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Hey Martin,

I'm no computer wiz, and a fan of yours, but . .


don't you need a separate Windows license for each install?

And ethical issues aside, is it physically possible to do that with XP? One CD installed on 12 PCs?

Interesting method. People think of all kinds of ways to make money now-a-days. Not my cup of tea but I'm sure a lot of people can reproduce this method and sell laptops like this on CL.

Martin, you certainly have a Niche for Business Ideas! Absolutely Fantastic!! LOL

My brother works for AT&T and they give him open source software he's allowed to install on any of his "clients" machines. So naturally what he does is install it on all his family members computers, and all his friends. I don't think its 100% legal, but he's been doing it for 20 years, and AT&T has never said a thing.

There are other places where you can buy OEM software for dirt cheap, again not sure how legal it is, but its just something to look at.

I would not answer the door as I think now that you have put it out there in public you may be getting a visit soon.

A better way to do it would be to add one of the many lynix systems like Ubuntu and a few other programs like open office and then it would be fully legal.

Q

I have a friend who is a computer repair guy for a local school system. He does practically this same thing. He calls them "web machines". He gets old, refurbished or recycled desktops and laptops, cleans them up and sells them for $99 to $199 or more. He posts ads on craigslist and ebay and sells 1-2 a week. The main thing is, he markets them as a second home computer or a great starter laptop for the kids. Most of his clients are people who have a main machine but want an extra one for surfing the web, word processing or other simple tasks. He uses maintenance and upgrades for his upsells. It's a decent way to put extra money in his pocket.

Hi Martin. Fantastic IDEA! I usually just lurk on the forum but I had to congratulate you on this one. A simple doable down to earth money maker that would be difficult to satuate.
My question do you buy the computers 10 at a time to get a bargain price or is just more convenient. Would I be able to buy just 2 or more laptops without programming for the same $50 to $60? Thanks

What's a "computer recycling store"? example of one?

$500 to make $1000 2 days, go to the casino one hand of black jack or put it on black LOL just kidding... that's a good idea

What you're doing with the windows installing is illegal.

Can't test in the store without OS, right? So, do they guarantee the laptop works?

You must live in an unique place, because in North East OHIO, S. FL, San Diego, CA., North Carolina...and New Mexico...all places I've been in the past year...LOOKING for said computer recycling stores...

And I haven't found ONE. OH, I've found a few...but NONE of them had a computer, a working computer...for under 100 bux.

And recently I did buy a clean one and it took me a couple of hours to install a legally purchased Windows OS...the thought of doing 8 using ONE disk...well, it seems it would take forever.

I've sold a few laptops on craigslist this past year...and I've met a handful of guys who routinely sell one or two a week...

But, I've yet to meet someone like your friend, could you introduce him to me, we could write a special report, which you could sell.

Not doubting you Marty, it just doesn't resonate with my experiences, perhaps you could shed some light on the supply...

And give us all a little bit more information...

from my perspective of buying and selling things, it seems like a LOT of work to make a very LITTLE bit amount of money.

In the world of CHATTELING (buying and selling stuff)...this just seems to be a lot of work when there are so many things which are more profitable...heck, a ROOMBA or a Keurig could net you that per item without all the depending on a source, installing OS,...

I think I could make more money recycling pallets or installing door peep holes, ya think???

gjabiz

It looks like Martin's starting to take a beating here...I just want to applaud his ideas and creativity. I normally don't even come into this forum as I like the online world better, but his headline was out in the main forum and I clicked it.

I think this idea is absolutely brilliant! For those of you who don't have a "used computer store" or something similar in your area, here's another way to get cheap computers: Put an ad on Craigs List for them! You can actually become a laptop flipper, so to speak. I did this last year and got two nice laptops in one day for less than $100 total. It didn't occur to me to resell them as I was going to try to use them to create a home network, but I might go back to the idea and try it again using Martin's approach now.

-- j

I can see the percieved value of a functioning laptop being way beyond $120, so its easy to see how these would sell if you could buy them that cheaply. They may even sell for $150 like hot cakes.

