I'm currently in the middle of developing a business that sells extremely good value PCs, with goodies that other companies don't offer. But buying windows OEM licenses absolutely kills the value. Where can I get them cheap (obviously legally).
Where to Buy Cheap Windows OEM Keys?
deanylev on 26/10/2014 - 19:00
Comments
They're good for PC parts, but software is just as expensive as everywhere else.
Curious, what "goodies" would you provide with them?
I'm still working it out, but I'm thinking stuff like, with every PC, a video of that PC being built is included. And every single PC will come with something random, ranging from a 4GB USB to a 1080p monitor. Nothings final.
I admire your vision. However I cant see any of those interesting someone into paying a premium. people that buy PCs now are going to be rather savvy and a lottery on what bonus you get wouldnt interest many if any. Most people are buying laptops unless your using it for businss or gaming. Unless you have the cash to buy in mass bulk to lower the costs this will not work. Need to get an ABN and talk to suppliers to get a deal, MSY isnt going to make you a profit… sorry.
I like the idea, but why not do it as a surprise? Don't even tell them it might be in there, just box it up and send it to them with a letter afterwards. Gets more people talking about your business when they get a nice unexpected gift, rather than seeing "hey I might get a monitor…..oh, no it's just a usb stick".
I question the value of seeing a person's machine being built. If you are catering for general offices, I'm not sure who, or how many people will be keen once they've seen one video.
I say this respectfully, and don't mean to rain on your parade.
I would prefer that the person building the PC offer an option to do all the burn-in checks / stress testing and then install some commonly used software (e.g Adobe reader, Flash, Motherboard and GPU drivers et cetera) and Windows updates.
Overclocking is also an addon that some PC shops offer, though not many people do so anymore as you can't overclock the majority of Intel CPU's….
This however is time consuming and isn't always a productive method of adding value to your product, but some people might appreciate that a computer arrives with all the hardware drivers installed and Windows patched up as well.
@scrimshaw: ninite.com is good for installing java flash and reader. Just a reminder that to install flash you actually select shockwave.
if your company sells large quantities of cto or premade systems, then why don't you try contacting ms directly? why buy oem from a third-party?
The problem is that this is more of a side business, I'm not sure if it will take off. I don't have the funds to buy a whole lot of keys if my PCs don't sell. I'm having to buy parts from MSY.
The homebrew PC business is a risky and mature market. You need to take into consideration that the average folk will usually buy a mobile device (tablet, smartphone, and laptops), and second, the 'savvy' market would generally prefer to source their builds directly from the well-known technology retail giants like MSY and UMART. Businesses would source CTO's directly from manufacturers (Dell, Lenovo).
Which only leaves you the dregs of the computer buyer market— mostly the uninformed who would buy computers from ebay merchants without even checking to see if they have been in business long enough and will survive long enough to even provide warranty support.
You may be better off providing repair services — e.g game console, phone / tablet or laptop repairs. Pretty much everyone has a smartphone, or a tablet, or a laptop, but not everyone needs or wants a desktop. You will have a much larger customer base overall.
You could source parts like glass displays, batteries, etc from online suppliers like AlieExpress which would be far cheaper than buying from an Australia middleman, which is something you cannot avoid when building a desktop for yourself or a client.
I'm having to buy parts from MSY
Why don't you just work out a deal with MSY and refer them customers for a fee…?
See if it is possible to do a bulk deal with Discount Mountain Software http://www.discountmountainsoftware.com/ They only take US credit cards, you could purchase through a 3rd party such as myus.com who can purchase using their US credit card, and then forward the packages to you,
or you simply download the legal serial numbers. I once threw a tantrum in an email to Newegg, and they now accept Australian credit cards. The problem with US online stores which only accept US credit cards or only ship to US addresses will eventually come to an end. The Australian "tax" means that US software prices are cheaper than buying legal serial numbers here.Thank you, I'll try, but read what I said whooah1979. I don't have the funds to buy a whole lot of keys if the PCs don't sell.
IMO there is not a lot of hassle and not a lot of money to be made in doing small runs on PC builds.
End users do too many stupid things, you will more than likely end up having to deal with tech support issues unrelated to the system build.
Then you can have the odd bad piece of bad equipment which is a pain.
Recently i had a PC where the processor was faulty, i thought it was the processor but ive never had a faulty one before. The RAM was also suspect.I ended up swapping out pretty much everything before finally swapping the processor.
You may could try going direct and getting an account with a distributor. I think a while ago Ingram Micro used to the be pretty big. But i doubt you will get it much cheaper IF at all.
