Trader Joe’s mania is gripping the nation once again as a simple $4 insulated tote bag is being resold on eBay for as much as $100.
The supermarket chain launched the Mini Insulated Tote across its stores on June 4 for the modest sum of $3.99, but it is already flying off the shelves as social media users have been whipped into a frenzy.
At several stores in California the viral product has completely sold out, according to SF Gate.
The item, which comes in teal or magenta, will be available for a limited time at all Trader Joe’s US locations.
The mini insulated totes are not available to purchase on the store website, but an Instagram user who runs a Trader Joe’s fan page wrote in a June 2 post that they are ‘popping up’ in the stores.
The product is similar to the Trader Joe’s large reusable insulated bag that is available to purchase online or in-store for $7.99.
The 1.5-gallon tote is good for consumers who need a bag to help keep their food and drinks hot or cold.
However, it’s also good for eBay sellers who are looking to make up to $100.
One eBay user who is shipping items from New York listed the magenta and teal mini insulated totes on the website for $99.99, which also comes with free stickers.
The same person created another eBay listing that features the magenta and teal mini insulated totes with stickers, except they are willing to sell them for $79.99.
The bags have proven to be popular due to sellouts in select stores, but their resell prices are similar to the intense online price hikes of Trader Joe’s tote bags released in March 2024.
Trader Joe’s released canvas mini tote bags at all its stores nationwide in March.
Less than a week later, customers sold them on online marketplaces.
The small bags, which came in red, blue, yellow, and green, were available to purchase at Trader Joe’s for only $2.99.
The canvas bags caused a frenzy on social media, and on March 10, hundreds of them were listed on eBay, with prices ranging from $5 to nearly $500.
‘Our Mini Canvas Tote Bags certainly sold more quickly than we anticipated,’ Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde told SFGate.
‘Our customers, in our stores, are our focus; we do not endorse the re-sale of any of our products, anywhere.’
Coincidentally, the eBay user who has two listings of the mini insulated totes is also selling a yellow mini canvas tote for $29.50.
Instagram users have since left comments about the bag and its availability.
One Instagram referred to the insulated totes as ‘the next big thing’ at Trader Joe’s and compared the purchase line to one on Black Friday.
‘There was a line this morning at 8:00 and it was sold out by 8:06. We did not get one,’ she wrote.
Another commenter from California claimed that the mini insulated totes were ‘all sold out’ 10 minutes after the store opened.
‘My store sold out in 15 minutes. There were 40 people in line before the store opened. So much stock on eBay at elevated prices,’ a commenter wrote on Instagram yesterday.