January Golden Tote Mystery Grab Bags – Only $50!
For January Golden Tote is doing something a little different and I’m so excited about it! This month they are offering $50 Mystery Bags!
The Box: Golden Tote Mystery Tote (Find it in the Boutique section)
The Cost: $50
The Products: Golden Tote’s ‘once a year’ Mystery Tote is reminiscent of the Japanese tradition, Fukubukuro, where store owners once a year curate mystery grab bags of merchandise of the year at an incredible deal. The tote contains FOUR surprise items, including one Puella dress from previous seasons, at least one item found in a previous $149 tote and two other items, which could be chosen items or surprise items from previous totes. Each tote has a value of up to $300 for $50.
FYI – all mystery totes are non-returnable.
Are you getting a mystery tote? I can’t believe each tote will have a Puella dress – I can’t wait to see what I get! (PS – I’m guessing these will sell out quickly, so I recommend ordering ASAP!)
Written by Liz Cadman
Last year they didn’t do a January tote at all. It seems like January is when as a company they regroup and take stock. I do feel like it was a mistake not to send out the mailer. That being said some of the reactions from people is childish. It isn’t a personal slight that they sold out. If not getting a tote is the worst thing that has happened to you perhaps you need some perspective.
I wanted to try Golden Tote for the first time this month, but was sadly disappointed. I think this was a great business move for them–they’re basically getting rid of all their extra stock, so they’re making a profit on things that may have gone unsold otherwise. However, I think their execution was wrong, and they should have given everyone a warning that they were going to do something completely different.
WOW! What a bad way to start off the New Year Golden Tote! 🙁
I waited up late last night to get in on the sale and I live on the East coast and had to work today. I know they usually say that sales start at 12 PST, or 3AM EST, but this one happened to start at 1AM or so, while December’s tote started around 2AM EST if I remember correctly,
In their defense, online sales are a tricky thing. You have to make your site ‘live’ in order to test that it will work, but they have so many eager customers that sales started before they were ready. I think they will learn from this and realize that they need to do what they say they will in terms of emailing, as they had stated that a mailer would go out in the evening when it did not. If it weren’t for Liz’s site, and my constantly checking Facebook, I wouldn’t have known about the sale either.
They are otherwise a great company to deal with in terms of service issues and responding to inquiries. I hope this doesn’t stop some of you from ordering in the future, though I can understand your frustration.
The thing is not everyone is on FB all day. The sale started at 1am I think that was a mistake. Other flash sales start at 8,11 or12 in the morning. Starting at 1am on a Monday morning is just wrong.
Yes, totally agree with you. Every time I’ve ever purchased, I’ve basically stayed glued to my phone/tablet for the night and refreshed their Tote page and kept an eye on Liz’s site.
On the bright side, for their customers that buy every month from them, it looks like there is a big possibility that you could get repeat items. It’s too bad they took all the items out of the boutique, because now you can’t see what was left of their old stock.
From the past few months, there were a few items that weren’t popular with many people, so that stuff will probably be included in the January totes. I am happy to receive a Puella dress, but it will be interesting to see what every one receives that were left overs.
It would be nice if they had posted a ‘Spoiler’ pic of a sample tote that they will be sending. I know they used to do that a while back. At least that way, new/repeat customers could get some idea of what ‘left overs’ they might include.
I’m so upset. I have bought the $149 tote every month since the summer (about 6 months, that’s a ton of $$$!!). I skipped last month (because of Christmas) and have been anticipating this month’s tote the entire time….. and now I STILL haven’t gotten an email about the mystery tote and it is 3:15pm on the 6th. The last email I received from them was on New Year’s Eve. The only way I even found out about this was your site, Liz. And obviously everything is sold out. I don’t think that this is a way for them to treat their most loyal customers. 🙁 Very disappointed.
I completely agree – they were supposed to send an e-mail out last night and never did. I’ve bought two GTs and each time it’s a mad race to get certain pieces before they sell out or to keep checking every couple of hours until they restock. I’m not sure the stress is worth it!
The one thing that drives me crazy is they’ll say they’re completely out of something and then oh, they were able to get more! I mean, I’m sure that does happen but I wish it was more transparent. Even with the mystery totes – ‘this is all we have, we’re already packed! Except some of them aren’t packed so we might be able to get more.’ ???
The deal is hard to beat, but it is hard to keep track!
Oh, I’m so mad at myself for not ordering last night when I had the chance! I didn’t think they’d sell out so quickly! I guess I’ll know for the next time…
So mad. I’ve been looking forward to this and even have been checking the site daily for boxes. I don’t check FB often because I have a life. So sorry I missed it and now we can’t even get a normal monthly tote. Dam
That was what really bothered me about it, that there wasn’t also a regular monthly tote. There were only about 300 of these mystery totes, so they had to know that there were going to be a huge number of their regular customers who were not going to be able to order this month. It just strikes me as a bad business decision and a way to make a lot of loyal customers feel slighted. Not the best way to start the year for them.