Ingram Micro (as with others) have minimum buy limits per month/year for trade accounts. If OP can't even afford to buy a bunch of windows keys at once he's definitely not going to meet their requirements.
<Shafty> You can't expect Linux to hold your dick for you while you pee like Windows does…
<Snapcase> I don't want it to hold my dick, but it would be nice if the toilet wasn't an unmarked cinderblock.
Like scrimshaw said, the desktop pc market is on the decline. I certainly wouldnt be venturing into that area now unless you are prepared to make Very low margins. Given you have to factor in the time to procure the items and then build the machines you aren't going to make much money I'm afraid. Any money to be made is in services, such as the setup for the customer. And to be perfectly honest i don't think anyone would consider a video of the machine being made a sweetener. The added peripheral, Yes, but again it's at your cost and will lower your already minimal margins.
Not sure what price you are looking to pay. I have a couple of Win 8 Pro retail licence keys with disks which I bought in June 2014 (I have receipt). Although these are win 8 they will activate win 8.1. I bought them for a Medion laptop that I have but it won't run Win 8, 8.1 or 8.1 with update. As it boots up the video blacks out and stays that way until I reboot.
If any interest please send me a message. I have full copies of Win 8.1 with update. I was a Microsoft TechNet member until May 2014. If we do a deal you can have copies of the code with checksums to validate.
You don't have private messaging enabled else I would send you a message.
Selling Technet keys would be against the terms of usage and also put the guys business at risk for piracy.
The biggest pain with supplying home built comps is the people that buy them, don't know how to use them and blame your hardware for everything they stuff up.
As the supplier you do realise that you have to provide the warranty service?There is a need for domestic software services like virus removal and os reinstalls. That gets to be a pain after a while too.
I second this, I build PCs for family and friends. Building is easy, but 99% of issues that arise with computers is software related. No matter how you skin it, they will always assume its a hardware issue and it couldnt possibly be the users fault. This will suck your time badly, and they will not be happy when you try charge them to fix it because they will cry warranty.
Apple just announced last week that they will be making their next\current version of OSX free; Also, it is highly probable that Windows 10 will be free when it is released (so far it runs on old\low spec PCs very well, faster than XP\7 in my experience), so Win10 is worth looking out for.
Very cool if this turns out to be true
If it is free it will only be free for upgrades.
Keep in mind OSX is a little different you can only ever purchase the upgrade. As OSX comes preinstalled on every Mac. And it isn't legal to install it on other Hardware.
I'm not sure laws cover installing Mac software on third party devices, but they're TOS does.
As others have mentioned, building and selling computers shouldn't be relegated to a 'side business' for you.
There are going to be many instances where the buyer of one of your computers will have a hardware fault or will blame a fault on the hardware.
How are you going to handle these cases?
If you are buying the parts from another retailer like MSY how are you going to get your parts repaired?
Are you going to pay for a replacement part out of your pocket when you can't get the part replaced or have to send the part away for months to be repaired?I wouldn't be thinking (not saying that you are) that computers are easy to building and I can make money off setting these up and selling them to people. I would be thinking about a whole business plan with all the scenarios like the ones mentioned above.
Not worth going through a distributor? They generally cost about $100 ex for Windows 8.1 OEM.
If you have an ABN that is of course.
http://www.reddit.com/r/softwareswap
Would be your best bet, can get keys for all os's + alot of other software for around $20 a licence.
Pretty much everyone does paypal so your safe too.
msdn?
Cannot trade or sell Microsoft keys there any more, Microsoft cracked down on that sub. Automatic moderator will delete any new ones that pop up and some users have been banned trying to get around it.
http://www.reddit.com/r/softwareswap/comments/2elib3/psa_its…
They brought that in literally the day I needed to get a MS office key.
Keep in mind OEM licenses are non transferrable so steer clear of places selling second hand stickers peeled off machines like the one above
See transfer of license section http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en-gb/licensing/sblicensing/pag…
With MSY and a few big players now. Its hard to get into this industry.
I know of a few good local computer stores which closed down because of competition.You are 10-15yrs too late to get into the Computer Industry, it is so mature now that you must sell heaps to make profits.
Computer places which are still working under the profit schemes of "Sell Less but make markups higher so profit more" are dying quickly.Many places such as MSY has opened which use a different scheme of "Sell more but make less profit", which means they can get a lot better prices with the suppliers to lower costs and do supplier rebates.
Want to start a business but can't afford to start it…
Bad idea. Just don't do it.
Your goodies will mean nothing to the customer. If you have any.
So you're just harvesting license keys from ex-lease / decomissioned equipment?
