• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Legacy computer parts hoarders.....

D

Druid6900

Veteran Member
Joined
May 7, 2006
Messages
3,809
Location
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Hi Folks,

I'm going to try something here that may or may not be of interest to some of you.

After building up the reputation of Legacy Computers and Parts, for the last 5 years and getting a pretty thriving operation going, I'm looking for people that would be interested in being franchisees.

It's not going to cost a bundle to get in, nor is the percentage rate outrageous, and what you'll get is an Ecommerce store that looks and works like mine, the benefit of the reputation I've built up among the Fortune 500 companies, SMB and individuals for quality, tested products, quality repairs (not everyone while be qualified to do repairs, of course) and friendly, helpful advice.

Basically, you'll get a turn-key operation, all set up and ready for you to populate with your items, but customized the way you want it. The customer comes, sees, buys, you're notified of payment, you pre-ship retest and ship.

I'll take care of any coding, shipping and payment setups (since I've been running and modifying this software for the last 5 years), promotion, get you on Google Base, iFind, ShopWiki and several other product based search outfits, RSS feeds etc.

I'm looking for locations in the following areas (to start);

North- and south-west US
North- and south-central US
North- and south-east US
Eastern Canada
Central West Canada
Western Canada

Now, this is LEGACY computer equipment (roughly 386 to P3) AND some Vintage stuff in a, again roughly, 80/20 split. It would help to have a LOT of product as you don't want to run out.

There are certain product listing and procedural operations that you will have to adhere to, in order to maintain our reputation for quality, but, you are free to set up your categories any way you like. The site will come with our standard setup, but you can add, delete and modify as you like.

If you're interested, PM me and we'll discuss details and see how many of the spots we can fill. I'd like to get this rolling as soon after the new year as possible.

Thank you for your attention

Druid6900
 
FYI, your site isn't functional right now... the catalog section throws a php fatal error.
 
Druid6900 said:
I'm looking for locations in the following areas (to start);

North- and south-west US
North- and south-central US
North- and south-east US
Eastern Canada
Central West Canada
Western Canada
Click to expand...

Wot? No New Zealand?? (just kidding)

My computer shack is starting to look like a legacy computer parts hoarder operation :)

Tez
 
el_VR said:
FYI, your site isn't functional right now... the catalog section throws a php fatal error.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know that it was down for a short while today (of course, it happens the day after I start looking for franchisees) while my ISP was doing some upgrading to the MySQL version they are running.
 
tezza said:
Wot? No New Zealand?? (just kidding)

My computer shack is starting to look like a legacy computer parts hoarder operation :)

Tez
Click to expand...

Tez, I wasn't going for world domination right off the bat, but, maybe you and pavery (and others) could pool your stuff and run an operation.

After all, it's a small island and shipping would be the same from any point on it, right?

You guys speak english, sorta, don't you? LOL
 
Druid6900 said:
Tez, I wasn't going for world domination right off the bat, but, maybe you and pavery (and others) could pool your stuff and run an operation.

After all, it's a small island and shipping would be the same from any point on it, right?

You guys speak english, sorta, don't you? LOL
Click to expand...

LOL! I think we will wait until you've conqured the rest of the planet. By then there will be a uniform, funny hat and some sorta mascot to go with it :)

Seriously though, good luck with the project.

Tez
 
Last edited:
tezza said:
LOL! I think we will wait until you've conqured the rest of the plant. By then there will be a uniform, . . .
Click to expand...
071111-221225.jpg
 
tezza said:
LOL! I think we will wait until you've conqured the rest of the planet. By then there will be a uniform, funny hat and some sorta mascot to go with it :)

Seriously though, good luck with the project.

Tez
Click to expand...

Thanks Tez, I already have some potential interest in SE and NE US, we'll have to see how that pans out. Everyone knows that getting in on the ground floor is the least expensive.

As for the barrel thing, well, I happen to be able to make a living at it, seeing as almost 80% of the stuff gets sold from people asking for it before we even get it up on the site and 25% of my business is companies sending in equipment for repair.

I don't really need to franchise the operation, but, I can't have everything and what I don't have, another location may have and that keeps clients happy. If other people can make money trading on the reputation I've built up, so much the better. I don't think I'm going to get rich off franchises, but, I get good money off of stuff that most of you would throw away because it's the stuff my repeat clients need and are willing to pay for because they know that, if they buy it, it will work and work perfectly.
 
