Raspberry Rally Girl Scouts cookies
Photo: Girl Scouts of the USA

New Raspberry Rally Girl Scout cookie resold at a huge markup on eBay

The Girl Scouts’ new cookie, Raspberry Rally, has been “flipped”, quickly selling out and then being placed on resale, fetching exorbitant prices on eBay. The Girl Scouts aren’t happy about it.

“We’re saddened that the platforms and the sellers are disregarding the core mission of the cookie program and are looking to make a profit off of the name without supporting our mission and the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world,” the Girl Scouts of the USA said in a statement.

Cookie lovers were encouraged to support troops by purchasing other available flavors.

The statement continued, “When cookies are purchased through an unauthorized third-party seller, Girl Scout troops are deprived of valuable experience and, more importantly, proceeds that fund critical programming throughout the year.”

Boxes of Raspberry Rally costing from $4 to $7 are selling for as much as five times the usual price on eBay. “We strongly support the entrepreneurial spirit of hardworking local Girl Scout troops and encourage cookie-seekers to also support their local Girl Scouts, however the sale of Girl Scout cookies does not violate eBay policies,” the Girl Scouts said in a statement.

The Girl Scouts have held annual cookie sales since 1917 to raise money for troop activities while teaching its members five important skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. Raspberry Rally was the first cookie to be sold only online with the goal of “enhancing girls’ e-commerce sales and entrepreneurial skills.”

Supply chain issues also contributed to the shortage, but wasn’t the primary driver as Raspberry Rally hype had been building on social media since its planned rollout was announced in August.

Eric Rodwell of Parker, CO, told The New York Times that he traced some boxes down through Twitter from a troop based in Washington, D.C. after finding stock-outs in the standard online purchase process. Mr. Rodwell told the Times, “I don’t feel good about participating in resale unless it’s benefiting the girls and definitely wouldn’t support paying lots of money over the original price — doesn’t seem right.”

BrainTrust

"The Girl Scouts should remain consistent with the values they are teaching their girls."

John Lietsch

Chief Operating Officer, Bloo Kanoo


"The best thing about Girl Scout cookies is the limited availability. Having to wait and then decide how many boxes your freezer can hold is half the fun."

Georganne Bender

Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking


"Depending on how the Girl Scouts approach the “problem,” it could be another life lesson to add to the many they teach."

Shep Hyken

Chief Amazement Officer, Shepard Presentations, LLC


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Are Girl Scout cookies landing on resale sites more of a positive or negative for the organization and its members? Should the Girl Scouts embrace limited quantities and other scarcity tactics?

Poll

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John Lietsch
Active Member
1 year ago

Maybe there is no such thing as bad publicity and the additional publicity of someone paying more than $20 for a box of Girl Scout Cookies is a net positive. However no one should embrace scarcity tactics any more than they should embrace “inflation” to increase prices. The Girl Scouts should remain consistent with the values they are teaching their girls. Selling their cookies once a year using irresistible salespeople in front of the grocery store is more than enough. I can only eat so many S’Mores, Thin Mints and Chocolate Almonds. And who’s paying $35 for a box of cookies?

Bob Phibbs
Trusted Member
1 year ago

This isn’t the story. The legions of tables set up outside grocery stores I have seen with parents “sort of” selling the cookies while the kids tap phones is the bigger crime. Selling door-to-door, outside a shop, or to friends and family meant Girl Scouts would learn valuable lessons about rejection, marketing, smiling, and interacting with strangers. By removing this opportunity, it robs the young woman of the interpersonal experiences when it was the one place they could become empowered. To remove that core benefit of selling cookies is a far bigger crime than someone paying $40 for sugar cookies.

Gary Sankary
Noble Member
1 year ago

I’m with the Girl Scouts on this one. This is a bunch of internet trolls profiteering from a non-profit organization’s brand. Do they share any of their windfall with the Girl Scouts? Didn’t think so. I think the Girl Scouts should ramp up production and flood the market with the cookies. That would serve to get more Girl Scout-branded product out there and, at the same time, torpedo the reseller market.

John Hyman
Member
Reply to  Gary Sankary
1 year ago

Exactly. Why would a consumer want to overpay for a commodity like cookies? GSA needs to refocus on production, as the model is far less costly and much more convenient. BTW — when did the GSA complain about setting up tables outside pot dispensaries? The moral compass is already tarnished.

