Yahoo Finance Rare coin rage as Bluey 'dollarbuck' value skyrockets to $300
Aussie comedian and content creator Christian Hull was unable to get his hands on the coveted coins at Australia Post this week.
Aussies were sent into a frenzy this week when Australia Post released a new set of limited-edition Bluey coins. Comedian Christian Hull was one of the many fans who tried to get his hands on the coins but was sorely disappointed.
The Aussie content creator went to his local post office in Brisbane to buy the coins — now selling for up to $300 on eBay — at midday on Monday. But he was told the coins sold out within half an hour, with some buying up multiple coins.
“It’s hard ... As soon as you get something nice, you will get people that will exploit the system, they'll buy multiples of them in order to sell them,” Hull told Yahoo Finance.
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The sheer demand for the “dollarbucks” caused the Australia Post website to crash on Monday.
Huge queues were also seen outside Australia Post outlets in the morning, with Aussies desperate to get their hands on the collectable coins featuring Bluey, Bingo and their family and friends.
Hull said the frenzy was “crazy”, with re-sellers already listing the coins for hundreds of dollars more on eBay.
He was among many critics suggesting Australia Post and the Mint have a fairer system to ensure more people could get the coins.
He said there should be caps on the number of coins people could buy in-store or more should be made.
“You can’t do that with Bluey. Everyone loves Bluey, you’re not allowed to have limited edition Bluey things because we all want them and it’s unfair,” he said.
“It’s ripe for exploitation but I don’t think there is anything you can do because people are just assholes. You always get a small minority of people who just ruin it for everyone.”
The Royal Australian Mint introduced an online ballot system at the start of this year.
A spokesperson told Yahoo Finance at the time that the lottery-style system aimed to ensure “all Australians equal opportunity to access our highly sought after collectible coins”.
The Bluey coins were available via this online ballot, which Hull said he entered and didn’t win.
They were also released through participating Australia Post offices, the eShop and the Mint’s shop and contact centre.
‘Infuriating’: Aussies miss out in rush for Bluey coins
Hull shared a light-hearted video of his experience online where he showed himself heading to the post office and finding out the “devastating” news there weren’t any coins left in stock.
In the video, an Australia Post worker told him there were still stamps available. Hull jokingly replied, “How dare you?” before showing himself buying the stamps.
In the comments, some Aussies shared they were lucky enough to get their hands on the coins this week but others also missed out.
“It’s infuriating. I had the album/coin roll in my cart as soon as website was up. Couldn’t process payment. I tried four different cards. Absolutely ridiculous,” one viewer wrote.
“My PO had a sign at 9am with sold out,” another said.
“None of us got one, and I can't afford the outrageous prices people are scalping them for. So I miss out again,” a third wrote.
Some Aussies suggested Hull wait for Australia Post to release more of the coins as the Mint has noted they will have an “unlimited” mintage.
Others suggested he put himself down on a waitlist with the post office for when more came in stock, which Hull said he had now done.
Bluey coins selling for higher prices
The price of the coins have already skyrocketed online, with an eBay search revealing the full 10 set coin set has sold for as much as $300. That’s more than 10 times the recommended price of $29.
Coin expert Matthew Thompson of Thompson’s Coins and Collectables told Yahoo Finance that the new Bluey coins had a much higher mintage than the coloured coins released earlier in the year.
"[The September release] are not coloured so not quite as rare or collectable. But, anytime there is Bluey involved, there's going to be a lot of demand,” he said.
If you can get your hands on them, the $1 coins can be purchased individually for $10 each or the full 10 coin set is available for $29. One-in-ten sets include a special coloured Bluey coin.
Two men were arrested and charged with allegedly stealing tens of thousands of unreleased Bluey coins from a Sydney warehouse in July. The haul of 63,00 coins were worth more than $600,000.
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