Secondhand telephones with TikTok put in are being listed on eBay for hundreds of {dollars}. And it seems that some folks may really be shopping for them.
Regardless of US president Donald Trump signing an govt 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 is going to return. Meaning in case you are in America and delete the app or lose your cellphone, you’re at the moment 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 possibility to money in on this misfortune. A fast seek for “TikTok cellphone” 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 merely signing out of the iCloud or Google account related to the gadget somewhat than restoring the cellphone again to manufacturing unit settings. Any purchaser would then should be cautious to not sync to any present cloud backup they’ve, to keep away from dropping the app they’ve paid a lot to get, in addition to guaranteeing any safety measures are eliminated by the vendor.
It goes with out saying that anybody contemplating this route can purchase with excessive warning, significantly given the asking value many sellers try to cost.
Yow will discover telephones with TikTok listed for as a lot as $50,000 below eBay’s Purchase It Now promoting format, but it surely’s onerous to consider anybody may really assume their cellphone would promote for that—and there isn’t any signal that they’ve.
There are numerous extra listed within the $2,000 to $5,000 vary, however as as to whether anybody is definitely shopping for them at this value, it nonetheless appears unlikely.
What may be mentioned is that, regardless of the inflated costs, there is curiosity. These telephones are promoting, however for precisely how a lot is more durable to determine. Choose the “offered” filter on eBay’s search and there are many gross sales that look like accomplished, however just about all of them have an undisclosed “finest supply accepted” notice related to them.
Any completed auctions with extremely inflated costs look to have had their units relisted shortly after, suggesting an unsuccessful sale, with solely people who sit at near market worth for secondhand telephones trying to have really offered.
A fast look at auctions which can be at the moment working additionally reveals these telephones are attracting far more cheap costs than an preliminary search may counsel.
Whether or not the TikTok premium is actual is considerably unclear, then, however that is not stopping folks from attempting. Outcomes for the TikTok cellphone search time period went up by over 2,000 gadgets through the course of writing this text—a way of urgency little doubt pushed alongside by the very fact the app could possibly be returned to US app shops at any time.
In the mean time, a TikTok search on both Apple’s App Retailer or the Google Play retailer is met with statements citing authorized necessities as the rationale the app shouldn’t be obtainable. 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 towards any entity for any noncompliance with the Act.”
Whether or not considerations are abated and 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 from their favorite video-sharing app aren’t utterly with out choices. This week, hundreds of customers have flocked to a different Chinese language-owned social media platform, RedNote, leaving the app scrambling to rent English moderators, whereas additionally attempting to capitalize on its newfound success.
Meta, which owns Fb and Instagram, has additionally been doing its bit to take misplaced TikTokers below its wing, introducing a flurry of latest options, and even providing large influencers as a lot as $5,000 to affix its platforms.