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
1 year ago

The best thing about Girl Scout cookies is the limited availability. Having to wait and then decide how many boxes your freezer can hold is half the fun. The other half is buying them directly from the little entrepreneurs themselves. Unfortunately, any thing that’s a good thing will ultimately end up for sale online at ridiculous prices that only those most enamored will pay.

The Girl Scouts can’t stop what resellers do with their cookies, so they might as well get ahead of it and embrace the cookies’ “limited time” in their marketing. Make it a new badge and see what solutions the girls come up with themselves!

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Georganne Bender
1 year ago

Georganne, you stole my thunder. That is exactly what I was going to write. I would be very interested in the solutions the lady entrepreneurs come up with. Don’t fight it. Beat it!

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
Reply to  Gene Detroyer
1 year ago

Great minds, Gene!

Paula Haerr
1 year ago

From what I’ve heard, the girl’s troop only earns 70 cents per box sold. Girls are learning new and valuable ways to solicit and promote sales via online videos and ordering. I received two darling pitches from 6-year-olds that prove that point — one from across the country — and yes, I “donated” my purchases for both. Perhaps Girl Scouts needs to figure out a way to capitalize on ALL marketplaces and get more funding back into the groups.

Shep Hyken
Active Member
1 year ago

I like the publicity over this, but I don’t like the reason behind it. Still, while there isn’t anything the Girl Scouts can do about the reason, it shouldn’t change anything they are doing. Keep selling the cookies. Keep teaching valuable life lessons. That’s it.

Depending on how the Girl Scouts approach the “problem,” it could be another life lesson to add to the many they teach.

John Hyman
Member
1 year ago

The suggestion that resellers “deprived of valuable experience and, more importantly, proceeds that fund critical programming throughout the year” ignores that the initial sale (and proceeds) still took place. In what way does it deprive anyone? The GSA is still outside my grocery store selling cookies, and if the proceeds are genuinely used appropriately (what does the GSA leadership earn from all of this?), there is no impact on the business of hawking cookies.

Are these resellers gaming the GSA’s efforts to make a buck? Probably. Stand outside any NFL or NBA arena before game time.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
Noble Member
1 year ago

Are we really asking if the “Girl Scouts should embrace scarcity tactics”? Good God Almighty, can’t anything escape being overanalyzed anymore?

Obviously — unless supplies are being diverted/hijacked — anything being resold has to have been sold (by the GSA) first, so I find this whole thing a ridiculous non-issue.

Brad Halverson
Active Member
1 year ago

The upside in all this is the girls and their parents have a teachable moment. Rather than debate the horror of it all, let the girls use this to correlate it to what ticket fee platforms and resellers have been doing to us all for years.

And then encourage the girls to go do something about it. We just need a few bright Girl Scouts to grow up, build better tech platforms to solve our current ticket resale gouging issues. May as well fix Ticketmaster while they’re at it too.

ValueAddedResource
1 year ago

eBay’s statement that the listings don’t violate their policies is more than a bit disingenuous.

Girl Scouts USA says the listings violate their intellectual property, in which case eBay should have offered to assist via their Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program.

Many of the listings are presales because the seller does not yet have the item in hand.

eBay’s presale policy states:
* Presale listings must guarantee that the item will be shipped within 30 days of purchase.
* The date the item will be available to ship must be clearly stated in the listing.
* Listings must clearly indicate in the title and description that the item is being offered for presale.

Most of the presale listings do not meet all those requirements.

Additionally, eBay’s food policy says sellers must clearly state the expiration date in the item description, but most of these listings do not have an expiration date.

Contrary to eBay’s PR statement, the vast majority of listings appear to violate one or more policies and should be removed from the marketplace.

I believe the publicity reflects far more negatively on eBay than on the Girl Scouts. However, there’s a great opportunity for a win-win if eBay were to spin this into a charity event, making a donation to GSUSA matching the proceeds of the sales of Raspberry Rally cookies on the platform.

Currently eBay’s own market research tool, Terapeak, shows about $80K in sales. They could round up and double it to an easy $200K, that wouldn’t even amount to a blip on the marketing budget radar, to earn some good will.