The trouble is; where would you find a consistent supplier to keep you up with 5 laptops per day? Lets say 100 per month. Otherwise, this could work just as easily on ebay, with which I have some experience.

Sam Walton Always Said "A Deal Well Bought Is Half Sold...".

This is a classic no brainer plan/model that would not be a hard sell. One could reasonably make multiple daily sales with this, although, unlike IM services, there aren't the back end advantages...

For instance; this is a one time $99 sale, whereas, with an online directory listing you could sell it for $99 per MONTH and create a passive income stream instead of just a "sale".

Sounds like a primer to a WSO.

Used laptops search for used computer stores they are everywhere.

I was giving this strategy for FREE ! but someone said me spammer without testing out and that got me pissed off,so I closed that thread.

Martin,

I bet those guys who are bashing your idea are little angels who have never done anything questionable in their lives... right!

I thank you for sharing your idea.

Martin-
I love reading your ideas - they are easy to get started for anyone...It is also neat to read them since I am in VERY close proximity to you (east side of Rochester)! Sometime perhaps we can grab a beer and chat about some ideas!

Jerry

waw....great share...thanks

Very informative thread ..
Clever one ..

Sounds like it could work, its def not something i would due to not understanding how one cd can add the same program when its a one license deal, but thansk for the post gets the wheels turning either way

Great share and a great idea could work

Those of you who are saying it's illegal or shady do not understand Microsoft's licensing. The way Microsoft sees it, a motherboard or hard drive is a PC or laptop for licensing purposes. Their position has always been one license number per motherboard or MACHINE, not per CD or DVD install disk. It's just that when you build your own machine, you don't get the license number because they did not authorize the equipment manufacturer that sold you the motherboard to give it to you (in other words, the motherboard manufacturer didn't pay Microsoft their "cut"), so when you buy their software they put the number in the CD or DVD package with the software.

The laptops he is buying already have a license number on them that was there when they came from the factory new because the manufacturer of the machine had an agreement with Microsoft and paid them their "cut". But due to privacy and/or security issues, when a company sells a used machine or turns in a leased machine the IT department usually wipes it clean before handing it off to the recycling center to prevent company secrets from going out the door with the machine***. But each motherboard has its own hardware ID number, and the operating system latches onto that number, so even if the software were to "phone home" the hardware ID and the Microsoft number would match what is recorded in the licensing database and all would be well. The thing about XP is, it didn't matter how many times you installed it as long as these numbers matched up in the database. Microsoft has since gone to the point that their database counts how many times a number has been used/installed in OS software newer than XP and Windows 98.

In a "previous lifetime" I was one of those who had to wipe the machines before they went out the door to the recycle center . . .

*** By the way, this wipe of critical data is NOT always done with copier machines. So those of you who use public copy machines such as those at Office Depot or Office Max or other places such as a public library to photocopy your tax returns should inquire about what happens when the machine gets to the end of its life cycle, as there are unscrupulous individuals that go out and buy these used machines to steal identities because they know that the copy machines have hard drives in them these days and so the things you photocopied are still with the machine when the used machine buyer gets it. Or perhaps you should invest in an all-in-one printer copier fax machine for your home.

Martin
Thanks for your informative post. I have no idea about it in past. i must try it. Thanks again.

This sound like a very nice idea to make some easy money.. i think i might give a try with this method only with some different product. Thank you.. so easy and simple.

Thanks for posting the idea Martin. I see that you are a really creative entrepreneur. No doubt that you can come up with various ways of earning a profit.

Everyone has the ability to create wealth, you just need to focus on your creativity and take massive action.

Some ideas will not work out... BUT some will!

nice! will try to implement it soon

The problem for me is that I feel personally I don't know/understand enough about the insides of computers to be able to do this easily. If someone made a WSO with a case study showing the basic steps a little more laid out, I think this could be done really easily. I will look more into this, thanks Martin.

