Hello Kitty x Starbucks merch sold out online in 1 day; customer at outlet seen shelling out over $370

You snooze, you lose.

Some Hello Kitty fans in Singapore were up bright and early yesterday just to get their hands on the latest drop at Starbucks.

The collaboration between the Sanrio and the American coffee chain, as part of the iconic character's 50th anniversary, saw the latter roll out limited-edition merchandise as well as some blind boxes at its outlets and online on Tuesday (Sept 10).

According to at least one netizen on TikTok as well as a Stomp contributor, queues began forming as early as 7am at some Starbucks outlets in Singapore.

Said the Stomp contributor, Cappuccino: "I thought I was early but there was already a queue even though the store just opened. Most were buying the merchandise, not the food or drinks."

Not only that, Cappuccino also spotted a buyer in front of her dropping hundreds of dollars on the items.

"I was a bit stunned when I heard the barista telling someone that their order was $376.10," she told Stomp.

When AsiaOne checked the Starbucks website yesterday evening, all items in the collection were already sold out.

As expected, many resellers have sprouted online, hawking the merchandise at inflated prices.

Surprisingly, however, the markups for many of the items don't seem to be that crazily high, unlike similar drops in the past.

For example, we saw a Cold Cup with Red Ribbon Straw ($29.90) being listed on Carousell at $30, a mere hike of 10 cents.

And the $39.90 ceramic cup in the shape of Hello Kitty's cute mug (pun intended)? It was listed on the same platform by a seller for $50. 

We also saw the stainless steel water bottle, which happens to be the most expensive item in the collection, being listed by various sellers at prices between $60 and $75.

The lanyard ($29.90) and phone charm ($24.90), on the other hand, appear to have the highest markups at close to double the original prices.

In February, fast-food chain McDonald's and Sanrio teamed up to launch its own range of Hello Kitty collectibles. The, the plushies were listed for sale online by scalpers at a price more than eight times its original value.

ALSO READ: FairPrice warns against buying exclusive Hello Kitty mahjong sets resold on Carousell for up to $588

candicecai@asiaone.com