[Gllug] Suppliers of computer stuff

[Chris Bell]

On Tue 24 Aug, Russell Howe wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 05:52:20PM +0100, Chris Bell wrote:
> >    There are some nominal "trade-only" dealers around North Acton and Park
> > Royal, but you do not say where you are. Not everyone has free travel within
> > the M25! I would go to particular local dealers for particular products, but
> > would place an order if I wanted a particular item.
> 
> I'm in Hendon at the moment, but don't know where I'll be in October.
> 
> I have free travel within zone 3, and work in SE1.
> 
> Hendon has a small computer shop, which I haven't checked out, but I
> can't imagine it being anything akin to Aria
> 
> By "trade-only", I assume you mean that unless you get to know them,
> they won't sell to you without opening a business account with them?
> 

   Most of the local dealers supply local traders with parts suitable for
resale to the average personal and business users, so are non-specialist,
although one started as a bare box specialist, and another specialises in
top-of-the-range rack-mount.
   Trade dealers normally quote prices without VAT, they are much more
affected by supply (the arrival of the latest container load?) and demand,
and prices will reflect this. It is a cut-throat market, so overall profits
are low. Web sites are rarely up-to-date because they buy no more than they
can sell quickly, too many fingers have been burned in the past as the price
drops when new products appear.
   One dealer in Alperton is really only interested in larger quantities,
and has two buyers constantly looking for container-load bargains as the
latest shipments arrive. Buy cheap, sell cheap, often in pallette loads, and
clear the warehouse within a day or so ready for more.
   They really do not want to deal with the average individual retail
customers, many of whom give lots of hassle because they do not know what
they are doing and return goods as faulty when the fault is either setup or
caused by the customer. Yes, they do get returns, but some customers stand
out like a sore thumb. I was told that they shipped a load of "faulty"
modems back to the far east, and the manufacturer reported that about 95%
were perfectly OK, so they had to pay the transit charges.
   Some companies specialise, but tend to be for account customers only, so
Just RAM will not supply much other than small, high value parts, and their
building is like a fortress. Other companies can supply specialist hard
drives, etc.

3A Distribution Ltd (general distribution)
http://www.3adl.com

ACME Technology (rack mount cases)
http://www.acme-technology.co.uk

C & J Computers (cases, power supplies, cooling, and now other hardware)
http://www.cjcomputers.co.uk

Gemma Ltd (Shuttle-Spacewalker and other parts)
http://www.gemma.co.uk

   Bear in mind that local traders will also buy mail-order from the larger
dealers for next day delivery, depending on local availability, and they
have to balance delivery charges against the collection costs.

-- 
Chris Bell

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