to create a new brand. 

 

Good thing I already know how to make stickers. How many Anime girls do you guys think I should use? 

[neurotix]

If you want help with a logo and provide me some AI generated anime girls, I can put something together for you if you want.

[UltraMega]

36 minutes ago, neurotix said:

If you want help with a logo and provide me some AI generated anime girls, I can put something together for you if you want.

Actually if you want to help me with the text/font, that would be pretty cool. 

[UltraMega]

Just got officially approved to sell on Amazon, with my own unique brand and product code.

[UltraMega]

Update on this:

 

I have decided not to pursue trying to sell PCs on Amazon for now. While it is definitely something I could do, it turned out to be more work than I expected. For example, because the PC I listed has wifi, I had to make sure it was registered/approved by the FCC and it just got to be a lot of work. So while it is doable in the sense that Amazon certainly allows for someone like me to sell PCs on their platform, it doesn't really make sense to do it one PC at a time. If I had 10+ identical PCs I wanted to sell on there, it would make sense then. 

As for Newegg, there is no way for an individual like me to sell on there. They do not let sole proprietors on their platform, not for any particular reason, I think it just never even occurred to them than any one person would even try so they have no options for it. 

 

 

I still have 2 PCs left. All of the other ones I built and sold were sold for a reasonable profit, and I have not really tried to sell the two I still have. I find that I eventually encounter customers who are interested in buying one, so if I only have one or two at a time I don't really need to try to sell them online. One of the PCs I have left is probably already spoken for, so unless that falls through I really only have one left, and right now that one is loaned out to a customer who needed a working PC to run his nvme drive off of after his laptop failed (waiting on parts), and there is a good chance he decides to keep it and buy it off me after he uses it for a few days. 

 

 

So all and all I would call this whole thing a success. Is it possible to build a PC around the $1000 price range and sell it for a profit from home? Yes, definitely. The hard part is just finding a way to sell them fast enough to make it anything more than a slow side project. 

 

I'll be keeping my eye out for a steady way to sell these that doesn't require too much work to make it viable. I think I may actually try getting one or two in a local store eventually and just see if I can strike a deal with the owner of a local business to sell my PCs in their shop. No idea how practical that is, but it seems reasonable to try. 

 

This is probably my last real update for this thread. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot about online selling, gained a deep hatred for Etsy, figured out the logic of having one or two ready to go prebuilt PCs at all times to sell to whoever wants one, and got to build a bunch of nice PCs. 

Edited February 22 by UltraMega