The Italian students are among hundreds of people at this "blind sale" of unclaimed packages, where boxes large and small are paid for according to their weight at a Rome shopping centre.

"Many people might say this is a good surprise," Benedetta told AFP, holding up the wireless earphones in one hand. "But in my opinion it's this. It's a hoe."

"I live in the countryside. I always have to plant flowers and I use a soup spoon to dig. I would never have bought a hoe of my own volition," she said.

Organised by French startup King Colis, the event aims to reduce waste and promote sustainability.

It is the company's first event in Italy and is proving so popular that King Colis CEO Killian Denis predicts they could sell 10 tonnes of packages in six days, with an average of 800 buyers and 3,000 visitors per day.

Denis said he came up with the idea during the Covid lockdown, after several things he ordered online to entertain his young daughters got lost in the post.

"Each time I was reimbursed... but I started to wonder what happened to the lost, undeliverable packages," Denis told AFP.

"I discovered that they were destroyed by the logistics companies in charge of their delivery, since they're of no use to them and the suppliers refuse to take them back because of the transport costs."

That is when he and a childhood friend decided become "parcel rescuers", he said.

- 'Only one rule' -

Antoine Ulry manages the pop-up stand in the shopping centre, where people get 10 minutes to "take as many items as you like from the bins".

People dug through the piles, holding packages up to their ears and shaking them. The queue to join them snaked through the centre.

"The only rule you have to follow is not to open the parcels before you buy them," Ulry said.

Some shoppers immediately tore into their purchases the moment the cash was handed over.

As one customer wheeled away a shopping trolley overflowing with boxes, road maintenance worker Giuseppe Arancio discovered the packages he paid 123 euros ($126) for include a stone cooking pot.

"The pot is valuable and I got other little things I needed. Out of the uncertainty came useful things", he said with a smile.

After the initial pop-up sales in France, the company has organised blind sales in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Portugal, Spain and Sweden are to follow soon.

It also sells bundles of mystery parcels online.

One third of the packages sold come from European logistics giants, while the other two thirds come from Amazon resellers.

Most of the latter are lost parcels, while the remainder are returned and unsold things.

Such is the appetite for the blind sales that King Colis is currently out of e-commerce packages to sell, beyond the three pop-up events it has planned in January. Its website says it hopes to replenish stocks soon.

An Amazon spokesperson told AFP: "We do not work with 'mystery box'/'secret package' retailers."

The company does "not send unopened or undeliverable customer returns to liquidators" but does use liquidations to give some returned products "a second life".

sl/ide/gil

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