What Am I Doing Wrong Selling That PC I Built

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9558]

Ok, I need some help with that computer I built back in March and has been relisted on eBay over and over for the past 6 month. I’m going to show you my eBay listing and I need to know what is wrong with it to where it’s not selling, let alone hardly getting a viewer?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162179086802?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

So what’s making this computer not sell or getting a lot of viewers? It better not be the price, because I have so far (not counting eBay fees and stuff) $950 into it and I don’t feel like losing. It’s been so long to the point that if I get my money back and out of this project I’ll be happy.

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[EekParticipant 1162]

Since you posted you original thread back in March (below), both AMD and NVidia have released whole new families of graphics cards.

For what you are selling for people will expect to get current generation parts. Also people who are looking to buy a custom computer are more likely to just build it themselves.

At best the system as you have it specced would fall in the mid range of computer prices, $600-800. Compared to what PCPer has on their example builds.

Help With Computer Parts

[EekParticipant 1162]

Also read this Wikipedia article before you decide what to do next: Sunk Cost

[Anonymous 18]

If there is a local online option to sell (ex Craigslist) where the potential buyer can come and look at it and test it, the chances of striking a deal are much higher.

As Eek mentioned people who don’t know much won’t trust a custom without some logo slapped on it. Those that know would usually build their own.

Do try some local venue to reach for students. It’s good time for a student to snatch a deal.

[RennieParticipant]

1. Post more detailed specs. Like it wasn’t immediately obvious that the computer is an octacore, without researching the names of the parts used.

2. Lower the price. You are probably going to have to take a loss on this.

[KillmandrillParticipant 497]

Rennie wrote:

1. Post more detailed specs. Like it wasn’t immediately obvious that the computer is an octacore, without researching the names of the parts used.

I find the add very detailed, also if you check on the CPU it says right in the beginning (header) “8 Core”.
For me I wouldn´t have even gotten close to those listed details.

To OP, just like Rennie said be prepared to take a loss. There´s not much money in this business if you do this as a private person (having no whole sale rebates). Once you bought your PC or assembled it, it turns obsolete. Technology advances so fast today that even Gordon Moore couldn´t have imagined. New graphics cards have just been released as mentioned above and gamers usually go for the newest they can get.

Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent. Friedrich Nietzsche

[Anonymous 0]

All in all it sounds good. The case is not so extraordinary, no eyecatcher, although I find the features and the transparent window o.k.
The AMD processor FX 8300 is now nearly four years old, No HyperThreading. Of course it should do the gaming job well, but most gamers prefer an intel cpu.

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

Take a loss and moveven on.

Sorry.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9558]

I don’t get it. I took an idea from another eBay listing, who built his computer almost the same way, and he manages to sell his and for about the same price as mine. I wonder what he did right that I’m doing wrong.

Loss or break even, I’ll never do this again, now that I see tech moves too fast and people on eBay usually want something for nothing.

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[pcjonjonParticipant 32]

The sad fact is you can not build a pc on newegg then make a profit by selling it on ebay…period. you can not build one and even sell it at cost because as someone pointed out those that know what this hardware is know where to buy it and how to build it.

Start doing service and go out on your own. Just get a few basic certs and dazzle people with what they think to be the work of a wizard. PC sales has been dead for several years so service service service… I charge $165 for a virus removal and people pay it all day every day. It takes me 2-3 days but I can do 12-15 machines at once in my workshop and sometimes I do. Make business cards and GIVE THEM TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON YOU ENCOUNTER THAT MEANS GAS STATION CLERKS ECT.

I found that it is best if I just give them a card and tell them to call if they need and let them do most of the talking if they have questions. You know by now how easily confused laypeople get with computers and would rather not have to learn anything technical…..sadly.

P.S. That flash drive you listed on ebay is cheaper at wal-mart.

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9558]

Well I lowered the price down to $1,000 from $1,050. I’m going to drop it down $50 each month until I sell it, but I will stop by a certain point.

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[CatsPawParticipant 423]

For that PC, I dont think you will get above 500 dollars.

