The gold version of the iPhone 5S displayed at an Apple store in New York City Sept. 20.

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Dozens of online stores are selling the golden handset stickers for iPhones in China, transforming models of other colors into the popular gold variety. The cost of this cheap makeover could be less than US$2 in some cases, according to postings on Alibaba’s retail platform taobao.com.

That’s certainly much less than the amount that buyers will have to fork out for the iPhone 5S. And certainly no cause to sell one’s kidney, as one store touted in its online advertisement.

“Dear, you don’t need to sell your kidney for the new iPhone,” one of the ads said. “Instead of paying 5288 yuan (the retail price of the 16-gigabyte iPhone 5S in China), you only need to spend 35 yuan to make your iPhone 5 look like a golden iPhone 5S in seconds.”

Thousands of the stickers have been sold through stores on taobao.com in less than a month, reflecting strong demand for the golden device in China. While most of the consumer reviews for the stickers are positive, some users complained about discrepancies in color and size.

In China, the color gold symbolizes wealth, and Chinese view the metal as a valuable asset to hold. That explains why Chinese consumers are so passionate about the gold-colored iPhone 5S. Chinese media have called the new iPhone color “Tuhao Jin” or “local tyrant’s gold”, referring to the phone as a new status symbol.