April 20--A day after a mad rush for Lilly Pulitzer's limited-edition Target collection cleared out inventory in stores and online, shoppers were still snatching up the brand's flowery shift dresses and bright pink weekender bags on eBay, where some items were listed for more than double the retail price.
A search on eBay for "Lilly Pulitzer for Target" turns up almost 30,000 items. A blue shift dress with a tropical fish pattern, listed for $38 at Target.com, sold for a winning bid of $100 Monday afternoon. A Nosie Posey cross-body clutch, $24 on the Target website, sold for $81. A set of two beach chairs with the same Nosie Posey floral pattern, which had been available from Target for $60 apiece, were listed at a "buy it now" price of $780.
Those inflated prices for the inexpensive versions of Lilly Pulitzer's resortwear were still less than what fans pay for the brand's regular line. Dresses at LillyPulitzer.com range from $88 to $348.
Target will not replenish product from the 250-piece collaboration in stores or online, spokeswoman Jessica Carlson said.
Target generated a storm of discontent Sunday on Twitter as shoppers who had stayed up late into the night to snag items online found that the collection wasn't available when expected and then sold out faster than you can say Palm Beach.
As actress Kristin Davis, who played Charlotte in "Sex and the City," put it in a tweet: "@Target I have now had my cart emptied three times after I hunted down the #LillyforTarget things I wanted- WHAT IS HAPPENING??????"
Target.com experienced heavy Web traffic early Sunday akin to what it gets on Black Friday, causing the site to slow, Carlson said.
The company had expected the collection to be fully live around 3 a.m., but all of the products weren't available until around 5 a.m. as it worked to load the links to all the items, she said. Target made its website inaccessible for around 15 to 20 minutes around 3 a.m. to grapple with the traffic.
What resulted was an inconsistent experience as some products would sporadically become available.
"We know it was not a good experience for some of our guests and we do apologize for that," Carlson said.
The Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection was "virtually sold out" online my midmorning Sunday, she said. At some stores, where shoppers lined up for hours before the doors opened, inventory sold out in minutes, she said.
The inventory available was on par with other designer collaborations that Target has launched, including Missoni and Liberty of London, she said.
As the day wore on, frustrated shoppers turned their exasperated tweets from Target to the eBay sellers, and the hashtag #lillyfortaget made way for #lillyforebay.
"If you bought #LillyforTarget items just to resell online for your own personal profit I basically hate you," wrote one woman with the handle @abigailnoelleee.
