iPhones With TikTok Put in Are Being Provided on eBay for $50,000

TikTok exists in a kind of limbo in the mean time, not technically shut down because it obtained an extension to search out an American purchaser underneath the Trump administration, however not obtainable within the iPhone or Android app shops resulting from legal responsibility considerations. So when you’re completely fiending for that candy, candy infinite scroll of vertical video however didn’t keep in mind to put in the app in your cellphone earlier than the delicate ban hit, you’ll should strive your luck on eBay, the place persons are promoting telephones pre-loaded with the TikTok app for hundreds of {dollars}.

As first spotted by Wired, there are at present about 9,000 eBay merchandise listings for numerous smartphones that have already got TikTok put in. There’s a big selection of gadgets relying on the popular make, mannequin, and service of your cellphone. For instance, you may seize a TikTok-equipped Samsung Galaxy A54 5G on Client Mobile for $250 or a T-Cell-compatible Apple iPhone 11 Professional Max for $450. However for probably the most half, if you would like certainly one of these TikTok machines, you’ll should be able to fork out a lot, way more than the MSRP.

Most listings have a minimum of three zeros on the finish of them, placing the beginning value within the hundreds—like this iPhone 14 at present listed at $7,500 with, on the time of publication, one particular person at present holding the merchandise of their cart. There are a number of listings at present asking within the tens of hundreds of {dollars}, together with one which has a listing value of $50,000 (or greatest supply, however both method, you’ll nonetheless should pay delivery which appears just a little petty, frankly).

It’s value noting that there’s a distinction between objects being listed at these costs and folks really shopping for them. Whereas among the listings for telephones with TikTok put in have hundreds of views within the final 24 hours, there’s much more consideration than gross sales. A lot of the gadgets which have bought, as proven by eBay’s “accomplished gross sales” filter, present that sellers usually settled for a proposal and never the record value. Nonetheless, some people have efficiently cashed in on opportunism: There’s a itemizing for an iPhone 16 Professional Max that reveals it bought for the $12,999 record value (although the vendor has zero historical past on the platform so it’s attainable it’s a phony sale).

An analogous phenomenon like this has occurred earlier than. Again when Flappy Hen was all the fashion and the creator ultimately determined to tug the app for his personal private sanity, telephones that had the sport put in bought on eBay, too, together with one system that produced a bidding struggle that resulted in a $99,900 successful bid. That sale ultimately got killed by eBay as a result of it requires all telephones bought on its platform to be wiped and restored to manufacturing unit settings earlier than being shipped out.

It does seem that eBay still requires factory resets for gadgets bought by means of its market, so hopefully, the sellers who’ve bought a cellphone with TikTok put in haven’t spent these earnings fairly but.