Open An Internet Cafe

[worldwebwide]

Hi everybody,

I plan open an internet cafe in the south of the samui, i need some advise:

Where can i buy computer for the best price on the island ?

I search for a pool snooker, where can i buy for the price ? anybody have a second hand pool for sale?

Any help are welcome.

Thank a lot,

Edited January 12, 2008 by worldwebwide

[sweetchariot]

You think you will make a living charging the occassional punter 30 baht an hour? Go back to the drawing board would be my advice.

[ClaudeFeller]

You think you will make a living charging the occassional punter 30 baht an hour? Go back to the drawing board would be my advice.

Thats not what he wants to know.

Try Nathon middle road, there is a large computer shop, owner speaks good english. Try to get 20 % discount if you order a lot.

[Chayaphum]

...for Computers, go to Rawadee's Computer Shop in Lamai (ITC Area).

Nice Girl and every time a good service in english language.

More cheaper ......go byself to BKK/Panthip Plaza and buy there what you need....

good luck

Chayaphum

Edited January 12, 2008 by Chayaphum

[worldwebwide]

Thank you a lot for your advice.

I think it is better buy from samui because for after sale repair if i have problem, so it is a little expensive but it will good for the service and make local company works. What about of buying at Lotus or Big C, they are good price too ?

[Chayaphum]

...after sale repair....

please check about service before you buy in Tesco/BigC.

I think, there you will get just 1 week or 10 days guarantee

with the original bill from the store.......after this time, if they

can't help you in samui.....the computer has to send to bkk anyway

to the dealer/distributor or factory for repare or replace.

Real guarantee or responsibility/liability in thailand is anyway no't an easy life

Dont' believe everything what the sales staff tell you!

Many of these staff has no professionell-knowledge or just speak something

good (sweet) to you for sell some products...(just interested for make revenue, not service)

Chayaphum

(i know about what i am talking here, that's reality not fiction) T.I.T.

[worldwebwide]

...after sale repair....

please check about service before you buy in Tesco/BigC.

I think, there you will get just 1 week or 10 days guarantee

with the original bill from the store.......after this time, if they

can't help you in samui.....the computer has to send to bkk anyway

to the dealer/distributor or factory for repare or replace.

Real guarantee or responsibility/liability in thailand is anyway no't an easy life

Dont' believe everything what the sales staff tell you!

Many of these staff has no professionell-knowledge or just speak something

good (sweet) to you for sell some products...(just interested for make revenue, not service)

Chayaphum

(i know about what i am talking here, that's reality not fiction) T.I.T.

Thank you.

I'll check around.

I need a second hand pool, anybody ?

[kevbap]

last i knew Gringos had a decent pool table, that Kirk the owner was selling.

Have you tried the pool table shop south of Nathon?

Good luck

[baanthale]

Like someone said already, computer shop on middle road of Nathon is really good. Bought one computer from them, built on place, 17" flat Dell monitor, some intel processor, 1gb memory, 160Gb harddrive, Asus motherboard, Lg dvd dl burner and a basic key board for 16,000THB, even got 20 dvd pans included Not had a problem so far with this one, but have been there with other computers a couple of times, and they fixed problems on spot, without delays, free or dirt cheap

Regarding Tesco and big c, Yes warranty doesn't exist, and I also think their stock is not to impressive, most no-name crap

[worldwebwide]

Thank a lot everybody, i'll go to nathon to check.

Do you know the fastest speed ADSL on samui ?

[Shrubbery]

This is a suggestion only, so please no barracking.

How about offering cheap calls via the internet.

[mikethevigoman]

Hi everybody,

I plan open an internet cafe in the south of the samui, i need some advise:

Where can i buy computer for the best price on the island ?

I search for a pool snooker, where can i buy for the price ? anybody have a second hand pool for sale?

Any help are welcome.

Thank a lot,

You will be shot down in flames asking for this advice, the grumps see this as one step up the ladder from asking advice on opening a bar ,.

[sbk]

I think Claude Feller's post was pretty comprehensive in covering any issues the "grumps" may have with the original post.

[mikethevigoman]

I think Claude Feller's post was pretty comprehensive in covering any issues the "grumps" may have with the original post.

bet we still get a few

[ClaudeFeller]

Thongkrut area has NO internet cafe at all, and enough of young kids to let you know every fashion online barbie-dancing and egoshooter game in a short while... dont forget the headphones! For Inet computers you dont need any good hardware quality...

