It was only a couple of decades ago that homes and offices were filled with answering machines and BlackBerry phones.

And although they’ve been obsolete for years, they’re now among the retro gadgets that could make you a fortune.

According to a new report from Gumtree, people in the UK are sitting on a hidden goldmine of forgotten tech devices that might be collecting dust in their attics.

The online marketplace has introduced its inaugural ‘Pre-Owned Price Index’, showcasing the potential earnings from selling second-hand tech and household items.

And it suggests there’s high demand for many old gizmos, from phones to consoles and other rarities.  

Kim Faura, consumer expert at Gumtree, said ‘seemingly outdated tech’ can still sell for large amounts – whether they still work or not. 

‘What someone plans to do with an answering machine or a Blackberry phone isn’t always obvious,’ he said

‘But clearly, nostalgia still carries value.’ 

Despite their decline in popularity since the nineties, Gumtree reports that over 1,000 individuals have responded to advertisements for landline answering machines in the past year.

BLACKBERRY PHONES

Many younger smartphone users today might not recall BlackBerry, the once revolutionary handheld device that captivated the world in the early 2000s and was even the subject of a recent major film.

Boasting both a large screen and QWERTY keyboard, BlackBerry phones looked unique compared with other handsets of the era. 

At one point, BlackBerry, owned by a Ontario-based company of the same name, sold more than 50 million handsets in a year. 

But as the 21st century progressed, the widespread industry shift towards touchscreens spearheaded by Apple left BlackBerry in the dust. 

To the despair of its dedicated cult of fans, the final BlackBerry phones were produced in 2020 and software support was withdrawn two years later. 

Currently, BlackBerry phones serve mostly as nostalgic keepsakes or paperweights, but selling them could be worthwhile if you have one tucked away.

Gumtree’s Pre-Owned Price Index indicates that BlackBerry phones are being sold for an average of £30 on the site, ‘despite most now being largely outdated’.

BlackBerry, the Canadian company that took the world by storm in 2000 with its classic smartphone, ended support for the iconic device in 2022

NOKIA PHONES 

If you owned a phone 20 years ago, the likelihood is that it was a Nokia.  

Once the world leader in the mobile phones market, the Finnish brand is another still fondly remembered by tech fans today. 

Some of its models are the stuff of legend, including the 3310, renowned for its durability, once described as a ‘big tough cockroach of a phone’. 

There was also the curved 8110 handset with its slideable front cover, made famous by blockbuster sci-fi movie ‘The Matrix’ in 1999. 

And who could forget the Nokia 6800, with its unusual fold-out keyboard that let people use thumbs for typing either side of the screen. 

According to Gumtree, Nokia phones – which have not been a serious player in the market for well over a decade – also show people are willing to pay for nostalgia.   

One lying around in a drawer could net the seller an average of £30 – but you may get a better price if it’s one of the more famous models. 

Nokia’s iconic 3310, first released 25 years ago, was described as a ‘big tough cockroach of a phone’ with ‘legendary durability’

Nokia 8110, featuring a slidey front cover, made an appearance in 1999 blockbuster film ‘The Matrix’

ANSWERING MACHINES 

It may seem bizarre, but people are using Gumtree to buy answering machines for landline phones, according to the findings. 

In the days before WhatsApp, physical answering machines allowed people to leave voice messages on telephone landlines ‘after the beep’.

Those old enough will remember models that recorded the messages directly onto a cassette inside the machine that had to be played back.  

But by the mid-nineties, integrated voicemail systems were added to phones, rendering the concept pretty much obsolete. 

Even though you can still leave a message on a home phone, smartphones and apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram have largely superseded landlines. 

Other than being a retro addition to a someone’s longue, answering machines perhaps of little use today – but they’re selling at an average of £35 on Gumtree.

Incredibly, data showed that more than 1,000 people have responded to adverts for answering machines in the past 12 months. 

Pictured, a Panasonic answering machine with a dual compact cassette tape drive to record and replay messages

OLD CONSOLES 

They represent a golden era of gaming, so there’s little surprise that consoles from the 1990s and 2000s are draw attention on Gumtree too. 

Sony’s PlayStation 1 and 2 and Nintendo’s Wii have generated 1,031 responses to listings on Gumtree in the past 12 months.

They’ve been selling for £45 each on average second-hand – which ironically is about the price of a PlayStation 5 game today.

