How To Flip PCs; A Guide | Is It Worth It?

Summary

In this engaging video, the creator guides viewers through the process of building and flipping a computer for profit. Starting with a budget between $100 and $600, the script details selecting parts, using PC Part Picker for compatibility, and hunting for deals on platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Newegg. The creator emphasizes the importance of taking good pictures and writing a compelling description for the resale, aiming for a $50-$100 profit margin. With a focus on patience and strategic selling, the video inspires viewers to try their hand at this side gig, sharing personal success stories and tips for success.

Takeaways

• 💰 Start with a budget between $200 and $600 for a PC build to have a good range of parts to choose from.
• 🛠️ Begin with any amount of money, even as low as $7, as you can still create a valuable PC flip.
• 📋 Use websites like PCPartPicker to make a parts list and ensure compatibility of components.
• 💡 Don't rely on finding deals initially; make a list with expected prices before looking for discounts.
• 🎯 For this build, components included a Ryzen 5 5500, 16GB DDR4 RAM, a MicroATX B450 motherboard, a 600W power supply, storage drives, and a CPU cooler, all housed in an RGB case.
• 🔍 Deal hunting starts with Facebook Marketplace, looking for full PCs or individual parts like CPUs, GPUs, and motherboards.
• 🖼️ Customize parts like cable extensions and spray paint for the graphics card shroud to add uniqueness to the build.
• 🛒 Check average prices on eBay using a site like AverageSaleFinder to ensure you're getting a good deal.
• 🛍️ Consider Newegg for deals, especially during their 'shell shocker' sales, and Amazon Warehouse for returned but functional parts.
• 📸 Take high-quality photos with good lighting to showcase the PC's interior and components.
• 📝 Write a detailed description including benchmarks in popular games to attract potential buyers.
• 📈 List the PC for sale at a price 50-100 dollars higher than your desired selling price to allow room for negotiation.
• 🤝 Be prepared for various trade offers and lowball bids while selling the PC on platforms like Facebook Marketplace.

Q & A

What is the recommended starting budget for a PC build project?

The recommended starting budget for a PC build is between $300 and $600, which provides a good price range to select parts.

Can you start a PC build with a very low budget?

Yes, you can start with any amount of money, as the video creator started with a $7 PC from Goodwill and built a successful project from it.

What website is recommended for creating a parts list and ensuring compatibility?

PC Part Picker is recommended for creating a parts list and ensuring compatibility among the components.

What are some of the components included in the PC build described in the script?

The PC build includes a Ryzen 5 5500, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, a MicroATX B450 motherboard with Wi-Fi, a 600 W power supply, a 128 GB M.2 SSD, a 1 TB hard drive, and a Thermaltake SL00 CPU cooler, all housed in an S Q5 ARGB case.

What is the first step in finding deals for PC components?

The first step is to open Facebook Marketplace and look for full PCs or individual components like CPUs, GPUs, and motherboards.

Why is it important to check the average price of a component before purchasing?

Checking the average price helps to ensure that you are getting a good deal and not overpaying for a component, as demonstrated by the use of AverageFinder.

Why does the video creator recommend avoiding eBay for certain PC components?

The video creator had negative experiences with eBay, including receiving defective products and dealing with the hassle of refunds, which led to a preference for Newegg.

What are some alternative places to look for deals on PC components besides eBay?

Alternative places include Newegg, Amazon Warehouse, Amazon Outlet, and AliExpress, but it's important to buy from trusted sellers.

How much profit did the video creator make from flipping the PC described in the script?

The video creator made approximately $200 profit from the PC flip, although the exact number is not provided in the script.

What advice does the video creator give for taking good pictures of the built PC for sale?

The advice includes turning off the lights and using a light source in front of the PC to highlight it against a dark background, and removing the tempered glass side panel for better visibility of the interior components.

What is the recommended approach for listing the PC for sale?

List the PC for about $50 to $100 more than the desired selling price to allow room for negotiation, and be prepared for lowball offers and potential trade offers.

Outlines

00:00

💻 Building and Selling PCs for Profit

This paragraph outlines the process of building a computer for resale, starting with setting a budget between $200 and $600. The speaker recommends using PC Part Picker for compatibility checks and creating a parts list without initially considering deals. The speaker's personal build includes a Ryzen 5 5500, 16GB DDR4 RAM, a B450 motherboard with Wi-Fi, a 600W power supply, an M.2 SSD, a 1TB HDD, and a CPU cooler, all housed in an ARGB case with fans. The next step is deal hunting, starting with Facebook Marketplace for full PCs or individual components, followed by checking average prices on eBay to ensure a good deal. The speaker also mentions personal experiences with eBay and prefers Newegg for its 'shell shocker' sales, Amazon Warehouse for returned items, and Amazon Outlet for overstocked products. The paragraph concludes with advice on avoiding deals that seem too good to be true and using PC Part Picker to adjust the budget with custom prices.