The reasons:
-CPU is crap. As much as it has many cores, they are not efficient. an i3 is about as fast as that.
-GPU is only average. Most people looking for a gaming PC today would NOT look at less than a GTX 970 from nVidia. You can get it now close to 200 dollars.
-Used PC. You can get a Xeon 2670 at 75 bucks now used. Even thou the motherboard would be expensive and hard to find, used PC market is oversaturated right now.
-Upcoming ZEN/Skylate/Kaby lake. This further lowers the value of your PC.

If there is one thing you will get from this is to learn to look at the market more carefully before committing.

[DarkRyuParticipant 2354]

You’ve done nothing wrong. eBay is a dead market. Take it from someone that’s been selling on eBay for years. The good old days of posting something and getting hundreds of views a day are GONE. I have HUNDREDS of items posted on eBay and I’m lucky to move 1 item per day. In a week I get like 20 views per item.

The sad truth is, eBay is over-saturated with sellers. They’ve done everything in their power to make sure they’ve got tons of sellers. Now you’ve got a large number of sellers competing for a small (and shrinking) number of buyers. eBay has done this by offering FREE listings. The s~~~ty economy has a role to play in this too.

The only way I’m able to sell items now is a combination of eBay, Craigslist, LetGo, OfferUp, etc.

Sell that sucker as fast as you can. The longer you own it, the more money you’re going to lose.

I run a computer repair store. My advice would be to call up computer shops in your area and see if they’ll buy it from you. Expect offers in the $200 to $500 range. Either that or lower the price on eBay. Trouble is, even if it’s cheap that doesn’t help if only 20 people a week are seeing it. You’re just competing with way too many people selling custom computers.

Look at your competition. He’s probably got 2,000 different custom systems listed, right? THAT is how he’s moving them. Having 2,000 different listings allows him to sell 5-10 systems per day. Making $100 per system, that’s not a bad profit. Problem is, it’s almost impossible to make $100 profit after eBay fees, shipping, and taxes. It’s likely some guy from India (living in the US) who’s willing to work for $5/hour building these things.

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9558]

DarkRyu wrote:

Sell that sucker as fast as you can. The longer you own it, the more money you’re going to lose.

Look at your competition. He’s probably got 2,000 different custom systems listed, right? THAT is how he’s moving them. Having 2,000 different listings allows him to sell 5-10 systems per day. Making $100 per system, that’s not a bad profit. Problem is, it’s almost impossible to make $100 profit after eBay fees, shipping, and taxes. It’s likely some guy from India (living in the US) who’s willing to work for $5/hour building these things.

Well how am I suppose to sell it? I got the idea for this PC from a guy who does do this, and I just copied his build, and he’s getting about $1,100 for it. How much he invested is beyond me but still, I did get idea of doing this computer project from a person who does this. This thing has been up since early April, and I don’t know what it’s going to take to sell it. You know I didn’t build this thing just to have it sit in 2 boxes in the spare room, and give someone I deal that I have to lose money on. If I knew I was going to be in this much s~~~ for it, I wouldn’t of done anything. I would kept the $950 I put into it, and I would have more money in my cash stash by now.

And you say you get 20 views per week? For this listing that would be pretty good, because I get about 40 views per month.

All in all, I just wanted to do something I enjoy doing (assembling computers) and make money while being out of work. It just sucks that this isn’t mattering to anyone but me. You know you want to make money off an enjoyable hobby, but this is too much discouragement.

Well I may not of done anything wrong, but whatever is keeping me from sending this out, is not happening as I expected. In fact, I thought this was going to be easier, because we all want/need computers, and I thought eBay was convenient.

I need desperate help. I’ll be grateful just to get my money back at this point.

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[Anonymous 3]

You’re not going to get the money back. You overpaid for those parts and they are too old, they were too old even when you got them.

You’re going to have to sell for a loss if you really want to sell it. That’s part of business, when you screw up you try to salvage what you can and then move on, and learn for the future.

Either keep it for yourself, and start keeping up with the industry if you want to try again, or sell it, take the loss, and forget about it. I would suspect $400-500 it might actually move, but maybe you’d have to price it even lower. That’s also called price discovery, a product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, the seller can not unilaterally decide price and force buyers into transactions, especially for a product such as this which isn’t a life necessity or anything.

Also, is English your second language? If so, you can try listing in your native language, although again the price is still too high, but you may be able to write a better product description and sales pitch.