Druid6900 said:
As for the barrel thing, well, I happen to be able to make a living at it, seeing as almost 80% of the stuff gets sold from people asking for it before we even get it up on the site and 25% of my business is companies sending in equipment for repair.
Click to expand...
My apologies Dru. I was simply inspired by the idea of a funny uniform. I have the greatest respect for you and your enterprise - and I'm aware that it is most professional and you are doing well at it.

I am actually a huge parts hoarder, but regrettably I am both unqualified and unreliable. :(
 
Ole Juul said:
My apologies Dru. I was simply inspired by the idea of a funny uniform. I have the greatest respect for you and your enterprise - and I'm aware that it is most professional and you are doing well at it.
Click to expand...
Same here, but I still found the barrel hilarious!
I am actually a huge parts hoarder, but regrettably I am both unqualified and unreliable. :(
Click to expand...
Exactly the answer I gave him ;-)
 
After thinking about this I wish you were offering when I had my store up, I'd have gone in full bore, had parts and clients and everything. Yep, would have gone full bore with you on this.
 
Ole Juul said:
My apologies Dru. I was simply inspired by the idea of a funny uniform. I have the greatest respect for you and your enterprise - and I'm aware that it is most professional and you are doing well at it.

I am actually a huge parts hoarder, but regrettably I am both unqualified and unreliable. :(
Click to expand...

Actually, OJ, it was pretty funny and with a straight line like Tezza gave you, how could you resist. It may not be good for the offering, but, it WAS funny.

Well, where does one go to get qualified to resell Legacy parts? Is there a degree available? LOL

Unreliable, well, that's a state of mind, and something that's easily overcome when people are throwing money at you (you just HIRE someone to be reliable :) )
 
NathanAllan said:
After thinking about this I wish you were offering when I had my store up, I'd have gone in full bore, had parts and clients and everything. Yep, would have gone full bore with you on this.
Click to expand...

The stores and the clients, I have, if you still have the parts, it can still be done.

I'm sure your wife would love BOTH of us for it LOL.
 
Thanks for the offer, Nathan, and I thought of remote parts depots, but, by the time I buy it and have it shipped up here (and the time it would take to arrive), any profit on it would be gone. Five years ago, when USPS still had cheap cross-border shipping, it might have worked, but, not now. It just cost me 12 bucks to have a crummy AGP video card weighing less than half a pound shipped Priority Mail from Florida, so, I'd hate to think what something weighing a few pounds would cost.
 
Crap, I didn't realise you were in Canada (go figure, you have been here HOW many years LOL) If you have anybody stateside that needs a part, I can test and package like the best of them. If there is a wants list of any kind, let me know, I'll see what I have here.
 
NathanAllan said:
Crap, I didn't realise you were in Canada (go figure, you have been here HOW many years LOL) If you have anybody stateside that needs a part, I can test and package like the best of them. If there is a wants list of any kind, let me know, I'll see what I have here.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll keep that in mind, since it will keep my clients happy.

The thing that puzzles me is, if you are will to sell, pack and ship stuff, why not just take the south central franchise? You'd be doing the same thing and, like I said, it'll be a turnkey operation.

If it's because you don't have or can't get a warehouse quantity of Legacy parts, run it until you're almost out of stuff and then we'll find another franchisee.

When I was first approached by someone with the request to franchise the operation, I was hesitant, but, the guy's inventory was huge and there was some really great stuff in it.

After a month, it was obvious that they guy just had too many medical problems, didn't see the sense in the way we used the make and model number of the item as the SKU (I mean, what's the sense in making it easy to find the exact item that's being looked for, right?), was so Windows-phobic that he couldn't even set up the site's email address in Outlook Express and didn't follow simple instructions that would have accomplished vital components (like an account on USPS's production server) in hours as opposed to the weeks it took him NOT to accomplish it. I mean , I spend a lot of time reworking the site for multi-location operation (which turned out to have some logistics problems with identifying the item with the location as every location shared the same database). That's why I went to completely separate sites which will make things a little more difficult to consolidate things like a total RSS feed, but considerably more simple to solve.

Now the idea of franchises appeals to me and, if it flies, the group will have a more diversified inventory that will appeal to more customers and make everyone more money. If not, I'll shop it around somewhere else.

I just thought the concept might appeal to people here who've gathered up a lot of Legacy era equipment that doesn't really fit in with their Vintage collecting and they'd like the chance to make some good money off of it.

I currently have a couple of "maybes" on the north and south east coast and, if they pan out, it's a good start, if not, well, there are a lot of hoarders that are probably getting pressure to get rid of "that crap" and would rather turn it into money to further their actual hobby than to end up scrapping it just to get some peace.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top