Becoming A Clevo Reseller

Does anybody have any experience or anything with becoming a direct Clevo reseller. By direct, I mean instead of just selling laptops so a company like Sager can build and ship them, to build, paint, and ship them on-site. Me and my stepbrother are seriously considering this. He's had around 12 years of experience working for some big-name automotive companies, doing paint jobs, touch ups, maintenance, etc, and does some amazing work. I've had about seven years of experience working with and on computers and about three years building them and helping my friend's dad repair some desktops for his company.

Here's a few reasons I think that we could become a popular Clevo reseller over time:

We'll be the only company to do on-site paint jobs, that will come out flawless each time.

Huge attention to detail and care. You wouldn't find any other company that sells laptops that would handle our systems better.

Some unique software that could help lead people to choose buying from us instead of other company. I won't go into it now, but you'll see what comes included once we start.

We'll offer one of the best prices on an automotive grade finish along with the system.

Changes to the system's thermals and some hand-applied cosmetic changes over the paint job.

Does anyone on the forums have any information or experience with directly selling Clevo laptops?

 

thats a good idea,
i've always wanted to paint my laptop, but when i spry painted my phone it didnt turn out so well,
another idea could be to set up a website for you services, people could mail you there laptops, or the parts they want painted, pay you then mail them back, you should also have some parts in inventory, for example the topcover of some major brandnames, in hand in case a customer wants to replace his top cover with a painted one which you paint and ship out to the customer...
good luck.

 

I think the hardest part would be getting people to trust you and not think that it is a scam . It's really hard to build a reputation from scratch. It's unfortunate but true.

 

Everyone says this at first, but will you stick to it when the ink starts flowing red and it's looking like your life savings + sole source of income are going down the drain? Mark these words, thing change and they change fast.

Just something to think about (coming from a small business owner / entrepreneur of almost 10 years).

Your best bet is to put together the biggest, best, most proffesional business plan, showing your available capital and a line of credit supported by a well-known bank, and your unique qualifications, then present it to Clevo. Just remember, they probably get a ton of these, so make yourself stand out.

Best of luck to you!

 

so you are gonna travel through the whole nation all the time?

more specify please? i don't see how would anyone beat IBM in that matter. onsite services, sent me a HDD w/o asking to ship the old one back. even xoticPC can't reach that level.

one of the best, not necessarily means the best.

like what K|N already doing?

First thing first you will need your own factory, and it would probably cost you half million minimum to start. and man power, 2 people? you will need to hire few dozens more. xoticPC would have done it years ago if it is as easy as you think.

but you know what, nothing is impossible. I am planning to establish a brand new company to compete Boeing and Air bus.

 

Form the Corporation, contact Clevo.....

 

Good Luck!
It would be nice to see what you actually offer, you must have at least done one right?So let's see what you got.

 

Good luck on it man. If its what you really want to do. Then just go for it.

And let me know how you fare, because I am planning to do the same in a couple of years.

 

Good luck, make sure you have something that Clevo wants to see.

 

I know and have seen companies rise and disappear over the years.

Let me clarify one fact:
- there are only three Clevo importer OEMs in North America (Sager, Pro-Star, Eurocom).
.... only these three have the ability to import directly from Clevo.

I know some companies claim to be bigger than they are by claiming that they directly import from Clevo, but they do not have a leg to stand on when I want to confirm that... which is one of the reasons that is holding up my Clevo Guide update.

If you want to get Clevo barebones (in North America), you must go through one of the three importer OEMs listed. Clevo will not even consider any other company that would only import small quantities... while the listed three have huge quantities on order every week, as well as having the financial backgrounds to do business with.

These are the only channels a startup Clevo reseller has, which is fine since the customer of a reseller would not just have the warranty through the OEM/vendor they bought from, but through one of the Clevo importer OEMs as well.... a fallback warranty if you will.

 

Other than that, you have some promising ideas.

