A woman has gone viral after sharing a unique method of bargain-hunting: unclaimed baggage. In the clip, which has amassed 126,100 views as of Saturday, Amanda (@amandakorneghy1) showed viewers a silver TUMI suitcase. On the item’s tag, which was emblazoned with “Unclaimed Baggage,” it was claimed that the item’s recommended retail value was $1,500. Meanwhile, the item was priced at the much lower value of $149.99, according to the tag.
“Should I get it?” she asked. “I’m trying to figure out what to do!”
The consensus among viewers was pretty unanimous: Get the damn bag.
“You better have gotten that or I’m going to be mad at you!” one said.
“It’s a Tumi…” another said. “Get it. “
A third commenter said that buying the item was a “no-brainer,” while a fourth added, “If you don’t get it, I will scream.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Amanda via email and TikTok comment.
What is Unclaimed Baggage?
@amandakorneghy1 Should i get it? #story #life ♬ original sound – Dear Diary 👩💻
Also in the comments, Amanda confirmed that the place she shopped at was the Unclaimed Baggage store in Alabama. On its website, Unclaimed Baggage proudly touts itself as the nation’s only retailer of lost luggage. But that doesn’t necessarily mean every lost suitcase ends up there. According to the site, luggage is only counted as unclaimed after an extensive three-month search and usually amounts to a small percentage of 0.03%.
Unclaimed Baggage ends up getting this 0.03% of luggage because it has a purchasing agreement with all domestic airlines and various other travel companies. But even then, only a third of these unclaimed items end up being sold. Anything else is either donated or recycled.
According to Unclaimed Baggage, the retailer decides item prices based on “estimated retail value and conditions.” This, the site claims, amounts to approximately 7,000 new items each day for shoppers in their store and online.
With its unique business model and potential for outrageous deals, it should come as no surprise that Unclaimed Baggage has gone viral on TikTok before. Creator Anna Pratt (@annakpratt) took viewers on a tour as she introduced the “nation’s only lost luggage store,” and shared how the store even had a “cute little museum.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Unclaimed Baggage via email.
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