Want Missoni for Target? Look on eBay

News Factor ^ | September 26, 2011 | Jayne ODonnell

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Retail giant Target's "Missoni mayhem" continues, with retail scalpers -- people or small businesses that buy in bulk, then sell products for a profit online or in stores -- selling much of the fashion line on eBay at much higher prices. The problem is an example of retailers losing control of their supply chain, while consumers run the risk of fraud.

Target says it has no plans to limit the quantities it sells of its limited-time designer lines even though more than 25,000 Missoni for Target products landed on eBay at much higher prices the same day as the launch last week.

So much for making high-end fashion "available to all," Target spokesman Joshua Thomas says.

"Missoni mayhem," as Thomas calls it, is but the latest example of a phenomenon that can give retailers and consumers fits. Hot items, whether they're trendy Christmas toys, the latest fashions or best bargains, draw crowds. But they also attract a form of retail scalper -- people or small businesses buy in bulk, then sell products for a profit online or in stores.

Target's Web site crashed on Sept. 13, and much of the Missoni for Target line sold out in some stores and online. Many of the 400 Missoni fashions and home products sold at Target are still for sale on eBay, often at two or more times the price Target is, or was, charging.

A Missoni bikini that retailed for $50 at Target sold for twice that on eBay. The designer's ladies bicycle was priced by Target at $399, but was listed on eBay for as much as $1,800. At least one sold for more than $1,200 on the site.

[Responsibility2nd]

I don’t know what Missoni is. Don’t care.

But I do know that if Target has a sale on this or any other item...

It won’t be available.

Target is the WORST at advertising things they KNOW they won’t have available.

[lazypadawan]

I hate that there are idiots who buy from the scalpers, desperate to get whatever-it-is now, or that there’s a big foreign market (especially in Asia) for this stuff, which only encourages more scalping.

Target should have realized what was happening when people raided store after store and piled several carts high with merchandise and limited purchases.