Can someone say if they think this'll work:

I offer money for people's secondhand unused computers (up to £100 depending on the condition and specs) . I then clean them up visually and install hardware to get them up to the standard specs (e.g 512MB RAM, 60GB Hard drive etc...). I will then sell them on my website (for, for example £200-£300). Do you think this is profitable?

It is as long as you sell them for more than you spent putting them together...and also included any other costs of doing business such as shipping and handling...home office expenses....licenses to sell if applicable...etc.

If you are really asking, do we think this is a good idea? My husband does this...and has made money on all the ones he put together...but we haven't tried selling any from a website...only through family, friends, and acquaintances.

Yes it can be profitable, like Kaylinda said make sure you know the costs you are putting into everything.

You would be far better off getting wholesale new machines and building them to the customers needs. Fiddling with old machines sounds like there'd be too many problems. Warranty is an issue too. Sourcing the old machines in not much of a problem, just run an ad somewhere and you'll be swamped with them.

With an older machine, you'll need to be careful with what is on the disk if you sell with the original disk.

You still have to buy the O/S, so there's a cost issue there and it's the same cost if you sell a new machine.

I personally believe it would be better to sell new machines but built to a customers specification.

I agree with machine but I think the main problem is that the shipping cost is quite high for a computer. Thus, you may only get a little profit even it is profitable.