I'm starting out my computer business and I would like to know if I
can do this.  I want to buy computers from Dell and resell them to my
clients but notify them that for any warranty claims they will have to
call Dell.  I'm not sure if my client will have any problems receiving
warranty services from Dell if they show the sales receipt from my
company instead that one from Dell.  Will that cause any problems to
my client?  Do you have a better idea of doing this?

makotoshishio,

I was able to locate a recent document which outlines the pros and
cons of becoming a dell reseller. The article publishers were kind
enough to attach a PDF of Dell's commercial reseller agreement. Links
to both documents follow.

According to the article, "Dell will do any warranty repairs on Dell
branded products but only after the VAR has transferred title to Dell
for the machine" (A VAR is a Value Added Reseller).

The PDF goes into substantial detail about how Dell handles warranties
with their resellers (see section 8, pages 5 and 6). The basic gist is
that Dell will complete warranty repairs for products sold through the
reseller if Dell and the reseller have both agreed to and upheld the
statutes of the Commercial Reseller Agreement.

To answer the second part of your question (a better way of doing
this), from my limited perspective it is hard to know whether becoming
a licensed Dell Reseller is the best way to achieve your business
aims. The agreement does require that you meet other criteria
(outlined in the article, specified in detail in the Reseller
Agreement), which may or may not be acceptable to you based upon the
details of your business plan. You may be able to use a different
vendor (i.e. IBM) if there are terms in the agreement that you don't
like.

If you are interested in becoming a reseller, Dell provides the
following number: 1-800-284-3355.


Here are links to the article and the Reseller Agreement:

VARBusiness: News: Dell's Reseller Agreement: Read the Fine Print
http://www.varbusiness.com/sections/News/breakingnews.asp?ArticleID=37132

Dell Commercial Reseller Agreement
http://a1954.g.akamai.net/7/1954/816/11c5dc4ddcf16a/www.varbusiness.com/graphics/graphics02/reselleragreement.pdf


Search Strategy:
dell reseller (searched google and dell)

I hope this information helps you. If I misunderstood something, part
of my answer isn't clear, a link doesn't work, or for any other reason
you need clarification, I'll be more than happy to follow up.

Good luck with your business planning!

gentryunderwood

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Request for Answer Clarification by makotoshishio-ga on 03 Nov 2002 19:34 PST

what if I don't become a reseller, but instead buy a computer directly
from dell and then sell it to a client.  Is my client able to request
warranty services from dell using a sales receipt from my company (one
that says he bought it from me and not from dell)?

---

Clarification of Answer by gentryunderwood-ga on 03 Nov 2002 20:33 PST

makotoshishio,

Thanks for the tip! Very generous of you.

I'm not a Dell representative, so I can't say for sure, but my guess
is that if you were to purchase a computer from Dell and then pass it
on to a customer (sell it), to Dell the transaction would look just
like you were the first owner and that you sold your computer ('used')
to someone else. So the real question becomes this: are warranties on
Dell computers transferable.

Dell has a page on their site which outlines the companies various
types of warranties and warranty policies (
http://www.dell.com/us/en/dhs/misc/policy_010_policy.htm ), and the
document states in all caps that "THIS WARRANTY COVERAGE TERMINATES IF
YOU SELL OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER THIS PRODUCT TO ANOTHER PARTY".

I've been creatively thinking of ways around this, but the document
also states that in order to get warranty work done, you have to call
a representative and tell them your problem. If the problem is
'valid', they'll issue a "Return Material Authorization Number", and
then you ship the computer to them for service with that number on it.
It's hard to imagine one of your customers 'pretending' to be you on
the phone with dell if something goes wrong.

I think you're more or less stuck: either become a reseller or help
them buy the computers themselves (for a fee).

I hope this helps!

-gentryunderwood

this service is great and my question was answered great too.  makes
your life easier when you don't have enought time for researching. 
thank you gentryunderwood

Hello my name is David and I read your answer about reselling
computers, from Dell computers. I thought that was great of you too go
that deep into that answer for that price, you desier more I would
like too donate $30.00 too you so how can I do that for you. that
person who ask the question did not gave you anough for that aswer.
thank you so much for that answer.

Caution:  Resellers Beware!  Dell may undercut your price to your
customer.  We just went through a situation where we were given a
quote by the Reseller organization and then our customer asked whether
they could get a non-profit price from Dell.  As a reseller, we only
get one price, so we informed the customer they could call to see if
they could get a better price.  Unfortunately, Dell not only quoted
them a lower price but a price far less than the Reseller price!  AND
it was not based on the non-profit status but by the volume of the
order.  Although Dell requires their Reseller organization to check
their customer list and will not provide a quote to Resellers if the
customer is already theirs, they DO NOT do the reciprocal in checking
for Reseller customers.  I took it up to Michael Dell's office without
resolve.  They failed to pay us for bringing the deal to them.  Their
point was that we get paid for our consultation and should have
customer loyalty that would preclude our customers from going directly
to Dell.  It was obvious that the quote they provided was for the
exact same configurations that we provided to our customer and the
equipment was exactly the same. Also, during all this, Dell said that
if we would have the customer fill out and submit a third party bid
authorization form they could price match the quote to us.  However,
they would not be able to pay us anything! Nonetheless, they failed to
acknowledge that they owed us any money.  Pretty bad, especially since
the Reseller percentages are so low anyway. Now, I guess we'll be
looking at other companies that provide a fair and equitable Reseller
program.

Thats sad. I've heard this all over the place. I'm HP authorized but I
need availiblity of other manufactures to push our own brand. We
repair too much after warrany dell.