Offering warranty's to pc buyers

[sallysqueak]

Hi all

Just after a little advice.

My husband is very good with PC's and enjoys building them, esp high spec gaming PC's. So we were thinking of offering a customer gaming pc building service. We would have a website and would ship the products throughout the UK.

The parts used within the units will be brand new and have their own manufacturers warranty individually, but the problem we face is we'd ideally like this to be dealt with by a third party if and when the need arises for faults to be inspected/repaired. Mainly just because of the shipping costs involved posting the units backwards and forwards, not because we just don't care what happens to the customer and their pc after a sale is made!

So we're wondering, is there any such thing as a third party company who will deal with all this for us? Not a dodgy useless company, but one which will actually deal with customers issues and get them sorted. Perhaps they'll also offer a support line so customers can ring them day or night to discuss issues and hopefully sort many over the phone?

I've Googled and am struggling to find anything specific. Not sure if they even exist?

If not, and we were to cover the warranty ourselves, where do we stand with FCA rules and who pays for postage etc. Would we have to be FCA registered?

Thanks

 

[silvermusic]

Hi all

Just after a little advice.

My husband is very good with PC's and enjoys building them, esp high spec gaming PC's. So we were thinking of offering a customer gaming pc building service. We would have a website and would ship the products throughout the UK.

Thanks

My first question is why? there's a glut of PC's manufacturers can't shift already, Big box PC's are a dying breed. There's certainly little profit in it even for the big players in the industry, as a one man band selling a few PC's you'll never make any money. If a machine goes faulty, you're not going to be making a profit on it.

Secondly as the retailer it is you 100% that is responsible for the machine and warranty, not the manufacturer of either the entire machine or components, if they provide anything extra that's a bonus. I suspect you may need to familiarise yourself on the Distance Selling Regulations, Sale of Goods acts, etc.

As such given the what you're already discovering on shipping costs and finding a third party to do warranty work that ultimately you're going to have to pay for, plus buying componants in small quantity isn't going to allow any profit, you can probably see now why it's not going to work.

I to enjoy making PCs, I sold them for a living during the 90s. However, given how cheap they are nowadays, I buy a ready made PC's off the shelf when I need them, it's far cheaper and far less aggro when/if it goes wrong. .

 

[Deleted member 226268]

I don't think this idea will be very viable, although a good idea.

Those people who would want a high spec gaming PC are probably already well into
the skills required to build and configure their own computers.

Eg. 12 - 20 year old school kids.

There are many PC and PC builder's magazines on the supermarket shelves,
and internet forums, it is now quite simple to source all the components online,
check for parts compatibility, and to put a powerful system together in an afternoon.

If you did manage to attract any potential buyers, the post costs would put them off.

 

[lumencreative]

I too have to agree with the posters above. It's not a very viable business. You might think there's more money to be made with high end gaming machines, but that's not really the case. Plus, as dave archer said, majority of people wanting high end gaming machines will have the skill set to build their own.

My suggestion would be to concentrate on the lower end of the market, and in particular, local customers. Consider small businesses, parents buying computers for their kids starting college, etc. There are a lot of good quality PC components that are fairly cheap nowadays so it's quite possible to build a PC for £250 - £300 with reliable components and still make a small profit.

My only other piece of advice would be to make 1000% sure that you supply legitimate software sourced from legitimate retailers. Don't go looking for cheap deals on ebay, etc, as if you end up with dodgy products it could lose you more than your business.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Guys, rather than telling the OP about how bad here idea is, can you offer some relevant advice.

My penny's worth is look at RTB support.

BTW, who/what is FCA?

 

[silvermusic]

Guys, rather than telling the OP about how bad here idea is, can you offer some relevant advice.

My penny's worth is look at RTB support.

BTW, who/what is FCA?

http://www.fca.org.uk/ Perhaps?

It's impossible to be positive about getting into the supply of computers and/or computer parts, even if your name is HP, Dell or Acer you're going to struggle to make money. For a one man band trying to make money out of a few computer sales, forget it, sorry I've nothing positive to say on it from that angle. However, if you can teach people computer skills, Windows, Office, email, internet, etc. there's money to be made in classes or personal one to one tuition.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Look up a company called Alienware. They do a similar thing by offering pre-made and custom-made gaming PCs. They do go one step further though with their own custom cases, and will no doubt have their own warranty/repair service in place.

You would really have to focus down on a niche to make this viable. You could not only create high-spec gaming PCs, but also provide pre-sale overclocking to increase performance, for example.

 

[KM-Tiger]

There is still a niche market in the high end gaming machines, though many of the enthusiasts are quite capable of building their own.

Maybe just offer a build service rather than supplying a built PC?

 

[Scalloway]

Hi all

If not, and we were to cover the warranty ourselves, where do we stand with FCA rules and who pays for postage etc. Would we have to be FCA registered?

Thanks

Information from the FCA about warranties

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/scams/insurance-and-warranty-schemes

 

[Deleted member 226268]

If not, and we were to cover the warranty ourselves, where do we stand with FCA rules and who pays for postage etc. Would we have to be FCA registered?

