Woman finds $8 Labubu at Goodwill. Then she opens the box and realizes she’s been bamboozled: ‘I even checked the QR code’
A woman thought she bought a Labubu at Goodwill for $8. Then she opened the box and realized she got another item entirely.
TikToker Summer Riddell found what she thought was an unopened Labubu box at Goodwill. The box had an easy-to-buy price of $8. So, she figured that she was getting a surprise Labubu from it.
However, when she finally got home and opened the box, she realized that someone had stuffed a package of Quaker’s Instant Oatmeal in it. The mysterious Labubu eluded her, despite her having a QR code for it. Commenters joked that she got the one and only “Quaker oats,” or “oatmeal” Labubu, but Riddell didn’t seem too thrilled about the con. Her video opening the Labubu box, however, has since gone viral, with 969,000 people tuning in to watch.
Why are Labubus so popular?
Labubu dolls are small devil or elf-shaped creatures that are often sold in mystery box sets. While they’ve existed since 2015, they’ve been popular since 2024 when Lisa, a member of BLACKPINK, showed one of the dolls off on social media.
A part of the reason why they’re so popular is because of the sheer volume of Labubus available on the market. There are over 300 Labubu dolls to collect, making them the GEN-Z or Gen-Alpha equivalent of a Beanie Baby. Other celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna also apparently endorsed the dolls, giving them increased credibility in the modern accessory market.
Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Labubu’s have a cute yet somewhat mischievous image. While some people find the dolls deplorable and downright ugly, others think they’re fashionable. For that reason, they’ve become a staple in many fashion trends.
Regardless, there’s been an increased interest in the Pop Mart dolls, so much so that people fight over them in public spaces. Seeing one at a place like Goodwill is rare, considering there’s an active resale market for them. Some Labubu’s are even worth thousands of dollars.
@summer_riddell1 I even checked the QR code on the box to make sure it was real ??? #fyp #labubuunboxing #goodwillfinds ♬ original sound – Summer Riddell
Why would someone scam a person shopping for Labubus at Goodwill?
While it’s unclear why someone would replace a Labubu with Quaker oats, a few commenters had ideas and suggestions. Some thought that an employee at Goodwill may have made a bait-and-switch after the Labubu was checked inside its packaging.
Normally, Goodwill employees check inside packages or boxes before putting them out for sale. That means there’s a good chance that a Goodwill employee at least looked at the box before putting it on the shelf. Since Labubus are so popular, it means that there’s a very good reason to replace the item in the box with something else.
This isn’t always the case, though, as some Goodwill shoppers have found human remains in urns as well as other salacious items inside their local store. Checkers can sometimes be less conscientious of the things that end up on store shelves. It’s always possible that a Goodwill employee had no idea what was in the box.
That leaves another option: a person donated a Labubu box without a Labubu in it. They either purposefully put Quaker Oats inside the box or they accidentally donated a box with the packaging in it. Either way, it’s still possible that a person outside of the store set up the perfect bait-and-switch.
Then, there’s the possibility that a customer walked into the store with a bag of Quaker Instant Oats in their pocket. Then, they saw the Labubu box and quickly replaced the item inside with the oats.
The world may never truly know what happened to the original Labubu that Riddell was supposed to receive that day. But, commenters at least thought Riddell’s bad luck was incredibly humorous.
The Mary Sue reached out to Pop Mart and Goodwill via email. We’ve also reached out to Riddell via TikTok direct message.
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