The love story between America and TikTok recently came to a halt but that doesn’t mean it’s game over entirely. It simply means it’s time to hit up eBay.
eBay is now home to as many as 27,000 TikTok phones – phones with TikTok still installed on them. These coveted items are quickly becoming the latest marked-up must-have on the popular marketplace in America. A used phone with the banned app already installed on it could mean their grand return to the platform.
The back story
America loves TikTok. Millions of people have made a small (or massive) fortune off the platforms and millions more have wasted thousands of hours watching. However, recently TikTok was banned from app stores in America due to a few main concerns such as concerns about data privacy, national security, and its potential influence on minors. 140 million U.S. users have been impacted by the shutdown.
While service has since been restored for existing users, the app is still not available to download in U.S.-based app stores, so it remains unavailable to anyone who hasn’t previously downloaded it.
Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store have yet to determine when TikTok will become available again. The only alternative lies in buying a phone with the app already installed.
And, thus eBay sellers have decided to capitalise on this development.
Enter TikTok Phones
Currently, “TikTok phones” have more than 27,000 listings on the online marketplace, according to CNN. Some are selling for tens of thousands with others with sticker prices as high as $6 MILLION DOLLARS!
Just ask this punter whose description reads:
iPhone 14 unlocked with Tik Tok
Hand delivered anywhere in the world
This is the best offer out there
Buy my phone and I’ll quit my job and book a flight to come deliver this phone to you
Nice work buddy! Let’s see how that plays out! 😉
Of course, listing an item on eBay and selling an item on eBay are two different things but still, this is a pretty hefty ask.
On one listing for $50,000 there are nearly 80 shoppers keeping their ‘eye’ on the listing. So people could be actually paying these mega prices to nab a TikTok phone.
There’s still a chance that these coveted TikTok phones won’t even have TikTik. If the phone owner has signed out of iCloud or Google instead of the usual factory reset, then the app will not be there and the new phone owner will still be unable to download the banned app.
The TikTok ban hasn’t impacted Australia and it’s unclear just how long the TikTik ban will last in America.
Other hot eBay Commodities
This isn’t the first time eBay sellers have cashed in on much-wanted items. When Woolworths Ooshies first became popular back in 2020, there was a bidding war for a very rare Ooshies with 95 bidders taking the price up to $99,400.
The listing has since been deleted but it was for an extremely rare Baby Yoda Ooshies, individually numbered 059. Not to be confused with the normal green Yoda, this one has felt/fur clothing.
Beanie Babies are also a hot commodity, especially the rare 90s ones. A 1997 Rainbow Beanie Baby sold on eBay for an epic $50,000 USD. That’s around $67,000 AUD!
In addition to Rainbow, there were plenty more 90s Beanie Babies that are stuffed goldmines on eBay and other seller sites.
Below are a few others:
- Valentina (With Errors) (1998) $29,999
- Valentino (1994) $25,003
- Pouch (1996) $19,000
- Princess Diana (Rare Edition) (1997) $18,950
- Maple The Bear (With Errors) (1997) $18,000
- Curly The Bear (1996) $15,000
- Patti The Platypus (1993) $15,000
- Peanut The Royal Blue Elephant (1995) $15,000
- Claude The Crab (1996) $14,000
American Doll Felicity was discontinued and she sold for $7,820 USD ($10,300 AUD) in 2021. Other old-school toys that do well on eBay (if they are rare and in perfect condition) include the 90s Polly Pockets as well as certain Pokemon cards.