If it goes through, you can become a rep here on NBR for your company, which has shown to help your reputation as a vendor if you follow the forum rules while informing and helping your customers and potential customers.

 

Gophn's correct vis-a-vis the actual importers; however, since there are more companies that offer the Clevo barebones (i.e., not as a rebranded Sager), it follows that it must be possible to purchase Clevo barebones through one of these three importers for resale under your own name, and not as, say, a Sager, a Eurocom, or a Pro-Star.

Which is not to say that the business model you're contemplating is bad. Others, obviously, use a variant of it, and at any rate, becoming a direct importer involves a lot more than just convincing Clevo to sell and ship direct to you. For one thing, I believe that there are federal regulatory requirements for systems importers that may be more than you really want to deal with at this point. Second, as Gophn points out, Clevo - like almost any other manufacturer of commodity items - is not going to do business in small lots - say, 10 to 20 systems at a time - on terms that would be profitable to you (Clevo makes its money on volume, after all).

The most likely avenue for you would be to get in touch with the three direct importers and find out whether you could buy Clevo barebones from them, and what the pricing, terms, and conditions would be - undoubtedly you would have to do things like enter into a number of nondisclosure agreements, for the benefit of both Clevo and the importer, as well as agreements pertaining to branding and advertising.

To start off on the Clevo end (their marketing department may be able to point in the direction of the importer with whom it would be most appropriate for you to start), their Taiwanese marketing contact is (from the Clevo contacts webpage):
CLEVO CO.
ADD: 129, Hsing-Te Rd., Sun Chung City 241,Taipei Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C.
TEL: 886-2-22789696
http:// www.clevo.com.tw
E-mail: [email protected]

They also have a service center in the US, with contact details of:
USA Service Center
ADD: 659 Brea Canyon Rd, Suites 4 & 5 Walunt, CA91789
TEL: +1-909-598-2263
FAX: +1-909-598-0015
E-mail: [email protected]

The service center may be just that - a repair/service facility only, without anyone who can provide information on becoming a Clevo reseller, but you never know, so it'd probably be worth an initial contact.

Also, the Sager reseller program point of contact is from this webpage. I realize that you have in mind something other than just being a standard reseller; however, that department might be a good first point of contact as I would think that whomever answers your contact would know to whom you should be talking (certainly better than I would).

The Eurocom dealer contact appears to be (culled from the Eurocom dealer login webpage):
1-877-EUROCOM / (613) 224-6122 x 302
[email protected]

Again, whomever answers that phone might not be the right person for you to be talking to, but will almost certainly be able to point you in the right direction.

The Pro-Star reseller contact webpage is: http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=affiliate (although I couldn't get the page to load this morning, I did get a cached, text-only version from google, here. Again, even if that doesn't go to the person you should be talking to, it should go to someone who can pass you on the the person you should be talking to.

Finally, you should consider talking to the other resellers, such as PNB, XoticPC, and Dark Smiley Systems (who just recently set up shop as a Sager reseller, amongst other things), as well as other Clevo barebones customizers/sellers such as RJTech and K|N, to name but a few; while they would be your competitors, I don't believe that any of them is so cut-throat that they wouldn't be willing to give some advice to someone else looking to set up shop (again, I could be wrong, but then again, if approached the right way, almost any businessperson alive will be more than happy to expatiate at length on their business and how they got started - it's an ego thing).

 

My Brother-in-Law visited Japan, China and Taiwan recently and came back with many electronics either not found here or that cost less. He didn't buy them at a back street alleyway but from retail stores. He bought a Lenovo set up for English with a dual power supply for $400 less than it would have cost in the United States.

Perhaps you could buy direct from them? There would still be other considerations such as import laws, duties, customs and taxes plus shipping charges and warranty issues but in the end, you might be better off.

Just an idea.

 

Since Gophn brought it up, the 3 named ones are the existing exclusive disty for Americas. Unfortunately, it will be difficult for "anyone" to step in although nothing is impossible.
There are also other brands available that you can be backed with.

