The price of Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is skyrocketing online under crushing demand

Lego released a new all-female "Women of NASA" toy set on Wednesday for $24.99.
Amazon reportedly sold out of the product, which had become its best-selling toy.
Third-party shops are now selling the in-demand kit for about $100 more through popular online retailers.

Lego's highly anticipated "Women of NASA" toy set went on sale Wednesday for a suggested retail price of $24.99.

But if online sales are any indication, the kit of all-female mini-figurines is shaping up to be one of the hottest toys of the holiday shopping season.

Amazon, arguably the world's largest online store, has already sold out, according to CNN — and now prices offered by partner retailers are skyrocketing.

Twitter users expressed dismay at the situation on Friday afternoon. One said the price had jumped $100 overnight.

The instant popularity of "Women of NASA" is not a shock to those who've followed Lego's commendable trend of selling more female-inclusive products— they're in high demand because consumers want more representation in toys they gift to kids.

On Thursday, "Women of NASA" became the best-selling toy on Amazon.

By Friday morning, however, the toy's price on popular online retail sites had skyrocketed four- to six-fold. The product was listed for $125.99 on Amazon as a Prime-eligible item. An even higher price of $149.99 appeared on the website of Wal-Mart, another online-retailing giant, with only about five items left.

Prices on eBay ranged between about $55 and $170, including the cost of shipping.

Lego is selling the set for $24.99 on its own site, plus about $4.95 in shipping, and the site does not appear to be out of stock — yet.

These days, big online retailers like Amazon earmark, sell, and ship their own stock of products, which sell for roughly the suggested retail price of the manufacturer. When those items sell out, however, many sites automatically include options from approved third-party sellers.

This may have fueled the skyrocketing prices for Lego's "Women of NASA" set, akin to what happened during Hurricane Irma, when "life-sustaining necessities" were sold on Amazon at inflated prices. A similar scenario occurred with the popular Hatchimals toys in November 2016.

Amazon sources told Business Insider that if third-party retailers set prices too far above a certain threshold, Amazon may remove the 'buy' box from that product page, and kick it out of search results — that is, until prices relax or Amazon refreshes its own stock.

Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to our questions.

As for the "Women of NASA" set priced at $24.99? Amazon sources said the online giant will have it "back in retail this season" but did not specify when.

The price of Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is skyrocketing online under crushing demand

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