Ok, I m 19 yrs old, in the SC Army National Guard for the next 5 years (been in for 1), got a $72,000 college scholarship from them + a $20,000 sign-on bonus coming soon. Im unemployed and not going to college yet. I have been working to get my computer company started for a veeery long time now and now we have finally kicked off. My competition isnt cyberpowerpc or ibuypower or any of those big name dealers because im mostly just local. Im not looking to go nationwide anytime soon as that would prolly end my life just trying to think about how i would do that at this point haha. I order parts from various websites-mostly newegg.com-and assemble them into a gaming computer that i give a name..like the black knight gaming pc...similar to how other companies like ibuypower has the battalion laptops and palidan desktops. I sell entry to highend pc s. but my problem is that i cant get my prices low. My entry level pc s are forced to be priced at $800+ b/c i cant find parts cheap enough to lower the price. im already on the verge of extinction b/c my pcs arent selling quite as well as i had hoped for. most website sell mid-range gaming pc s for about $50-$75 cheaper than my lower end ones on average. what can i do to find lower prices on parts. Oh, and i also have my own company logo that i put on my computer cases to show that its one assembled by my company which is a cool addition i think. doesnt cost so much either. i ve been working on a website 24/7 for the past week and am probably about halfway done. are there any sites out there that i can order from for cheap?? Newegg.com is my primary source right now, so could yall plz help me find cheap prices based off of that? and what can you recommend i do about bulk items..how do i go about ordering in bulk to get big discounts? i havent figured that one out yet. also my company isn t copyrighted yet. im scared that might cost a butt load, so i need help with that too. haha. i know im a newb at this business stuff lol thats why im starting a business course at Devry in charlotte in january. but i wanted to go ahead and get a head start with my company so that when i am ready to go full-scale computer sales ill at least have something steady to start with. i have my own line of pc series with themed gaming pc setups within them. im working on getting my company out there on ebay right now so that i will have a very simple online market. hmmm...thats really all the cents i can put into it at this point. i may have a stroke before too long lol. thanks soo much for the answers and plz dont be shy to critisize, comment, judge, or correct anything i have said =]
Use something like PriceGrabber.com to find cheapest deals among all the websites. You have to grab the parts when it s cheap, but not keep so much inventory so that they become obsolete and you re forced to liquidate them. And you can t compete with the online companies on price. They move far more inventory than you do, thus they can get better prices from distributors. Also, you have to keep in mind that after charging shipping and handling, taxes, and whatnot, those website PC s cost MORE than their actual advertised prices, making your PC more attractive. Accentuate your differences, and add features your customers WANT. You can t compete with Dell or those online folks in terms of operational efficiency , and since the parts are common there s no product innovation as well , so you have to go for customer initimacy . Consider going into business market, where you provide POS systems to shops and such, helping them innovate.
Time to kick it up a notch and bypass the retailers. Everyone who touches a product marks up the price, so you want as few people in the chain between you and the source as possible. Contact the manufacturers of your favorite parts and ask them where to buy those products wholesale, and you ll wind up with a list of distributors to check out.
MAN YOUR GREAT it guys like you that will save us from the recessionbut you cant fight the big boys at there game you need to find a niche like custom order PCs etc. I pay a guy like you to fix my pc when i screw it up so maybe you can do that also. and don t be afraid to get side job manny a entrepreneur started out that way. here in the mid west Wal-Mart came in and put all the little grocery stores out of business because they tried competeat with Wal-Mart. but to day there are little spanis markets on every corner. they found a niche and a customer Wal-Mart cant get. think how you can sell Computers the big boys cant do ....like offer better service that they lackt big time. hope this helps.
