Many people are listing iPhones with TikTok installed on eBay for thousands of dollars as the app remains absent on Google and Apple app stores.

TikTok’s absence from app stores in the US has sparked an unusual trend: phones with the app pre-installed are being sold on eBay for exorbitant amounts. Some listings are priced as high as $50,000, reported The Independent, with sellers capitalising on the scarcity of the popular short-video platform following its removal.

"TikTok Phones," devices with the controversial app still installed, are now being sold for tens of thousands on eBay.

Did you delete the TikTok app after it was briefly banned? Your only option may be to purchase a phone with the app already installed on eBay — but the priciest option is reportedly over $5 million. After the viral video-sharing platform went dark last weekend,

Business Insider's scan of platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace showed hundreds of listings touting phones with TikTok and CapCut installed.

Some cell phone owners with the app installed are selling their devices online to TikTok users eager to consume content on the platform.

Some iPhones with the TikTok app, which is currently unavailable in the Apple and Google app stores, are fetching big bucks on eBay in the wake of the video-sharing app's brief ban in the United States.

People are listing phones preloaded with TikTok on eBay, Facebook marketplace, and other online storefronts. View on euronews

US entrepreneurs are seizing an opportunity to make profits by selling phones preloaded with TikTok for high prices, following the app's temporary unavailability in the US. Although TikTok cannot be downloaded from app stores,

Phones are going for thousands of dollars on online storefronts after Apple and Google took down ByteDance platforms.

There are also TikTok-loaded devices that are listed for sale for just hundreds of dollars. Some sellers advertise phones with active TikTok accounts, while others say the app is installed, but not linked to an account. Ebay did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment on the listings.