Taylor Swift's merch problem

The big picture: Swift had the most sought-after merchandise of any of Billboard's Top 100 artists of 2023, according to one study.

• She earned $200 million from merchandise sales alone over the 60 shows she performed as part of "The Eras Tour" in 2023, Deadline reported.

Why it matters: Swift has had a stratospheric year propelled by a billion-dollar tour credited with boosting the U.S. economy, Axios' Ivana Saric writes.

• Fans' dissatisfaction with the merchandise is a chink in Swift's armor — proving that even one of the world's most powerful pop stars isn't immune to logistics hurdles that can spur social media outrage.
• Swift comes to Indianapolis for a tour stop Nov. 1-3.

Zoom in: In recent months, fans have taken to social media to slam Swift's store for long shipping delays, poor quality and accusations that the items received were not in line with what was being shown online.

• "Why is Taylor Swift's merch store and merchandise so awful?" one person wondered in a December post on the SwiftlyNeutral subreddit.

• "From the lack of customer service, shipping delays, bots, disregarded refund requests, to the overall quality of merch. Why do they charge so much for items of such low quality and poor customer service?" the post continued.

💭 Lindsey's thought bubble: These Swifties need to calm down and consider just how many people are ordering merch. Of course it takes awhile to ship. Have you seen the merch lines at her concerts?!

• I ordered a T-shirt at the end of July and received it within a week, but maybe I was lucky. As for the quality, I have no complaints.