Interesting thread.

My experience is that if I have to put much in the way of time or parts into an older (more than 2 years old) system to get it working for resale, I will lose money, even if I get the system for free. The market here will not support prices high enough to make it worthwhile.

Older systems I generally break up for parts to be used in repair jobs or to be sold separately. There is far less consumer price sensitivity for parts, and an older system can be 2 to 3 time more valuable as parts than as a whole. Ironic.

People looking for a used computer want to buy a working computer, loaded with an OS and software, and they don't want to pay anything for it.

And then there is the competition... A lot of recyling shops here load their refurb systems with Windows 98SE or W2k Pro (no stickers on the case, no paper license, no media) and Office 2000 pre-SP1-activation-requirements (again no media). Most dubious. Not something I want part of.