The iPhone Gold Rush: Gold iPhone 5s Fetches $10k at Auction

Scarcity behind the gold model of Apple’s iPhone 5s is driving up prices on the second-hand market as Apple tries to meet demand through its own retail channels. Lucky buyers who were able to snatch the gold model of Apple’s latest flagship smartphone are now finding that they can make quite a profit by selling their phones on auction sites like eBay where one winning auction fetched as much as $10,000.

Other listings for the iPhone 5s reported by Business Insider scored for $4,600, well in excess of the $199 starting price with a two-year contract in the U.S. through a wireless carrier or the $649 price without a contract for the 16 GB model; the iPhone 5s goes as high as $849 without a contract for a 64 GB model through Apple.

Though many were skeptical about the success of the gold model as it was deemed by many to be more flashy than Apple’s traditional black or white models in the past, Apple has found a gold rush with the gold-hued color. This year, Apple is revamping its color lineup, replacing the black and white model for silver and space grey while adding the gold option as a third color choice.

Sadly, though, for the winning bidders of the gold phone auction, it has been more a rush for fool’s gold as the model doesn’t contain any gold. A London-based jeweler is now offering a customization service where users can have their iPhone gold plated. The process starts at under $3000 and users can have gold, rose gold, or even platinum plated on their iPhone models.

The gold model did surprisingly well and sold out immediately in many areas throughout the world, including Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Though Apple in general is having a hard time keeping up with demand for the iPhone 5s in general, it seems that the gold model has been especially hard to keep stocked. It’s unclear if that’s due to overwhelming demand for the novelty of that particular color or if Apple had underestimated demand in general for the gold phone. Whatever the case, it was recently reported that Apple may be increasing production for the gold iPhone 5s by as much as 33 percent.

Customers in the U.S. who are interested in acquiring the iPhone 5s should explore the online reservation system for in-store pickup.