PlayStation 5 – the latest model in Sony’s series – was released nearly five years ago, which is not quite long enough to make it retro tech.

But for people selling the console second-hand, Gumtree experts advise them not to underprice it. 

On average, PlayStation 5 consoles are worth £300 secondhand, not far off the current new price of £429.99. 

Nintendo released its latest console the Switch 2 earlier this year,  while Sony’s PlayStation 6 is expected to come out in 2027 or 2028. 

Classic: The original Sony PlayStation (pictured) was released in Japan in December 1994, followed by a wider release the following year

iPHONES AND OTHER DEVICES

According to Gumtree, Apple’s iPhones command an average of £250 – with newer models going for much more. 

In comparison, Samsung phones meanwhile go for £200 on average, HTC phones £40 on average and LG just £32.50 on average. 

The average iPhone gets 1.4 replies for every listing, showing just how strong demand is for Apple products even if they’re secondhand. 

Gumtree warns that some tech can see big price drops when sold on, such as laptops, which often cost upwards of £1,000 new but go for an average of just £160 secondhand. 

The site’s Pre-Owned Price Index also includes non-techy items including golf clubs, car parts, furniture and white goods. 

THE TRILLION DOLLAR RISE OF APPLE

1976: Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne created the company on April 1 1976 as they set about selling computer kits to hobbyists, each of which was built by Wozniak.

The first product was the Apple I. 

1977: Apple released the Apple II in June, which was the first PC made for the mass market. 

Steve Jobs unveils Apple Computer Corporation’s new Macintosh February 6, 1984 in California.

1981: Jobs became chairman.  

1984: The Macintosh was introduced during an ad break for the Super Bowl and later officially unveiled during a launch event. It was discontinued a year later and Jobs left the firm.

1987: Apple released the Macintosh II, the first colour Mac.

1997: Apple announces it will acquire NeXT software in a $400 million deal that involves Jobs returning to Apple as interim CEO. He officially took the role in 2000.  

The then Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Steve Jobs, with the iPhone

2001: Apple introduced iTunes, OS X and the first-generation iPod.

The first iPod MP3 music player was released on October 23, 2001, at an event in Cupertino and was able to hold up to 1,000 songs.

2007: Apple unveils the iPhone. 

2010: The first iPad was unveiled.

2011: Jobs resigned in 2011 due to illness, handing the CEO title to Tim Cook. Jobs died in October from pancreatic cancer.

2014: Apple unveiled the Apple Watch. It also unveiled its first larger iPhones – the 6 and 6 Plus. 

2015: After purchasing Beats from Dr Dre, Apple launched Apple Music to compete with Spotify and other music streaming services. 

2016: Apple returned to its roots and announced the 4-inch iPhone SE. Meanwhile, the firm is embroiled in a legal battle with the FBI, involving the agency demanding access to the locked phone used by Syed Farook, who died in a shootout after carrying out a deadly December attack in San Bernardino, California with his wife. The court order was dropped on March 28 after the FBI said a third party was able to unlock the device.  

2017: Apple introduces the iPhone X, which removes the home button to make way for a futuristic edge-to-edge screen design and a new FaceID system that uses advanced sensors and lasers to unlock phones with just the owner’s face.    

Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks at an Apple event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

2018: In a first for the company, Apple introduces new features in its latest operating system, iOS 12, that encourage users to manage and spend less time on their devices. The move was spawned by a strongly worded letter from shareholders that urged the firm to address the growing problem of smartphone addiction among kids and teenagers. 

2019: In January, Apple reports its first decline in revenues and profits in a decade. CEO Tim Cook partly blamed steep declines in revenue from China.

2020: In March, Apple closes all its bricks and mortar retail stores outside of China in response to coronavirus. 

2021: In an online virtual event in April CEO Tim Cook declared Apple’s goal of becoming carbon neutral for Earth Day. Later in the year the iPhone 13 was announced. 

2022: In September the iPhone 14 was announced. One of the new features included a new sensor to detect if a user had been in a car crash as well as an improved camera system. 

2023: Apple brought back its ‘Home Pod’ after the first generation was discontinued. The ‘Home Pod’ can be seen as an alternative to Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home as it is powered by voice commands. 

2024: Apple makes its first steps into artificial intelligence with the release of Apple Intelligence. The features are not all released at once with many delayed until the following year.