It's not unknown for Gamers with high-spec gaming machines to endlessly tweak operating settings and voltages to seriously over-clock the speeds of internal components, pushed up to their absolute maximum limits to achieve the fastest PC possible.
Sometimes too much.

Offering any warranty for the components in your builds would be a bad idea.
The manufacturers of these components would reject any claims if they discover any over voltage / temperature damage.


Also, gamers are very choosy about exactly which model of Graphics card they want,
what manufacturer and type of memory they want, Processor type, Motherboard, power supply output and cable and socket options, Etc.

You would have to offer a potential buyer a complete range of components for them to choose from, which means you would have to offer a complete Pick - N - Mix service.
Keeping a wide range of stock on the shelf could become expensive.

Computer components become obsolete very quickly, their price falls dramatically as new versions / specifications are constantly being designed and produced over in China.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

The FCA isn't involved in product warranties!
BTW, I know someone who makes bespoke PC's for businesses and high end gaming rigs, like Alienware - he seems to be doing well.
Fight at the bottom end/mass market and it will not work - look for a niche and you have a chance!

 

[The Byre]

- look for a niche and you have a chance!

Exactly!

I can think of many small one and two-man companies that build specialist PCs for specific applications. AutoCAD, 4K editing rigs, pro-audio with ADDA IOs, stuff like that. To do that, you have to know and understand the industry you are targeting - for example, to render 4K in anything like acceptable time you need a PC with dual 10-core Xeon CPUs and at least two RAID arrays of SSD disks. If you do AutoCAD, you must understand the whole plug-in market and know which tablets to use, etc., etc.

The trick is, to find that niche that the likes of Scan are not already covering and build ultimate machines for that niche and advertise them in the appropriate trade mag.

It also pays to post in the various forums for that niche, helping people out and at the same time, showing the World that you understand the business to your fingertips.

 

[Mario.S]

Just wanted to add - to those that are saying that it isn't viable etc, here's my view...

In the last few years we've seen the emergence of a platform called Twitch. For those that aren't aware, it's basically a platform where gamers can stream their gameplay to a wide audience, and have the opportunity to make good money in doing so. The streamers have their own channel, each with their own following (ranging from 000s-0000s) of viewers each time they stream, and if successful, these streamers can make a decent income via subscriptions and/or donations.

Now, while some of the viewers of these channels may have the technical know how of how to build a PC, many of them don't. I know this because I see hundreds of viewers asking the same questions in the channels chatbox, like - "how do I build a good PC for gaming?", "I'm not good with PC's, when I get started I'm just going to buy a prebuilt one, how much should I spend?", "Can you recommend me a good place to buy a gaming PC" etc.

A lot of these viewers want to IMITATE exactly what the streamer is doing (so that they can become the next big streamer and be successful on twitch, make lots of money etc). As I said before, many of these viewers don't have the technical know how, they just want a quick fix, to buy a prebuilt gaming PC package so they can get started IMMEDIATELY.

The OP could definitely get a share of this niche market, and if done correctly I think it would be viable.


A few things he could do as he's getting started with his brand:

-He could offer a streamer the chance to enter a short-term partnership with his company - by offering them a free top of the range PC built by his company, in exchange for his brand being advertised on the streamers channel to these thousands of viewers (the ones that haven't a clue how to build a PC, yet want one IMMEDIATELY!), for however long they negotiate the duration of said partnership.

-He could offer within his package a particular brand of keyboard and mouse that nearly every PC gamer currently wants, 'Razer'.

-He could include screen recording software (OBS, etc) in the package

-He could offer a discount where a buyer purchases something using the said streamers discount code

There are many more avenues to explore on twitch, and opportunities are endless as far as advertising goes.

Oh and btw, that's without taking YouTube into consideration ^ - a lot of these streamers also have a YouTube channel where they upload their gameplay videos after stream ends for those that missed the stream. If you're in a partnership with them, they will usually have a 5-10 second segment at the beginning of the video advertising your brand - along with your brand being shown throughout the duration of the video (as your logo/site will have been implemented as part of said stream). So this is another avenue for exposure.



I'm not saying this will be cheap OR easy...as others have mentioned, you will need to have a large stock count to be able to allow people to pick'n'mix their systems, as well as maybe having a few 'recommended by us' systems already built. You need to offer a better price than the big boys (Alienware, Origin etc - both overpriced IMO) And you need to have excellent customer service during and after sale if you want to be reputable!

You do also need to consider the whole warranty situation (sorry I can't help you here - not really knowledgable in this area), delivery charges for sending and returns, how quick the tech becomes obsolete etc etc.

And there is of course plenty more to think about than what I've mentioned. It won't be easy, but I do think that it's viable to enter this niche market (considering you do your research properly and really dig into every aspect of it, and also have good funding for it).

Good luck anyway.

 

[Mario.S]

Just to clarify ^ (can't edit post) - I'm talking about Gaming PC's specifically, not your everyday PC packages that PC world and the likes offer.