This past August the Dodgers announced a limited edition Dodgers Hello Kitty doll as a special game give-away during the last homestand of the 2011 Dodgers season. At the time, I made fun of this promotion. After all, my wanna-be macho brain of mine couldn't wrap my mind around it. Hello Kitty, really?Anyway, Dodger fans and Hello Kitty fans alike snubbed their noses at me as the three day promotion sold out in quick fashion. On top of that, these dolls have been selling quite nicely on eBay. Check out what I found out below. My complete spreadsheet can be found here.
Since that September series there have been a bunch of sales on eBay, although far more have gone unsold due to high starting prices. Since October 1st there have been 35 sales (really only 34 since one sale was for 2 dolls) with an average selling price of $37.21. That's not too shabby. The range of values have been from $26.00 to $47.69 with one "Buy It Now" sale at $50.00.
One thing I noticed is how important it is to price the item right when selling on eBay. As with any auction, maximizing the number of bids will, more often than not, garner a higher price. On auctions with 15 or more bids the average price was $41.03 per doll. So, setting a low price to encourage bidding appears to be the way to go.
Overall, I think it's fair to say that the Hello Kitty promotion has been a success; both on the ticket sale side and in the secondary market. Heck, the Dodgers swept the Pirates during the three day promotion, so maybe Hello Kitty is good luck too. In light of this, the Dodgers will be doing it all over again in 2012 as a Hello Kitty promotion has been slated for the July 1st game against the Mets. See the 2012 Dodger promotion schedule here for more details.
