Taylor Swift's Patient Zero CDs Are Already Selling on eBay

Swift announced Patient Zero on social media, telling fans the single drops September 25 and that collector’s edition CDs would be available to preorder for 24 hours only, or until they sold out, whichever came first. Three variants went up: a standard mix, an acoustic version, and a piano version, each its own $3.99 CD with a different double sided cover.

This is a pattern with Swift at this point. Limited window webstore drops tied to a new release almost never make it through the posted sales window. The standard and acoustic CDs sold through quickly, and the piano version (which is still up as of this writing) looks like it’s on the same path.

Resellers moved fast once the listings went live. The most common flip on eBay right now is a bundle of all three CD variants sold together, and those are pulling in around $60 a set. That’s not a small markup on a $3.99 item, but it’s also not the kind of number that makes headlines on its own. It’s a solid, straightforward flip.

After expenses and platform fees, resellers stand to profit between $40 and $50 per bundle sold. These were limited to one per customer so resellers couldn’t scale their sales easily.

The reason prices haven’t gone wild is pretty simple, and something you’re familiar with if you’ve flipped Taylor Swift’s merch before. Demand is very real, but so is supply. Swift doesn’t cap these at a handful of units, and with three separate SKUs in play, there’s enough volume moving through eBay to keep any one listing from spiking into flipper fantasy territory.

Still, $50 in so in straight up profit for clicking “add bundle to cart” is a decent proposition, and one that many resellers were quick to accept. Moving forward, keep an eye for Taylor to drop signed versions of Patient Zero. We’ll update you on any new releases (and our newsletter subscribers will hear about them first).