Value of Windows 98 SEALED copy

[w.cattermoul]

Hi. Recenty when clearing out the attic at my house, i came across a Dell Dimension XPS T800r (Pentium III) and an HP Pavilion A614N (Pentium IV) both immaculate with little dust. But the thing i was most excited about was that i found a SEALED copy of Windows 98 SP2 (Im guessing for the Dell, as the HP is a Windows XP system) with Product Key, Floppy install and CD-ROM install. Does anybody know what its worth?

Thanks

 

[Jwpanz]

After browsing eBay for a minute, it shows a Windows 98 sealed copy running about $50 to $150.

 

[w.cattermoul]

After browsing eBay for a minute, it shows a Windows 98 sealed copy running about $50 to $150.

when i looked there was one and it wasnt sealed

 

[USAFRet]

SOLD and COMPLETED shows about $25-$50.

It is only "worth" what someone else will pay for it.

 

[william p]

It's worth nothing until you unseal it and install it on a computer. Then it's worth even less.

Seriously I hope you find someone who wants it. But that's what auctions are for. To determine what the market will pay for something. If there are 3 for sale and only 1 person wants it don't expect much. If there's only 1 and 3 people want it then you'll get a different result.
You might ask here.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-300#post-3956050
Old computer stuff is all they do there.

 

[w.cattermoul]

It's worth nothing until you unseal it and install it on a computer. Then it's worth even less.

Seriously I hope you find someone who wants it. But that's what auctions are for. To determine what the market will pay for something. If there are 3 for sale and only 1 person wants it don't expect much. If there's only 1 and 3 people want it then you'll get a different result.
You might ask here.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-300#post-3956050
Old computer stuff is all they do there.

so what your saying is, Its worth LESS if I don't open it?

 

[william p]

That was a joke. Translated- It means "worth nothing"="useless" until...... It's worth something to a collector of such things. But that "value" is only in the eyes of the beholder. You can put it up for auction and see what happens, or shop it around to old hardware enthusiasts and see if anyone bites.

 

[w.cattermoul]

That was a joke. Translated- It means "worth nothing"="useless" until...... It's worth something to a collector of such things. But that "value" is only in the eyes of the beholder. You can put it up for auction and see what happens, or shop it around to old hardware enthusiasts and see if anyone bites.

ok

 

[Jwpanz]

That was a joke. Translated- It means "worth nothing"="useless" until...... It's worth something to a collector of such things. But that "value" is only in the eyes of the beholder. You can put it up for auction and see what happens, or shop it around to old hardware enthusiasts and see if anyone bites.

ok

You could hold onto it and, maybe, it will be worth more in the future. The only issue I see is that Windows 98 is not a very note-worthy version of Windows. Windows 95 or perhaps one of the earliest versions of Windows 1.0, 2.0, etc. would be worth more in a sealed package. I would even suggest that a sealed version of Windows XP will be worth more to "Retro PC Collectors" or whatever you want to call them.

There needs to be something significant attached to an older item to make it valuable. Some sort of historical significance. Just because Windows 98 is older and still sealed does not make it valuable.

 

[punkncat]

The biggest issue I see with that is support is LONG gone, and with it (and more importantly) driver support is gone. Unless you find someone that both desires that long dead OS and just happens to have a bevy of drivers cached it's pretty worthless.

 

[william p]

I actually have some Engine Dynamometer Simulations and camshaft selection programs, plus a 1/4 mile Dgrags strip simulation to select gearing that all run on Win98. But I don't need a sealed copy to run them. It also easy to find printers and other hardware that works just fine except that there were no XP or later drivers written for them. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are people who collect sealed packaged of old operating systems.