05:01

📸 Selling Strategy and Personal Experience

The second paragraph focuses on the selling strategy for the built PC. It emphasizes the importance of taking good pictures with proper lighting to highlight the PC's interior components and suggests removing the tempered glass side panel for better visibility. The speaker advises creating a compelling description with benchmarks for popular games to appeal to the target audience. The listing price should be set 50 to 100 dollars higher than the desired selling price to allow room for negotiation. The speaker also mentions being prepared for lowball offers and unusual trade offers. The paragraph includes advice from a fellow YouTuber on patience when selling PCs and the speaker's personal experience of selling a PC on Facebook Marketplace, which resulted in a $200 profit. The speaker encourages trying the PC flipping side gig and sharing experiences or questions in the comments or via Instagram.

Keywords

💡PC Flip

PC flipping refers to the process of buying used or discounted computer parts, assembling them into a functional computer, and then reselling it for a profit. In the video, the creator discusses how they built a computer and made a profit of $200 by flipping it. The concept is central to the video's theme of making money through tech entrepreneurship.

💡Budget

In the context of the video, a budget refers to the amount of money allocated for purchasing the components needed to build a computer. The creator suggests starting with a budget between $200 and $600, which provides a good range for selecting parts. The budget is a crucial concept as it sets the financial parameters for the PC flipping project.

💡PC Part Picker

PC Part Picker is a website mentioned in the video that helps users select compatible computer components for their builds. It automatically sorts parts for compatibility, which simplifies the process of making a parts list. The tool is integral to planning the computer build and ensuring that all necessary components work well together.

💡Deal Hunting

Deal hunting is the act of searching for and acquiring computer components at a lower cost than their market value. The video emphasizes the importance of deal hunting as a means to increase profit margins in PC flipping. The creator shares various strategies, such as using Facebook Marketplace and checking average prices on eBay, to find good deals on parts.

💡RTX 2070 Super

The RTX 2070 Super is a specific model of graphics card mentioned in the video. The creator managed to acquire one as part of their PC build, and it represents a significant component in terms of performance and value. The graphics card is an example of a high-value item that, when found at a good price, can contribute to the overall profit of a flipped PC.

💡Average Sale Price

The average sale price is a metric that the video's creator uses to determine whether a deal on a computer component is good. By checking the average price of an item sold on eBay over the past few months, the creator can decide if their purchase price is lower and thus potentially profitable. This concept is used to validate the savings made during deal hunting.

💡Newegg

Newegg is an online retailer that specializes in computer hardware and consumer electronics. In the video, the creator mentions Newegg as a source for finding deals on computer components. The website's 'shell shocker' sales are highlighted as an opportunity to find components at discounted prices, which is essential for maximizing profit in PC flipping.

💡Amazon Warehouse

The Amazon Warehouse is a section of Amazon's website where returned items that are still functional are sold at a discount. The video's creator suggests checking the Amazon Warehouse as part of the deal hunting process. It represents an alternative source for acquiring components at lower prices, contributing to the overall cost-effectiveness of the PC build.

💡AliExpress

AliExpress is an online retail service that is mentioned in the video as a potential source for finding deals on CPUs or GPUs. However, the creator cautions that purchases should be made from trusted sellers due to the risk associated with buying from unknown sources. AliExpress represents a broader range of options for deal hunting in the PC flipping process.

💡Benchmarks

Benchmarks in the video refer to the performance metrics of the computer, particularly its ability to run specific games. The creator advises including benchmarks in the description when selling the computer, as it provides potential buyers with an idea of the system's capabilities. Benchmarks are an important aspect of marketing the flipped PC, as they help establish its value and appeal to the target audience.

💡Profit Margin

Profit margin is the difference between the cost of acquiring and assembling the computer components and the selling price of the finished product. The video's creator aims to increase the profit margin by finding deals and selling the computer at a higher price. The concept of profit margin is central to the financial success of the PC flipping endeavor.

Highlights

Building a computer can be a profitable venture, as the speaker made $200 off their build.

A starting budget for a PC build is recommended to be between $200 and $600.

PC parts can be sourced from anywhere, even a $7 Goodwill purchase can be the starting point.

PCPartPicker is a useful tool for creating a parts list and ensuring compatibility.

Components for the build include a Ryzen 5 5500, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and other specified parts.

Deal hunting is a crucial step, starting with Facebook Marketplace for full PCs or individual parts.

RTX 2070 Super by Asus was acquired as part of the build, showcasing the importance of finding good deals.

AverageFinder.com is a website to check the average price of PC components sold on eBay.

Newegg is preferred over eBay for parts due to reliability and hassle-free experience.

