Do I dare?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/17/2020 at 13:11 • Filed to: None

HP 24-xa0057c available for $199 at a local pawn shop that needs the OS reinstalled. I’ve purchased multiple broken computers from them and have made quite a bit of money by reselling them after simple repairs (replace failed HD, reinstall OS, etc.) Provided there’s nothing wrong with the hardware this should be an easy flip. Refurb units are selling for between $403 and $699.

The last two systems I sold went to (now former) co-workers, so I’d have to flip this on CL or similar. That kind of weirds me out a bit since we’re talking about several hundred dollars. Has anyone here had experience selling semi-expensive items this way?

DISCUSSION (13)

HammerheadFistpunch > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:31

facw > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:33

In any event, I think CL is full of flakes and scammers regardless of sale price, so if anything you get a better return for your work avoiding them with more expensive items. I guess you could always do ebay if you wanted a better option, but shipping might eat all your profits.

someassemblyrequired > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:33

That’s a crazy deal. As much as I hate FB, FB marketplace is a way way better place to sell than CL. Though I’d say the headroom in this is probably only $100 or so, most people will just spend the extra cash if the product is close to the refurbed price.

jminer > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:34

Higher end computers used to sell on CL/FB easily but I’ve had a hell of a time doing it lately. Ebay is easier but then you get to deal with shipping and fees.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:36

I do computer repair on the side and clients often just give me (and no, I don’t sortof ask for it as that would make me feel terribly guilty - they offer) old or broken equipment when upgrade to new stuff. It’s where I got my own laptop, as well as mom’s and my brothers (repaired stuff - bro and I both built our own desktops though from new parts).

Long story short. I fix them up and usually sell them for a profit. Not always several hundred bucks, but a hundred-and-someodd. If you know what you’re doing, it’s a legitimate and decent way to make a little money on the side.

If you know that’s all it needs and it isn’t something more major like a dead mobo, I’d say go for it! :)

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
01/17/2020 at 13:53

I, too, have received a bunch of computers that way, or they’re ones I’ve picked up at the Goodwill Outlet (I’m still using my $5 Macbook Pro). I’ve been messing with computers since ‘77 both personally and professionally, and build my own machines - for the most part; lately I’ve been purchasing various HP and Dell systems and upgrading them, although my main machine is something I’ve built from remnants of dead computers mixed with eBay parts.

The machine in question is up and running with a Win10 screen showing that repairs could not be completed. I’d just nuke the drive and reinstall, which shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. I can take a flash drive with some boot utilities and check it out, but at this point, based on previous experience, I’d bet that the hardware is OK.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 13:56

Oh yeah, for sure, if that’s all it’s saying, it’s likely just a corrupt Windows install. Just reinstall Win10 from a USB created with the Media Creator and you should be good to go I’d say.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > jminer
01/17/2020 at 14:00

Exactly. This one, being a 24" AIO, is a bit of a beast, and I don't even want to think about shipping it...

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > someassemblyrequired
01/17/2020 at 14:03

But will they actually search for and find that $403 unit? At this point that $100 profit margin just a little too small.

If I wasn’t unemployed I'd just fix this thing and give it to my mother.

Chariotoflove > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 14:29

It really depends on how accurately you can judge your market. I’ m extremely conservative, especially in your financial position, and would want to be pretty sure I could make enough on the flip to justify the investment.

someassemblyrequired > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/17/2020 at 15:28

You’re probably right - they likely won’t find the $400 one - you could always list at $400 and come down a bit, but people are really irrational about used computers.

Nibby > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/20/2020 at 22:49

did you end up nagging it?

also know anyone interested in an HP Z440 workstation? E5-1650 v3 3.5GHz 6 core, 64GB RAM, 256GB M.2 SSD, AMD FirePro V7900 2GB, Windows 10 Pro

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Nibby
01/20/2020 at 23:42

I haven’t done anything on it yet. I’ve pretty much been bedridden since my nasty fall down the stairs last week; I can stand or I can lay flat, but sitting in a chair is extremely uncomfortable after about 30 seconds...

I don’t know of anyone at the moment that would be interested in that workstation. Some friends and I built up some cheap surplus Z420s last year to very similar specs, and a Z440 wouldn’t be much of a change. I just decommissioned my old Dell Win7 machine; I was going to upgrade it to an i7 but I don’t know where the box of parts from that purchase went; I have the cases that were part of the sale, but I can’t find the box with the MB and CPU. But its parts are probably better used elsewhere, especially the RAM, so onto the scrap pile it goes.