Silicon Valley Bank sees run on merch via eBay — including $201 cardboard box
Would you pay $201 for a carboard box from a failed bank?
Since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week, merchandise and items from the company have been posted on eBay, including wine tumblers, coffee mugs, shirts, hats and even a dented cardboard box.
As the federal government announced Sunday that it will not bail out the bank, opportunists are looking to unload their SVB-branded merch for a couple of bucks, with one seller putting up the box they received last month as part of the company’s welcoming package.
The seller touted the turquoise box with SVB printed on it as a “limited edition” item for collectors.
In their desperate plea to sell the hunk of junk for $201, the user wrote: “Box received after getting offer letter one month before the bank blew up. Need to pay rent this month, please bid.”
The item had a starting bid of less than $1 on Saturday, jumping to $201 as of Monday morning, with the auction set to close in five days.
Another alleged former employee feeling regret over the bank’s collapse put up their used coffee mug for auction, which is currently bidding at $30.
The seller, based in Osseo, Minn., shared their heartbreak in the item description, writing: “I worked for Silicon Valley Bank in the Enterprise Business Analytics team as a data scientist. I am utterly shocked by what has happened and am extremely concerned about the future.
“Buying this mug helps me out but also gets you a piece of history to one of the fastest banking failures in US history. This mug was used on the day-to-day and shows signs of wear.
“But those knicks in the powder coating just tell my story of grinding, analyzing, and ultimately failing to help the bank use data to help the bank and its customers have success.”
Another seller put up a used SVB-branded wine tumbler with a cracked lid up for auction, which is currently selling for $51.
The seller noted that the white tumbler was received as part of a “swag bag” from a holiday party sponsored by SVB in 2020.
One eBay seller also put up a tumbler for auction, throwing in an additional SVB-branded hat lauded as “limited edition” items. The seller cheekily added “10 year treasury bonds sold separately.
Other SVB-branded items up for sale include other hats and several T-shirts, many of which are labeled as belonging to the bank’s Risk Management Department.
SVB did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
SVB’s fall from grace is the largest US bank collapse since the 2008 economic crisis, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen telling CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the bail outs of the Great Recession won’t be repeated.
“During the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out,” Yellen said. “And the reforms that have been put in place means that we’re not going to do that again.”
