Apple iPod sellers cashing in for thousands of dollars on nostalgia-fueled demand — but don’t expect the wave to last, expert warns

Could now be the time to dig out your long-forgotten iPod?

People are listing second-hand iPods for sale online for thousands of dollars after Apple announced it was pulling the plug on its iconic MP3 player.

One eBay listing for a collection of iPods has an asking price of $100,000.

The package includes four limited-edition iPods, a first-generation iPhone, two more iPods — second and third generation — and an assortment of accessories and Apple memorabilia.

The limited-edition iPods included in the listing come with their original boxes, according to the seller, and all of the electronics are fully functional.

“Very few of these iPods are still left in the world,” they claimed. “As rare as it gets for Apple iPod collectors!”

More than 120 people are currently watching the listing.

Others are attempting to sell individual early edition and “ultra-rare” iPods for tens of thousands of dollars, with one first-generation limited-edition iPod listed with a price tag of just under $45,000, and another first-generation iPod seller asking for $23,000.

First-generation iPods, which came onto the market in 2001, can be identified by their monochrome display and the control buttons — play, menu, next and previous — being in a circle around the navigation wheel.

The first-generation iPod was the only model to have a scroll wheel that physically turns, and was the only iPod model to offer 5GB of storage.

Although items don’t always sell for their listing price on eBay, many vintage iPods have sold on the platform for thousands of dollars in the past — and sellers aren’t only making huge profits on Apple’s original 2001 model.

Last month, a fourth-generation iPod touch — released between 2010 and 2012 — sold for $6,573, while another listing of the same model fetched $5,954 in February.

On Tuesday, a first-generation iPod sold for $1,600 — the day Apple announced it would stop making iPods after a two-decade run.

In April, a seventh-generation iPod classic sold for 2,000 Australian dollars ($1,374), while in March, an unpackaged first-generation iPod with some wear and tear sold in an eBay auction for $615 — 123% more than its starting price.

These eye-watering listing prices aren’t just limited to eBay — sellers are also using platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Etsy to list their old iPods for up to five-figures.

Sales are happening on an international scale, with Apple’s discontinued MP3 players being advertised by people from countries including the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia.

Word of warning

However, Tracy Martin, a U.K.-based collectibles expert and author of six books on the subject, told Fortune on Thursday that while some sellers may be cashing in on nostalgia-fueled transactions, it was questionable whether the vintage hardware could be regarded as a collector’s item.

“At the moment, in my opinion no, there isn't enough demand for rare and early iPods or even MP3 players which were around in the 1990s [to justify four and five-figure asking prices],” she said.

“Some people will of course try it on for high prices and there will be a few that purchase, but in general the discontinuation will not affect the collector’s market at the moment.”

However, she added that it was important to acknowledge the impact iPods had had on global social history, with the tech allowing people to make their entire music libraries portable and millions of units sold since the iPod’s launch in 2001.

“With this is mind there is a chance they will, many years in the future, become a collector’s item, but I cannot see prices being sky high — perhaps a few hundred [dollars] at most because so many were in circulation,” she told Fortune.

“They will be [traded between] those who appreciate the history and progression of the object and wish to own it for nostalgia purposes.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com