[billd766]

You may want to look at these people as they have a system which should help you with an internet cafe.

CyberCafePro - Internet Cafe Software

I have this same idea but it is on the back burner for a while and as I live out in the boonies in central region I would not be in your way.

[Khun Jean]

I had an internet/photo print shop in Lamai and the 'money makers' were 'fruit drinks', 'snacks' and the best 'Long distance phone calls'. Very cheap to buy, and can sell with a large profit margin. The best thing is, when you don't overprice people will feel relaxed and talk for a long time.

I used the internet connection myself for my work so the rest was 'extra'.

Point was after a while this small 'extra' stayed small in returns but took a lot of time. For a foreigner this time/return is mostly not interesting. For Thai people it seems more than enough.

I bought all the computers in Bangkok and a few spare parts, but i see that the computer shop situation is a lot better now than a few years ago.

To get people coming back i used large desks so people would not have to sit shoulder to shoulder, a sort of prepaid card so they could buy like 100 baht or more and get a good discount. Once bought people come back every time.

And of course offer drinks, snacks etc.

i did not bother with 'internet cafe software'. It screws a machine up. I had many customers that wanted to use the computer in other ways, like working on their pictures, writing letters, etc. Most internet cafe software locks a computer down so only a few functions are available. In practice this goes a little bit too far. I had customers return to my shop because of this. I even had a few different keyboards, like swedish, spanish, french. Small touches like that are really appreciated, and it only cost a few 1000 baht more to buy it.

I installed windows XP on all systems and made an image of that install. Every day i just reverted back to this image. Every day a clean start. When updates where available i installed those and made a new image. As all the computers were the same i only had to make one image.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Khun Jean

[BigC]

Hi everybody,

I plan open an internet cafe in the south of the samui, i need some advise:

Where can i buy computer for the best price on the island ?

I search for a pool snooker, where can i buy for the price ? anybody have a second hand pool for sale?

Any help are welcome.

Thank a lot,

try shopping in bangkok then get the all the stuff delivered in one go.higher a truck. there is a place called delco's in lamui where he does frquent visits to bangkok and back with his lorry. i used him before it did the job moving house. would pack the stuff yourself though

[ClaudeFeller]

I had an internet/photo print shop in Lamai and the 'money makers' were 'fruit drinks', 'snacks' and the best 'Long distance phone calls'. Very cheap to buy, and can sell with a large profit margin. The best thing is, when you don't overprice people will feel relaxed and talk for a long time.

I used the internet connection myself for my work so the rest was 'extra'.

Point was after a while this small 'extra' stayed small in returns but took a lot of time. For a foreigner this time/return is mostly not interesting. For Thai people it seems more than enough.

I bought all the computers in Bangkok and a few spare parts, but i see that the computer shop situation is a lot better now than a few years ago.

To get people coming back i used large desks so people would not have to sit shoulder to shoulder, a sort of prepaid card so they could buy like 100 baht or more and get a good discount. Once bought people come back every time.

And of course offer drinks, snacks etc.

i did not bother with 'internet cafe software'. It screws a machine up. I had many customers that wanted to use the computer in other ways, like working on their pictures, writing letters, etc. Most internet cafe software locks a computer down so only a few functions are available. In practice this goes a little bit too far. I had customers return to my shop because of this. I even had a few different keyboards, like swedish, spanish, french. Small touches like that are really appreciated, and it only cost a few 1000 baht more to buy it.

I installed windows XP on all systems and made an image of that install. Every day i just reverted back to this image. Every day a clean start. When updates where available i installed those and made a new image. As all the computers were the same i only had to make one image.

This was a very good post! Why did you stop this business? Rental fees too high?

[BigSnake]

Basic I say you need a little business background, some computer skills and foremost a PASSION for running your own business. I wish you the very best of luck. Go for it my friend.

[happylarry]

somewhere between mcdonalds and the shamrock pub in Lamai I noticed an internet shop that had been decked out with large leather look easy chairs and pucker desks with flat screen pcs etc., all looked new and very comfortable and the place was packed.

