The much-anticipated Hello Kitty EZ-Charms were made available on Dec. 9 at selected 7-Eleven outlets island-wide.

Eventually, close to 10,000 people showed up at 14 outlets to queue to buy the charms that come in two designs, priced at S$24.90 each.

For the uninitiated, EZ-Charms are trinkets that work like EZ-link cards. So, instead of using a card, you can just tap this trinket.

Hello Kitty? Check.

Limited edition? Check.

Only available in selected 7-Eleven outlets? Check.

The winning formula ensured a surge in demand, to the extent that people were queuing at Yishun Ring Road's 7-Eleven outlet since midnight.

At Choa Chu Kang, there were 200 people waiting to purchase the trinkets at 7.30am.

Enter the hustlers

While everyone was limited to a purchase of four pieces each, there was plenty of people who took to the Facebook thread to show-off hustle the charms -- for a profit margin, of course.

There were some who pretty much realised the case:

And others who failed to see the rationale for buying these cutesy charms in the first place:

Whatever the case may be, with more than 4,000 of these Hello Kitty EZ-Charms already sold, Sanrio and EZ-Link are probably the ones having the last laugh.

Guess we're gonna have to settle for those cute EZ-Link stickers.

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Top image adapted from

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