A raspberry-flavored variation of the well-known Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie, the Raspberry Rally, was always intended to be sold as a limited-edition cookie. Things have taken a turn though.
After selling out in just hours, the cookies can now be found on eBay. Yet the Girl Scouts would much prefer that you didn’t purchase them from the website.
Local leaders said in an email to a Girl Scout chapter in New York that the “Raspberry Rally cookie sold out in less than a day” and that it “proved to be more popular than anticipated.”
The cookies were quickly placed for sale online, but not on the Girl Scouts’ website. Boxes of Raspberry Rally cookies have been listed on eBay, some for nearly $30 a box. That is far more expensive than the Girl Scouts’ $5–$6 per box.
Girl Scouts have for 100 years raised money for the organization and helped members develop their business abilities by selling cookies.
The Girl Scouts, however, expressed “disappointment” that the goods are now offered by other vendors and claimed proceeds from the resale would not go to the organization.
They said in a statement to CNN that when cookies are purchased from a third-party seller, the revenues are lost and cannot be used to support important year-round activities.
In addition, these unauthorized sales could damage the reputation of the Girl Scout cookies. The freshness or integrity of cookies purchased from unofficial websites cannot be guaranteed, they said.
They also asked that those who want to purchase cookies directly from the Girl Scouts should use the Cookie Finder on their website.
eBay has no intention of removing the listings. “We strongly support the entrepreneurial spirit of hardworking local Girl Scout troops and encourage cookie-seekers to also support their local Girl Scouts,” they said in a statement to CNN. Because the sales do not violate their policies, the listings will not be pulled down.
The Raspberry Rally was initially introduced before the cookie season. The Girl Scouts announced at the time that the Rally would be sold online only, a first for their company, something they said was a new way of teaching entrepreneurship.
