Trader Joe's Mini Totes Are Reselling Easily

News

By RC Staff

15 March 2024

You care about the environment, right? You wouldn’t use those horrible plastic bags and throw them into the river to choke poor turtles and seals to death. Or at least, we hope so, and we hope you use reusable bags like a good shopper. Like most chains, Trader Joe’s has their own line of branded reusable bags. Unlike most chains, Trader Joe’s has a sizable fanbase that borders on obsession. These people are willing to pay outrageous amounts of money to get their hands on the sold out bags. Let’s take a look.

Trader Joe's Mini Canvas Tote Bags

You might remember when we covered previous Trader Joe’s bags reselling a few months back. Those were notable because they were “Mystery Packs”, three random bags contained in a blind bag. Joe’s fans were willing to snap them up for around $20 at a time.

What we’re looking at today is different. Earlier this month, Trader Joe’s started stocking a new line of reusable canvas mini totes. For $3 you can pick one of these up in red, green, blue, or yellow.

Trader Joe’s website lists them as 13 inches long, by 11 inches tall, by 6 inches wide; so perfect for carrying a watermelon or a bunch of overpriced cookies.

For whatever reason, these bags have picked up a ton of attention on social media. TikTok is full of pseudoinfluencers gushing about them, leading people to buy them, leading people to make TikToks about them, leading people to make TikToks about the frenzy.

@elinorxkim

this was so scary but i’m aware i’m a part of the problem🧚🏻‍♀️ #traderjoes #totebag #minitotebag #fyp

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And that’s pretty much it. If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll know that “going viral on TikTok” is more than enough a reason for a product to sell out and stay sold out.

The trend has picked up enough steam that even major news outlets are reporting on it. In an ad-hoc interview with CNN, a Trader Joe’s employee in Iowa implied that new bags will not be produced until September.

If that’s true, expect to see the current trend continue for the next few weeks at least. Viral attention is fickle of course, but there’s definitely an opportunity here for resellers.

Trader Joe's Mini Totes Resell

Yup, with such a squeezed supply and Zoomers fiending hard over these bags, it’s not surprising to see them resell. Next time you stop by Trader Joe’s, check to see if they have any of these bags left.

Right now, a Trader Joe’s Canvas mini tote is reselling for about $20. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between the colors either.

When these first picked up viral popularity, there were a number of truly ridiculous sales. The bags were selling for over $200 in some cases. There’s probably an easy joke to make here about people buying marked up goods just because they’re from Trader Joe’s.

But for now it seems like the market has chilled out a bit. $20 for a $3 is very good though, make no mistake. If your local store has any, don’t hesitate to buy.

As always, subscribe to our newsletter if you want to learn more about reselling. It’s a big world out there, and flips come in many shapes and sizes. If you think these bags are weird, check out our articles on Dune 2 popcorn buckets, Shrek Crocs, and rare Coca-Cola flavors.