Parents across the UK are forking out 8 times the retail price for popular sold out toys in the run up to Christmas.

LovetheSales.com tracks the prices and stock levels of the most sought after toys and found that over 38% are currently sold out. UK parents are turning to third party sellers which still stock the products at over inflated prices.

Monopoly: Fortnite edition has been sold out across all retailers since the end of November. The out of stock board game, that featured on this years Dream Toys list, is priced at £21.99 by Argos and Smyths.

Opportunistic sellers on eBay are advertising the game for as much as £99, almost 5 times the RRP. A price 139 customers have already resigned themselves to paying.

The worldwide song hit Baby Shark, turned soft toy, has been top of every young persons Christmas list - it retails for £15. Toy store, The Entertainer, sold all of its pre-ordered stock within 2 weeks of the cuddly toy's arrival to the UK. Amazon also completely sold out in just 2 days.

A spokersperson for The Entertainer told the Daily Record "There is more stock landing of the range next week so customers can sign up to receive an email when back in stock, but stock will still be limited and emails will be sent on a first come first served basis."

For unlucky parents still on the hunt for the sold out singing fish, it is now being advertised on eBay for as much as £125. This is an eye watering 730pc more than RRP. Whilst £125 is at the extreme end of pricing, there are hundreds being sold for 4 to 5 times more than RRP.

Another popular product, Fingerlings Baby Unicorn, is currently unavailable online for all toy retailers. Amazon was selling the toy for a retail price of £16.97, until it sold out on Wednesday. Now, Amazon third party sellers are offering the unicorn for £44.99, 3 times the price advertised just days before.

Parents have a tough choice; risk waiting for these products to come back in stock or pay over the odds to bag the gifts before Christmas.

LovetheSales.com's consumer expert, Stuart McClure, shares his tips for making sure you don't get hit by third party sellers.

1. Do your research

Search online and find the average price big retailers are selling the product for. Coming up to the festive season, prices can fluctuate quite a bit, I would suggest using price history websites such as CamelCamelCamel for Amazon products and PriceSpy for everything else. They will give you a fuller picture of what is a good price for the item.

2. Ask the retailers when they come back in stock

Email, tweet and Facebook retailers on their social media, asking for dates of when sold out items will be coming back in stock. Some stores like The Entertainer will add you to an email list where they will notify you as soon as restock.

3. Get your friends involved

If your friends want to purchase the same toys as you, let them know that you can pick one up if you see it online or instore and they can do the same for you. 2 pairs of eyes are better than one.

4. Shop multiple retailers

Use online aggregators like LovetheSales.com that will show you products from multiple retailers, sometimes the product is still out there, it's just in the hands of a retailer you don't know about. Aggregators are a great way of discovering new retailers that you might not already know.

LovetheSales.com is a retail aggregator, bringing together the discounts from over 950 UK retailers, into one place. Please refer to the aggregator as LovetheSales.com and link to the press release when using the information in this article.

Price tracking and data sourced from LovetheSales.com

For more information on the above, please do get in touch.

Liam Solomon

Marketing Lead

liam@lovethesales.com

07 414 633 197