Questions raised after ultra-rare Woolworths Disney Ooshie appears to sell for $100m

An ultra-rare Woolworths Disney Ooshie, originally listed for $32,100 on eBay, is claiming a $100 million sale price at the online auction’s close.

The listing for an “Ooshie Rare Bullseye Flocked” now states “Sold” with a winning bid of “AU $100,000,019.15”.

When nine.com.au first reported this listing it had reached $32,000.

While this particular Woolworths Disney Ooshie is much sought after, with multiple auctions underway well into the tens of thousands, this winning bid is being questioned, with some saying it is the result of “bot” activity on the site or may be an illegitimate bid. eBay has been contacted for comment.

An eBay spokesperson has told nine.com.au: “As a marketplace that enables trade in unique and collectable inventory, we don’t restrict bids on auction items. If a bidder wants to receive an item, however, they will need to pay the amount that they have bid for it.

“We have clear policies in place that restrict fake or shill bidding and consistently making bids that are not paid will see us take action on a users account. If the winning bidder fails to pay for an item, the seller does have the option to offer the same item to an underbidder.”

There are only 125 Flocked Bullseye Woolworths Disney Ooshies in circulation this year. The character is from the Toy Story franchise. Other listings for the rare piece vary in price from $100 to $69,000.

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Woolworths Disney Ooshies collectibles promotion is clearly a huge success for the supermarket giant, with retail expert Gary Mortimer telling nine.com.au it is a clear example of “scarcity effect” in action.

“Woolworths puts out a comment to say, ‘We’re about to release an ultra-rare Ooshie’ and suddenly that creates this notion of competition, that you want to you want to find it. And because you don’t know what’s inside those little packages, the variability of rewards starts to create a level of competition.

“So it’s a variability effect as well.”

Woolworths has announced an official nationwide Ooshies Swap day on August 8 from 1pm to 2pm at Woolworths and Big W stores. Dedicated spaces will be set up at the front of the stores with team members facilitating the swaps.

Customers will be able to choose to return any unused Ooshies from the new range for inclusion in Swap Day. Any leftover items will be placed in the in-store recycling bins for Ooshies.

Shoppers have until August 25 to complete their collections, or earlier if stocks are exhausted.

Other rare pieces include the Platinum Buzz Lightyear, also from Toy Story, which is an exclusive release for Everyday Reward members and is currently up to $159 on eBay, and the Glow-in-the-Dark Exclusive pairs included only in the $10 Collector Case are also listed for up to $90 on ebay. These characters include Stitch, Grogu (Baby Yoda), The Mandalorian, or Mike Wazowski.

A full collection of Woolworths Disney Ooshies, minus the rare pieces, has also been listed for sale on eBay for $286.

Mortimer said the beauty of this promotion as a business strategy for Woolworths is that it “attracts non-rewards members” to the supermarket.

“They’re giving all shoppers something that is physical. You don’t have to be an Everyday Rewards cardholder. So it does attract non-loyal Woolworths shoppers.”

He has dubbed this “penetration promotion”.

This year’s event is Woolworths’ the seventh collectibles collaboration with Disney, and their third Ooshie promotion.