I was wondering what you look for when inspecting the computers before purchasing?

would be interesting to find out if I can do this in the uk (all about getting the machines)

This run is totaly doable, Ive done this several times. To add to OP's original post, the CD dosn't have to be OEM, just make sure you have a copy of each version of XP handy not to run into issues with COA keys on the laptops.

Keep 6 CD's handy

Xp Home SP 1, 2, 3,
XP Pro SP 1, 2,3

Downloaded Versions of Windows work, just match it up to the keys on the bottom.

Yes, I agree with the OP....there is absolutely nothing wrong with re-installing Win XP on these machine as long as you use a Win XP CD from the same manufacturer....I manage several centres with a lot of computers and use any CD from the manufacturers...they are not machine specific but manufacturer specific....plus the Serial Numbers are usually stuck somewhere on the machines....

Eg: A Dell machine CD will not work properly with an HP machine.....mostly because of Bios and Recovery partition issues....

The poster "agkfl" above is spot on....however you only need SP 3 for each imho......the last Win XP SP.

Cheers

I like it - if I had $500! Great idea though and would work well even without a Windows OP, I would be looking at Ubuntu and knock them out even cheaper and sell faster.

This reminds me of about 10 years ago when I use to go to At&t where my brother worked and we would jump into the dumpsters to scrounge for laptops and other electronics like it was a gold rush (which in a way it was).

His boss knew we did this and jokes about it today. Although I'm not recommending anyone does this. At least ask them at the front desk if anything. There was one day we walked out of those dumpsters and everything we listed on ebay sold for $3 grand. At&t is a HUGE and I say HUGE business. Their offices alone are enormous. These people throw away things you would never imagine. I'm talking near brand new pcs and laptops I've found in their dumpsters, printers, scanners, fax, phones, all sorts of crazy stuff. They're probably throwing away mac book pros as we speak.

WARNING! Like I said do NOT do this unless you get permission to do so. We never asked but we didn't have to ask as my brother worked in management (still is) just now he's higher up the chain (don't ask how lol). A lot of people don't really put this together but seriously next time you drive by an At&t building just take in how LARGE the offices really are. They are actually forced to throw away a lot of very valuable equipment because they work for some major businesses like Toys R Us, Kodak, etc. Once their equipment is more than 2 years old it all gets trashed (I could be wrong but I'm like 90% sure he said 2 years). My brother also told me they will throw away electronics for other, much more stupid reasons. If they get infected with a bad virus, and a couple of other things I don't remember.

But if you can get permission to get into At&ts dumpsters, you will absolutely find valuable electronics the majority of the time (edit: I really shouldn't say that, as this was 10 years ago that we consistently did this, and I can not say how different things are now. Definitely worth looking into).

-Red

Wow very interesting ideas.

That is an interesting thread. It looks like Martin is beaten here ... I just want to commend his ideas and creativity. I generally do not enter this forum, because I like the online world a better place, but his title is the main forum and I click on it.

Thanks for sharing this Martin, just shows there are LOADS of ways to make money.

Fundamentally, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

...which is a strange saying since most of us have never been given a horse as a gift in our entire lives...

...but the point is that picking apart what is actually a wonderful gift isn't wise. What is wise is taking this idea and using your own creativity to do something unique (perhaps similar, perhaps not) and hopefully you can be inspired to find your own success.

Wonderful work. Turning over tech like this can give you some quick capital, and it can even be the beginning of a real business. It took me almost two years to finally get the simple concept of taking something lower quality but still valuable, improving its quality and then selling it intelligently for a profit. I applaud you helping others. That comes back to you in many, many, many great ways.

Hi Martin,

I'm new to the forum but hope you will disregard any neg comments and continue to offer your ideas.

Is your guy in brooklyn?

Awesome post Martin.Good things come back to those who are selfless enough to share.Thanx a million for idea.

Martin has good idea

Sounds like a potential winner, very clever idea.

Hey Martin, very nice ideas! Thanks for sharing.

I probably won't do this idea myself, because I'm busy with several other businesses of my own, but I would be happy to teach this to a friend or family who is trying to make a start in business.

