The ‘Pokémon’ doughnut craze: hundreds of dollars for second-hand doughnuts

I suppose the last thing you think when you go to your favorite donut shop is, “Wow, I can’t wait to resell these sweets for way more money than they cost me,” right? And yet, if you open eBay you’ll find untouched Krispy Kreme boxes (mind you) for $300. Plus another $280 in shipping. Almost $600 for 12 donuts? No, they’re not made of gold: they’re part of an exclusive Pokémon edition. And we already know that anything related to Pokémon draws a crowd. In this case, donut dough, of course.

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Catch ’em all (the donuts)

This unexpected crossover has six new donuts, immortalizing Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Jigglypuff, and a Poké Ball. It’s up to you whether it’s worth spending a fortune on something like this: they are pretty, to be fair, and if you buy a dozen they come in a special box, but whoever decided to price it like that clearly doesn’t know the real market price.

Mainly because not only is there no one who wants to buy stale food (fresh donuts have to be eaten the same day, they’re not merchandise) and because they’re still being sold. There’s no real shortage, and in fact you can order them in the United States on the Krispy Kreme website. There’s no urgency, no frenzy, no need to buy them on eBay. After all, they’re just donuts with special frosting!

Fans of the trading card game clearly thought this was the moment to make a buck again off something very simple with the Pokémon brand on it, but it backfired on them. I hope, at least, that when they see nobody’s paid a penny for their box, they eat the donuts as a snack. Let someone get something good out of this absurdity!