Amazon Warehouse and Outlet are alternative places to find deals on returned or overstocked items.

AliExpress can be an option for CPUs or GPUs, but buyer beware of untrustworthy sellers.

After finding deals, update the PCPartPicker list with custom prices to track spending.

Building the PC is a straightforward process once all parts are acquired.

Taking good pictures and writing a compelling description are key to selling the PC.

Listing the PC for sale involves setting a price that allows room for negotiation.

Being patient and prepared for various offers, including trades, is part of the selling process.

The speaker emphasizes the enjoyment and profitability of building and flipping PCs as a side gig.

Starting with a small investment can lead to significant returns, as the speaker's journey illustrates.

Transcripts

hey wait give me a second your time do

you want to see how I built this cool

computer and made 200 bucks off it of

course you do watch to the end and I'll

show you exactly how to do that for

yourself trust me you're going to enjoy

it and as a little treat for you dear

viewers I'm going to take you along for

the ride of my most recent flip and

we're going to show you exactly what I

did step by step so the very first step

is to figure out your budget for the

system as far as a starting budget goes

I would recommend somewhere between $

and $600 cuz that gives you a pretty

good price range to play around with

when it comes to selecting Your Parts

you can start from literally anything I

mean look I bought my first PC flip at

Goodwill for $7 so really you can start

from any amount of money and make

something cool happen because that's

where I started and this is where I am

now for this bad boy I started with

about 600 bucks but as I said a second

ago you can start from virtually nothing

so you'll be cool starting with whatever

you have in your wallet right now step

two is to make a parch list so use a

website like PC part picker which fun

fact automatically sorts for

compatibility so you don't need to worry

about that so you're going to want to

make sure that you include all of the

parts that you are going to need for

your build and the price that you think

you're going to pay for them at this

point don't count on finding any deals

just make a parts list with what you're

expecting to pay without deals I promise

we'll get to the deals in a second for

this PC I decided to buy a ryzen

55500 16 gigs of ddr4 RAM a microatx

b450 motherboard with Wi-Fi a 600 W

power supply 128 gig m.2 SSD I know

that's a sin sorry A 1 tbte hard drive

and a thermalite sl00 CPU Cooler in

white all of that was put inside the S

Q5 argb case which came with these three

argb fans which really tie the Build

Together on top of that we threw in some

white cable extensions and some white

spray paint for the graphics card shroud

great now that you've got a parts list

it's time for step number three it's

hunting

season that is deal hunting season don't

worry Bambi's safe for now now this part

has a couple of substeps but don't worry

baby you're safe with me I'm going to

show you how to do each individual

one so what you're going to do first is

you're going to open Good Old Reliable

Facebook Marketplace the first thing

that I usually do to scope out good

deals is I look for full PCS now if

you're like me in an area with not too

many good deals then that's okay we'll

move on to looking for the next Parts

we're talking CPUs gpus motherboards you

know the stuff that's hard to kill

usually you can score a pretty decent

deal on some of those for this PC I

ended up grabbing an RTX 2070 super by

Asus I also grabbed some white spray

paint as I said and painted the card

white if you can't find a good deal on

any of those then look for the cheaper

things that are a little bit harder to

kill stuff like Ram PC cases and CPU

coolers those also happen to be

relatively cheap so if you can't find

one for a good deal don't worry there's

probably a decent deal out there on

somewhere like new egg after that feel

free to look around for storage and

power supplies although usually I

personally buy those new just because I

don't know how much I trust the last

owner and how well they took care of it

now before you actually buy anything

thing I want you to go to the website's

average salinder I'll put the link down

in the description and on screen here

just so you can see it now what this

website does is it shows you the average

price of what you're looking to buy as

sold on eBay in the past couple of

months I ended up getting this

particular 2070 super for about 190

bucks and according to average finder

these usually go for about $197 but

that's without tax wor shipping the

average shipping cost for these is about

4 bucks and tax where I live at least is

7% so according to that I would have

paid about $215 on eBay which means that

I saved 25 bucks on this graph card now

at this point most PC flippers would say

it's time to move on to something like

eBay personally I disagree here's why

I've ordered four PC parts off eBay and

power supply in three graphics cards out

of the three graphics cards two of them

were 5700 XTS and one of them is just a

5700 the 5700 is still on its way so I

can't quite tell you how that went but

one of the 5700 x2s was dead alongside

the power supply and then the other 5700

XT came without an IO shield now granted

I did manage to get a full refund on all

of my defective products but it was

still a bit of a hassle and I still was

at a loss for cash for a couple of weeks

just because it took a little while for

eBay to process the refund personally I

usually just skip over eBay and go

straight to new EG you don't have to do

that but that's just what I like to do

see new usually has some pretty decent

deals they have these shell shocker

sales which refresh every 24 hours the

beauty of that is that there's always

new sales the downside is that they're

gone pretty quick but if you find a good

