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Mattel is back with new Barbies for Dia de Los Muertos
Dolls from previous years are a favorite with collectors
These are now reselling for $350+, after retailing for $165
Well, it’s that time of the year again. The weather is cooling, the leaves are changing, and there’s a new Dia de Muertos Barbie. Actually, there are two. For the fifth anniversary of Mattel’s newest tradition, the company rolled out a special collaboration with Pink Magnolia to go with their in-house design. The consumer response has been tremendous, leading to both versions of the doll to sell out in minutes. They are now reselling for triple digit prices.
The year of Barbie just keeps on giving. After the release of the Barbie movie in July, resellers have been rolling in money by flipping everything pink and plastic. From branded popcorn buckets, “I am Kenough” hoodies, to new styles of dolls, 2023 has been big for Barbie collectors and resellers.
Going into October, we knew that we would be getting a new Dia de Muertos Barbie, but we weren’t expecting two.
The Dia de Muertos Barbie has been a tradition since 2019, after the first dolls proved massively popular with fans. Every year, we get a new design that always sells out and resells, though never quite as big as the 2019 dolls. At least, not until now.
Let’s talk about this one first. Like the other Barbies from the series, she’s dressed and decorated in a traditional Mexican style, with many motifs pulled from the holiday. Overall she’s meant to resemble La Cantrina, a caricature of upper class women widely adapted by Mexican artists through the 20th century.
Also, she’s pink. Her dress is pink, her accessories are pink, and her hair is pink.
This doll is the result of a collaboration between Mattel and Pink Magnolia, a Mexican fashion company. Usually they are making jackets, accessories, jewelry (with lots of pink), but it seems like they were to quick to answer the call from Mattel for the opportunity to create a Barbie.
The Pink Magnolia Dia de Muertos Barbie was sold on October 4th at 9 A.M. Pacific through Pink Magnolia’s site and the Mattel Creations store. They were $165 and limited to three per order. To buy through the Mattel Creations site you’d need a Barbie Signature membership, which is $10 per year.
Collector interest for these dolls was extremely strong. While all of the Dia de Muertos Barbies have been popular, Pink Magnolia’s Barbie was far and away the most popular design since 2019. As a consequence the dolls sold out in under five minutes.
And they would begin reselling just as fast. Within an hour of the official sale closing, resellers began listing their dolls. Right now, a Pink Magnolia Dia de Los Muertos Barbie is reselling for around $350. Over 200 sales took place on eBay during the morning of the drop.
As far as dolls go, this is a pretty damn profitable one. Remember, these were limited to three per order. At $165 retail, it’s around $180-$200 in profit per doll. Got three? Congratulations, you just printed your very own stimulus check.
But these weren’t the only Barbie released this season…
Mattel also put on their own doll for the holiday. These were a bit more conservative in both design and price, but were still popular with collectors.
Lead Designer Javier Meabe asserts that the design of the 2023 doll was intended as a throwback to the 2019 Barbies that started it all.
These Dia de Muertos Barbies were sold through the Mattel Creations site for $75 on September 21. While a lot of the hype is around the Pink Magnolia dolls right now, it’s worth looking at these Barbies too, as they have proven popular with collectors.
Right now, a 2023 Dia de Los Muertos Barbie is reselling for around $130. This is more or less what we’ve seen from the last few releases. Solid profit for any reseller, although the Pink Magnolia dolls were obviously the bigger get.
If you got in on yesterday’s sale and the 2023 Barbies back in September, you’d be going into October with some nice profits. Try not to spend all of it on Halloween candy.
That’s all for now. If you want to learn more about reselling and get insider tips on the hottest items to flip, subscribe to our newsletter!
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