With TikTok officially banned from U.S. app stores after a brief ban earlier this week, thousands of eBay sellers have listed phones with the app installed, hoping to profit as TikTok resurfaces. The federal law requiring TikTok to be sold to a U.S.-based company or its allies for continued availability remains unsigned, complicating the situation. TikTok was pulled from stores on Friday and briefly went dark before being back online about 12 hours later after President Trump signed an executive order delaying enforcement. However, it’s still absent from app stores as of Thursday evening.
The chaos has attracted quick action from resellers: eBay listings for TikTok-installed phones range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, with some sellers asking for a million or more. One listing sold for $21,000 but is unlikely to have fetched that much. Searches for “TikTok phone” on eBay already exceed 27,000 results.
byteDance, the company behind TikTok, has not commented directly, nor have TikTok, eBay, Apple, or Google. The app’s return depends on whether ByteDance sells TikTok to a U.S.-based buyer or if Congress can overturn the ban via a new law. An executive order signed earlier this week delays enforcement for 75 days but doesn’t provide a permanent solution.
byteDance is in talks with potential buyers, as confirmed by Axios. The situation remains uncertain, and the future of TikTok in the U.S. hinges on these developments.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/23/business/iphone-tiktok-ebay/index.html