component for a good price that can be a

great way to score decent deals usually

there's a pretty good deal on some Ram

or an SSD or a power supply alongside a

decent deal on a graphics card or a

motherboard or two there won't always be

amazing deals that you personally can

take advantage of but a couple times it

saved me 50 or 60 bucks on a build and

helped increase my profit margin which

is our main goal when flipping a PC

after New Egg check out the Amazon

warehouse and the Amazon Outlet the

Amazon warehouse sells stuff that's been

returned but is still functional and it

gives you a pretty decent discount on

those parts Amazon Outlet on the other

hand sells overstocked products and you

can also sometimes find some pretty good

deals I've personally found that Amazon

warehouse is just a little bit more

useful than Amazon outlet but it's worth

checking both because you don't know

what you're going to find also feel free

to check out places like AliExpress for

CPUs or gpus but just make sure that

you're buying from a trusted seller in

general when looking for deals though if

it looks too good to be true it probably

is especially keep this in mind on

AliExpress and eBay just because both of

them can be a little bit dangerous after

looking those places if you found any

deals go back to PC part picker and

input your custom price just so that you

can get a better idea of how much you're

spending your total will come out down

here and you can see how much you've

spent already and then how much you're

going to spend which I think is pretty

cool another cool features that you can

add custom parts like cable extensions

or spray paint now it's time for step

four to actually build the

PC well building that was easy now that

we got a PC time to make it make us some

money hold on bucko before we get that

sale I need you to like this video And

subscribe to the channel if you're

getting value out of this video if not

then what are you doing here go find

something useful to do with your time so

first off you got to take some good

pictures I found that it really helps if

you turn the lights off and put a light

source in front of it make sure that

light is focused on the PC and then

everything else around it is dark if you

have a tempered glass side panel pull

that off so that you can better see the

interior components make sure to get as

many good pictures as you can and

experiment once you have some good

pictures and are ready to get it sold

grab your laptop or phone and write up a

good description includes some

benchmarks especially in games like Apex

Legends CS go or fortnite even if these

aren't the games that you personally

usually play these are the games that

most people are going to be playing you

got to keep in mind your target audience

you're shooting for cheap goodlooking

and decent performing and when you're

doing your benchmarks Benchmark games

that they will personally play anyways

once you've got a good set of pictures

in a snazzy description it's time to get

this thing listed list it for about 50

to 100 bucks more than you're hoping to

sell it for just to leave some room for

negotiation in there because you will

get lowball offers on top of that be

prepared for some weird trade offers

because personally I've gotten a ton of

those off Facebook Marketplace heck I've

even been offered a shotgun anyways

while we're waiting for your PC to sell

let's take a look at some advice that I

and one of my friends and fellow

YouTubers budgeters would give by the

way once you're done watching feel free

to go check out his video it's way

better than mine the first thing he had

to say is that you have to remember to

keep in mind that it can take more than

3 or 4 days to sell your PC you got to

be patient because not everybody's

always ready to drop between 800 and a

grand on a PC the other thing he had to

say which I personally disagree with but

take it as you will is to focus on

building and selling one PC at a time

personally I like having a couple just

so I can move inventory but he found it

rough trying to move three PCS at once

just because he had so much extra stuff

sitting around personally I disagree I

like having a bunch of stuff here so

that I can sell it quicker and move more

volume in product anyway hey check

Facebook Messenger cuz I think your PC

sold I had my PC listed on Facebook

Marketplace for a solid week or so and I

had a few people interested somebody

offered to trade me their old PC and 600

bucks cash for this one which I took I

promptly sold that PC and I don't have

any footage of it so I'm sorry but it

had an 8 core AMD FX processor and a

1050ti wasn't worth much but it was

worth about the 200 bucks that I wanted

to make on this PC and I sold it and

made that money back so I ended up

walking away with about $200 profit

here's the actual number in case you

wanted to know I'm sorry I don't know

what off the top of my head but future

Ryan can calculate it for you so don't

worry he's got you covered so anyway

personally I love this side gig I think

it's a ton of fun to build in flip PCS

you don't have to agree with me but I

think you should at least try it out

because while it does take some money to

start up it's virtually impossible to

lose that money so long as you're not

going for a super high-end build and

need to sell it quickly personally I

started with seven bucks and now I have

this cool motorcycle and my own little

PC business that I'm running so I think

it's a ton of fun and I think that you

should give it a shot because I think

you will enjoy doing it for now if you

have any questions either leave them in

the comments or send me a DM on my

Instagram which I will also have linked

down in the description anyways that's

just my opinion what do you guys think

have you flipped PCS before let me know

down in the comments as well and thank

thank you guys so much for watching I'll

catch you next time Ryan out