I know if I was in that area and had the need for an internet cafe then I would pass others to go there.

A bit of investment at the start can really pay dividends in the long run.

Good luck.

[Khun Jean]

This was a very good post! Why did you stop this business? Rental fees too high?

Actually rental fees where very reasonable. 6000 baht a month, keymoney 100.000 for 3 years.

Profit was ok, it paid the rent for the shop, the house we lived in and all of the other bills.

A few reason i stopped:

Too much time that could be spend more enjoyable.

Drunken tourist (i really hated the obnoxious ones, the funny ones were ok )

Too many bargirls needing help translating their bullshi* which we categorally refused (gets tiring though refusing all the time).

after high season FOUR! internet shops opened within a 100 meter radius.

And to make the decision quicker, all equipment was stolen.

[ClaudeFeller]

This was a very good post! Why did you stop this business? Rental fees too high?

Actually rental fees where very reasonable. 6000 baht a month, keymoney 100.000 for 3 years.

Profit was ok, it paid the rent for the shop, the house we lived in and all of the other bills.

A few reason i stopped:

Too much time that could be spend more enjoyable.

Drunken tourist (i really hated the obnoxious ones, the funny ones were ok )

Too many bargirls needing help translating their bullshi* which we categorally refused (gets tiring though refusing all the time).

after high season FOUR! internet shops opened within a 100 meter radius.

And to make the decision quicker, all equipment was stolen.

To run a business on Samui the biggest probs seems to be:

- double rental fees for shop and private house (thais always life in their small shop, farang needs privacy)

- working time maybe up to 90 hrs a week

- copy mentality of the thais?

- unforseen events (maybe the biggest problem!)

WOW!

[blizzard]

the biggest drawback is they make thai profits, if any.

[Khun Jean]

the biggest drawback is they make thai profits, if any.

That is not always the biggest drawback.

For me it was more a rented office from which i worked on my online business.

The internet/network structure was already there and it provided my wife a 'hobby'.

The problem starts when this 'hobby' starts to change slowly in a 'job'.

If we were able to keep it a hobby it would be nice, but getting more busy and starting to make some money was unexpected. The shop was more a big 'living' room than an internetshop, and we had many nice contacts with tourists and locals. At that moment you feel obligated to at least be open on the expected hours. Before it was more like, 'it is quiet', 'lets go to the beach and have lunch'.

It was definitely a speed course 'how to (or not) do business in Thailand'.

I would not do it again, but the experience was definately needed.

[girlx]

I installed windows XP on all systems and made an image of that install. Every day i just reverted back to this image. Every day a clean start. When updates where available i installed those and made a new image. As all the computers were the same i only had to make one image.

i was wondering if you could do this, because an internet cafe in bolivia did it to me every day! i wanted to use yahoo messenger to talk to friends in thailand, and every time i went there i would have to download it. the next day i would go back to the same computer and it would be gone! so i would download it again... etc... i would suggest if you are going to make an "image" (however it is you do that!), you first put some of the useful software on so people have access to it.

[girlx]

there is a place called delco's in lamui where he does frquent visits to bangkok and back with his lorry. i used him before it did the job moving house.

hmm off topic but i recently asked about a service like this but got no responses... do you have any contact info for delco's? and did you mean lamai?

[ClaudeFeller]

I want to know to - need more or less regular shipping from BKK train station.

[girlx]

...???...

[Dingojoe]

...after sale repair....

please check about service before you buy in Tesco/BigC.

I think, there you will get just 1 week or 10 days guarantee

with the original bill from the store.......after this time, if they

can't help you in samui.....the computer has to send to bkk anyway

to the dealer/distributor or factory for repare or replace.

Real guarantee or responsibility/liability in thailand is anyway no't an easy life

Dont' believe everything what the sales staff tell you!

Many of these staff has no professionell-knowledge or just speak something

good (sweet) to you for sell some products...(just interested for make revenue, not service)

Chayaphum

(i know about what i am talking here, that's reality not fiction) T.I.T.

Thank you.

I'll check around.

I need a second hand pool, anybody ?

I have a second hand pool table for sale, its 3/4 size and only 3 months old hardly used, cost 50,000 baht new, you can have it for 30,000 baht I just PM you with the phone number of one of my boys they will deliver it to your shop if you want.