The hottest toy of the year is sold out everywhere.
The Hatchimal, an interactive Furby-like bird toy that pecks its way out of it’s own shell, is impossible to find in stores right now.
Buyers have turned to Kijiji and other resale sites to get the hot toy for their children who are desperate for the trendy toy this season.
Pamela Lutchmansingh searched for a month trying to find the toy for her six-year-old daughter. Her daughter fell in love with the toy after watching videos of it on YouTube.
Lutchmansingh explained to her daughter that the toy was sold out of stores and impossible to find. So her daughter decided to ask Santa for the toy instead.
She had almost given up hope that she would find one before Christmas.
“I originally thought that I was going to give my daughter a letter from Santa saying that he would come back in January with one,” Lutchmansingh said.
But Lutchmansingh eventually found one at Massive Toy Blowout on the south side of Edmonton, where she paid $100.
Lutchmansingh isn’t the only parent desperate to track down the hot toy for Christmas. Kijiji is full of people both looking for the toy and selling it.
In stores, the Hatchimal sells for $80 to $100. Online, the toy is selling for up to five or six times the retail price, with asking prices soaring as high as $500. Some sellers are using the popularity of the toy for good and are pledging to donate the money to a charity or a family in need.
One seller ended up buying two Hatchimals months ago for his eight-year-old niece after his wife read about their projected popularity this holiday season. He bought one from Toys-R-Us and decided he preferred the special edition Hatchimal from Walmart.
The seller forgot about the toys for months and once he realized they were selling for so much on online, he decided he would take to Kijiji to sell the extra toy.
The seller decided to price the toy competitively on Kijiji. After noticing the toy was commonly selling for $200 online, they decided to price their toy at $180. After two weeks of underwhelming responses, they dropped the price to $160 and had ten people inquire about the toy.
“I think it’s just the current, gimmick, popular toy. Its like Furbys or whatever has come before,” said the seller, who didn’t want to be named in fear of spoiling his niece’s Christmas gift. I think there is also an element of the scarcity makes it more attractive. If it would have been readily available it would have been a little bit popular but there wouldn’t have been this frenzy about it.”
The Hatchimal is one of the many Christmas toys that have created a shopping frenzy. The peak of toy madness hit in 1996, when the giggling and shaking Tickle Me Elmo toy turned shoppers into vultures searching for the super scarce toy. A black market emerged and the toy, which sold in stores for US$30 dollars, ended up selling at sky-high prices at a markup of thousands of dollars. Shoppers were reported to be physically fighting over the toy in stores.
The Hatchimals are running online for up to $500 in the region, with the lowest ones pricing in at $140. Some sellers are asking to trade for other popular toys, such as the Nintendo NES Classic or large Lego sets or tickets to Oilers games. Buyers are posting online as well, asking for sellers to go easy and offer them the toy at a lower price.
The St. Albert Walmart is currently sold out of the Hatchimals and has been for weeks. They are expecting a new shipment sometime in the new year.
