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Yesterday I was berating my kids for not previously downloading the oh-so-popular Flappy Bird app that has been a big source of controversy lately. I only learned about the app being removed from the app store from a group of carpool kids that I drive to and from school – and my ears perked up when one of them told me that some Flappy Birds “try-hards” were buying used devices with the app still loaded on them for around $1,000 on eBay.
“Are you sure you didn’t download it anywhere?” I asked, physically or mentally scouring my iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire devices and every other phablet or smartphone in this house. Any other time, I’d usually suck my teeth at another game app taking up precious space on my iPhone 5.
Alas, since none of the plethora of techie tools in my possession seem to have the Flappy Birds app loaded, I’ve been consigned to watch the melee unfold over the eBay sales of flappy happy devices instead of firing up my own eBay app to create my own listing and get rich quickly.
Even though eBay has cancelled the $99,000 listing where a seller tried to unload their iPhone 5S with Flappy Bird loaded, giving the excuse that devices have to be restored to their factory reset condition in order to be sold, it appears that several smart eBay sellers have found a way around that notion, if eBay’s own listing statuses are to be believed.
When a user searches for Flappy Bird in the “Computers/Tables & Networking” category of eBay and chooses to show only “sold listings,” an interesting listing appears.
This listing from eBay seller “barbaabrah” is listed with the standard “sold” label across the eBay photo, and eBay’s own status bar attests that “this ‘Buy it Now’ listing as ended.”
The price? A cool $8,000 says the ‘Buy it Now’ winning bid that ended on February 23, 2014 – so “good on you” Barbaabrah if you really got that amount for an iPad Mini, no less!
(Perhaps mixing up that exact match text by including ‘Flappy wi Bird’ instead of ‘wi Flappy Bird’ in the title helped you slip under the eBay moderator radar, huh? Also, the conflicting “Factory reset…Enjoy the game!!!” wink-wink, nod-nod text is further proof that this puppy probably wasn’t wiped clear before the sale.)
Other Flappy Bird app-loaded devices still selling on eBay
Man, I bet the seller who sold their “iPod Touch 5th Gen With Flappy Game Bird (32GB)” is kicking his or herself for only letting it go for $700 right now, because this person got $1,000 for the same device. I think I’m onto something with this research in finding out that folks who don’t list it as “Flappy Bird” exactly are slipping under the radar and selling their stuff with text like “Flappy Game Bird” instead.
Sell on, despite eBay telling sellers to pipe down over the sales. And watch out for fake Trojan apps when you use your earnings to buy a new iPhone and your kids start yammering at you to replace Flappy Birds with one of the fake Flappy Bird clones that have popped up.
Let’s see, what else can you buy with those earnings? Especially folks who are pulling down thousands for their Flappy Bird used app devices…
Perhaps pay off debt, buy new tech toys, or this crazy $20,000 tank on Amazon might be a hoot. You could furnish your whole living room with sweet Fabrooms stuff, or maybe even lock in some shares of Tesla if that eBay sale goes really well. Seriously…I’ve got to have that Flappy Birds game somewhere!