 

what are u going to do that's different? I don't see anything yet except a paint job.. which xotic does upon request as well.

 

I have to ask, what does the auo mean?

 

Actually, I believe Xotic farms its paint jobs out to a painting expert, in which case the OP could, at the very least, set up shop as a case customizer and work directly with the resellers.

 

Contact DarkSmiley,he have some experience in that area

 

Thanks for all of the replies, guys! I thought that Sager only offers to have you sell the systems and then they would build and ship them, which is something I'm trying to avoid. Or they do sell Clevo barebones?

By on-site paint jobs, I mean that we'll paint them directly where they're built. Every other Clevo/Sager reseller in the US (and maybe the UK) ships them out to other companies to paint them, and they're paint jobs usually don't turn out to be anything amazing.

I'm talking about the way that we'll handle our systems. I always hear and see people getting scratched up laptops from factories and I've owned more than a few products that had a few build quality problems out of the box all from shoddy building conditions.

Well, we're planning to make paint jobs mandatory since it'll help make our systems (I would use the company's name, if we decided on one yet ), our systems Pricing for paint jobs like this will really have to be something to think about. It's usually at least a $350+ premium from resellers to have the whole laptop painted. The only company that did automotive-grade finishes on a Clevo chassis the way that we're planning to do it was Voodoo PC, and they charged at least a $2500 premium. We don't want to go crazy on pricing, so we'll definitely decide on something that's a good deal.

Not exactly, we're actually planning to go much more extreme into redesigning the system. We'll do things like changing the finishes on some laptops, improving build quality, making laptops more durable and scratch resistant (the aluminum around the touch pad on the Sager NP8660 is definitely going to get really scratched up over use, that's something that we would look to change) and even making modifications to the motherboard so the system can support a different keyboard. For the most part, I'll put extra attention to make sure that the system temperature can drop a few degrees over other Sagers without making the system any louder.

We're just planning to buy a few Clevo barebones and parts and make a few systems a month, not a few thousand. We definitely wouldn't need a factory or more workers for the amount of systems we'll make at first. I'd barely trust anyone else to make the systems. I'll even personally expect each system to make sure that there aren't any flaws with the paint job, scratches or marks, plus I'll stress the systems and monitor temperatures on each one built. You won't find service or quality like this from any other Sager reseller.

 

All the Clevo importer OEMs (including Sager) sell barebones to smaller vendors.

In fact, I believe Sager is the largest importer OEM that sells the most Clevo barebones to their non-Sager resellers.... like RJtech.

 

As mentioned above for the numbers you are looking at selling and the purchasing power behind the company you should definately go to a Clevo importer (until possibly you can afford to purchase pallets of chassis at a time and even then Clevo don't have to say yes!).

When in a custom market it's always better to compete alongside other companies - you'll be more respected by your prospective market if you produce very good work rather than saying you're better than the other guy. For example I know that our painters are the best automotive company in the UK and that we test our systems more than any other UK company but the fact that we have (I hope anyway) a performance brand puts this across

And finally (!) remember that a product is only worth what someone will pay for it. There is a market for modding laptops but it is very small and you will soon find that you will need to add slightly more mainstream products in order to support the higher end systems.

 

Thanks a lot for the reply, Neil. I'll definitely remember that when I'm designing the site and when I'm talking to customers. I'm also planning to sell some consumer laptops at great prices, though I don't expect to sell as many as the high-end systems since most consumers will probably just buy from companies from Dell and HP.

I've just contacted Sager about getting quotes and anything they can send me about the reseller program. Me and my stepbrother are serious about this, so let's see how far we can take this. You can probably expect a site and preorders to go up sometime at the end of the year, then we'll start building systems sometime in the beginning of 2009. Who knows, we could be the next big computer manufacturer .

 

so you gave up the importer idea?

