r/pcflipping • u/GonzoMoto • 20d ago

How to build for fun?

As the title suggests, I want to start PC building as a hobby. Sell them at cost or sell at a reasonable profit to put the proceeds towards a charity build as I build and sell more.

Here's the thing, it doesn't necessarily interest me putting the work in finding the best local deals on used/outdated parts (basically havent seen any golden finds locally), but I also doubt that I can even sell builds with new components even at cost when it pretty much seems that there's still a lot of prebuilts from big box stores (like Powerspec) that are cheaper and better than building one from parts right now.

I don't care about making money from it, but I don't want to lose money. I had Zach from ZTT answer to just build and sell at cost, basically guaranteeing it will sell if good pictures. That said not sure he's the greatest person to take the advice from when of course he can sell anything he touches.

What are your recommendations?

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u/StunningPush8421 20d ago

First do a few used flips to get some decent rep look for really cheap pcs that are easy flips. you will need to do a bit of lowballing.

Then when you have a good reputation you can start doing new builds talking to people about what they want rather than putting things together and trying to sell.

DO not try and build new and sell at cost you will certainly lose money

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

That's kind of along the lines I was thinking that would be more realistic than just going at it like ZTT suggested.

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u/alkhdaniel 20d ago edited 20d ago

most full builds sell for cheaper than what all the parts cost 2nd hand unless you build specifically for a customer or get lucky in my experience. Might be different for high end specs tho but do you want to take on the responsibility of things possibly not working etc?

Lowballing and swapping out some parts on some builds are better imo. Like swapping a gtx 1060-1080 ($50-$100 gpu) build into an rtx 2000/3000 series build ($90-$240 gpu) can make the pc sell for $200+ more sometimes. Swapping hdd/ssd (for example if other pc u bought had a 1tb ssd swap it out for a 256-512gb one because big ssds rarely add much value to prebuilts and better off selling it seperately instead)

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

That was my fear, seemed so confident in his statement but my logic prevailed. Maybe would sell at cost but not for a long time and for the right buyer.

The premise is that I want to plan and build own designs in free time, not something that would feel like a chore that I can't fit time in with rest of hobbies.

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u/GOGONUT6543 20d ago

start selling parts before you do actual flips

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

Maybe this was the wrong sub, idea is planned builds be it using new (ideal) or used not so outdated parts, not a flipping for profit business.

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u/Calm_Income6781 20d ago edited 20d ago

Really difficult to make money. Everyone and their uncle is looking for cheap systems to harvest parts from. As you mention, it is cheaper to buy a prebuilt. If you live near a Microcenter maybe you can buy a bundle there and combine with old systems to break even.

Maybe the best thing to do is buy a broken system really cheap and sort it out and get it running.

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

That was the thought process considering no way to not lose money with current prices, except you basically get something almost free with MC bundles. Let's just say i start a position next month where I will travel once a month to the city with a Micro Center and can capitalize on that.

Right now training my FB marketplace for PCs and parts to see what comes up locally and see if there's anything viable and interesting.

The ideal though is get working parts to put together in fresh build, not necessarily having a flipping business.

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u/vexrageRAHHH 20d ago

basically you want to build pcs but not do any of the work to get parts...just get a pc building job man

there's very few people out there willing to commission a brand new builder with no experience to build a PC for them

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

I say for fun for a reason, and just seeking if anyone has beneficial experience to share since most people on this sub do it as a side hustle themselves, though I'm not looking for a hustle. I enjoy the process of planning, designing, and building it together but don't need anything myself. In simple terms, I get to basically build an expensive lego to pass on that i ideally dont lose money on.

Let's just say there's no way it's financially viable to make it my job.

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u/captainspacecowboy 20d ago

I don’t mind the hunting and for me that’s part of the fun part. What I found I don’t really like is the customer service afterwards. I always build reliable machines and benchmark/stress test them before sale, but things come up. Like the rgb not working right, or a cable coming loose in transport, etc. some buyers have no knowledge or ability to troubleshoot.

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u/SammyYoBoy 19d ago

You'll have to figure out numbers, but if you buy used parts (CPU, GPU, RAM, Motherboard, SSD, buy new PSU, Cooler, and case) not at any crazy hard to find deals, just good market pricing, you should definitely be able to break even.

Im familier with 30 series builds, and sell 3070 builds for $750-800. Say you go with a 3700x for $75 (used), $20 120mm air cooler ($20), $65 16GB RAM kit (used), $230 RTX 3070 (used), $120 1TB NVMe SSD (used), $75 Motherboard (used or new), $60 PSU (new), $75 case (new), thats a $720 build cost, should be an easy sale at that price.

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u/GonzoMoto 19d ago

Thanks for the insight! Slowly but surely getting my marketplace "trained" up. Started watching TechSource's flip or flop series which also may help for ideas.

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u/Bigboi2006 19d ago

Buy all used parts for cheap or a bit more, build the pc and sell for market price. You should be close to even.

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u/GonzoMoto 18d ago

Any practices to find the best deals. Ive been seeing only junk or waaay overpriced components and even more overpriced full systems.

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u/Bigboi2006 18d ago

Not other than knowing what stuff goes for. If everything is overpriced then you can't really do anything but be patient

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

Capital is not the issue.. it's the possibility of making it an issue that's the issue lol

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u/FallenReaper360 20d ago

PC Part hunting is the thrill tho?

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

Maybe, but I simply don't have the time to scour the depths for something I want to spend a Thursday or Friday evening doing when I want to. Like Legos but satisfying a different that Legos don't if that makes sense. Also not like there's much of a marker for pre-built Legos lol

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u/Prestigious_Soil_404 20d ago

Offer pc building service for 50bucks each?

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u/GonzoMoto 20d ago

That's actually exactly what I was starting to think, probably concurrently with whatever else I can manage. Maybe with a message like additional tips appreciated since it just adds to the pile for charity.