{"id":775022,"date":"2026-07-02T20:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/775022\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T20:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:40:22","slug":"neil-the-seal-stickers-sell-out-in-hours-as-demand-goes-bonkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/775022\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil the Seal stickers sell out in hours as demand goes \u2018bonkers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tasmanian artist has sold more than 500 Neil the Seal stickers in a matter of hours after demand for the limited-edition artwork went \u201cabsolutely bonkers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The surge comes as Neil, the elephant seal whose beachside antics during his annual winter visits have drawn crowds in southern Tasmania and attention worldwide, continues to capture public fascination.<\/p>\n

Sammy Murfet originally planned to make just 100 stickers featuring the much-loved marine mammal.<\/p>\n

The artist from Shearwater, east of Devonport, was forced to release batch after batch as buyers from Australia, the United States, Canada and New Zealand flooded her inbox.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Shearwater artist handwrites every envelope before posting orders<\/p>\n

The first 100 sold out in four hours to email subscribers alone, leaving none for the general public.<\/p>\n

Murfet released another 100, which sold out in just two hours.<\/p>\n

\"\"Neil\u2019s antics have landed him on major media networks around the world. Image \/ Sam Volkner<\/p>\n

She kept adding more until she had to shut down sales altogether, with more than 500 sticker orders now waiting to be packed by hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was absolutely lost for words,\u201d she told Pulse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am one person and I need to fulfill all these orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $6 stickers are all packaged by Murfet herself, who handwrites every envelope before posting them.<\/p>\n

\"\"Murfet\u2019s Instagram post reached more than 92,000 people online<\/p>\n

A waitlist for future releases has already attracted 470 names.<\/p>\n

Murfet, who works another job three days a week, began creating illustrations of Tasmanian landscapes and wildlife earlier this year after drawing the state\u2019s national parks.<\/p>\n

She shares her artwork through her Instagram account, @islandhomeillustrations.<\/p>\n

Murfet said the idea came about casually after friends suggested she draw Neil.<\/p>\n

\"\"Murfet shares her artwork through her Island Home Illustrations account<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really casually did it and I flicked it through to some friends, and then they wanted to pre-order,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then once I put the pre-order post up on social media, that\u2019s when everything went absolutely bonkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her announcement reached more than 92,000 people on Instagram, where it was shared 7,500 times and attracted 9,000 likes.<\/p>\n

The unexpected demand also prompted Murfet to offer international shipping through her website for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Murfet draws Tasmanian wildlife and attractions<\/p>\n

She said the response reflected the joy Neil the Seal has brought to people around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly think that it is just bringing a little bit of joy to people when there is so much going on in the world at the moment and uncertainty around so many things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said customers have told her the stickers will end up on cars, drink bottles and laptop cases, while others have bought multiple copies as gifts for grandchildren and friends.<\/p>\n

Murfet said she plans to release more stickers once the current backlog of orders has been filled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll ever get old seeing my artwork out and about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tasmanian artist has sold more than 500 Neil the Seal stickers in a matter of hours after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-775022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}