Whoa – only 300? AND they let people order multiple bags. Really not good for the majority of their customers.
I read that somewhere, but am now trying to find the source. I hope that isn’t wrong and I apologize if it is. There still were definitely not enough to keep pace with their customer base, which is a real shame.
If they offered a regular tote this month I would have got that just because I love them, but they put the sale live at 1am and that’s just wrong, knowing that they had so few of them. I’m not sure what the thinking was behind that choice. But I know I’m peeved about it
I’m upset that right when i got an e-mail they will be selling there mystery totes, that they were already sold out. They should do this every other month so everyone has a chance to get one.
I find it disappointing they didn’t alert current customers (who subscribe to their emails) about this before the sale. To me it shows they aren’t focused on keeping current customers loyal and happy.
That was quite off-putting to me as well. From looking at their FB, it looks like she was just testing it on the site but then orders started coming in, so she just announced it on FB. By the time the email would have been sent out, they were already basically sold out. Just kind of sounds like a mess…
They should not let people order multiple s until the emails had gone out to regular customers. Posting it late at night on Facebook was crazy. Sorry but I’m asleep or in bed and I don’t spend my whole day trolling FB. Bad business. I think if they offered up their regular totes this month also people may not be so angry. If the sale got so crazy when they tested it they could have removed it for awhile in order to give email subscribers a chance to orxer
Managed to snag a Medium! So glad I didn’t wait until after work like I started to!
Boo! Sold out of all!!
WOW, so glad that I checked their FB page last night. They posted another message this morning:
[i]Good morning! We launched our mystery tote last night on Facebook and never expected to sell so many!! People, we are currently sold out of all sizes except size medium and it’s just 6 am! We had physically packed up most of the totes last week but there’s a small chance we could pack a couple more and have more available. I’m starting a waiting list. If you tried to order and were sold out, please email us at [email protected] with your size and it will be first come first serve IF our inventory changes today.
I wish we had more to sell! Our new, regular, GT sale will launch Feb 3rd and will feature all new items![/i]
They posted their sale at 10pm PST. Maybe those that didn’t get to buy one can email them to join the waiting list.
i snagged a Medium although am worried its too small. I also added myself to the waitlist for the Large. Fingers crossed
If it doesn’t work for you let me know. I want a tote this month too. Justprincessj at gmail.com
Is this in the place of the normal monthly golden tote, or will they be releasing other options today?
So bummed I missed out!
This is in place of the normal golden tote for January. They will be going back to the regular model in Feb.
They posted on FB that this is a one time thing for January. February totes will return to the regular selections with new clothes.
Also, those that bought more then one are getting different totes. They packed them last week, so they really can’t customized them like they do their regular totes.
Bummer, they are completely sold out! 🙁 Looks like it started at midnight, so I had no chance, haha! Can’t wait to see what you get!
Wow, they are already completely sold out!! Bummer, I love golden tote!
Only Mediums left
I clicked “confirm order” and was told they were sold out of my size. Sigh… Would have loved to get this. Did they send an announcement email out about these? I didn’t get one.
They seem to have run out of every other size but medium. 🙁 WOuld have loved to get this!
This was the perfect excuse to finally try out Golden Tote – I snagged one! Their things are so cute; I figure if they don’t fit, I’ll have no trouble consigning them.
Thanks, as always, for the heads-up, Liz! 🙂
Bummed they’re out if large this earjy
Thanks! Just snagged one. I’ve eyed this one for awhile now. With this deal I couldn’t resist. Hopefully medium will fit since large was sold old =/
Wow! Well, I can’t resist this offer!
Thank you for letting us know about this deal. I saw your reviews about Godlen Tote but, was hesitant to try it yet. I bought 2 mystery boxes since they said there would be no duplicates. I can’t wait to see what they send.
I’m so excited to get my first golden tote! When do you think they’ll ship?
This is cool. It’s my first golden tote. Thank you!
anyone knows if there is a golden tote swap group on facebook?
There is not — they said they have had a lot of requests to make one and are considering doing so. I’d like to swap December’s sweater cardigan in M/L for a S/M.
super excited !!! Thanks for letting us know 🙂
I thought I was fast, but I see we have very savvy shoppers! Well, I bought two and left a note hoping for different items in each one. I have dealt with their customer service before and they were good. I wonder what I’ll get. I’m so excited!
Just got mine!!! It’ll be my very first golden tote, so I’m really excited to see what I’m getting!!!!
What an AMAZING deal – I already ordered mine, as I bet they will sell out very fast! I can’t believe we’ll get four items for $50 and one is Puella! :-O