Thinking of refurbishing and selling laptops.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally Posted by npinc

Another thing would be to only refurbish top end laptops. Corporate product, higher end laptops .

If I were to even consider refurbishing computers..that's the only way I'd do it. Business grade products...MUCH higher quality components under the door (their 3 year warranty should illustrate this).

For laptops, I'll gladly take a refurb'd Lenovo Thinkpad T series at 700 bucks over some brand new low end $499 best buy special.

I wouldn't touch home grade 1 year warranty units that originally cost less than 900 bucks.

[PCX]

Originally Posted by YeOldeStonecat

If I were to even consider refurbishing computers..that's the only way I'd do it. Business grade products...MUCH higher quality components under the door (their 3 year warranty should illustrate this).

For laptops, I'll gladly take a refurb'd Lenovo Thinkpad T series at 700 bucks over some brand new low end $499 best buy special.

I wouldn't touch home grade 1 year warranty units that originally cost less than 900 bucks.

The only thing I have to disagree on is the home grade portion. As long as you are picky about what you will put on the shelf and as long as you run a full diagnostics and take care of any and all issues, the profit far out weighs the profit margin. I have sold hundreds of these out of my shop and have only had a handful of them come back for warranty claims. Also, a great majority of those same customers turn into future service and repair customers.

That said, if I had a choice, I would most def go for business grade over home grade, but you have to keep in mind that most of the laptops and desktops that come in are all home grade, so you have to make due with what you have and be picky.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally Posted by PCX

The only thing I have to disagree on is the home grade portion. As long as you are picky about what you will put on the shelf and as long as you run a full diagnostics and take care of any and all issues, the profit far out weighs the profit margin. I have sold hundreds of these out of my shop and have only had a handful of them come back for warranty claims. Also, a great majority of those same customers turn into future service and repair customers.

That said, if I had a choice, I would most def go for business grade over home grade, but you have to keep in mind that most of the laptops and desktops that come in are all home grade, so you have to make due with what you have and be picky.

That's a choice. How much time do you spend turning around a laptop? Factor in a brand new hard drive (I just couldn't resell a used laptop with a used drive)...(plus typical home grade laptops typically come with a glacially slow 5400rpm drive...I always do 7200rpm for laptops)...factor in your time.....the home grade price range would come out to 50 bucks an hour. Ain't worth it to me.

[PCX]

Originally Posted by YeOldeStonecat

That's a choice. How much time do you spend turning around a laptop? Factor in a brand new hard drive (I just couldn't resell a used laptop with a used drive)...(plus typical home grade laptops typically come with a glacially slow 5400rpm drive...I always do 7200rpm for laptops)...factor in your time.....the home grade price range would come out to 50 bucks an hour. Ain't worth it to me.

Typically, I spend the same amount of time refurbing a laptop as I would repairing it for a customer . . . not sure why it would take any longer. A broken laptop is a broken laptop. If the refurbs were not worth my time, then neither would repairing computers for home users out of a shop . . . then again, you probably do not think that is worth anyone's time either.

Anyways, the same process we go through for repairs is the same process we use for refurbs. We run a full diagnostics before every repair and before we purchase a refurbs. If the hard drive passes and has little to no bad sectors, then the hard drive stays unless I feel that I should replace or upgrade it. Anything else that fails or is in bad condition gets fixed. Like I said, I have sold hundreds of these and have only had a handful come back. The rest are happy returning customers. As I said before, I make about as much if not more on these refurbs as I would if I repaired them for customers.

[npinc]

Do you make more profit repairing one or refurbishing one and selling it based on spending the same time on each?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally Posted by PCX

Typically, I spend the same amount of time refurbing a laptop as I would repairing it for a customer . . . not sure why it would take any longer. A broken laptop is a broken laptop. .

I don't recall where I said it would take longer than a standard repair.

[PCX]

Originally Posted by npinc

Do you make more profit repairing one or refurbishing one and selling it based on spending the same time on each?

it really depends. I usually make about the same maybe more on refurbs, but I would rather do the repairs for a customer instead. Every once in a while though, you get an awesome deal. I had a guy come in here Saturday that was leaving town and needed to sell his Asus G73 which is a $1200 laptop. He had is receipt from BB as well as an extended warranty. I told him that it was not within our budget to give him what his laptop was worth. I apologized and he walked out. He came back a few hours later (more than likely been told the same thing by other shops or pawn shops) and asked if we could at least give him $200 for it. I said absolutely. The only thing wrong with it is the hard drive and I offered to repair it instead of buying it, but he insisted that he had no time and did not want to deal with it . . . he just wanted to buy a new one at walmart. So now, I have the warranty in my name, going to claim the warranty and when I get it back, I am going to sell it for about $1000.

[SprinterTech-WI]

Yea I just traded someone a phone and a tablet for a laptop (4 months old $900 new), and a 1 month old $250 cell phone, works for me! I'll make about $400 profit between the two, should be sold by wed or maybe friday at the latest.

[npinc]

Originally Posted by PCX

it really depends. I usually make about the same maybe more on refurbs, but I would rather do the repairs for a customer instead. Every once in a while though, you get an awesome deal. I had a guy come in here Saturday that was leaving town and needed to sell his Asus G73 which is a $1200 laptop. He had is receipt from BB as well as an extended warranty. I told him that it was not within our budget to give him what his laptop was worth. I apologized and he walked out. He came back a few hours later (more than likely been told the same thing by other shops or pawn shops) and asked if we could at least give him $200 for it. I said absolutely. The only thing wrong with it is the hard drive and I offered to repair it instead of buying it, but he insisted that he had no time and did not want to deal with it . . . he just wanted to buy a new one at walmart. So now, I have the warranty in my name, going to claim the warranty and when I get it back, I am going to sell it for about $1000.

Well fair deal. If you make as much or more refurbishing then by all means! I make more repairing (when you factor in expenses such as initial cost, overhead, time spent, licensing, warranty and service, etc) so that's what I focus on.