Hello,
I have been making websites for others since 3 years and now I am also working as a digital marketer.
I have been thinking of a E-commerce store to where people can buy Refurbished laptops and sell us their old laptops.
Acquiring Laptop:
1) From Original Manufacturer
2) From Local dealers
3) End Users
Selling:
Starting from NCR.
We refurbish and resale with warranty.
Give COD or online payment gateway.
After sales:
Making Contract with local vendors who provide onsite hardware support.
The part that we cannot sale:
Return to vendor at some loss.
Why I think this might work:
1) Price matters: cheap laptops, with onsite warranty.
2) Lot of institutes start and shutdown, small schools, offices- all need laptops
What I fear:
1) Rapidly changing technology: old laptops are not supported by new softwares, motherboards, rams, optical drives, processors and vice versa.
2) Buying laptop from end users even after getting it checked by a tech is risky.
3) No idea about how much stock I should maintain. Laptops are expensive and if they do not sell and if vendors do not take it back then I might end up playing Frisbee with them.
I would really appreciate inputs by TRH members. Thanks in advance.
Abhishek
Hi Ashish,
Sounds interesting but I am not able to get a clarity on the following:
1. Do you intend to be a service provider-i.e repair/refurbish laptops and in turn also sell refurbished laptops?
2. Are you focusing mainly on the resale market?
3. With refurbished laptops would you also take care of the software up gradations etc?
Also as you rightly mentioned, you need to also take into account the increasing usage of tablets and smartphones which is eating into the laptop market.
Regards,
Abhishek
Aashish Bhargava
Hi Abhishek,
thanks for replying.
I ll answer your questions in order you have asked:
1) If a user comes to my site and says that he wants to sell his laptop, and if that laptop matches certain criteria then I will arrange a tech visit to his home who will check the laptop and buy it then and there. I am seeking for third party vendors to outsource this process.
2) I am focusing on selling anything that is refurbished. Preferable those items that are refurbished by the manufacturer.
3) I am adding this point to the task list. Its a good idea to give users software support. (paid, not unpaid)
More ideas and criticism welcome.
Harshit
There is a website & store which you find in malls http://www.webuy.com
They sell refurbished electronic items nd gamecds provide warranty too
Just check it may be you could get some idea
Abhishek
Hi Ashish,
Great, well their is a gap/need which you are addressing and it can definitely work if you provide a good service.
In my own personal experience, being from Delhi, these kind of requirements would mean a visit to Nehru place and frankly it’s a hassle.
But then you would also need to compete with sites like olx and quikr at least for the resale part.
Regards,
Abhishek
Aashish Bhargava
Hi,
Thanks for the reply – quikr / olx wouldn’t sell anything with warranty. So this makes us different.
Aashish Bhargava
Thanks a ton! I will certainly take a look at it.
jawwad mobin sajid
good idea
no need to own laptop just become lead generator for owner
it will help
Nakul Kumar
check out http://www.reglobe.in
Nikunj Bubna
Good idea… There is certainly a demand for it….However, execution is going to be next to impossible or extremely risky and you can test it out. Just call up 8-10 support engineers/ service providers and ask them “Boss, I need your help as I am a 2nd hand laptop buyer and I need you to thoroughly check this laptop and certify it before I buy. I will pay you Rs. 500 for this task & if anything goes wrong in the next 3 months, you will take responsibility and get it repaired/ replaced at your cost.”
See even if 1 support service provider agrees to this! My sense is no sensible person would and you would end up hearing that Sorry Sir, we can’t take any responsibility for sudden issues with motherboard/ display/ keyboard, etc. So, your warranty support is like an insurance business which is suicidal if not understood & covered well. If you can manage that risk (& that might take deep pockets), good luck!
Please understand that there is a really solid reason behind entrepreneurial & aggressive companies like Quikr/ Olx just restricting themselves to pure vanilla lead-generation & not even attempting the immediate forward integration of broking/ match-making. Your model is 2 steps further as you take the inventory on your books & then you also take the warranty risk on your head. Even if you execute well & make this impossible model possible (which I doubt), do you really think its going to be tough for Quikr/ Olx to replicate your model & beat you with their scale?