Hey all,
Im currently looking into starting an internet business selling computer hardware, mainly casing.

My problem is that i cannot find a manufacturer who could supply me with the hardware, i've contacted a number of companies without success. Some of the places i contacted said that i couldn't buy their products and re-sell them, others said that they don't make their cases they buy them from a manufacturer but wouldn't give me their manufacturer's details. So i'm stuck on what to do.

So far ive looked into registering the company under Company House(uk) and started work on the website, but i cant go anyfurther until i sort out suppliers.

I've searched on the net for the past week and haven't found anything....i was just wondering if anyone knew of any smaller manufacturers who would be interested in my company selling their products?

My other option is to buy components and sell completed systems....but i'm still pondering over that idea....

....any help or advice would be great! thanks.

I've sold a lot through ebay and qxl, but its become increasingly difficult to make a worthwhile profit on components due to the amount of competition. In 2002 you could make 15 quid profit on a 70 quid video card. Now its more like a fiver. The best money seems to be in complete systems due to the high added value. Its possible to make decent money selling one system at a time through an auction site, as you don't have to order the parts until an order is received. Oem software is very cheap and you can put together very attractive packages and still make over 100 quid on a system. Good luck.

I will also elobarate on what Xeyed said. If you have the funds (around $2500-$3000), build around 8-10 computers using those funds, and then re-sell them on ebay for around $750-$850.

If you can arrange to have these items: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=52 476

Your computers will sell fast, and you will be in the trend of making money in no time. Even if you receive $50/computer, it will eventually add up to a positive net profit.

People are always buying computers, in fact, eBay is one of the least expensive places to buy them.
I know for a fact you will make some money doing this, it is just a hefty sum to lay down for your company.

As far as where to find a manufcturer to order the parts from... well, that I would not know.Even if you found a place, you would have to put down a lot to get a good price for the parts. You could be the difference between the $299 card, vs the $80 card you sell (Yet still prifit $40- and sell 10 times more).

Just a few ideas. Mainly you just need some money to get going.

Thanks for replying and thank you for the advice! i have looked into it a bit more over the last few days and selling complete and barebones systems seam to sell better than individual components especially on auctions as you say. The good news is i have alot of funding so the idea of building in bulk is tempting, although my original idea was to advertice components and make to peoples requirements.

I am still no closer to finding a manufacturer but i have found free hosting on a friends server, and the same friend has also got connections with a guy who owns a computer store. So hopefully something may come out of that.

...thanks for the good advice guys!!!

Like you, I have looked into buying direct from manufacturers in the past, but i've never had the resources to buy the large quantities necessary for a worthwhile discount . Redstar marketing are cheap if you are in the UK. I've used them a lot, and if you are a regular customer they will let you have single items for the 10+ price listed. Their service is very good, but i don't know if they deliver outside the UK.

http://www.redstar.co.uk/

Take a look at a recent thread titled What is the best place to buy computer stuff?. I pointed out various places to purchase these computer items from. If I was you, I would think about the system you want to sell, then search around for about a week on the different places you can purchase these items online at.

Your best bet is to buy the hardware online, ship it to your workplace, then sell it online. Be sure to not include the shipping charges to ship the item in the price when you sell it. Just a very good selling tip for you.

If I had the resources and knew how to do this, I could easily make this a regular job. Put around 50 computers on eBay per week, post my computer ads on various forums, I would make a ton of sales. It is a lot cheaper to put a computer together yourself, than to goto Dell (right now one of the least expensive computer stores) and buy from them. The best way to make the price difference is to offer the system without the OS, and to add the OS to it, you will do it for free, but it would be another $100 for the OEM XP Home edition. I think you can pick up XP Home for around $49.99. (Not sure if the place I know if is legal or not, so I will not post the link here). I just got the link through some spam message with the title: "Hurry and buy now, cheapest software around!".

One thing to remember when selling systems is that you cant always make a sale and walk away. Some people, not too many thankfully, will be on the phone to you as soon as things go wrong. I used to sell just components for this reason. 100 packs of cd-r's which I used to sell are not going to cause you too many after sales problems. A full system can and sometimes will. Also, when you sell on ebay and have to ship, you will get damage in transit occasionally. All I'm saying is that there is potential for a lot of stress. I prefer to sell systems locally, so if it goes wrong i can nip round and fix it without too much hassle. When you only sell the odd system as a hobby, as I do, these problems will not cause you too much pain. I have also made better profits selling by word of mouth by reputation rather than on auction sites where price is often the most important consideration to many buyers. On auction sites you will also have to build up your feedback rating. People are unwilling to buy high cost items from new sellers with low ratings. The best way is to sell usb hubs or something low value to get your ratings up, and also buy a few low cost items to build up your feedback based on happy sellers. Then you're away. Don't expect 100% of people to leave feedback either, and dont expect all your buyers to be fair. Some will leave bad feedback for trivial reasons.

In the past i have installed xp pro without a licence for 'testing purposes' and told buyers they have to get their own licence.

Its best to look for local suppliers or dropshippers if you're going to start a hardware business. But as its been pointed out, margins are razor thin.