Skip to footer

Lilly Pulitzer for Target sells on eBay for more than real Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Pulitzer fanatics flooded Target's website and stores over the weekend to snatch up the label's Palm Beach-inspired fashions at a discount. Some Lilly for Target items are commanding a higher price on eBay than their full-price counterparts on the authentic Lilly Pulitzer site.

|
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/File
Model Camila Alves, from left, and actresses Kate Bosworth, Bella Thorne and Ellie Kemper attend the Lilly Pulitzer for Target launch event in New York.
  • By Krystina Gustafson and Courtney Reagan CNBC

The point of moving a designer collection from the shelves of a luxury department store to those at a mass merchant is to make the line more affordable, right?

That wasn't the case for Lilly Pulitzer fanatics on Sunday morning, when shoppers flooded Target's website and stores to snatch up the label's Palm Beach-inspired fashions at a discount.

Similar to the retailer's tie-up with Missoni back in 2011, when entrepreneurial shoppers angled for a profit by taking their discounted designer duds to eBay, many consumers snatched up as much Lilly for Target as possible, with the intention of marking it up on the resale site.

But the big difference between Lilly Pulitzer and Missoni, an Italian design label known for its knits and vibrant prints, is the original price tag. Whereas a Missoni dress sells at retail for thousands of dollars, Lilly Pulitzer's website does not feature any that are more expensive than $400.

That initial price—which is in line with many affordable luxury brands—has led some Lilly for Target items to command a higher price on eBay than their full-price counterparts on the authentic Lilly Pulitzer site.

Take, for instance, the Lilly Pulitzer for Target maxi dress in Nosie Posey, which sold for an original price of $34. One seller has placed that item on eBay with a starting bid set at $225, allowing consumers to "Buy It Now" for $325.

While the "Buy It Now" price represents a markup more than nine times higher than the original tag, it's also nearly $140 more than a similar dress on LillyPulitzer.com, which sells for $188.

To put it mildly, shoppers were not pleased.

Target spokesman Joshua Thomas said the retailer was "disappointed" by people reselling their items on eBay, as the goal was to make the line accessible to shoppers.

But not everyone was looking to make a quick buck from the collection. Megan Stacey, a fashion blogger from Cincinnati, said she will auction off her extra items later this week for charity.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Lilly Pulitzer for Target sells on eBay for more than real Lilly Pulitzer
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0420/Lilly-Pulitzer-for-Target-sells-on-eBay-for-more-than-real-Lilly-Pulitzer
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe