Call it a marketing/publicity stunt or a bid to attract customers during an inflationary time, but a New York City skincare company has set off a social media frenzy by selling eggs at half price in the costly metropolis. The Ordinary grabbed eyeballs after a customer posted a receipt showing a dozen eggs purchased for $3.37 at the skincare company’s NYC store.
The bill was posted on Reddit sub r/nyc, and a similar post was made on r/SkincareAddiction. However, the second post was deleted because it was “outside the purview” of the skincare subreddit.
Notably, according to local media reports from NBC News and the New York Times, egg prices in the United States have seen a meteoric rise — rising from just over $4 in January to $18 in the last week of February amid the bird flu outbreak. Average egg prices have hovered around $8 per dozen as of March 2025.
The Ordinary Selling Eggs? Legit or Scam?
While it seemed unlikely that a cosmetic company would sell eggs — and at cheaper than grocery stores — the receipt posted on Reddit was legitimate. Moreover, adding to the buzz, the brand’s Instagram account posted twice about the egg sales over the weekend, confirming it wasn’t a hoax.
In its first post, which racked up over 94,000 likes, The Ordinary wrote, “We heard NYC needed eggs. This weekend, you can get 12 ordinarily priced eggs at our stores for $3.37. No frills, just eggs. While supplies last.”
The outlets listed for sale were the company’s shops at Nolita (26 Prince St, NYC) and at 5th Avenue (475 5th Avenue, NYC). The second post for the “ordinarily priced eggs” also had over 5,900 likes and seemed to be well recieved by customers.
How Did Netizens React? ‘Ridiculous… Whoa! Good marketing! Smart!’
Reactions to both posts on Reddit were a mixture of shock, questions, and awe, with some confused about whether a cosmetics shop could sell food and others marvelling at the marketing genius.
One user exclaimed, “That’s f***ing ridiculous lol [sic]” to get a response saying, “It’s also kinda smart” [sic].
Another questioned the pricing, saying, “This would make sense as the Ordinary markets itself as affordable Dermatologist quality skincare. my question is; where are they getting the eggs that they can price them like this? is this coming at a loss? [sic].”
Another user theorised in response: “It makes me think that it is a marketing campaign that they’re investing in.”
Other users were shocked: “Ayo? Do all their locations sell eggs cause thats really cheap [sic],” and “Damn. Watch out now. Lines going to be circling all kinds of blocks [sic].”
On Instagram, the responses were largely positive, saying, “This is good marketing [sic],” and “The marketing here is genius !! So on brand [sic].”