Thanks for the feedback everyone. A little sad, I've been working on this for ages, just to hear it's not worth it. I can't say I disagree, you all make very good points. Well I've got a fully functioning website with an ecommerce store, any other alternative business ideas, or is this a waste of time?
Setup a service referral site like airtasker but for bookies. Heaps of demand according to OzBargain
As difficult as it is, you have to think with your head with a business - you cannot do what you clearly have, which is assume you could muscle in on an established industry, especially buying off the shelf from retailers who are not making massive profits, themselves on single units - all based on a very weak differentiator.
Just off the top of my head, here are a few things that you could have done to make your business viable.
- Have the computers spraypainted to look interesting (ie, appeal to a crowd, probably children).
- Built silent pcs
- Shipped them with 30inch korean monitors, which would make them more like macs to the uninitiated.
Something like that, I'm just spitballing.
As I suggest to anyone wanting to "follow their dreams" in a particular industry, go and work in it first. Want to own a cafe? Go work as a waitress for 6 months. Want to own a PC store? Work at JB. Etc etc.
You'll quickly find the dream requires:
1. A LOT more effort or time that you thought
2. isn't as fun or as exciting as you thought
3. that there is no profit or reward to be made.How many "ebay mums" do you know who stay at home and sell "crafty stuff" or kids clothes on ebay and give up a month later?
Even a side business, if you want to succeed you need a proper business plan, time and finances. Unfortunately the reality is you don't appear to have either of those three.
cater for the regional customers. That is a very lucrative business. If you want to go to the countryside, some businesses need parts then and there. You can charge others for basic services like software installs, reformats and building
just run Zorin ( linux) look like windows they would never know
Until they try to load any existing programs/games, that is.
Then install WINE on top of Linux and they CAN run lots of windows programs.
My wife and kids use Linux with Libreoffice and other free/opensource software perfectly well.
Scan, print, email, browsing, read and write MS docs, video editing, games, tons of stuff now on Linux.
Have you looked into building a Steam box? Maybe you could scan for bargain components and build small batches of steam boxes.
I don't know why everyone is so discouraging. The likely worst case scenario is he loses a thousand dollars or so and learns a lot about himself, people, and business.
OP - don't give up, consider doing a "start your own business" course at TAFE.
Don't forget lots of people would have said the same discourahing things to woz and jobs.
Woz and jobs targeted their computers at the graphics & printing industry, partnering with Adobe software. This is why it took off. The first computerised industry sector. If you wanted to do this work, you HAD to buy Apple. PCs had zero support for this work and it was hard to go between the two.
Yup. For some reason Jobs had taken typography at College, and the Mac + LaserWriter actually did typography properly.
What about building MAME boxes for people?
Just an idea, probably been done before, but there would be heaps of Dads etc who would LOVE a retro gaming box but would have no clue how to build one or even that they exist.Unfortunately dads don't control the finances of the house usually, haha
I would personally be getting OEM copies of Windows from Umart.
The use of fruit names for your business has proven to be a winner
AppleBlackBerryPi Computers.
It's a mixture of Apple, Blackberry and Raspberry all mixed into one great smoothie :)
Sounds like it would be a delicious French style tart.
My friend. Customers are bar@(;@$s in this field. Dont do it. You will lose sleep. And be adding to the 'tech supports worst nightmare' thread on whirlpool.
If you want to install an OS just get them windows10 os download which is free at the moment.
Got a link or more info please?
as someone who used to work in IT sales and repairs, i agree with the consensus on here - prebuilt computer customers are the worst customers you can come across. they have no idea about anything (which is why they come to you in the first place) and then require repairs for every niggling bloody problem.
i only build PCs for family now, and even that strains familial relationships sometimes. the next computer i get for my parents will be a dell laptop with 3 years ProSupport :)
Honestly I don't think your idea seems unique at all. A random lottery for gifts will just frustrate customers.
You would be better targeting towards specific markets. For example
Unraid or other type of severs
Media pcs
Steam boxes
Water cooled builtsEven then the time spend vs what people expect to pay is a joke. People expected to pay me $100 for a NAS with plugins like sabnzbd and couchpotato configured
I use to spend so much time installing all the extra software I thought people may need. Eg 7zip,foxit reader, security software. It goes unnoticed and unappreciated
Now I just do basic install with updates and take a disc image. This saves me dealing with those people mentioned that blame their software issues on the hardware I put together
Synnex wouldnt piss on you if you were burning…
Care to elaborate tony? I don't work for them, but have been obtaining products from them for more than a decade. I actually find them excellent to deal with and always prefer to use them as much as I can.
Just want to hear an unhappy side of the story. Maybe I'm missing something?
msy.com.au