 

Sager is one of the importers. I'm thinking of getting Clevo barebones from them.

 

I wish you all the best

 

Thanks, Shane! Same to you .

 

Just brought the business plan into sharper focus - better to play to your strengths, no? Being an importer requires a lot of upfront capital.

Shane, how difficult, or easy, was it for you to get set up with Sager?

 

I was just asking, since MICHAELSD01 said that at the beginning.

 

Setting up with Sager was easy as pie. I had to fill out a credit card authorization form, fill in some information about my business, and send in a copy of my reseller certificate. When placing an order, I have to send in a photocopy of the credit card and the cardholder's driver's license each time.

 

funny ive been considering the same type of thing recently.. lol

 

How much money do you think you can make on this? Last time we had a discussion about Clevo reseller margins on this forum it was like 5% gross (ie before selling expenses like rent, hosting, tech support etc) and – get this - 0.5% net. That means moving a cargo ship-load of volume before you see a penny for yourself. So if you sell each machine for an average of 2,500 USD, you need 500 before it is vaguely worth the effort.

Also, most people I talk to don’t get the point of gaming laptops – it is really the classic niche market. 99% of gamers have a nitrogen cooled quad core monster desktop and a cheap/old laptop for internet access/movies etc when traveling. Only we here on the forum believe that spending north of 3,000 to barely get the performance of last year’s mid-range desktop is a smart move.

Re the importer (rather than reseller) route – Clevo will probably deal with you if you're outside the US, but again, margins are still terrible, considering all the extra capital you need, functions you'll do, and risks you'll take. To get a return on capital better than your fixed-term bank deposit (assuming your bank has not folded by the time you read this ) you need to shift warehouse-loads to compensate you for the capital tied up and the risk of obsolete stock...

 

I talked it over with my stepbrother again, and we seem pretty sure about starting this. I've seen some prices of Sager barebones, and I think that we can pull this off with a good profit and value. After a week, I'm still waiting for Sager to contact me. We won't be able to get anywhere without anything from them, so we'll have to wait a little longer before we can start doing too much.

You can probably expect to see a site and preorders up by the middle of November. It could take longer, though. I want to make sure that we have a very strong lineup of computers when we launch. If anybody is interested in buying one of our test systems with a very nice discount, PM me.

 

Hope it goes well.

Remember when your business is up, you need to contact Chaz or Andrew to updated your status to Retailer.

And you will need to follow the forum rules for vendors/retailers.

 

Thanks for the tip, Gophn. Does anyone know if I can still keep my personal account along with a reseller account? I'd still want to discuss other laptops, games, etc. on the forum.

 

Why use 2?All the other retailer share their personal opinions also ,not just the stuff they know...

 

"Not allowed to comment on the quality / reliability of other companies or products"

I'd still want to do that with this account.

 

I'd keep after them, politely but insistently. It's always possible that they're still dealing with the after-effects of the back to school rush.

In terms of following the forum rules particular to resellers, were I you I'd spend a while going through the old posts made by other resellers, particularly on controversial topics, to get a sense of what is fair game and what isn't; basically, anything that looks like you're trying to run down someone you're competing with, either directly (e.g., reseller X is a bum) or indirectly (system Y - which all know is sold exclusively by reseller X - is a piece of garbage), is to be avoided like the plague. As to other things, like hard drives, the best policy is probably to follow Theo. Roosevelt's maxim of walk softly and carry a big stick (yes, I know, I just paraphrased), and don't criticize too easily, or too subjectively, and when you do criticize, stick to the facts, the demonstrable, here's-a-hyperlink-to-test-data sort of facts (e.g., like Sgt Friday - just the facts, ma'am).

From what I've seen, this can be a very hard needle to thread, particularly for anyone who happens to be opinionated and knowledgeable - two traits that also tend to correlate with the desire to start one's own business, because everyone else is just missing the boat.

