Beanie Babies Value
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How to Determine the Value of your Beanie Babies
Before selling off your precious Beanie Baby collectio, you have to determine the value of your Beanie Babies, so you know what to ask for and not get scammed for selling a valuable Beanie Baby for a much lower price. In a previous article, I discussed the basic steps to determine a Beanie Babies value – this article will delve in a little deeper and instruct you how to get the best deal for your collection.
For those that haven’t read the previous article, here is the shortlist of ways to determine your Beanie Baby value:
Steps to determine the value of your Beanie Baby:
- Check the official Beanie Baby website to determine if the Beanie Baby that you are trying to sell is retired. This is important, as a retired Beanie Baby will be a lot more valuable than a more commonplace non-retired Beanie Baby
- Read Beanie Baby Collector Guides. These can be either found online, or at your local bookstore/hobbystore
- Research on the internet about your particluar Beanie Baby.
- Talk to knowledgable people to see if they can appraise your Beanie Babies valuePrinted Price Guides are somewhat useless when trying to determine Beanie Baby values because the values change so quickly. A Price Guide publisher won’t buy your Beanies from you. Only Beanie Baby collectors or Beanie Baby dealers will buy your Beanies.
Checking retail prices in a catalog online, which will give you a rough idea as to how much a certain beanie costs, but you probably won’t be able to get retail value prices for your beanies since it is difficult for people to find retail customers by themselves.
Once you have an idea of whatyour Beanie Babies value is, then it is important to determine the conditions of your Beanie Babies. This is important because no matter how much your Beanie Babies are valued on the market, it is ultimately what condition your Beanie Babies are which determine how much you can sell them for. Here are some rough guides to determine what conidtion your Beanie Baby is:
- Mint condition - Beanie Babies that show no signs of wear and tear, have no defects and tags – both hang and tush are in perfect condition (not bent, written on etc.)
- Near mint condition: Beanie Babies that are basically in mint condition, but have slightly bent tags. These will decrease value to about 80% of retail
- Excellent condition: Beanie Babies that are basically in near mint condition, but have creased or worn or written on tags. These will decrease value to about 70% of retail
- Good condition: Beanie Babies that have virtully no wear and tear, but are missing tags. These will decrease value to about 40-50% of retail
- Damaged: Worn down Beanie Babies, tears, stains, missing parts etc. Expect to receive 5-30% of retail value depending on amount of damage
The most valuable Beanie Baby is the No. 1 Bear, which is only given to Ty employees.
To get the most value from your collection, it is probably easier to sell your Beanie Babies off one at a time. Selling off your whole collection will give you the least amount as you will be getting wholesale prices. Selling individually will get you more money but it will take more time as you will need to find individual people who are interested in a specific Beanie Baby.
Now that you know how much to expect to get from the sale of your Beanie Babies, you can either go to a retailer or convention to sell them. Ebay works well too! For further information on how to sell your beanie babies, please see my other article – How to Sell Beanie Babies
How to Sell Beanie Babies
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Back when Beanie Babies where a huge fad, a lot of people collect them. But what happens now when you have this large collection of Beanie Babies, and you want to sell them off for a profit? Well this article will teach you how!
First of all, it is important to determine the value of your Beanie Baby. This is important because then you will know that you are not getting ripped off, and the amount that you are receiving is appropriate. Of course ideally, you want to sell for the highest possible amount, but having a figure to base off of is very convenient as well.
Steps to determine the value of your Beanie Baby:
- Check the official Beanie Baby website to determine if the Beanie Baby that you are trying to sell is retired. This is important, as a retired Beanie Baby will be a lot more valuable than a more commonplace non-retired Beanie Baby
- Read Beanie Baby Collector Guides. These can be either found online, or at your local bookstore/hobbystore
- Research on the internet about your particluar Beanie Baby.
- Talk to knowledgable people to see if they can appraise your Beanie Babies value
Checking your Beanie Babies
- Look at the tags of your Beanie Baby. A Beanie Babies tags are very important as they prove that your Baby is original and in good condition.
- Beanie Babies with tags that are perfectly preserved are in mint condition and can be sold in such state
- Tags that are slightly bent are near mint and rate at 80% or market price. These Beanie Babies are near-mint.
