Buying Mystery Boxes: Items That Are Neither Useful Nor Fairly Priced

These days, “mystery boxes” are almost everywhere in sales systems: boxes whose exact contents you don't know. Hair ties, bracelets, watches, clips and all sorts of other trinkets sometimes make up their contents. These boxes are certainly sold for far more than their real value, yet, interestingly, even at these exorbitant prices they always find buyers.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan, Iran newspaper wrote: These packages are also offered as legendary packages on social networks; Packages where the buyer does not know exactly what he will receive when paying. It might be a product they love, it might be something they don't need at all, and it might even be something they wouldn't pay for if they saw it separately on the store shelf.

Money for something we don't know exactly what it is

In normal shopping, we first see the product, then ask the price, and finally decide whether we need it or not. But a lucky package upsets this arrangement. Here we pay first and then we understand what we have bought.

This small change also changes consumer behavior. The main question is no longer "What's in it for me?" Rather, it becomes: "Let's see what comes out of the water?" This simple sentence is perhaps one of the keys to understanding the new market. The buyer does not pay for a product; Pays for a possibility.

Maybe inside the package is something you've been looking for for a long time, maybe something rare or even a model that is sold more expensively in the market. But there is another possibility: something he doesn't like at all. However, opening the package has become an experience in itself.

In investigating behaviors based on random reward, they refer to a mechanism in which the person does not know when the reward will appear and with what result. This type of "intermittent reinforcement" can cause a person to repeat the behavior because they don't know what they will get next time. The same similarity to random reward mechanisms has been noted in reviews of lucky boxes and video games.

Psychologist Zahra Nikzad explains further: "Curiosity and information gap is one reason; When we know there is something inside the package but we don't know exactly what it is, the mind seeks to complete the incomplete information. "I don't know what's waiting for me" is itself an attractive stimulus.

Variable reward is the next reason. This means that the reward is not the same every time. One time something ordinary and the next time something very valuable may be given to a person. This unpredictable pattern can increase anticipation and excitement. There is also dopamine and the expectation of reward. An important part of the fun is not necessarily after opening the package; The expectation that "maybe there's something good in there" can itself engage the brain's reward system. There is also fantasy. Before opening, one begins to guess: "Couldn't that be a special model?", "Couldn't I have won the grand prize?"

In fact, the product does not sell just one product; It also sells the experience of prediction and discovery.

Queues for I don't know what to buy

Lebobo is perhaps one of the most famous examples of this wave; Dolls with strange and different looks that became a global trend in a short period of time. It was not just about buying a doll. The buyer sees a set, but when he buys the package, he doesn't know which model is inside. It may be the model he wanted and it may not be. Not knowing is part of the charm of the product.

Queues formed in many countries to buy these dolls. Those who may not be willing to wait a long time to buy a normal doll, line up for a product that they don't even know exactly which model they will get until the moment they open the package. This sales model has a longer history in China and various examples of Shansi products can be seen in the market of this country. A traveler who went to China said about the large number of dolls and goods that are offered in the form of lucky sets; The buyer knows the collection but not the exact product inside the package. In this model, the seller is also selling something else: the hope of finding a specific model.

When a featureless product becomes attractive

But if we take a little distance from the excitement, a simple question arises: what will happen to all these accessories and trinkets later?

A bracelet, a chain, a clip, a small doll or any other accessory may be attractive at the time of purchase, but a few days later it will be in the corner of the drawer or somewhere that we will never look for it again.

In a video, a young girl talks about buying a famous brand bracelet at an exorbitant price, but the bracelet has lost its color at the same time and it is not clear whether it is really from the same brand as they say or not, and basically, does the high price mean durability or more use?

Now imagine applying the same logic to goods that are basically cheap and unimportant; Accessories that can be found in thrift stores and many of them may not be sold in auctions. In such a situation, turning them into "goods of chance" can give them another value; The value that is not of utility is of excitement.

Here comes another issue: excessive consumption and the fate of goods that are not sold. In Europe, this problem has become so serious that this year the European Union has implemented a ban on the destruction of clothing, clothing accessories and unsold shoes for large companies. From July 19, 2026, large companies in the EU will no longer be able to routinely destroy these unsold goods and must first consider ways such as discounted sales, alternative markets, donation or reuse. Of course, there are exceptions for certain cases such as damaged or unsafe goods. That is why some of these goods came from other countries. The reason is simple: when a product is thrown away before it is even used, not only the product itself is lost, but also the raw materials, water, energy and labor spent to produce it are wasted. The European Commission has estimated that about 4 to 9 percent of textile products sold in the European market are destroyed before use; A figure equivalent to hundreds of thousands of tons of products. Now, on one side of the story, we have an industry that tries to re-enter the consumption cycle of manufactured goods before they become waste, and on the other side, a culture has been formed that constantly produces and consumes new and small goods. The chance package may seem unrelated at first glance, but it raises a question: when we buy something just for the thrill of it, how likely are we to actually need it?

Social networks have made this consumption model many times more attractive. Previously, if someone bought a lucky package, eventually he and those around him would find out what was inside. Today, however, the moment of opening the package can become a video of several thousand people.

The buyer turns on the phone, puts the package in front of the camera, opens the first box and reacts. If something is interesting, the audience will also be excited. If something is rare, the excitement increases. If something bad happens, the video can still be interesting. In both cases, the product has been seen. This means that the buyer is not just a consumer; It has become a part of product advertising. Nikzad, a psychologist, also says about this issue: "Advertising these products has become such that the target brand does not always have to directly say, 'Buy this product.' It is enough to show those who are opening the package and waiting to see what they get. The next person sees the video and thinks it's okay if I open one and see what comes out, and the cycle begins like that."

Pointing out that we go from need to excitement, this psychologist emphasizes: "Perhaps this is the most important change. Until a few years ago, an important part of advertising tried to prove to the consumer what problem a product solves, why it is useful, how high quality it is, or why he should choose it instead of another product. Now, in a part of the market, another question has replaced these; Would you like to see what you get?"

According to him, this sentence is tempting enough because people don't buy only for their needs. Sometimes he buys for fun, curiosity, belonging to a wave or fear of falling behind others. He buys Lebobo because everyone is talking about him. He buys a chance package because he wants to have the experience of opening it. In this cycle, the commodity gradually becomes an excuse.

What we buy is maybe a few seconds

Finally, perhaps the strangest part of the story is that many of these goods may not be very attractive if they are offered without exciting packaging, without social media trends and without the possibility of surprises. A hair clip is a mouse clip. A bracelet is just a bracelet. A doll is nothing more than a doll. But when we put it in a package where we don't know what's inside, its psychological value changes. Maybe the buyer did not pay 12 million tomans for a collection of oddities; Part of this money is given for an experience that starts when the first package is opened and continues until the last package is opened. For a few minutes, he doesn't know what he will get and maybe this ignorance is one of the things that the market knows how to sell well today. Sometimes we don't buy goods anymore; We buy the chance to find a product. And in a market where more products are produced every day, maybe the newest product is neither a doll, nor a bracelet, nor a chain; Rather, the new product is only excitement.