Monday, April 20, 2015

Lilly Pulitzer Hits Target and eBay

Just as many eBay sellers suspected, Lilly for Target is already hot on eBay. The signature spring line launched yesterday, April 19, at Target stores across the country. Today, one day later, eBay already shows over 8,000 sold listings with the keywords "Lilly Pulitzer Target" total completed listings of 9,900 - which means almost 2,000 items ended unsold. eBay also shows 30,000 active listings with the same keywords.

Many of the items are selling on eBay for twice the Target price. In fact, #LillyforTarget on Twitter has become #LillyforeBay as disappointed Target shoppers lost out on purchasing merchandise for themselves. Many were angry that Target didn't enforce buying limits. Some Lilly enthusiasts commented, "Buy real Lilly before you pay inflated prices on eBay for Lilly for Target."

The Lilly Pulitzer line has 250 different items and Target does not plan to restock. Target will honor a 14 day return policy, so if you missed out on the opening day rush, you may see Lilly items in the stores over the next 2 weeks as customers take advantage of the return window. Only time will tell if eBay sellers who bought large quantities will return items to Target stores. The catch 22:

The return window is only 2 weeks. Sellers with a lot of Lilly inventory left may get nervous and return the items.

Sellers may hold out for a while and wait for the supply on eBay to decrease at which point they can make a nice profit.







2 comments:

Japolina said...

I'm a reseller and have been since 2000. I think that the people rushing in to load up is either just disgustingly greedy or capitalism at it's finest. (Probably a bit of both).

It makes ebay sellers seem sort of greedy and gross (there is a huge backlash on social media right now) but Target and Lilly probably love it. They had to know after the Missoni for Target craziness that it would sell out on the first day and if they wanted to limit reselling, they could have limited buyers to a certain amount of purchases, which they did not.

I think as a reseller the best message here is to look at the profit margin. Doubling your money when selling on ebay or amazon is not really that good unless youre selling very high ticket item. If you bought the Lilly flip flops for $16, sold them for $32 after shipping, paypal and ebay fees, youre looking at peanuts. You still have to worry about possible buyers remorse when the buyers get the stuff and realize that the quality is not the same as the "real Lilly"

You'd do way better by sourcing in other places.

Marci said...

Lilly Pulitzer sold her brand and name in the 80's. People that think they are buying "real" Lilly from the store are mistaken. To get authentic real Lilly clothes they need to be from before about 1985. People that are rushing to get Target Lilly Pulitzer crack me up! Just an interesting note. I would still sell Target Lilly if I could find any!