The Super-Exclusive Gift Card You Probably Missed Out On

Just how much do you love coffee?

If you didn’t answer that with the enthusiasm of at least four shots of espresso, you probably won’t be too upset to learn you didn’t get Starbucks’ exclusive new gift card. Even if you are that caffeinated, don’t feel bad. The card sounds pretty silly.

Last year, the high-end deals site Gilt offered a special edition Starbucks card for $450, Time says. The card was stainless steel, and loaded with $400. What a deal — $50 to trap $400 of your money within one store and earn exclusive status. Only 5,000 of them were sold, and they were gone within six minutes.

This year, the card returned. But this time, it was even more exclusive — only 1,000 were available, USA Today says. They do sound fancy:

Each of the cards — which are all handmade — features an artisan rose metal base with rose-colored coating. Starbucks lettering is laser-etched on the front. Each comes in a blue gift box with a special letter inside that explains the card’s value.

The card also comes with gold-level status, which means free refills on some drinks and other perks, USA Today says. And if you were lucky enough to get one, you might be able to resell it for a profit. Cards from last year are going for $1,000 on eBay.

If you didn’t get one, you’ll have to pay a similar price or wait until next year — when they’ll sell, what, 500 of them? — because they went faster than you can say peppermint mocha frappuccino. The sale was Friday, and the cards sold out “in seconds,” Gilt Groupe’s Alexis Maybank told CNBC.

“When the sale went live at noon, Maybank said, Gilt.com’s hits per minute beat those on Cyber Monday by nearly 2.5 times,” CNBC says. “Within 30 minutes, more than 11,000 people had tried to get on a wait list for the card.”

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