Why $3 Trader Joe's Bags Are Selling For Thousands Overseas

Trader Joe's reusable tote bags are easy to grab for a few dollars at the checkout of any one of the company's hundreds of U.S. stores. But people are clamoring for them overseas — and willing to pay much, much more than the $2.99 retail price.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that the grocery store's mini tote bags have sold on online resale platforms for up to $10,000 — while one current eBay seller is asking for $49,999, or best offer, for a mint green pastel version of the bag.

Confused? Observers say the vibrant international resale market has to do with the fact that Trader Joe's exists only in the U.S. — and the message that the bags convey.

“Trader Joe’s bags represent a limitation: Trader Joe’s aren’t in every city and aren’t on every corner,” Michelle Gabriel, a lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, told the WSJ. “That already imparts a scarcity that, in a world of easy, accessible overconsumption, can be used in service of status.”

While those fortunate enough to live near a Trader Joe's can nab one of the bags for a price that's less than a cup of coffee, there's plenty of fervor over the totes stateside.

The bags — which vary in color, theme and size — have amassed a cult-like following in the U.S. If there's a long line outside a Trader Joe's before its open on any given day, it's likely the queue is filled with people vying for to grab a limited-edition bag the morning it's first available.

Because those who want a bag at retail price better line up — USA Today reported that social media has made the totes so popular that nabbing one "has become next to impossible."

In an article that dubbed the totes "The It Bag of 2025," U.K. resident Holly Davies investigated the phenomenon after spotting the bags in London.

She traced tote bags' history as "banners of lefty values," from the The Strand Bookstore's launch of its first bag in 1980 to the New Yorker offering bags emblazoned with the magazine's logo as a freebie for new subscribers.

"Branded totes have the power to project our identities, interests, and political stances in overt ways that other accessories simply cannot. Tote bags have become messages when, ironically, they used to be a medium," she wrote.

As for the Trader Joe's bags' international appeal, Davies posits that those who carry the bags telegraph the non-corporate image that's key to the supermarket's brand, as well as a sense that they're unconcerned with fashion but cultured enough to be in-the-know to carry a slightly foreign bag.