[DarkRyuParticipant 2354]

ResidentEvil7 wrote:

I need desperate help. I’ll be grateful just to get my money back at this point.

I would be astonished if you got $950 for that computer. I own a retail shop and if that system came in, I wouldn’t pay $1 over $300 for it and I’d sell it for $700 max. And that’s with our 3 year warranty. Back when those parts were new the system might have gone for $1,100, but nowadays as a private party you’d be lucky to get $500 for it.

To be honest with you, I could buy it off of you for $300, but I wouldn’t really WANT to buy it for any more than $150 or $200.

So if you said “Hey DarkRyu, submit me an offer on eBay for $300 and I’ll accept it,” I don’t think I would. For $150 I’d be all over it, but at $300 there’s just so many other options for me to buy and so many other products to invest my capital in.

But hey, if you call say 30 repair shops you might get lucky and find someone that will take it off your hands for $500. It’s quite unlikely, but possible.

[coolthingy450Participant 1223]

Mmmm. I might be interested in that system. I’m planning to set up a desktop for linux anyways, and I can compensate for the fact that the parts are not as new as they used to be. But I’m waiting for the new zen amd cpus, and the prices in Canada are so high for things like this, that a 960 nvidia gpu is expensive.

But this is something I can build for myself for much better parts If I’m willing to take a hit with my wallet. You could keep it as a back up machine, or test out different OS.

Actions have consequences and consequences have prices. Cause and effect at work.

[coolthingy450Participant 1223]

But I already have two laptops that are 17 inches in screen size, and right now my gaming laptop with arch linux is my main rig. So a desktop is still kinda out of the guestion until one of my machines break, or until I can figure out how to connect a Ethernet cable to my room.

Actions have consequences and consequences have prices. Cause and effect at work.

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9558]

Why does everything have to be the current thing? The computer I’m using now wasn’t current when my mother bought it for my birthday 2 years. It does and has all that I need it to be. So again, why does everything have to be the current thing rather than a computer that is built do all that you need it to do? I mean how do you stay current with technology is always changing? Besides I did buy those parts new, not used.

But I get it; it’s ebay and tech; people want the latest thing and they want it for nothing. That’s how eBay is like for me whenever I sell something; they want things for nothing. They think I should just hand it over. Socialist website!

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[DarkRyuParticipant 2354]

ResidentEvil7 wrote:

Why does everything have to be the current thing? The computer I’m using now wasn’t current when my mother bought it for my birthday 2 years. It does and has all that I need it to be. So again, why does everything have to be the current thing rather than a computer that is built do all that you need it to do? I mean how do you stay current with technology is always changing? Besides I did buy those parts new, not used.

But I get it; it’s ebay and tech; people want the latest thing and they want it for nothing. That’s how eBay is like for me whenever I sell something; they want things for nothing. They think I should just hand it over. Socialist website!

It doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest. My personal PC in my room is approaching 5 years old now (custom built cost about $2,000 new). i7-3770k, 32GB DDR3, 1TB SSD, 2x6TB HDD, Nvidia branded GTX 970, Corsair AX1200i power supply, liquid cooling, etc. Over the years I’ve added a 1TB SSD, upgraded the graphics card, and upgraded the original 2TB hard drives with 2x6TB drives. I have absolutely no plans to replace the motherboard / processor / RAM until 2020 at the earliest.

Even though this computer has a 5 year old processor, it’s great. I expect it to last at least another 4-6 years before I have to upgrade the motherboard / processor / RAM.

The issue with your computer is you’re charging too much f~~~ing money. You’re asking as much for yours as one with much newer stuff goes for. If someone’s going to pay $1,100 for a computer, they can get the latest gen stuff with better specs. Why the hell would they buy yours? The person that will buy your system will buy it because the price is right and it’s within their budget. They’ll make a cost/benefit analysis.

What people are saying now:
“WTF? This system is way overpriced. It has less RAM, a old processor, an underpowered graphics card, and a s~~~tier power supply than the other one that’s only $900. I guess I’ll go with that other system.”

What people will be saying if you price it realistically:
“Oh, I know I can get a newer processor and better graphics card if I get this one for $900, but ResidentEvil7’s system is only $500. With that extra $400 I can buy that kickass monitor and gaming keyboard I was looking at the other day. Yeah, I think I’m going to go with this one for $500”

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