1st ipod repair

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Just did our first ipod repair. We used to do battery replacements on them before the Apple store came to town, but decided to get more into them since people are breaking them left and right and coming to us to see if we will fix them since Apple won't do it. This was a 5th gen ipod classic for an LCD. I played with it to see how hard it would be to take apart. Once I realized it wasn't bad I let our office girl do most of the repair because she is hoping to help out on repairing them. I just stood by for any gotchas like Apples goofy ribbon cable connectors but she had it rapped up in under a half an hour.

 

[MrUnknown]

how can you profit off of it though? usually parts plus any amount of labor leaves only a small amount of profit.

 

[usacvlr]

parts are cheap and labor?? Well if it's just you then it's 'free'.

 

[MrUnknown]

maybe I am on the wrong sites, but something like the screen would cost around $100, add some labor in there and for a few dollars more they can usually buy another one.

I was thinking about advertising to do it earlier but I couldn't make too much doing it so I decided not to.

 

[iisjman07]

We had an ipod in for repairs, a teenager came in with a bead from her necklace lodged in the audio jack. We tried using compressed air, but I think we used a soldering iron to melt it until it fell out.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

We charged under $100 bucks for the repair. We haven't nailed down the price structure but we are doing a flat rate on them for anything that needs replaced unless its multiple parts. Some fixes we'll make more money then others. My partner found the parts somewhere and I'm not exactly sure what we paid, but I think we made money.

 

[NYJimbo]

Have our friends in China managed to clone all the parts?. If so then your best bet would be Ebay for screens and stuff.

 

[DarDar]

I replaced the screen on a 2nd gen nano for about €15 from ebay. It came with tools and included shipping. Pretty easy and i replaced the battery for about the same at a later date. Its a pretty nice gig to get into and I've done a few for friends. Its the same deal with phones too although i can't compete as there is well known (and cheap) shop in town that has that wrapped up. They are authorised for Nokia repair too so if you have a Nokia and it is damaged, they can repair it and have it back to you within a day or two. Much faster than the normal three or four weeks from the mobile retail outlets who send it to a central processing warehouse.

Most people are scared to open anything like that up and will gladly pay for your knowledge and skill. If you get a good reputation, its a nice part to add to your business as there are a lot of cowboys based in internet cafes and the like who will try and do it. As a known entity, customers prefer to pay a bit more for a good service and result compared to an unknown quantity who will "try his best" and return your kit in an even worse state!

 

[AtYourService]

i fixed an ipod nano video once for a friend and a full size ipod (pain in the butt to take apart)
the parts are pretty cheap on ebay and come with the tools you need for dissection

 

[BryanLee]

I have been looking into getting into this as well. Here is a good site for video tutorials if you have never done it before.

http://ipodhowtovideo.com/index.html

Anyone have a specific vendor/website that they use?