I just have one question: Do you offer any Warranty or Guarantee to your customers?

If not, do they ever ask or complain about the fact that there is no Warranty?

Thanks and best regards!

I have a techy friend who "flips" laptops and makes a killing. He goes on craigslist / other classifieds and purchases broken laptops, fixes them, and sells them on eBay for a huge mark-up. I guess it's relevant to this thread considering it's the same concept. If people have computer recycling stores near them, I'd suggest giving this a try. It's proven to be profitable.

Thanks for sharing this!

Thanks for the great information.

Martin,

I'm looking into this (I've done similar things with other types of electronics and made a killing).

What would you suggest as far as suppliers go? Nothing in my area that I can find, any online distributors I should check out?

Interesting idea... on theory it does sound good. The question is if the practical side is as easy as you make it sound. It's a matter of trying out I guess. Already came up with a few twists. Thanks.

I just started doing this and got 2 places in a week. One actually is a franchise place who has 5 locations in the area. I used Store.Factorymart.com to print 30 Mil plastic cards. $50 for 500 and will hold up much better and look better for people. I will have my first cards next week. Location is Papa Murphy's. Deal he offered is Buy a LArge Specialty Pizza and Get a Free 1 Topping Medium Pizza. Upgrade Freebie to a Large 1-Topping for $2, which will cover his costs almost of the freebie.

I love this idea. Second Place is doing a card with 5 keychai/tabs that breakaway from the cards. Using 4 of them for coupons to promote winks and apps and keychian to use as an all the time deal, 2 free drinks with any large specialty pizza.

I am scared to ask people to sell them because I dont want someone to steal it. I have snt hundreds of messages to teachers, booster leaders and club leaders at local high schools with nothing yet. That really is the market I want to use.

I am trying to mostly do this from computer at night at home. I have a designer to lay out the cards for me. I worked a deal with him to do any project I need for $50 flat. May do some stuff with Menus and Ads on them and he is going to do some marketing flyers and materials for me. Flyers for the clubs and schools and such.

I even offer schools who do at least 500 cards awesome electronic prizes for top sellers. Computers, Nooks, Tablets, Kindles, Ipods and so on. They will have to sell 500 and costs them $3 each.

I give the pizza owner hole punchers. They are a buck at wal mart.

Planning on doing a sub card as well and want to figure out a way to do a golf card. Any idea on deals for them that make sense?

What other types of cards have people done with this type of deal. Not discount cards. Dont want to go door to door yet. I like the freebie deal and perceived value concept of the freebies.

I could not make card fit, so if you want to see it just e-mail me. AcePizzaCard at aol com
Eric

Good Idea- but the question is whether a computer recycling store would agree to sell a old laptop at $50-60. You need at least a visible margin of 50 bucks to proceed with the idea.

Here's another source. Here in LA Goodwill has a small "computer store" at the regional office. They clean up and sell desktops, monitors, and laptops people have donated for dirt cheap.

I'll bet other large markets have the same thing.

There is also a Goodwill online store that sells everything including computers.

What about drivers? I know if I wipe my toshiba clean and then install XP off a OEM CD it takes me forever to get the Ethernet, Sound, Wifi etc working.

Good idea but to actually get the laptops functioning might require a little more than what was written.

Thanks for the tip!

Nice concept Martin - You found a nice little niche, and a demand for it. Good work!

Its really sounds good. You can have your own spin in this. You can also use other Electronics such as Cell phones, ipad,etc. If you know how to repair electronics, you can able to get more money by buying things with little problems for more cheap and repair them, then sell them for more profit.

You would probably find that most laptops would have a valid Windows XP licence code stuck on the base of the machine so licencing is less of an issue. If it is, then install Ubuntu Linux and sell it as a "low virus risk" machine.

i dont think it is possible to double money in 2 days...

You have given a very beautiful idea.
It is very easy eafrning system for new. I will try it.

Hmmmm not sure about this one... Is there a REAL market for this? Lots of things to conider here

As a serious Craigslist seller (gave myself that title) I could see how this would work. When you break it down it's as easy as selling a computer on CL. How you get that computer is up to you.

I personally have a friend on my Faceobook who basically does this with his computer repair business. He is always advertising for a computer he's got for sale in the $100-$149 range.

You have to keep in mind our good buddy Martin is just giving out ideas on how to make some extra cash. He isn't necessarily guaranteeing six figure profits, but there are a lot of ppl out there that could really use an extra few hundred bucks a month.

Take the post for what it's worth and make it work for you.

Sean

Man this got to be the craziest thing I ever heard of

That actually is a trick i used to do in EUROPE which worked perfectly for couple years, made some good money while there was no competition )
and i know it still works and YES is a great idea for people who have limited budget to make money . SO GUYS IF NO COMPETITION IN YOUR LOCAL AREA, SH00T WITH THE IDEA

This should be new trends for those who believe in earning the way they want. . .

Actually, windows XP Support has been discontinued, which means they don't regulate that software anymore.

In my City it's almost impossible to sell laptops due to saturated CL ads and spam.

Interesting thread!

Could maybe use Google Chromium OS and turn them into a Chromebook of sorts?

why would the 'computer recycling store' sell them to you for $50 when with a bit of effort they could sell them for $99 or $119?

Sounds like a good idea

very interesting idea

Nice method Martin,thank you to sharing this idea!

I've actually done this on smaller scale. I ended up buying a pallet (wholesale) laptops from ebay when it avg out I paid $35 per laptop fixed them up put about 1-2 hours in each laptop sold them from anywhere from $95-$145 it took me longer than 2 days but it was worth the purchase.

I don't understand.....this post was from 2012...would you still install xp? or windows 7 or 8> or?

How do you get the software that allows multiple installs...is this even legal or what?

Okay great idea, but

DO NOT “Upgrade” Your XP Computer

Install the Ubunutu operating system instead. Windows xp is no longer supported by MS. I'd be surprised if someone didn't turn around and sue you when their system got hacked for installing an out of license OS.

I'm an in home computer tutor and virus removal specialist here in Honolulu Hawaii. Most people just want to surf the internet and check email. Ubuntu will do all that for them,

it's a free operating system,
it hasn't drawn attention from hackers yet
it has a smaller footprint than xp so makes older computers run faster.

Rick

This is a great idea..if it works.

I tried something similar a year ago. I purchased 6 laptops from a bulk supplier that did refurbishing. Probably someone who is doing the same as you. They had everything already installed. I purchased them cheap and resold on craigslist. I kept one and sold the rest. Everything worked out until my laptop went dark and wouldn't reboot after about a month. Someone I sold one to, called the next day and said it wouldn't boot up also. Another call about a month later.

I know my experience is a little different because I didn't do the work myself but it's not something I would attempt again. It wasn't fun having people yelling.."I want my money back."

The good thing was, I did purchase a Square Trade warranty for the bulk lot and they came through with refunding me for each laptop that died.

Like I said, great idea but didn't work for me. There was no shortage of buyers wanting them. If anyone does it, get a warranty on it (if the company will cover it.). My warranty was really cheap and it was worth it.

Hey Martin, does this still work today, 10/29/2014

its kind of a way of cheating...

Since Microsoft doesn't support XP any longer are you have issues selling the computers with this outdated OS?

you have to be full on computer repair person for this to work. most used/recycled stuff needs boards, power supplies, battery, hard drive, screen etc....tough to find good working condition cheap enough. plenty of auctions around, also craigslist recycling etc...but you have to have a good cheap source of parts and be efficient w/your time in repairs.

Interesting method. People think of all kinds of ways to make money now-a-days. Not my cup of tea but I'm sure a lot of people can reproduce this method and sell laptops like this on CL.

Exactly right - great idea if it works [or still works].
The best way in anything you do - find creative online business ideas that are unique and simply follow them. Think outside the box and go against the flow.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/sys/4763611801.html

Is this the type of laptops I should purchase? Install XP / Win 7 & sell them??