Chinese Company Purchases Two Boeing 747s Off Taobao for Just $48 Million

The heated bidding exchange started two months ago when one of the planes initially started with a 135,038,600 yuan ($20,410,914) price tag, while the other plane went for 133,780,800 yuan ($20,220,799).

According to Shanghaiist, the final price of the 747s finally reached a total of 162,038,600 yuan ($24,491,930) and 160,780,800 yuan ($24,301,815), respectively.

Interested buyers had to bid a minimum amount of 1 million yuan ($151,148) more in order for their bid to be accepted. After months of competitive bidding, the winning bid was finally made by Chinese courier company SF Express.

The Boeing 747 planes were from Shenzhen-based cargo airlines Jade Cargo International before the company filed for bankruptcy back in 2013.

The planes were eventually seized by Shenzhen court then were placed in an online auction via Taobao after it failed to generate interested buyers through traditional auctions.

While both Boeing 747s are now officially under the ownership of SF Express, there’s still one remaining plane with a 122,600,400 yuan ($18,530,895) price tag that hasn’t been sold yet.

According to MarketWatch, the modern day list price of a Boeing 747 could reach over $149 million. Interested buyers might find the unsold plane on Taobao quite a bargain, since not only are these planes usually more expensive, they’re also being discontinued.

Regardless, Taobao is home to some questionable retailers such as the time someone sold packages filled with toilet paper to boost sales figures. From betting on how long celebrity relationships would last to selling fake Calvin Klein apparel as legitimate products, there’s always something on Taobao that could pique the interest of almost any buyer.

Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons / Frank Kovalchek (CC BY 2.0)