Wholesalers... Computer Buisness...

[Cuda1447]

Hey everyone, Im a 17 yr old guy, so I don't really know much. But my dad comes up to me the other day and tells me to find where I can buy my computer hardware at wholesale prices... I.E. From the manufacturer... So Im wondering if any of you out there run a computer buisness. My dad wants to start one, and he will finance it and everything, but have me run the computer end of it So does anyone know where for each hardware component, I can buy my hardware at wholesale prices, Ive tried checking websites. And have had some, but minimal luck. Either that or some Phone #'s to call to get in contact with some of these manufacturers.

Thx in advance.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Simple chain of distribution: If you pay wholsale, you are not buying it from the producer. For the same reason you can buy 10 pounds of cabbage for "wholesale" and you pay the broker, and not the farmer.

You will have no luck getting pricing from manufacturers. You'll have to call distributors. ASI, Ingram, TechData, Synnex, and others come to mind.

Pricing is not great at all. I can get a better price on a 40 gig HD by going to staples and using a coupon. Any more questions?

-PAB

 

[RGN]

arg, I used to do that.... I have a few contacts let me dig around. If you don't hear back from me, send me a PM in a couple of days.


However, now the lecture. There is very little profit margin in PC hardware. Don't go thinking that you are going to make a killing. If you buy low volume, you will find that internet "street" pricing is cheaper, or the same. If you can't push over 15K per month, you might want to reconsider...

 

[Cuda1447]

Hmm, well then what is it that I want to get into? Ive heard building computers isn't profitable... Is Repair the only route to go to make money in the computers world? That and networking? Ive got no real skills in art so grahpics or anything up that alley is out.

 

[DeschutesCore]

First off, you're correct, it's not nearly as profitable as it was just a while ago. Repairs are down, upgrades are down, and as 1.0 GHz machines are becoming old, they're going of to college with kids instead of finding a cheap system for them.

Between the two Mom and Pop shops I work at, we netted over 1.7 million in sales last year. This year, we're down to around 375k, and the year is already 3 quarters over.

As far as distributors, do a few searchs on Goolge. Several excellent sites, including Anand, have listed all the good vendors that have little or no minimum orders. Not many will give you terms, but once you've got 3-6 months or a lot of orders under your belt, they'll eventually move you to terms / credit.

DC

 

[Draknor]

So I'm curious - how do distributor prices compare to say Newegg? Newegg has about the lowest prices I've found (total price, I mean - not like those sites that have insanely low product prices then jack you on the s/h).

 

[DeschutesCore]

Come up with a few items and prices, and I'll show what a distributor sells them for.