The New Trader Joe's Mini Totes Are Going For An Absurd Amount Of Money On eBay

Whenever Trader Joe's mini totes — which are simply smaller versions of the classic reusable kind bearing the T.J.'S logo — are sold, fans of the grocery store go into a frenzy. The bags were introduced in March 2024, and when they returned that September, the lines to buy the mini totes were ridiculous, with some shoppers queueing up hours before the store opened to buy the coveted items.

Whenever the totes are unavailable, Trader Joe's shoppers seem to miss them more than they miss even the most beloved discontinued T.J.'s items, like its honey butter potato chips or chile lime mayonnaise. Luckily for these devotees, Trader Joe's started selling them again in April 2025, this time in pastel colors that are perfect for springtime. As always, the totes are priced at $2.99 each. If the frenzy of the past is any indication, then it's very likely that your local T.J.'s has already sold out of its new pastel mini totes — and if it hasn't, it probably will very soon.

In response, eBay sellers are taking advantage of the high demand. If you check the website to see if anyone is reselling, you'll find plenty of listings. However, many of those listings are selling the totes for an absurd amount of money: Thousands of dollars, to be exact.

The resale prices for Trader Joe's mini totes are a far cry from the $2.99 you'd spend in the store. One eBay listing offers a four-pack of the mini totes — featuring all four pastel colors (purple, pink, blue, and green) — for a whopping $1,500 (or best offer), plus an extra $12.71 for shipping. Another eBay listing for the same four pastel totes went a little lower at just $1,000. Meanwhile, the priciest eBay listing is for a misprinted blue mini tote, with the "Trader Joe's" label printed upside down — the seller wants $1,999 for it. Not all of the listings are in the thousands, though. Some have the older totes (in the original colors of red, yellow, and navy blue) priced at around $300 or $400, which almost seems reasonable when compared to a $1,500 asking price.

Fortunately, some sellers are pricing the totes somewhat reasonably. One eBay vendor is offering the four pastel mini totes for $64.99, which is much more expensive than they would be in store, but the price may be worth it for some T.J.'s fans. In fact, this seller has already sold 17 of these four-packs as of this writing.

It's unclear how this trend of listing the totes for thousands of dollars started or if the sellers think that anyone will actually buy these overpriced totes. Of course, this isn't the only strange thing to happen on eBay — someone once tried to sell a rotten Twinkie on the site.