The claim
Through June and July 2026 several outlets, Reuters among them, reported that second-hand Midea PortaSplit units were changing hands at hugely inflated prices, with tripling mentioned. It sounds entirely plausible. The unit has been sold out almost everywhere for weeks, and scarcity moves prices. As far as we can tell, nobody had actually measured it.
What we measured
On 28 July 2026 we analysed the eBay.de search for "midea portasplit": 57 listings, sorted by price including delivery, lowest first. We filtered out accessories, since window adapters at around EUR 150 and outdoor-unit brackets at around EUR 65 otherwise distort the picture. What remains are actual machines.
The result
The cheapest 12,000 BTU units were listed between EUR 1,000 and EUR 1,041. The manufacturer's RRP is EUR 1,199 and the normal street price is about EUR 999. So second-hand costs roughly what the machine costs new, not three times as much. For the smaller PortaSplit Cool at 8,000 BTU, where the usual price is about EUR 899, listings ran from EUR 805 to EUR 1,200. The cheapest was below the new price.
What this means if you're waiting
If you have been waiting weeks for a restock, the second-hand market is a genuine option right now rather than a rip-off. Check the seller's feedback, whether it is collection-only or shipped, and whether the window adapter and outdoor bracket are included, because together those run to around EUR 200. Pay by a method with buyer protection, never by bank transfer.
Method and limits
A single marketplace on a single day is not a European price index. We looked at eBay.de, not Kleinanzeigen, Leboncoin or Marktplaats, and we see asking prices rather than completed sales. We are publishing it anyway, because one measured snapshot is worth more than a widely repeated claim with nothing behind it.
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