Software Market

During the decade or so that the Sinclair computers were in British shops, many thousands of commercial programs were produced for the ZX81, Spectrum and QL. Sinclair users bought them in their millions - one of the best-selling Spectrum games of all time, Ultimate's Sabre Wulf, sold more than 500,000 copies. Not surprisingly, Sinclair software in general is still extremely common and easy to find, although the rarity of individual programs varies considerably. In general, it's pretty cheap (usually selling for no more than £2 per tape) although some of the legendary games can sell for a bit more, especially the likes of the Ultimate games and Jet Set Willy. The ten ROM cartridges produced for the Interface 2 are worth a special note - because of their high rarity, they are now worth a significant amount (selling for up to £25 each).

Don't forget that many Spectrum games and utilities can be downloaded in emulator-compatible formats - see World of Spectrum for the web's largest archive of Spectrum programs.

Please note that items offered for sale through eBay are usually second-hand and sold without any guarantees of any sort. They may well be sold without packaging or instructions, and may not even work at all. If you have any queries about an item being auctioned, please contact the seller. Planet Sinclair cannot take any responsibility for your transactions on eBay. Always ensure that you know what you are buying!

Items	Production Date	Rarity	Value *
ZX81 software	1981-83 (approx)	Common	Up to £5
ZX Spectrum software	1982-92 (approx)	Common	Up to £5
ZX Spectrum ROM cartridges	1983	Rare	Up to £25
QL software	1984-88? (approx)	Uncommon	Up to £5

* Note: this is a rough estimate based on the typical sale value of the item on eBay. The actual purchase or resale value may differ significantly.

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© Chris Owen 1994-2003