A pair of Kanye West-inspired Nike sneakers is currently the subject of a bidding war on auction website eBay after the shoes sold out almost instantly after their official launch. The 'Nike Air Yeezy II Men's Shoe' originally retailed for $245/£220 but the unprecedented demand for the chunky, red street shoes has seen one eBay seller watch the bidding on their shoe listing soar to $16.3 (£10) million with five days left.

Kanye West
Nike's Kanye West-Inspired Sneakers Are Selling For A Fortune Online.

"These don't need much of a description as most people that are looking at this listing know exactly what they're looking at!" writes seller "b_toogood," who looks set to make a gigantic profit from the sneakers if the winning bidder pays up.

Nike quietly and unexpectedly announced at 10am yesterday (9th Feb.) that "The Nike Air Yeezy 2 is now available" which sparked a buying frenzy with fans of the rapper and shoe collectors fighting it out to snag a pair before the inevitable sell-out. Indeed, the fashion-forward hip hop sneakers were cleared from the website in just 11 minutes as customers scrambled, prompting the similarly low-key tweet from Nike informing that "The Nike Air Yeezy 2 has sold out."

The Yeezus rapper famously slagged off the sportwear brand in a very long, public rant at one of his Canadian concerts last year after the launch of this particular shoe was delayed. The 'Red October' sneakers were first seen in one of Kanye's fiancée Kim Kardashian's Instagram posts last year and West has been wearing his second Air Yeezy design since last May but fans have had to wait a long time for the widespread release.

"They try to act like people ain't line up for the Yeezys," Kanye West said in November 2013 in one of his classic rants. "[Nike CEO] Mark Parker tried to son me. Yes. Son me because I am the sun and I will shine bright. And when I don't have as much money as a billionaire and when I don't have the factories that, that dude has over there, what I do have is my voice."

Kanye West Victoria's Secret
The Rapper Is Renowned For His Trend-Setting Hip Hop Style.

"Did you not want the Yeezys?" West asked the crowd. "Nike would make you believe it was my fault that you couldn't get them, but that was not the case. I wanted there to be as many Yeezys as there was LeBrons, and I wanted them to be at a good price, but that was not my choice, and we're going to change everything. And [...] I'm going to create more than you think that any musician in the history of time ever could have," via Billboard.

The furious rap star continued: "Ain't no corporation that can take me away from my voice and I'm going to scream at the top of my mo*********ng mountain as loud as I want." Looks like he got his own way as usual, anyhow.