I am considering setting up a small shop selling PC components, doing upgrades, building systems etc. Have been looking online for suppliers/wholesalers for parts, but the cheapest I can seem to find is Ebuyer. Anyone know of anyone cheaper, I'm sure there must be some. I would obviously be buying bulk, say 10-25 of each item.

Also does anyone know anything about buying legit copies of Windows? The cheapest I could find an online retailer selling XP home edition for was ebuyer again, for £145. When I checked on Ebay, there are traders selling the full sealed UK version of XP home edition (exactly the same as Ebuyer) for around £75 with a free optical mouse. Where are they getting them from?
Is there a way to just buy the Windows disks, and licenses, to install on systems that I am building? Surely there must be a cheaper option for system builders. When I bought my first PC from PC world (I know!) many moons ago, all I got with it was a windows disk in a paper sleeve, and the instruction manual, with the product key on it. Are there copies of XP like this available?

Any help much appreciated!

microdirect (www.microdirect.co.uk) A friend has a trade account with them and stuffs quite cheap. I think if you looked around you may be able to find cheaper if you are a registered company.

You can apply for a trade account on their site.

www.overclockers.co.uk is the cheapest component store I have seen so far, they beat microdirect on most products. Good support and service too.

As for price difference that is because the ebuyer is an OEM version, which means that it can only be sold when bundled to hardware.

Have you seen the trade prcies for microdirect? ;)

Fair point Bigstan, no I haven't

OcUK are good, I use them myself, and theoverclockingstore, but if you are going to be buying in 'bulk', then MD will give a better discount.

Also try www.microlanduk.com