Viz the two accounts idea - just my own personal two cents' worth, and probably not even worth that what with inflation and all - but I don't really like the idea; most people here will eventually learn which is your personal account, and that account will then become an alter-ego for your official reseller account, and the opinions expressed under that account treated as those of the reseller account, and it just looks a little ... off, as if you've got something to hide.

To my mind, it's better to stick with the one official account, so everyone knows who you are right off the bat, and to err on the side of discretion when it comes to criticizing something or someone and you're not sure if doing so squares with how the moderators apply the rules. Speaking of which, so long as you don't drive them 'round the bend with incessant pms (which I'm sure you won't), one resource you do have in this respect is, precisely, the mods - if you really feel that you need to make a post that will contain negative commentary on some other vendor, and you're not sure if it'll pass muster under the rules, pm one of the moderators and ask them for a quick take on your proposed post, and whether or not it's on the right side of the rule (sorry moderators, I hate to add more work to your already overworked selves but, you are the "bosses" of the forums, if you will, and it seems only fair for someone who's at risk of being disciplined, or banned, for being wrong to ask you guys first whether or not a particular post is going to run afoul of the rules or not before posting it to see what happens).

 

its best to have one official account.

which would help your rep.

having another account may affect your credibility.

 

Nothing good can come from a doppelganger.
Most forums such as these prohibit duplicate acounts.

 

I would dissagree with that. kobalt computers is a 2 man show. they do EXTREMELY well. ask them for advice thread maker^_^

 

While I worked at Microsoft I had an account with Ingram Micro, I built and sold desktop systems local and through eBay. It was profitable until DELL came out with $699 desktop systems. I wonder if my resale account is still on file. It was not hard to set up, I had everything done in one day.

 

I've officially gotten my own Account Executive from Sager. Now, I just have to pick a name and get some forms signed. I think that that's going to be one of the hardest parts of the business, picking a name. In case we expand into something bigger, like Alienware and Voodoo did, I'd want a great name. Something simple like Dell, but powerful and awesome sounding like Voodoo or Alienware. Any ideas? I'm horrible at coming up with names .

 

How about, "Classic"

 

I am fond of "Vandal". Actually, anything that starts with or has a V in it is awesome in my book.

 

There were 2 of us for quite a few years (we grew the business at a sustainable rate) but there are now 5 of us. By no means do you need a factory with 20 employees but you have to bear in mind that there is a LOT of work involved - purchasing, building, sales, R&D, marketing, accounts, support, repair etc etc etc..............

 

How about MickeyFickeypcs.com? Then people can say I got my mickey fickey in the mail right now or I just ordered my mickey fickey pc today!

When people call you for a status check they can be like, "Hey what's the status of my Mickey Fickey PC?"

Or when it goes bad and they have to send it back in for repair they can be like, "Man, my Mickey Fickey broke today. I called them up and they told me I had to ship that Mickey Fickey back to them. I hope they fix that Mickey Fickey or give me my Mickey Fickey money back?"

 

What kind of name are you looking for? Something aggressive and game-y like Alienware and Voodoo, something slick and high-tech, or something sci-fi-ish? What about colours, and the like?

 

Anything that's easy to remember and powerful-sounding, like Alienware, mixed with a name that sounds slick and high-tech. I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. If there are any names that I really like, I'll consider them. We're going to be selling different kinds of laptops and desktops, not just gaming systems, so a combination, like Voodoo, will be the best choice. Right now I can't think of any names that are even worth considering.

 

I have a business marketing background, so I'll give you some advice.

1) For company name:
- short (3 syllables or less)
- unique (to keep people from confusing it with a known company)
- a name that has nothing to do with what you are selling

2) For motto:
- unique and with bad grammar
(which statistics shows that its catchy)... like "Got Milk?"

 

On (2), another reason for using bad grammar (as well as bad spelling) is that the motto can then be copyrighted/trademarked - if that's of concern. If it's just in plain (i.e., correct) English, then it's too common to qualify for protection.