Computer store What?

I'm planning on opening a computer shop out of my house and I'm wondering what the average consumer wants out of a computer store? I'm making up a one page ad that looks like this so far. I'v never done anything like this so I could use some help. Hoping i can balance this with school. :rolleyes:


P auls C omputer Care

- computer repairs, upgrades, and tune ups
- New systems starting at $___?
- Training sessions (How to use your computer efficiently)
- Virus and spyware removal
- Cheap, fast, and local
- Experienced technicians

Phone: --- - ----
Web-site: www.donthaveoneyet.com



This is just a rough sketch.
Anything i should add or change?

Sonds like you have it under control there. Just keep in mind, that if you build people computer systems you will be the one that they call when it goes down, so if your trying to balance this with school it might be a little tough.



btw: computer starting from 350$ sounds like a good price. It can be done, just use integrated M/B, and AMD processors.

Good luck with your buisness.

I would maybe suggest a breakdown of what area's you are offering training in. Just a suggestion take it or leave it. For example MS office, basic *nix, internet 101 ect ect.

My $.02

As Managing director of my own computer repair, installation and hardware company I have some little tips for you.

Tip 1: try and build up a customer base within a local area so that you can get aftercare on systems you sell.

Tip 2: Dont try and sell new systems, there is no profit. Instead sell old(ish) systems at low prices, because all the regular user wants them for is to go online etc... If they are a pro they will already know where to get a cheap and decent machine. Plus you have a better chance of getting aftercare from a regular user than a pro, as a pro will fix his own problems.

I like the idea of your trojan and virus removal, simple quick and easy for us that know how but, for a regular user it renders the machine unusable.

The training sessions im not s sure about, why bother when you could earn more doing an installation or something similar.

I know of people that charge £100 to install XP on a system... just think, it takes about an hour and you can be doing something else in the mean time... you could just sit around a drink beer for an hour and its a good days pay for a 1 hour install!

Anyhow, thats just my 2 cents... good luck, live long and.. repair pcs! =P

Ya, you do make a good point there code_rebirth. Dealing with a computer is alot easier then dealing with the public. Well for the new computer systems I know a great place www.atic.ca . They sell computers at great places. Thanks for the input guys.

I'd never shop at a place like that... their site looks like it's been built by a 5-year old with color-problems...

If I were you, I'd start one by one: start with repairs/tune ups/...
There's *no way* you can manage everything you want to by yourself... so you'll have to hire people... hiring people costs money...
And you're still in school? Just go for the repair/tune up option as long as you're in school.... wouldn't it suck when you'd have to give up your school to go work at McDonald's at double shift to pay of your debts?

Neg is right. Be careful not to offer more than you can deliver. Start slowly, build a client base. good luck.

Hey Hey,

A fellow Canadian who wants to do this....


I've ran my own computer company for a while now, I have 2 partners. Between the three of us, we don't pocket enough cash to make it worthwhile so we're marking the comany as discontinued on this tax return. I can't say for your PST/RST returns, but for GST it's not that bad. You only have to register for GST if you do over $30,000 a year in sales. We registered and it was a waste of time. The only good thing is if you buy stuff for yourself and pay GST, they give you that back.. so you can pocket a little money. Also canadian wholesalers suck. There's BSC Technologies (www.bsctech.com) whom I deal with the most. They are the cheapest, but you get a lot of wrong orders and such and they still can't touch most places prices, to give someone a good price, you are making maybe 10-15 bux if you're lucky. There's EMJ.ca but they're not PCs just specialty stuff. Then there's microcad.on.ca but they're also over priced, and startech.com which is networking products. Repairs/Troubleshotting also isn't the greatest idea unless you get a second phoneline and only give out that number. If you run from your home and use your main line, people will call you at all hours of the day for help (I had phone calls at 2am, 7am, all sorts of hours). Also the £100 code_rebirth mentioned, will never happen. At least not around here. That's like 200-300dollars Canadian (can't remember the conversion). We were lucky if we could get 30 an install. If you are running on your own people have a big problem with set prices. They believe they can haggle and will refuse to pay. I've been burned for over $500 and the only thing I could do was go to court, but it would have cost me more money. We started it up in school, two of us are still in college. Trust me it's more headache than it's worth....

Ahhh, you guys are so optimistic. Well, I'm going to be using my cell phone for business, so i dont piss anyone off at my house. I don't plan on sharing my profits with any partners though. As for getting ripped off, I'm only taking cash and debit for new computers (I wonder what it takes to get a debit machine). And for fixing computers, well if they dont pay me I dont give them their computer back. A question HTRegz. How'd you get ripped off for that much?

Doing repairs for people and then they refuse to pay. Selling computers (Most people refuse to pay cash before they have the system). Things like that....

Well for building a new computer I will ask for a 25% to 50% insurance deposit depending on how well i know the person. And however much they pay me before they get the system I'll take it off the end price.

I know it is a different marketplace, but here are a few general pointers:

1. Don't hold stock (inventory).......try to get reliable next day delivery suppliers for your stuff.

2. You may well be better off selling refurbished/upgraded ex-corporate boxes..........these are usually quite adequate for the average home user, and have a better markup than a new box because more of the added value is your labour. These can usually be obtained quite cheaply, and it would do no harm to have a few (FEW!) of them around awaiting orders...........you generally have to buy several at a time (job lot) anyway.

3. By all means offer a "custom build" service but be careful.........it is very competitive. Make sure the customer specifies AND PAYS FOR the components upfront........get a signed order/approval and just sell your labour/expertise.

4. The main reasons for business failure in this (and many other) areas is a lack of capital (start-up money) and getting caught out by technology changes.

5. As others have said, your main competitive advantage is local service as opposed to "off the shelf" delivery.

Just a few thoughts..........hope they help.

I used to work at a local comp store. To combat the "people not paying" issue people are talking about, you could have them sign a release saying they can't get their comp back till they pay...also one of the things we specified was any computer left there for more than 30 days after it's finished would be resold... (YES, we DID have a problem with that from time to time..)
We did more computer repairs than anything, and the problem we ran into the most was drivers. Someone would bring in some crap Packard Bell from 1995 and want us to reformat it, and then we'd have a heck of a time finding sound drivers or something.

I do the same thing freelance with friends and people they recommend me to. I sure wish I could charge the price u guys do. I normally charge about S$50 that abt US$30 for OS installation including whatever software the user wants to install at the same time as long as they provide me with the software. Wow...100 pnds sterling for installation woudl be great if I could chrge that much. I think i gotta check out what the others are charging here. mayb i am charging too low.

I sure understand the issue with old systems and drivers not being available. Normally I would recommend the user getting a newer OS that would have the drivers built in or tell them it might be cheaper and less of a worry getting a new system. It saves me the trouble and i get another sale and also when they do have problems in the future, it would be less of a headache repairing it again.

U seem to have most of the stuff covered in your ad. the thing about non payment as one of the guys suggest to keep the system until they pay. or if u service it at their home then maybe u can make sure they pay before completing the job. if ur business is really good then u can pick those u know are gonna pay and make sure u note those who have bad rep abt paying up ad avoid these.
if possible try not to keep stock as these depreciate too fast for a small company to justify keeping stock.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Negative
I'd never shop at a place like that... their site looks like it's been built by a 5-year old with color-problems...

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Blimey - I'd better not post my work's site then.

It is terrible (But I've moaned & moaned & the reply is "well it's making money")

Steve