iPhones with TikTok installed are being sold for as much as $10,000 on eBay. What to know before buying one

iPhones and Android phones with TikTok preinstalled on them are being listed for exorbitant prices of $10,000 or more on the online marketplace eBay. The listings are an attempt to make a large sum of money off people in the United States who are desperate to get back onto the banned platform. Here’s what you need to know.

Why are phones with TikTok preinstalled being sold on eBay?

iPhones and Android phones with TikTok already installed on them are being sold on eBay because TikTok and other ByteDance apps, including CapCut, were banned in America on January 19. Congress passed a law that banned China-based ByteDance apps over alleged national security concerns last year, and last week, the Supreme Court upheld it.

However, shortly after the ban went into effect, President Trump announced he would issue a 75-day stay on the ban. Even so, there are doubts by legal scholars as to whether Trump’s pause on the ban is legal.

Apple and Google are paying close attention to the question of its legality. If Trump’s ban is not legal, the two app store giants could face fines for hosting TikTok and other ByteDance apps on their app stores—fines that could reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

That means TikTok and other ByteDance apps are still unavailable to download from the Google and Apple app stores, so if you don’t have the apps on your phone already, you can’t currently install them.

But if you already have the apps on your phone, you can currently use them if you are in the United States. Hence, enterprising individuals are selling phones that have TikTok already preinstalled.

Is a phone with TikTok installed worth $10,000?

That completely depends on how badly you want to use TikTok again. While there are listings for Android and iPhones with TikTok preinstalled for $10,000 or more, eBay also has plenty of listings for phones with TikTok preinstalled for the low thousands of dollars.

Fast Company has viewed eBay listings for an iPhone 13 Pro offered for $10,000 with TikTok installed. However, a listing for an iPhone 14 Pro Max with the app installed also advertises the phone for $3,500. Android phones with TikTok preinstalled span a wide range of price points, too. A Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 with TikTok is listed at $12,000, while a OnePlus 8 5G with TikTok is listed at $2,500.

If you’re a TikTok super-user who deleted the app from your phone after the ban went into place and now badly want to get onto the platform again, paying $10,000 for a used phone preinstalled with TikTok might be worth it to you. Many other people would balk at such high prices.

One thing to keep in mind before you buy a phone with TikTok preinstalled

Those who are willing to shell out thousands of dollars on a phone with TikTok preinstalled need to be aware of one thing: Even though phones with TikTok already on them can continue to use the app, TikTok may stop working on those phones again in fewer than 75 days.

That’s because courts may rule that Trump’s temporary pause on the TikTok ban legally unenforceable. If so, TikTok could become non-functional on U.S. phones again any day. And even if Trump’s pause lasts the entire 75 days, TikTok could still be forced to shut its platform in the United States again in early April.

If either of those things happens, users who splashed out $10K on a phone with TikTok installed will find the app to be unusable again. And if that’s the case, they would have spent thousands on a phone that is no longer capable of running the app they want to most use.