Look no further! Here's our comprehensive guide for knowing your market, finding deals, and selling your custom builds!

Computer flipping is most commonly defined as buying components and building it into a fully working computer. From there it's sold for profit or financial turnover. It is most commonly done when using a mix of new and pre-owned components to provide the best value, and most profit for the flipper. Flipping requires lots of time and dedication in order to maintain a steady flow of profit and business. Knowing your market, finding the right parts, and actually selling your computer are things that must be mastered over time in order to maintain success.

Flipping requires money and/or some sort of computer hardware to get started.

You're not guaranteed a set margin of profit.

You have to deal with customer satisfaction and communication.

Flipping takes time, lots of time.

There is always a risk of not selling a build.

Your local market -- or shipping market can heavily affect what you sell and how you sell, as well as buy. Rural areas generally are bad places to flip computers. Buying locally in rural areas can yield bad prices, and selling can end you up with no buyers. While we always recommend local for selling, you might not have the option to sell locally due to a bad area. There are many reason's we don't recommend shipping completed builds, here's why:

1. Online sellers like eBay, Mercari, Offerup, and more always take a cut of your profit. It's usually around 10-13%. That means if you sell a $1000 computer, you're only going to be getting $900, and the site will take that other $100!

2. Shipping costs. Depending on the site you use, shipping for a computer can cost a small fortune. We've seen as low as $15, but we've also seen as high as $90.

3. Scammers or irritating buyers. We've heard many stories about buyers who have broken the computer when it got shipped to them, and then filed a claim to send it back. These sites will almost always take the side of the buyer, so you'll end up getting sent back a computer with a broken component. Goodbye profit!

4. Shipping errors. Your computer can get lost or damaged in shipping, and shipping services will usually do nothing about it -- at least from what we've heard. If your computer gets lost in shipping and the carrier can't find it, that's goodbye to your computer, and all your money. While a lot of these situations are rare, they can happen, and it's always a thread for shippers. This is why we always, always recommend a local sale. No fees, no shipping errors, maximum profit and security.

Your local market can be the best, or the worst place to buy and sell your builds, make sure to look into your local market to find out.

A few places to check your local market are places like: Facebook Marketplace, Offerup, Ebay Local, Craiglist, etc.

Your first PC flip can be a crucial step in starting your PC flipping journey, and there are a lot of things you'll want to try to get right.- Getting good deals; In order to make the most profit -- or any profit at all, you'll want good deals on the parts you buy. Part prices can fluctuate a lot, so make sure to try to keep up with the market, and to know if a part is at a good price or not. You can always join our discord server here to ask us what we think good part prices are.- Figuring out your budget and the path you'd like to take; for every flip, you're going to want to figure out the budget you want, and an outline of what you'd like to get. This will depend on your market or the deals you find at the time of building. You'll also want to figure out what platforms/selling points you want. You might want to go used and get an i7-3770 for the "i7" selling point, or maybe you want a Ryzen 3 1200 for the upgrade path for your buyer. It's your choice for if you want to use older or newer parts, and again, this will depend on your budget.- Don't let annoying issues go through with your flip; sometimes, you may be tempted to buy something that is "halfway broken." Maybe a ram slot doesn't work, maybe the top PCIe slot doesn't work. Maybe you bought a graphics card and the fans won't work some of the time, and you have to restart the computer in order to get them to work. All of these scenarios, or similar, are small issues you may run into with parts in a flip, especially if they're used. These scenarios, while some can be okay, are things you don't want in a PC flip. It can cause trouble or annoyance to the buyer, and give you a bad reputation.

Local Market: Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Offerup, eBay Local, etc.

Online Market: eBay, Mercari, Offerup etc.

NOTE: If you're selling online make sure you check seller fees and factor that into your overall list price. You ideally want to make the same amount of your build as you would local with fees and shipping added in. There are some calculator apps that can help you determine the possible price outcome per online listing sites/services.

For example:

Local listing price: $500

Online listing price (eBay): $500(FLIP) + $64.50(10% eBay Fee) + $20.50 (2.9%+$0.30 PayPal Fee) = $585 (List Price) + $60 Shipping (Buyer Pays)

Firstly, you need to figure out how much you're going to sell your flip for. This will in turn, determine your profitably. It's important to note that every single PC you sell will not draw in the same amount of profit each time.

You need to be aware of current market pricing online as well as in your area to price your flip accordingly. Like we stated above, the market prices constantly change, so it's important to stay up to date with part prices and your competitors prices. You can read on how to get to know your market above.

