I cleaned off a smaller bin before showing it on this bin and I was just trying a few different cleaners to see what would take the marker off the best and nothing worked by itself.
I guess the order in which I used the chemicals helped me make this discovery. When I used the turpentine first and then used the "Totally Awesome Cleaner" from the dollar store, (the kind you see on TV) there was some type of chemical reaction and the totally awesome cleaner started bubbling and dancing around the top of the bin and then the marker started to "bleed" and color the cleaner so I knew it was doing something to take the marker off the bin lid. 
I tried about five different cleaners and fingernail polish remover which usually does the trick removing it from game boxes and books but I had no luck with it on the plastic bins.
You may have to do this a few times and allow the mixture to sit on the marker for a few minutes but I am fairly sure that the top marker was a Sharpie marker. I was able to remove the marker entirely from the smaller bin lid so much so that you can't even see that there ever was marker. You can see that picture at the bottom as it is the last picture.
It this picture, you can still see the word "tree" that was the first word I cleaned off the larger bin lid. By the end, you can't see it at all and I wasn't able to get the entire larger words off but they had black marker scribbled over them crossing them out at the beginning and the fact that I got it all off except a faint bit of the larger words is fairly good.
It did take some elbow grease but I didn't spend more than 10 minutes on the lid and that was taking time to video as well so if you let it sit for a few minutes and then use some pressure, it comes off fairly well.
You can see quite well on the video the little chemical "dance" that happened when I put the two chemicals together and you can clearly see how it is taking off the ink so I suggest if you can, watch the youtube video I have above.
I have gotten many bins in my home at second hand stores. I think people donate them due to the Sharpie on them and so I purchase them for $2 to $3 dollars and never pay more than that as I can purchase them new for $4 or $5 on sale.
I only buy the type we like and that can stack as all the girls can pack all their college stuff and the stuff they are leaving in them and we can see through the sides to know what is inside rather than having to pull it down or look at a "list" of what is inside.
The girls don't have much storage at college so they like that they can stack the clear totes and they don't take up much room and since they move lots as they have to move for the summer, it is nice that they don't have to find moving boxes to move as they have their stacking totes which makes it so much easier for them to store what they won't need over the summer etc with just a glance at the see through totes. Here is a link where I posted about the many reasons we have so many totes. I am grateful for "happy mistakes" that make my life so much easier and thought I would share the good news on how to remove the marker from plastic.
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