Secondhand telephones with TikTok put in are being listed on eBay for 1000’s of {dollars}. And it seems that some folks would possibly truly be shopping for them.
Regardless of US president Donald Trump signing an executive order on Monday delaying any potential ban of the social media app for 75 days, TikTok stays absent from all US app shops—with Apple and Google giving no hints on whether or not it’s going to return. Meaning in case you are in America and delete the app or lose your telephone, you might be presently locked out, with no option to obtain it once more. For content material creators, model entrepreneurs, and social media managers, that would spell catastrophe. And an costly one at that.
Opportunistic eBayers have taken the prospect to money in on this misfortune. A fast seek for “TikTok telephone” brings up greater than 9,000 listings of used smartphones from the likes of Apple and Samsung, all with the TikTok app already put in.
That is potential by the vendor signing out of the iCloud or Google account related to the system fairly than wiping the telephone again to manufacturing unit settings. Any purchaser would then should be cautious to not sync to any current cloud backup, to keep away from dropping the app they’ve paid a lot to get.
A few of these telephones are listed for as a lot as $50,000 underneath eBay’s Purchase It Now promoting format, nevertheless it’s laborious to imagine anybody may actually suppose their telephone would promote for that—and there isn’t any signal that they’ve.
There are lots of extra listed within the $2,000 to $5,000 vary, however as as to whether anybody is definitely shopping for them at this worth, it nonetheless appears unlikely.
What might be mentioned is that, despite the inflated costs, there is curiosity. These telephones are promoting, however for precisely how a lot is tougher to establish. Choose the “offered” filter on eBay’s search and there are many gross sales that seem like accomplished, however just about all of them have an undisclosed “greatest supply accepted” notice related to them.
Any completed auctions with extremely inflated costs look to have been relisted shortly after, suggesting an unsuccessful sale, with solely people who sit at near market worth for secondhand telephones trying to have truly offered.
A fast look at auctions which might be presently operating additionally present far more affordable costs than an preliminary search would possibly recommend.
The true affect of any TikTok premium is considerably unclear, then, however that is not stopping folks from attempting. Outcomes for the TikTok telephone search time period went up by over 2,000 objects throughout the course of writing this text—a way of urgency little question pushed alongside by the very fact the app might be returned to the app shops at any time.
In the intervening time, a TikTok search on both app retailer is met with statements from Google and Apple citing authorized necessities as the explanation the app is just not out there on their shops. That is regardless of Trump’s govt order clearly instructing the Division of Justice to “take no motion to implement the Act or impose any penalties in opposition to any entity for any noncompliance with the Act.”
Whether or not TikTok reappears earlier than the 75 days is up stays to be seen—as does any deal Trump cuts within the meantime—however these exiled aren’t fully with out choices. This week, thousands of users have flocked to a different Chinese language-owned social media platform, RedNote, leaving the app scrambling to hire English moderators.
Meta, which owns Fb and Instagram, has additionally been doing its bit to take misplaced TikTokers underneath its wing, introducing a flurry of new familiar features and even providing massive influencers as a lot as $5,000 to join its platforms.
