Get lost, Labubu: the Starbucks Bearista is here — and it's reselling for hundreds of dollars

For some diehard Starbucks fans, a $7 latte isn't enough of a splurge — they're ready to spend hundreds of dollars on the collectible holiday cup it comes in.

Starbucks' Glass Bearista Cold Cup, which launched and quickly sold out on Thursday at an original price point of $29.95, has evolved from festive holiday merch into an investment item, fueling a resale market usually reserved for designer sneakers and rare toys.

Shortly after launch, eBay was flooded with listings for the beanie-wearing Bearista, with some cups listed with "Buy It Now" prices of up to $50,000. While it doesn't appear that any have sold for such an exorbitant price, auction listings reviewed by Business Insider have racked up bids upward of $285 (plus shipping).

A representative for Starbucks told Business Insider the response to the Bearista cup "exceeded even our biggest expectations."

"Despite shipping more Bearista cups to coffeehouses than almost any other merchandise item this holiday season, the Bearista cup and some other items sold out fast," the spokesperson said. "We know it's disappointing to fans, and we're sorry if they missed out. We appreciate our customers' understanding. We have more exciting merchandise coming this holiday season."

The holiday spirit at Starbucks came with an extra side of scarcity this year, as some baristas who worked on launch day said their stores received just one or two Bearista cups to sell — and customers were lined up before opening, ready to claim one for themselves.

The Starbucks spokesperson declined to comment on the number of Bearista units shipped out this year or stock levels at specific stores.

A shift supervisor who has been with the company for over a year told Business Insider that customers lined up outside for more than half an hour before the store opened, and since they only received two Bearista cups to sell, they "sold out immediately."

"I got to my store somewhere between 3:45 and 3:50 a.m. and there were already several people literally wrapped in blankets, camped out in front of the store," a Minnesota-based barista who has worked with Starbucks for seven years told Business Insider. "When we tried to enter, after reminding them that the store does not open until 4:30 a.m., they tried to push their way in with us."

She added that, when her manager arrived at the store after 4 a.m. and told the waiting customers there would be a limit of one bear-themed cup per party, the customers got angry and "cussed her out."

Starbucks' collectible appeal

The 2025 Bearista cup isn't Starbucks' first foray into collectible merch. The company first debuted its Bearista in 1997 in plush form and has since expanded into a wide variety of seasonal and themed merchandise, which customers regularly clamor for.

Starbucks debuted its Bearista items in 1997, starting with a plush toy, and has since expanded its offerings of collectible items with seasonal drops. Starbucks

A Starbucks spokesperson told Business Insider that the policy for merchandise sales requires the items to be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, with no purchase limit or holds — meaning customers could buy more than one, and a staff member could not set aside an item with the intent to purchase it themselves, or save it for a customer.

John Kauchick, a 70-year-old Starbucks fan in Mississippi who says he has spent "several thousand" dollars on collectible merchandise from the coffee giant over the last 25 years, told Business Insider he camped outside his local Starbucks starting at 3 a.m. to get a chance at purchasing the bear, as well as some limited-edition Hello Kitty-themed merchandise also released on Thursday.

Although he was first in line, Kauchick said a barista at the location he visited had purchased the store's lone Bearista cup for herself before he had the opportunity to do so, which has irritated him enough to consider stopping his spending at Starbucks entirely.

"I felt cheated out of the opportunity to get one," Kauchick said. Although he has turned to resellers before, including spending $150 on a Taylor Swift-themed Starbucks tumbler he had been eyeing, he doesn't want to keep feeding the secondary market, given the inflated prices.

"I may get one," he said, "But I have this bad taste in my mouth still, and I think I may decide I just can't do this anymore."

A Labubu-level rush

In the days since the launch, social media has been filled with celebratory posts from Starbucks fans showcasing their festive Bearista cups.

The fervor is reminiscent of the craze surrounding cult items like Labubu dolls, which Business Insider reported in August were on track to hit a billion dollars in sales this year, and created a secondary market of people creating custom versions, including tattooed Labubus that sell for over $200 each, for the most committed fans of the brand.

Some Starbucks "Bearista" cups are listed for as much as $50,000 on eBay. Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

For every post bragging about scoring one of the coveted cups, there's another from an exhausted barista, publicly begging customers to understand that they have no personal control over the available inventory.

Once the Bearista cups were sold out at her store, the Minnesota-based barista said some customers became aggressive, calling her and other staff "flat out disgusting" names. The vitriol continued well into Friday, she said.

Another barista, who has worked at the company for 11 years, told Business Insider that "the phone wouldn't stop ringing" all day Thursday, with customers calling to see if their store happened to have an extra Bearista on hand.

"If customers were polite, I would apologize and direct them to the Target store where they might have a slim chance to get one," they said, referencing licensed in-store cafés, which were rumored to have received more Bearista inventory than corporate-owned stores. "If they were rude and asked me if we had any at 5 p.m., I told them they already knew the answer."

Although some social media reports suggested that a handful of Starbucks fans became violent over the Bearista launch, Business Insider could not verify any such incidents. Still, it wouldn't be the first time collectors threw punches over a popular item. In 2021, Target stopped stocking Pokémon, NFL, MLB, and NBA trading cards after their increasing resale value sparked fist fights in their stores.

"I'm a bug for rarity, and one thing that Starbucks does is they build up the expectation or the perception of scarcity — and they do that on purpose," Kauchick said. "I feel sorry for some of the people who got caught up in the hostility or whatever. But, you know, Starbucks knows what they're doing."