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If you didn’t park your butt on a sidewalk outside H&M this morning, you’re going to have to pony up some huge money to get your hands on the Balmain x H&M collection. Stores have been picked clean and merchandise is sold out online, but pieces from the designer brand’s retail collection are already popping up on eBay with huge price gouging. I’m talking tripling and quadrupling the price.
A quick eBay search reveals over 1,200 items from the collection are available…for thousands of dollars (which is still sadly affordable compared to Balmain’s regular prices).
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This leather jacket retailed for $399, but is being priced at $2,500 on eBay.
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This dress is priced at $1,499.99 online, but was being sold at H&M for $599.
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This beaded jacket was marked up from $549 to $2,025.
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Ugh. It’s the Lilly Pulitzer x Target fiasco all over again, and I’m not even slightly surprised.
Every single time Target, H&M, or another affordable store teams up with a designer, merchandise flies off the shelves only to be found online. Haven’t we learned that the people buying up all the clothes are just looking to make a buck while those who would actually be able to wear a brand like Lilly Pulitzer for the first time get essentially robbed? Despite laws against price gouging in 38 states that are obviously not working (at least when it comes to clothing), what can we do?
1. Don’t buy it from eBay.
I know it sucks, but in an effort to stop the people who make a living by reselling their purchases, we have to stop buying from them. When they can’t make a sizable profit from their hauls, they’ll stop doing it and leave the merchandise for those who actually want to wear it.
2. Limit customer purchases.
Stores should be aware that when a customer is buying 10 of every item that they have the wrong intentions. There should be limits on how much of each item a buyer can purchase to limit resellers.
3. Forget it.
The stress is not worth it for some cool jackets. Buying online is a crap shoot, and you might get trampled if you try to enter a store.
Don’t believe me? Here’s some footage of the madness at H&M today. God help us all.
Give us your ideas to end price gouging on clothing in the comments.
