Hi everyone,
Long time lurker here, and I'm looking for some feedback on an idea I have on the go.
I got a line on a significant number of very reasonably priced, brand-new HP priced laptops (about half price compared to retail) on closeout (totally legit - this wasn't from the back of a truck) but I have to act quickly if I want to buy them. I was thinking of trying to sell the laptoops on eBay, but the markups would be too low once you factor in shipping costs.
One thought I've been kicking around is a lease-to-own website where I could lease out the laptops at $10 per week for a 52-week period (this would give me a fantastic mark-up, even if the cash payouts would be staggered over a year.
A few concerns I have on this are as follows:
1) Rent-to-own market seems saturated, and I have no competitive advantage over the B&M retailers (Rent-A-Centre, Aaron's, etc...). If can set up a website on the net using a host and e-commerce storefront, but I'm not sure how to even drive traffic to the site.
In short, I just don't see the customer need for this product, even though I can get the products cheap.
2) The thought of financing these sales is worrying, since I don't have much recourse if the people stop paying. I could hire someone to repossess the laptops (assuming the customers didn't just take off with it), but who knows how much that would cost if I had a high delinquency rate.
3) I'm not sure how to proceed with the credit check process. It costs $10 every time you do a credit check, and I'm not interested in paying that for customers who probably won't proceed to buy the product.
Any thoughts or feedback? I live in Canada, and I was thinking of setting the site up to cater to Canadians.
Long time lurker here, and I'm looking for some feedback on an idea I have on the go.
I got a line on a significant number of very reasonably priced, brand-new HP priced laptops (about half price compared to retail) on closeout (totally legit - this wasn't from the back of a truck) but I have to act quickly if I want to buy them. I was thinking of trying to sell the laptoops on eBay, but the markups would be too low once you factor in shipping costs.
One thought I've been kicking around is a lease-to-own website where I could lease out the laptops at $10 per week for a 52-week period (this would give me a fantastic mark-up, even if the cash payouts would be staggered over a year.
A few concerns I have on this are as follows:
1) Rent-to-own market seems saturated, and I have no competitive advantage over the B&M retailers (Rent-A-Centre, Aaron's, etc...). If can set up a website on the net using a host and e-commerce storefront, but I'm not sure how to even drive traffic to the site.
In short, I just don't see the customer need for this product, even though I can get the products cheap.
2) The thought of financing these sales is worrying, since I don't have much recourse if the people stop paying. I could hire someone to repossess the laptops (assuming the customers didn't just take off with it), but who knows how much that would cost if I had a high delinquency rate.
3) I'm not sure how to proceed with the credit check process. It costs $10 every time you do a credit check, and I'm not interested in paying that for customers who probably won't proceed to buy the product.
Any thoughts or feedback? I live in Canada, and I was thinking of setting the site up to cater to Canadians.
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