The Most Expensive Labubu in the World Just Sold on eBay

A rare Labubu sold two weeks ago for a record-breaking $10,500 on eBay, making it the most expensive of the viral ugly-cute toys on the platform. 

The grey-brownish doll is rocking Vans streetwear – including sneakers designed by the popular skater brand, a Vans sweatshirt and a blue and orange hat reading “The Monsters” – the series of Labubu characters it belongs to. 

This little skater monster initially came out back in 2023 as one of Pop Mart’s wildly popular blind boxes, as a collaboration between the shoe brand and Labubu. 

Its original retail price was $85, meaning its resale value was 125 times more. Labubu has become a hot commodity on secondary markets, and experts have told Forbes they can make legitimate investments, driven by Pop Mart’s limited supply model. 

“Their unique look and general appeal will make them a strong market collectible for years to come”, predicted Lori Verderame, a collectible appraiser with her own show on the History Channel. 

Alex Fung, pop culture consignment director at Goldin Auctions, said he thinks the early Labubus are the ones that will best hold their value. 

Pop Mart typically sells Labubus for $20 to $40 in “blind boxes” – meaning buyers doesn’t know which one they’ll get until they open it. But it’s the so-called “secret” Labubus – the limited editions with odds of getting one in a blind box as slim as 1 in 72 or even 1 in 144 – that are flipping for thousands on resale sites. 

Another example is the pink “secret” edition of the “Catch me if you like me” doll, released in limited numbers in early 2024, which recently sold for $2,000 on eBay. 

Labubus sell out instantly during their weekly drops – with in-person restocking at their stores at 10:00 AM Friday, and online at 9:00 PM Thursday. People have lined up before dawn, describing release day as “Labubu Hunger Games” in the UK, with Labubus sometimes pulled from stores over chaos and fighting. 

#StopHateForProfit

The #StopHateForProfit campaign (read my Monday’s post “Facebook's Advertiser Revolt”) ensnared more companies – the latest include Adidas, Best Buy, Clorox, Conagra (the maker of Slim Jim, Duncan Hines and Pam), Denny’s, Edgewell Personal Care (brands include Playtex, Schick and Wet Ones), Ford, HP, Puma and Reebok.

But those who advocate it should know that this boycott against Facebook is unlikely to work. Sure, from a PR perspective, it is seen as a roaring success – but will it make Facebook purge racist, violent and verifiably false content to run rampant on their platform? I don’t believe so. 

After all, this isn't the first boycott of a social media company. In 2017, big brand after big brand announced they would stop advertising on YouTube – after ads were placed next to homophobic and racist videos. 

That particular boycott is now almost totally forgotten. YouTube tweaked their ad policies, and three years on YouTube's parent company Google are doing just fine. 

And there are more compelling reasons to believe this boycott won't hurt Facebook as much as we would like to think. 

First, most companies have only committed to a one-month proscription in July.

Secondly, much of Facebook's advertising revenue actually comes from thousands upon thousands of small- to medium-sized businesses. 

Although the boycotting advertisers include some big-name brands, they aren’t necessarily the biggest spenders on the social networking site in the US. For instance, none of these brands were in the top 100 spenders on Facebook in the said country so far this year, according to marketing analytics company Pathmatics. 

CNN had also reported that the highest-spending 100 brands only accounted for $4.2 billion in Facebook advertising last year – or about 6% of the social platform's ad revenue. 

The vast majority of the ‘other’ companies have not signed up – or rather, they are unlikely to sign up. 

That's because these businesses "can't afford not to advertise". They are priced out of advertising on TV and other ‘traditional’ mass media – and so, more affordable and more focussed ads on platforms like Facebook are deemed indispensable. 

Anyway, Facebook executives including Carolyn Everson, vice president of global business solutions, and Neil Potts, public policy director, held at least two meetings with advertisers on Tuesday, the eve of the planned one-month boycott, three sources who participated in the calls told Reuters. 

But they offered no new details on how they would tackle hate speech, the sources said – and so, their last-ditch attempt to derail the boycott failed. Nothing's new because Facebook are not willing to budge to meet #StopHateForProfit demands! 

The harsh reality is all of this is in the hands of Mark Zuckerberg (left) and he doesn’t care. Except making publicized cosmetic changes here and there just to demonstrate he listens – he is unlikely to do more to stop hate content on Facebook. 

As with the #GeorgeFloyd protests, this boycott will, over time, lose momentum. We can then expect a momentary lull and soon after, it will be forgotten. Zuckerberg knows it.

Painted Vans Shoes

On Thursday, BoingBoing featured the person identified as IMGURian @zcaimbeul who paints amazing art on Vans sneakers. 

Check them out here: 

But he’s not the only one – here are others who do this shoe art:

Vans x David Bowie Collaboration

Vans sneakers are classic. So is David Bowie. 

And when you combine two of the greatest classics, you're bound to create something really special. 

A limited-edition collection that includes sneakers, tees, and caps. 

And especially for the sneaker fans, there are all the greatest Vans hits, all of which modeled after a Bowie album – like Ziggy Stardust Sk8-His or Aladdin Sane Old-Skools. 

The full line is available to buy from April 05:

I wish!