Business Related Question

[shanenin]

I have myself a small but growing computer shop. I got a call today about a person looking for a lenovo desktop. I am assumbing that lenovos come with a one year warranty. If I buy the lenovo from newegg, then resell it from my business, how does the end users warranty work? For example, will it be one year from the day that is on the receipt I give them? Do I need to be an authorized lenovo reseller for that to work? What aboout reselling LCD monitors, do I need to be an authoirezed reseller?

[sethook]

I would think that you need to be an authorized dealer. I don't think that any company is going to just let any joe blow represent them. I would bet that any product you resell would get warranty coverage via your business as you were the original buyer and would need to register it under your name. Again, you cannot make legal (warrenties) contracts for another company. If you are a resellr for the company, that company usually assumes responsibilities for their product.

[shanenin]

I appreciate your input, that is kind of what I was thinking. I hate turning business away(I can't barely pay the bills now), but I don't feel comfortable not being able to give my customers a full warranty that allows them to deal directly with the manufactuer.

Edited August 19, 2006 by shanenin

[hitest]

Maybe you could email Lenovo and they could let you know how the warranty issue would work for you and your customers.

[xxkbxx]

You CANNOT just resell them and transfer the warranty to them. My boss told me he would do that because Newegg sometimes has the best prices, but he wouldn't be able to keep up with warranties.

[Pierce]

ask lenovo if you can be a reseller. They are unlikly to say no, though they might have rules, like you must buy x computers a year.

Pierce

[blim]

What you could do is to find a nice laptop on Newegg and have the customer come to your shop and show the webpage to him. If he likes it, you could help him order it. You likely won't make any money off it (I'd personally give you a tip/finders fee if I were the customer!) BUT that customer will remember the extra effort you made for him and not only use your services in the future but also recommend you to others!

Liz

[shanenin]

What you could do is to find a nice laptop on Newegg and have the customer come to your shop and show the webpage to him. If he likes it, you could help him order it. You likely won't make any money off it (I'd personally give you a tip/finders fee if I were the customer!) BUT that customer will remember the extra effort you made for him and not only use your services in the future but also recommend you to others!

Liz

I agree completely with building a customer base by being inexpensive and giving a way some service for free. That has been what I have been doing: free data backup with reinstall(this can take an hour sometimes), free pickup and delivery(sometimes), reccomending free antivirus, instead of selling them some. When I deliver a computer, I will offer to reinstall their printer drivers, and free phone advice, many other things I should be charging for. All of these things could and maybe should be turned into real sales.

I ponder this question all of the time. Charge more(going rate) for services I provide and make money now or charge less hoping to build a larger customer base(make money in the future). I think I need to be more agressive and turn more of my phone calls into actual sales, if not I am not going to make ends meet.

[hitest]

What you could do is to find a nice laptop on Newegg and have the customer come to your shop and show the webpage to him. If he likes it, you could help him order it. You likely won't make any money off it (I'd personally give you a tip/finders fee if I were the customer!) BUT that customer will remember the extra effort you made for him and not only use your services in the future but also recommend you to others!

Liz

I agree completely with building a customer base by being inexpensive and giving a way some service for free. That has been what I have been doing: free data backup with reinstall(this can take an hour sometimes), free pickup and delivery(sometimes), reccomending free antivirus, instead of selling them some. When I deliver a computer, I will offer to reinstall their printer drivers, and free phone advice, many other things I should be charging for. All of these things could and maybe should be turned into real sales.

I ponder this question all of the time. Charge more(going rate) for services I provide and make money now or charge less hoping to build a larger customer base(make money in the future). I think I need to be more agressive and turn more of my phone calls into actual sales, if not I am not going to make ends meet.

I think you're being very smart, shanenin. People talk and they will spread the word about your generous business practices. The way you do business reminds me of a local store here in town, they're a small operation, but, they're growing. If you treat people well they will come back and recommend you. I wish you all the best, man:-)

[shanenin]

thanks everyone for the insight :-)

to some things up, I need to find the happy medium, which in my case means being a little more agressive in turing my service into higher sales.

[mikex]

Usually a "stop by with a beer" will pay off bigger later. If you client knows you are there for him he will pay a "finders" fee of sorts. If you keep a rough track of how much you give out free to who, you can justify charging them a lil extra. I find that the free phone support, pays off in the end.

Good Luck, you have the best tech support here. Just don't tell your clients, then they will join and your business will drop. lol

What you could do is to find a nice laptop on Newegg and have the customer come to your shop and show the webpage to him. If he likes it, you could help him order it. You likely won't make any money off it (I'd personally give you a tip/finders fee if I were the customer!) BUT that customer will remember the extra effort you made for him and not only use your services in the future but also recommend you to others!

Liz

I agree completely with building a customer base by being inexpensive and giving a way some service for free. That has been what I have been doing: free data backup with reinstall(this can take an hour sometimes), free pickup and delivery(sometimes), reccomending free antivirus, instead of selling them some. When I deliver a computer, I will offer to reinstall their printer drivers, and free phone advice, many other things I should be charging for. All of these things could and maybe should be turned into real sales.

I ponder this question all of the time. Charge more(going rate) for services I provide and make money now or charge less hoping to build a larger customer base(make money in the future). I think I need to be more agressive and turn more of my phone calls into actual sales, if not I am not going to make ends meet.

[Chappy]

Honesty, fair price for fair value, teaching while selling, and going that extra mile will pay off big time in the long run.

Taking time to make sure your customers actually "understand" things really helps, and they won't mind paying for any service you provide. Go that extra little bit when doing stuff for them, and customers never complain. You're giving added value for free and still paying the bills while building up an appreciative customer base.

Doing those little things that every one of us appreciates when dealing with any business, and your customers leave satisfied and ready to tell anyone they know who's having computer trouble.."Hey, I know this guy...".

[irregularjoe]

What you could do is to find a nice laptop on Newegg and have the customer come to your shop and show the webpage to him. If he likes it, you could help him order it. You likely won't make any money off it (I'd personally give you a tip/finders fee if I were the customer!) BUT that customer will remember the extra effort you made for him and not only use your services in the future but also recommend you to others!

Liz

I agree completely with building a customer base by being inexpensive and giving a way some service for free. That has been what I have been doing: free data backup with reinstall(this can take an hour sometimes), free pickup and delivery(sometimes), reccomending free antivirus, instead of selling them some. When I deliver a computer, I will offer to reinstall their printer drivers, and free phone advice, many other things I should be charging for. All of these things could and maybe should be turned into real sales.

I ponder this question all of the time. Charge more(going rate) for services I provide and make money now or charge less hoping to build a larger customer base(make money in the future). I think I need to be more agressive and turn more of my phone calls into actual sales, if not I am not going to make ends meet.

Some food for thought:

You have to balance being altruistic with actually making a living.

I've been there.

I did residential contracting for 30+ years. A lot of customers will take advantage of you if you come "too cheap" and will expect you to run over to their house at every little problem. And if you don't, they'll dump you.

Sure, I still "throw in" a few free services once in a while. But don't sell yourself short.

Joe