PC Bay - How do you utilize it to make a profit?

[kostein]

Hey guys, new player here. I got the game about a week ago and have been playing a lot since. I'm level 13 in my career game and I'm trying to understand how to best use PC Bay to make a profit.

1. Do you build PCs with new parts and sell them?
   
2. Do you build PCs with used parts and sell them?
   
3. Do you buy broken PCs and fix them and sell them?
   
4. Do you buy used parts and eventually build a PC with them and sell?

Also is there a way to keep track of your purchases?

[BonPadre]

1 No (in my case anyway)
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 Yes BUT... buy only if parts are under -66% (I may be a bit more loose if it's an empty case to be able to swap for broken cases)

Basically any used part is counted as 1/3 of it's brand new value.
Then, no rocket science to understand you have a better time making profit from parts that are under that value.

Note that PCBay is also influenced by "Market", so some parts may get a higher value at some point, some will lose value due to trends.

Also worth noting that to make the most of your PCBay sales you are much much better of OC the crap of any PC you intend to sell.

So personally I never start to sell before I'm able to OC the GPU's (don't remember the level... bad memory, thanks to father time)

So here again, if you are able to get your hand on powerful PSU, use them to OC the most valuables PC's, don't waste them on lower end PC's where PSU is broken for instance, try to replace those with matching wattage ones.

That's what I personally do, other may get even better tips.

[RoofCat]

PC Bay is crap. You can buy some very popular parts very cheap in advance, but that's about it. Like buying single RAM piece when dual channel has better 3D mark? It's just as idiotic as many other parts in this game. You should also consider market realities - check emails for comments on prices. Like pre built system prices falling, etc. For most part you make more money selling things instantly from inventory. Best case is using them while building systems with no shiny parts requirements. Dual old GPU can make decent 3D Mark scores rather cheap for example while making better profit for you as well.

In general the whole business part of this game is a total disaster, crap you would expect from 30 year old game. Don't try to make sense out of it.

[BonPadre]

Oh and reading upper comment...
Expectations.... it's all about expectations !

I'm personally happy if any broken PC I repaired (swapping 1 single part, and specially when that part is a CPU cooler, or basically anything else than Mobo) makes me +200$ - +300$

That's the same income as any mid jobs in the game, for maybe even a lesser time spent.

And to be clear, I usually sell only used PC's...

For selling used parts, I'm mostly with RoofCat. Direct sell... what's the point of earning 2$ more on PCbay on this or that part, and if you don't monitor close enough you may end up losing money using PCBay over a direct sell.

Oh and by trhe way, sell broken PC cases on PCBay... only way to currently get rid of them.... strip them completely, and get your 2-4$ from them lol

[Brittimus]

Originally posted by RoofCat:

PC Bay is crap. You can buy some very popular parts very cheap in advance, but that's about it. Like buying single RAM piece when dual channel has better 3D mark? It's just as idiotic as many other parts in this game. You should also consider market realities - check emails for comments on prices. Like pre built system prices falling, etc. For most part you make more money selling things instantly from inventory. Best case is using them while building systems with no shiny parts requirements. Dual old GPU can make decent 3D Mark scores rather cheap for example while making better profit for you as well.

In general the whole business part of this game is a total disaster, crap you would expect from 30 year old game. Don't try to make sense out of it.

Doesn’t own game yet harbors very strong opinions about game.

[X-SR71]

2, 3 and 4 also. I buy most broken PCs and used parts from PCBAY (just dont buy crappy GPUs or CPUs).
I don't buy FUNCTIONAL PCs from PCBAY though. Think it's a waste of money.

I don't even look at the discount percentage. I just buy it. Eventually a fully assembled PC from used parts makes a tidy profit, especially if you exploit the broken water cooled GPUs price (you buy used water cooled 1080s for $100 lol).

[BonPadre]

Originally posted by X-SR71:

But I'm a simple man. I like computers, music and boobs. So, the game could use just one improvement, but otherwise perfect for me!

You mean.... a definitive way to choose a SINGLE wallpaper for the working PC's that is NOT your main IRL wallpaper ?

Yeah I know I'm like you...

[Phobos]

What's more important at Market Trend? look for brand or for components?

[Spoopy Owl]

Originally posted by BonPadre:

Originally posted by X-SR71:

But I'm a simple man. I like computers, music and boobs. So, the game could use just one improvement, but otherwise perfect for me!

You mean.... a definitive way to choose a SINGLE wallpaper for the working PC's that is NOT your main IRL wallpaper ?

Yeah I know I'm like you...

you can choose a custom walpaper from any image file on your IRL pc, and it stays throught the save file. the only issue is that any time you try to boot up it reverts to a fill ratio, rather thna the pictures actual ratio, so if you're like me, and set up a slightly more square picture, it gets stretched out and i have to manually select and fix it each time i load in. (or restart the in game PC)

[BonPadre]

Originally posted by A Sassy Dragon:

Originally posted by BonPadre:

You mean.... a definitive way to choose a SINGLE wallpaper for the working PC's that is NOT your main IRL wallpaper ?

Yeah I know I'm like you...

you can choose a custom walpaper from any image file on your IRL pc, and it stays throught the save file. the only issue is that any time you try to boot up it reverts to a fill ratio, rather thna the pictures actual ratio, so if you're like me, and set up a slightly more square picture, it gets stretched out and i have to manually select and fix it each time i load in. (or restart the in game PC)

don't dig 10 month old threads... the game has seen changes...

While you are correct AS OF TODAY, at the time I wrote that answer you quoted, we had only our active IRL wallpaper or a choice of set wallpapers by the devs.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by A Sassy Dragon:

you can choose a custom walpaper from any image file on your IRL pc, and it stays throught the save file. the only issue is that any time you try to boot up it reverts to a fill ratio, rather thna the pictures actual ratio, so if you're like me, and set up a slightly more square picture, it gets stretched out and i have to manually select and fix it each time i load in. (or restart the in game PC)

I have a little suggestion for you: Perhaps you may want to read the dates on the last reply in a thread. If it is older than 6 months then you probably wouldn't want to be replying to it at all. This game has undergone so many changes since the start of this thread that most posts in this thread originally aren't relevant to today's version of the game.