Online shoppers stunned by cost of ‘expired’ 10-year-old candy: ‘Don’t buy into this crap’
Packages of an expired, discontinued candy brand are selling for up to $1,000 online — and stirring chaos among online shoppers.
Altoids Sours, a sugary, fruit-flavored edition of the iconic breath mint brand, were discontinued in 2010, according to Bustle. A decade later, the now-expired candies are reselling for hundreds of dollars.
Low on supplies? We’re regularly updating our list of retailers that are still selling household essentials, including toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
BuzzFeed uncovered one listing for a tin of the “curiously strong mango” flavor, which sold for $1,000 on eBay earlier this year. The listing for the item explained to potential shoppers that, despite the package’s value, they should not try eating the candies themselves.
“Candy is stuck together, Expired 2009. The seal is intact all around. Selling for the discontinued collectible tins, candy is a bonus. Not for consumption, consuming them is up to you,” the description reads.
Listings like those are relatively common on eBay, Amazon and other online stores — a fact that has become a point of controversy for some shoppers. One review on a listing for a previously sold tin of tangerine sours called the phenomenon “hilarious.”
“Don’t buy into this crap,” the review’s title reads.
There are currently boxes of Altoids Sours for sale on eBay at prices ranging from $20 to $800, some of which are viewed by several shoppers each hour, according to the site.
So why are they so expensive? The candies experienced a wide-spanning surge in popularity after they were discontinued, with fans creating Facebook pages and Change.org petitions calling for their return. Now, with a limited number of tins available, their packaging has become a collector’s item.
That seemingly wasn’t the case during the sours’ initial run, though. A spokesperson for Wrigley, which owns Altoids, told Bustle in 2015 that the product was discontinued due to low demand.
“If a product is not selling particularly well, unfortunately we sometimes have to discontinue it,” the company said.
If you liked this story, check out In The Know’s article on the artist who reimagines celebrities’ outfits as food.
More from In The Know:
Blake Lively trolls Ryan Reynolds about his new hairstyle
Shop our favorite beauty products from In The Know Beauty on TikTok
These hair color kits help you find the right color to dye your hair
Rocksbox is the jewelry rental service that dreams are made of
The post Altoids Sours are selling for $1,000 online — and some people are willing to pay appeared first on In The Know.
