Starbucks mugs and tumblers are in hot demand from bargain hunters
Shoppers in the past several weeks have flocked to popular resale marketplaces like Poshmark and OfferUp to score mugs, tumblers and cups bearing the Seattle-based chain’s brand.
“People have been making their coffee at home and pouring it into their favorite Starbucks cups, or taking their Starbucks mugs to their Zoom meetings or now, virtual coffee meets,” Chandra said.
Sellers are pitching everything from official Starbucks merchandise to items like mini Starbucks coffee cup earrings or even a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte hair scrunchie.
The demand for all things Starbucks didn’t erupt overnight. Poshmark said that it’s been building since the mid-March shutdown.
The resale site said orders of all kinds of Starbucks mugs and tumblers, new and vintage, have increased by more than 100% since the pandemic was declared in early March.
A Starbucks spokesperson said the company is aware of its mugs and cups selling well on resale platforms but declined to comment further.
Not all the Starbucks items are bargain priced. Several recent listings by Poshmark sellers are of the new seasonal tumblers like the recently launched iridescent collection or the Confetti cold drink tumbler, featuring a color-changing pattern. Such items are priced at a significant markup — between $15 to $65 or higher.
Searches for Starbucks mugs, cups and tumblers have been actively popping up on OfferUp, too.
The company said the color-changing cups have “rapidly climbed OfferUp’s trending search lists and have frequently been among our top 10 fastest growing search terms during the past week.”