Your old iPod could be worth thousands of dollars (2024)

Baseball cards and Beanie Babies are both considered fruitful collector items and now iPods released in the early 2000s have joined the list.

The 30GB U2 edition iPod Classic hit the market in 2004 for $349 and sold for $90,000 a decade later.

This special edition variant isn’t the only one that turned a profit, as many of the classic models are now worth thousands of dollars – but only if it’s still factory-sealed in the original box.

Scroll down for video

The iTunes store launched in January 2001 and just a few months later, on October 23, 2001, the first generation iPod (M8541) hit the market.

Within six years, Apple had released five different models and sold 100 million in total.

But 2007 was also the year for another technology breakthrough – the iPhone.

The release of Apple’s smartphone slowly killed the iPod and in 2014, the Cupertino firm discontinued making and selling the iPod Classic.

Terapeak, a firm that watches trends in collectibles on eBay, released a report the same year Apple stopped producing the device.

The research shows classic iPods, in good condition, could be worth a few thousand dollars to several thousand -- if still in the factory sealed box.

The firm found a factory-sealed 5GB first generation iPod Classic sold for $20,000 on eBay in 2014.

And a factory-sealed 20GB U2 edition, 5GB first generation, 10GB second generation list from $2,500 to $7,999.99.

A factory-sealed third generation iPod goes for $999.95, a white fifth generation iPod classic could be worth $1,394 and a silver first-generation iPod mini might get you about $2,500.

Terapeak does note that owners of the late iPod Classic units should not get too existed about cashing in.

‘Claims that late model iPod Classic units are currently worth a thousand dollars or more on eBay are probably slightly overstated,’ the firm wrote in its blog.

‘A handful have paid this much, but prices over December thus far have ranged between $350 and $400 on average, and these prices are currently holding on eBay, with units readily available,’ they shared regarding sales in 2014.

The iPods made in the early 2000s aren’t the only Apple products that could be worth money.

Vintage Apple computers began making a comeback after the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011 – but as collector items.

The Apple 1 computer that launched in 1977 for around $667 sold for $390,000 in 2013, reports Turbo Future.

This model is considered to be the most valuable and collectible computers ever made, as there were only 575 units sold.

Today there are about 61 still floating around, but only six are actually functional.

In 1991, released 500 units of the JLPGA PowerBook 170, which was a portable version of the desktop Macintosh.

It sold for about $4,599 24 years ago and today it is worth up to $9,000 in mind condition.

But even if it’s broken you can sell it four at the most $1,000.

Apple memorabilia and promotional items are also on the radar for collectors, like the technology giant’s first iPod advertisem*nt – listed on eBay for $8,999.99, reports The Guardian.

Or an Apple Store display, listed for $5,999, which looks like a giant iPod made of thick acrylic.

And finally, eBay is featuring a 1985 Apple Superbowl XIX flag that was flown over the Apple booth for $1,099.99.