[risks] Selling Overclocked Machines?

[Bawksz]

What are they, what should I know about before I do so? I've looked everywhere, no good leads. Are your connections null and void once the person purchases a clearly labeled Overclocked machine?

[road-runner]

I dont think he is buying, he appears to be selling it to a friend... http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=80679

[six]

Are your connections null and void once the person purchases a clearly labeled Overclocked machine?

 

You are going to have to work that out with your buyer. Manufacturers warranties are shot once you run outside manufacturers specs. For a private sale, you can write up a buy/sell that mentions whatever warranty you are willing to provide as the system builder.

 

If you are in the US, you might want to check with your State's atty office. My State has a no limited liability warranty law. It doesn't really cover private sales of goods though. If I sell one of my computers to say, my brother-in-law out of my house, the law doesn't care if the machine even works when he plugs it in. If I sell the same machine to my brother-in-law through my business, there is no limit of time (or really any other limits) to my liability.

 

If the machine ran ten years, but he hoped it would run twenty, he could present that argument in court if he wanted to. - Manufacturers warranties are even no good here. If I have a retail chip, I don't have to assume that if it dies 3 years and 1 day after I buy it that I have no recourse. I could dedicate time and effort letting a court or mediator decide if the manufacturers warranty represented a reasonable amount of time for that chip to run as expected.

 

If it were me, I think I'd sell it with a service agreement. My business sells equipment occasionally and we service what we sell. If a client accepts a service agreement, the contract spells out what we will fix at no charge to the client and what things are not covered - and for what length of time - and how much money the service agreement will cost. Generally, service agreements are profitable. If I sell a photocopier, the client will pay me a small amount of money every month based on the number of pages they used. Something like a PC might be a flat monthly or quarterly rate. Maybe you can get $25.00 a month for a three year contract. That would put $900.00 plus interest in a bank account for you over the term of the contract. If nothing goes wrong with the machine during the contract term, you made an extra $900.00. If a Power Supply starts flaking out and it takes you a few hours to troubleshoot it, then reduce that $900.00 plus interest by a few hours labor and the cost of a power supply.

 

Anyway, you probably get the idea. Just a thought.

[RHKCommander959]

been wondering about that myself.

 

any other tips for a startup business? I'd like to try but all the law confuse me... guessing a lawyer would be handy but I have no clue.

[Bubbaxm2]

Selling an already overclocked system is great as long as nothing goes wrong. When it does it is a nightmare of e-mails and phone calls trying to get them back to where it was. I got lucky for the most part because I documented everything for the systems I sold. Only had one problem, when one of the buyers decided he could squeek more out of it and ended up with a no post. The worst part of it really is trying to get them to understand why you are telling them to do something when apparently they already know everything(not). I also made sure to let them know that with the extra fans in the cases that the machines would need to be cleaned quite frequently and that the temps would need to be monitored often. I also let them know that the only warranty they will have are the ones that came with the equipment when I bought it. I only buy components with decent warranties anyway because you really don't want to overclock with junk anyway(EVGA,XFX,OCZ,Corsair). I don't overvolt anything so that is not a problem.

Edited May 28, 2008 by Bubbaxm2