Ever wonder about the power of a brand and marketing that brand with merchandise? Elon Musk sold a hat branded with his “Boring Company” logo and made a million.
Swag from Elon Musk’s Boring Company hits eBay for thousands of dollars – as told by CNBC
Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has been hawking branded gear to raise money for his latest mission: tunneling beneath roads to one day alleviate traffic congestion. The company he founded to accomplish this, The Boring Company, has sold 50,000 hats at $20 each (bringing in $1 million) and 20,000 flamethrowers at $500 a pop (bringing in $10,000,000).
So far, 30,000 hats have shipped and the flamethrowers are due to go out sometime this spring, according to the company website.
Yet there’s already there’s a burgeoning secondary market for the swag. All sale prices were found by CNBC Make It on Monday afternoon. Many of the Boring Company hats are listed on eBay for well over $100. The hat highlighted below is on the auction website for $500.
Another similar hat has 18 offers with a “current bid” $101, with nearly three days left on the auction.
A hat that the seller claims is signed by Musk, is listed for almost $10,000. As of publishing, there are no public offers.
As for the flamethrowers, since The Boring Company has not yet shipped the products, the sellers are auctioning rights to the “preorder.” One, originally listed for $999.99 is no longer available.
Musk seems to enjoy touting the swag on social media.
For example, when he first released The Boring Company caps, he instagrammed a photo of one with the caption, “best hat ever.” More recently, he posted a video of himself using a flamethrower, which ended with him breaking into a fit of giggling. And when The Boring Company customs regulations forbid shipping something called a “flamethrower,” Musk announced the company would get around the rule by dubbing the gadget, “not a flamethrower.”
Musk’s humor seems to be doing nothing but propelling demand.
