Beanie babies $.50

[HardyGirl]

I never got the appeal of those things. I do have some stuffed animals, but I've never really been into them. I prefer dolls and action figures.

[Werewolf]

I never got the appeal of those things.

They were cute, high quality and inexpensive. It was something fun for little kids to collect. Then the scalpers got to them and changed everything. It always really bothers when those stereotypical Simpsons type comic book guys scalp children's toys. They did the same things to the Zhu Zhu pets last Christmas. They seem to destroy everything they touch.

[livnxxxl]

i used to get so annoyed whenever there was a toy show, more than half the tables were alll beanie babies dealers.

Yeah, I defiitely will not be missing them out on the tables like they once were. I to remember the huge piles and table after table.

Hopefully this will make room for something much better....like err um more Mego's yeah that is the ticket.

[livnxxxl]

I never really got into them and thank goodness I didn't. I do know a guy who made a really healthy profit from dealing in them. He was really smart and got out right before the market started to spiral.

Even though I am really not into these there was one that always kind of caught my attention. The Millionaire Bear. I still think to myself some day I might buy that one.

I can remember buying these things for my gf at the antique malls for like $5 a pop and or more depending on which one it was. That of course was back when they were booming.

Now I see most of the same one's that I bought her for like .25 and .50 each. She collected them and still buys them when she finds deals on them which now is just about all of the time. I bought her big bags of them at sales. At the market price they are today how can you go wrong?

[Cmonster]

Beanie Babies. What a joke... Until they make POTA ones, of course.

SC

[megoat]

They were cute, high quality and inexpensive. It was something fun for little kids to collect. Then the scalpers got to them and changed everything. It always really bothers when those stereotypical Simpsons type comic book guys scalp children's toys. They did the same things to the Zhu Zhu pets last Christmas. They seem to destroy everything they touch.

You keep wanting to solely blame scalpers when clearly it was Ty, the company that sold and manufactured Beanie Babies, that intentionally controlled the supply to help foster the craze. Once the craze took off, this was without a doubt their marketing strategy.....

[livnxxxl]

As with Hot Wheels, Barbies, Zhu Zhu pets and the list goes on and on. Anything that has a inkling of being a hot commodity amongst collectors.

The companies are not dumb. They do make mistakes from time to time, but they are definitely not dumb when it comes to creating a craze. They know exactly what they are doing and how to do it.

[Werewolf]

You keep wanting to solely blame scalpers when clearly it was Ty, the company that sold and manufactured Beanie Babies, that intentionally controlled the supply to help foster the craze. Once the craze took off, this was without a doubt their marketing strategy.....

I do blame the scalpers.

Ty's marketing strategy changed because of the scalpers. Had the comic book guys left them for children the prices would not have been artificially inflated and TY wouldn't have started to cater to adult collectors.

Same with Zhu Zhu pets. They were meant as children's toys. Not collectables. Comic book guys scalped them at Christmas (real classy there) and created an artificial demand and price hike. The company that makes them then compensated for the artificial demand and now stores are flooded with them.

Scalpers moved on because they bled their artificially created market dry and kids get bored and moved on. The toy line is now basically dead.

No doubt comic book guys will do the same thing this year to whatever ends up being the hot toy for kids this Christmas. Wash rinse repeat and another kid's toy line lies dead in their path.

There's plenty of adult collectables for comic book guys to scalp, horde and artificially manipulate the value of. No need or excuse to do it to toys meant for children.

[BlackKnight]

You keep wanting to solely blame scalpers when clearly it was Ty, the company that sold and manufactured Beanie Babies, that intentionally controlled the supply to help foster the craze. Once the craze took off, this was without a doubt their marketing strategy.....

I agree with this ... This is where "Craze" starts ..., Then Scalper's , .. And I see it also very Much Today with Mattel's new MOTU Line ... Hopefully, we can pick these up for 50cents in the Future too.

[livnxxxl]

I agree with this ... This is where "Craze" starts ..., Then Scalper's , .. And I see it also very Much Today with Mattel's new MOTU Line ... Hopefully, we can pick these up for 50cents in the Future too.

That would be nice. Wishful thinking on our part "maybe", but still nice to dream at least. You never know. ??? Who would have "thunk" that the Beanie Babies would have taken a dive from glory like they did. ???

[apes3978]

They practically did in the 70s when AHI made those bean bag figures of Galen and Zaius...

Beanie Babies. What a joke... Until they make POTA ones, of course.

[EMCE Hammer]

They practically did in the 70s when AHI made those bean bag figures of Galen and Zaius...

One of my favorite POTA pieces as a kid, I still have the one my mom bought me.

[TrueDave]

I remember reading in Toy Shop newspaper back in the day. There was an article claiming the first litigation specifically aimed at a toy collector.

A lady in Florida in the Hospitality business was copying customers credit Card numbers and buying more Beanie Babies. She was ordered to stay away from Beanie Babies as part of the verdict.

Also I saw a Judge Judy about a woman who bought what she claimed were FAKE Beanie Babies. Judy listened to her for a bit them interjected she herself collected Precious Jewelry and made fun of the Beanie collector.

[LadyZod]

I bought Beanie Babies when they first came out. Granted I only picked up a few that interested me, like the Chihuahua, Pug and Dachsund. And of course the McD Flamingo, cause he rocked.

But I did crazy things to them. First off, I RIPPPPPPED the tags off. And I usually did so infront of the crazy women paying top $ for them. It amused me.

[Adam West]

Actually, Ty is partially responsible for the problem. The product never really took off until they decided to "retire" or limit quantities. That's when they realized they hit on something and everything went up from there.

Same thing with Webkinz although I don't think quite as bad. My sister-in-law owns a boutique shop and started carrying them before anyone knew what they were. The minute they announced retiring them she couldn't keep them on the shelves.

I was at a church auction a couple of years ago and someone had donated a whole bunch of Beanie Babies. I swear the auctioneer said something along the line of them being highly collectible and valuable in a sarcastic tone which had everyone laughing. He started out at $5 and take as many as you want for $5 a piece and did not get anyone to bite until it was down around $.50. A mother let her daughter buy a bunch of them at that price.