A common rule of thumb is to list your computer higher than what price you're actually looking for. The reason for this is mainly due to people haggling you on your price, if you have no wiggle room then buyers won't feel they're getting as good of a deal. Where in turn if they haggle you down to your intended price then they feel like they get a good deal (discounted) and you sell the flip at your intended price quickly.

(i.e, Intended Price: $500/List Price: $575 (room for people to haggle)

Once you've figured out what your build is worth you'll be able to move on to the next step in the selling process.

The description is a very important aspect to selling your computers along with your photos. The description will help draw interest to your listing as well as answer predetermined questions interested buyers might have; therefore, saving you time and communication.

There's a few set things that are almost a necessity to help sell your flip; however, versatility is available, so you can create your own description formula to use across each flip if you'd like.

The most important things to add are: parts list, location, any imperfections, price, and a quick introduction to the computer itself.

Here is my very own description template that you're free to use if you'd like. Notice that it highlights some of the information mentioned above.

Mid-Range ARGB GAMING PC Wifi:

"Hello! Today I’m featuring a sleek mid-range gaming computer! The computer can play today’s modern AAA games and esports titles at 1080P high settings at 60FPS+. The computer features a fully tempered glass front and side panel with RGB lighting via the button on the case. This is a great computer for a beginner trying to push some good FPS in demanding games!

The system is located in "your city, your state"; it is available for local pickup at a scheduled location!

SPECS:

Ryzen 3100 @ 3.6GHz

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

GIGABYTE A520M-S2H

16GB 3200MHz PNY XLR8 RAM

TCSunbow X3 120GB 2.5” SATA SSD

Seagate Barracuda 2.5” 1TB 7200RPM HDD

NVIDIA GTX 1070TI Founders Edition 8GB

Thermaltake 20 MT ARGB Case

EVGA 600W W1 PSU

FormulaMod Cable Extensions Black/Gray/White

ARGB Case Fans (x3) Rear Exhaust Fan (x1)

TP-Link Wifi Adapter

Windows 10 Pro Activated

if you have any questions, feel free to pm me!

Price is $850 OBO, no lowballs please, thank you!"

Common Photo Rules:

ALWAYS take photos horizontally, NEVER vertically.

Remove your side panel (even if it's acrylic or tempered glass), this will show off internals and cable management, and won't show lighting glare

Provide good lighting to the inside of the case (even if it has RGB) as well as the outside. Studio lights will work or natural lighting works well too!

Have a background... Your computer needs to stand out, don't place it against a plain wall, use some scenery to let it shine.

DEPTH OF FIELD: portrait mode on your phone, photo editing, etc. Separate the computer from the background!

DESK PIECE: We recommend a plant, lamp, etc. Something to place next to your computer to finish the aesthetic masterpiece!

Establishing a good relationship with buyers is VERY important. They will dictate your sales, the more positive sales, then the more you'll be recommended and the more potential sales you'll get. Not only that but it also opens opportunities for future business with the buyer, if they're happy with your work, then there's potential for them to come back to you for business. It's important to be respectful and helpful to buyers as some people don't understand computers in detail as opposed to yourself or others, so be sure to be patient and understanding of others especially when they are paying you for your services! A good thing to note also is that in most cases and especially a business is the customer is ALWAYS right. Instead of disputing it or causing an argument, even if it's their fault, it's polite to help them or at least inform them of the problem and solution. . - Have a positive selling experience; Don't be mean or rude to your buyers, whether its over messages or in person. Make eye contact with them and make them feel comfortable buying from you.

On towards the last step in the flipping process, meeting your buyer to sell your flip. After your buyer has established interest in your computer listing, it's important to agree on a time and place to meet them. We recommend a well known place surrounded by others during the daytime for safety. A good practice it to exchange vehicle models or direct spots for meeting, so you're aware of each other's arrival. Once you have both arrived, be sure to introduce yourself or greet your buyer. Make eye contact with them and make them feel comfortable buying from you. From there, exchange the computer for the money (be weary of counterfeit money) and let the buyer know to contact you if they have problems or need assistance during setup and/or anything else related.

There is our step by step comprehensive flip guide for you. This is information we use in all our flips, and we have shared it with you so that you too can become a part of computer flipping! We hope it helped you and that you learned how to be a successful computer flipper. Be sure to join our Discord server here to become apart of our community and share your progress!!