Misprint Mattel Wicked Dolls Have Started to Resell

Well, someone’s getting fired. Over the weekend, we covered Mattel’s Wicked fashion dolls and the unfortunate typo that got them in this mess.

The situation laughably simple. On the packaging for the dolls, Mattel included a link to wicked.com, assuming that was the official Wicked movie website. They were wrong, and the link actually takes you directly to one of the biggest pornography websites in the world.

This is known in the business as “screwing up”, and it would be bad one on its own. It’s made worse by the fact these are children’s toys. One clever kid with internet access is a few keyboard taps away from a screenful of eyepopping imagery.

At the time we covered the dolls, they were available for sale online and in person at major retailers like Target and Kohls. By Sunday, almost every storefront had pulled the dolls from sale.

Naturally, resellers jumped on the opportunity. We recognized that these dolls might become collectable, and waited to see if the money talked. Well, right now misprinted Mattel Wicked dolls are reselling for upwards of $50.

We finally got to hear from Mattel on Monday morning. In their responses to outlets like NPR and the AP, Mattel expressed regret for the situation, and are “taking steps” to fix it. They are recommending owners to immediately discard the offending packaging in the meantime.

Mattel has not confirmed if they will recall their Wicked fashion dolls. Seeing as how they’ve been pulled from sale at every retailer, we’re guessing new packaging is already being developed and will be on its way shortly.

So what about the long run? When we first covered the dolls, we pointed to some past examples of discontinued and recalled products that went on to resell.

And while that seems to be the case here, we’re expecting to see sales for these dolls slow down pretty soon. The current market is almost entirely driven by hype, with collectors rushing in to buy while they still can.

But what are they buying? Not the dolls, but the boxes. Boxes with extremely small text saying “wicked.com”, which in itself is not offensive, shocking, or particularly notable.

When you put the whole situation together it’s obviously embarrassing for Mattel, but as a display piece? Not exactly eye-catching. We have a hard tie believing these will hold any real long term value as collectables.

Then again, who cares about the long term? Reselling is a buy-now, sell-now game, and these dolls are selling now. While it’s probably too late to find anything in stores, you might be able to get lucky.

For those of us on the sidelines, this was at least fun to watch. If you want to learn more about reselling and discover profitable opportunities like this, subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated.