Totes Manipulative

Here's a retail hack that you may not have heard of. It works like this:

1. Find an inexpensive, but useful, item, like the $3.99 Trader Joe's miniature tote bags, that's going viral.

2. Put one (yes, just one, not the set of all four colors) up on an eBay store for $49,890.00.

I can't imagine anyone having that much more money than sense.

3. Wait for the news media to post a link to the listing, as being supposedly indicative of the crazy prices the viral item is going for, despite the fact that no rational person would pay that, given that they can see what other people are actually paying (which is maybe $15 - $20 or so a bag) just below the listing.

4. Profit, apparently.

I get the appeal of a good hype story, but anyone can list something on eBay for literally any amount of money that the site will allow them to. The $1,000.00+ listings seem to be bids to be picked up in the media, who will bite because irrationally high "prices" will drive clicks. And for a few people, they work; the media coverage is, effectively, a free advertisement for their eBay store.

It's the attention economy starting to bite its own tail. Although I wouldn't rule out an attempt to fleece the unwary. It's possible for the inattentive to mistake $49,890.00 for $49.89, although that's still a very high price to pay for one of the bags, given the other eBay listings. But in times of economic uncertainty, people are even more likely to look to take advantage of one another than they are usually.