Man in Copenhagen spots woman with viral Trader Joe’s bag that’s always sold out. Then he finds out she paid $3,000 for it: ‘THE 3 DOLLAR CANVAS BAG?’

It’s a sales maxim as old as time: If you want to make a quick buck, generate hype for a product on TikTok. The masses will truly buy anything.

And “anything” really does mean anything. BookTok made a raunchy blanket fly off the shelves. Stanley cups owe practically all their popularity to the clock app. It’s simply a reality of modern-day economics.

Now, the internet is going gaga over reusable grocery bags—specifically, Trader Joe’s tote bags. And one man is going viral for encountering this premium in the wild.

‘People have been paying egregious amounts of money’

In a video first posted on Feb. 13 that has since accumulated almost half a million views, TikToker Tremaine (@tremaineontv) shares an experience he had with a Trader Joe’s fan abroad.

“So I’m in Denmark, I’m in Copenhagen,” Tremaine begins in his video. “And I saw this girl earlier with a Trader Joe’s bag … the ones that they have been selling out of. So of course, me, I stopped her.”

Tremaine says he communicated with the girl and learned she purchased the bag online.

“I was like, ‘Wait, how much did you pay for it?'” Tremaine recounts. “Because I know people have been paying egregious amounts of money for the Trader Joe’s bag.”

Tremaine then encourages his viewers to guess how much the girl paid for it. Surely it can’t be that much for a bad that’s worth under 10 bucks, right? Wrong.

“The girl paid $3,000 for the Trader Joe’s bag,” Tremaine reveals. “I was like, ‘No. You talking about 3,000 dollars or … a 3,000 Danish chrome, whatever it’s called? She’s like, ‘No. $3,000.'”

He continues, “Somebody in the United States is going to the Trader Joe’s, buying all the bags, and we sell them to people in different parts of the world that want the bag. This lady just paid $3,000 for a little treasure.”

People can’t believe their ears

Tremaine, and countless viewers in his comments section, expressed utter disbelief that anyone would pay that much for any bag, much less a grocery store bag.

“I’m one of those people that when people want something so bad, even if I don’t really want it, I just gotta have it because other people want it,” Tremaine admits at the end of his video. “I’m like, I’m really a Trader Joe’s fanatic. I love Trader Joe’s, but what, I spend $3,000 on the bag? Heck, no. That don’t make sense to me.”

Commenters gathered to echo his sentiments, with most of them crying out, “For a grocery bag?!”

“It would of been cheaper for her to fly to America and get the bag herself,” one commenter observed.

“Looks like I found my new side hustle,” joked another.

One viewer even claimed to have cashed in on the whole scheme.

“I go to London & Paris a few times a year and always take a few TJ’s bags to give away,” they wrote. “I got an upgrade to a massive suite at my hotel one time.”

@tremaineontv $3000 Trader Joe’s Bag ???? #traderjoes #bag #money #denmark #copenhagen ♬ original sound – TremaineOnTV

How much does a Trader Joe’s tote bag cost?

Trader Joe’s sells quite a few tote bags. Only one, however, is going mega-viral and being resold for the exorbitant prices Tremaine discussed in his video. If people are burning thousands of dollars to snag one, Trader Joe’s probably sells it at a premium, right?

Wrong. The viral tote bag costs only $2.99.

Only if you’re in Trader Joe’s country, however. Non-Americans clearly don’t have quite the same access, and they’re paying for it. The virality of this tote bag has people forking over the big bucks not only in Denmark, but also in places like the UK and Japan.

Believe it or not, some resellers are even making millions off these bags. Literally. And while some people are clearly excited by the regional “exclusivity” of this product, Trader Joe’s itself reportedly isn’t thrilled by this hype-induced craze.

“Trader Joe’s, for its part, has tried to distance itself from the frenzy,” Delish reports. “Nakia Rohde, the company’s public relations manager, said they ‘neither condones nor supports the reselling of [its] products’ when asked about the topic and ‘does all [it] can to stop the practice.'”

The Mary Sue has reached out to Trader Joe’s via email and Tremaine via TikTok comment and DM.

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