Physix FrontierPhysix Frontier · News Briefing Card (TMTPost · Nov 6, 2026)
After domestic LLMs go paid, Xianyu account-rental gray market hits 300k yuan monthly
KEY FACTS
- In 2026, Chinese large models moved to paid plans across the board: Doubao Pro starts at 68 yuan per month, and Kimi memberships range from 49 to 1399 yuan.
- AI membership resale services have appeared on Xianyu, with a one-day Kimi membership listed at 5.88 yuan and more than 20,000 orders sold.
- Sellers obtain low-cost accounts through bulk registration and enterprise discounts, then resell them per use to pocket the spread.
- One seller claims monthly revenue of about 300,000 yuan, with costs mainly membership cards and servers, and fixed daily costs just over 70 yuan.
- Kimi and other vendors have upgraded risk controls to ban resold accounts and launched small pay-as-you-go resource packs.
KEY DATA
from 68 yuanDoubao Pro monthly fee
49-1399 yuanKimi membership price range
2.58 yuanPer-use PPT resale price
300,000 yuanSeller monthly revenue
PHYSIX OBSERVATION
The account-rental gray market is essentially users casting a no-confidence vote against high monthly fees. Vendor account bans treat the symptom, not the root cause. The real signal is this: small pay-per-use tickets are the key to turning occasional use into a legitimate business, and whoever lays that groundwork first keeps the users.
Source: TMTPost report