Yesterday, I wrote about the new limited edition $450 metal gift card from Starbucks that was worth $400 in credit and about 30 cents in steel that was supposed to go on sale to the “general public” this morning. I was assuming that the sale was to happen around 9am PST because earlier yesterday, there was a little clock counting down the hours on the website. However, I checked this morning and the Add to cart button disappeared and an Add to waitlist button has been put in its place.
Granted, this doesn’t exactly mean that the card is sold out, but I’m pretty confident that it is. I’ve never shopped on Gilt.com before, but my guess is that they don’t ever tell you something sold out, but rather give you the hope that one day, the item will be back in stock. If you’re feeling lucky, here’s the link to the $450 Starbucks gift card product page.
Well unfortunately for those of who waited, getting more in stock is not an option on this item. Starbucks had said they made 5,000 of these cards and once they were gone, they were gone. The terms of the sale was that Starbucks rewards members were able to “pre-order” the card yesterday on Gilt.com and that the remaining cards were to be sold this morning at the same site. A Starbucks rewards member is basically anyone who signed up for a free account on Starbucks.com and/or downloaded the smartphone app and handed over their email address.
What struck me as odd was who did they expect was going to buy this thing?! I’m pretty sure that by the close of yesterday, this card was long gone! Within that pool, I’m guessing that almost half simply bought the card for collectors value or for resale on eBay. The rest of you bought it because you drink a lot of coffee at Starbucks. There’s no shame in that…I’m just making a point. There was no reason to believe that the card would ever make it to the “general public.”
At any rate, congrats to those who got lucky enough to pick one up!! According to the order status, my card will be delivered sometime around December 18th. Although it doesn’t say it in the screenshot, Gilt.com is using UPS 2-day Air to ship these cards out. I’m assuming that cards haven’t been made yet since there’s no other logical reason why we couldn’t expect our orders within a few days from now.
I'm not a Starbucks member, but I was still able to get one. The presale was hidden for Gilt members to find and preorder. So anyone who's a Gilt member were lucky enough to catch the presale. They sold out last night.
Yeah it was a strange setup. I found the link after looking through the A-Z brand index and seeing Starbuck's name. Then later, the Starbucks link was gone. Oh well, I got mine too…still haven't decided if I'm going to just use the card's value and sell the physical card as a collectible or if I'm just going to sell the whole thing.
I guess you all like burning money
Burning $400 at Starbucks is easy if you’re a coffee drinker. The part that kind of goes to waste is the $50 spent on the card itself.
So as of today 1% or rather 50 of these cards are for sale on EBAY?
Yeah and of course mine is one of them!
I want such a prize for a Xmass:)