- Tags that are creased are in exellent condition and are around 65% of market price
- Tags that are missing or ripped are in good condition and are about 45% of the market price
- Beanie Babies that have tears or rips in the Baby itself or missing parts such as ears or noses can range from 5-35% of market price depending on its condition
Note that Beanie Babies with manufacturer defects such as missing spots or tails are not officially priced, but have higher than market value. If you have a market defect Baby it might be worth much more than you originally bought it for! Please consult the top of the guide to determine what to do in order to sell it for a profit!
Also, tag errors such as spelling mistakes etc, on hang tags are easily fixed and not worth that much more. However tush-tag mistakes are definitely considered market defects and have the potential to sell at a higher value!
Ty Beanie Babies
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Ty Beanie Babies are the Beanie Babies offically made by Ty. You can recognize a Ty Beanie Baby from its heart-shaped tag with the Ty logo on it.
Ty Warner was the man who invented Beanie Babies. He originally worked at a toy making company called Dakin,before he started his own- Ty Incorporated. Initially his company made large plush toys before Ty invented Beanie Babies.
The toys that Ty made – Beanie Babies were designed for children to be held easily as well as to be affordable. Children could purchase a Beanie Baby from their allowance. He used pellets to make the toys soft and give them their distinctive shape and feel.
In 1993 the first Beanie Babies debuted, and began to be stocked in toy stores all over the country. Beanie Babies soon became a huge hit, and suddenly the demand was so great that Ty couldn’t keep up!
There are a few tactics that Ty used to make his product so desireable. Why did everyone want Beanie Babies? Any time demand for a certain Beanie Baby increased, Ty would limit the production of said Beanie Baby. This skyrocketed demand and thus the value of the toy. They were never sold in major stores, only smaller toy/game stores sold them. This allowed Ty to limit the distribution and thus the amount of Beanie Babies in the market.
Another tactic was to retire toys. Ty would often retire a certain Beanie Baby, in fact so often, that it became routine. This increased demand for certain toys, as collectors would know that a certain Beanie Baby would be going out, and would scramble to find one for sale. This increased he collectability of the toy.
This demand has also increased the amount of counterfitters trying to make a quick buck on rare Beanie Babies. Fake Beanie Babies are rampant in the market, and the only way to tell if your Beanie Baby is an original is via the tag.
About Tags
Tags are a very important part of the Beanie Baby. A Beanie Baby without its tag is worth SIGNIFICANTLY less than one with its tag. Up to half its value is lost! Every Beanie Baby will have two tags at the very least. The two tags are:
- Swing tag
- Tush tag
The Swing tag – aka hang tag, is the most visible tag on a Beanie Baby. It is usually hanging off the ear, or hand, and will easily identify an official Beanie Baby.
The Tush tag is attached to the rear end of the Beanie Baby
Tags have become quite sophisticated these days, with holograms as an example to try thwart counterfeiting. It is essential to ensure that your Beanie Baby is authentic before trying to buy or sell a Beanie Baby.
Beanie Babies
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Beanie Babies are amongst the worlds best toys and collectables. Made by Ty Inc. Beanie Babies are famous for being stuffed with plastic pellets instead of regular stuffing like a normal plush doll. This gives an incredible feel to Beanie Babies – it makes you want to hug them! Some people say that Beanie Babies are just bean bags, but really, I don’t see you hugging a bean bag now do I?
Beanie Babies are identified by their tags. These tell us that they are authentic Ty Beanie Babies and not some cheap knockoff. When you buy a Beanie Baby, you don’t take off the tag, so if you were to sell it later, the buyer would know that you are selling the real deal!
Tags include the Ty logo and the Beanie Baby’s name. There are many different styles and types of tags, but initially they were very simple – logo in front, Beanie Baby name on the back.
Since they’ve been introduced, Beanie Babies have been popular. Initially as a childrens toy, but eventually by collectors all over the world. Ty Warner created the original nine Beanie Babies and displayed them at the 1993 World Toy Fair.
The Original Nine:
- Brownie the Bear Beanie Baby
- Squealer the Pig Beanie Baby
- Splash the Whale Beanie Baby
- Legs the Frog Beanie Baby
- Flash the Dolphin Beanie Baby
- Pinchers the Lobster Beanie Baby
- Spot the Dog Beanie Baby
- Chocolate the Moose Beanie Baby
- Patti the Platypus Beanie Baby
People started collecting Beanie Babies only once Ty started retiring Beanie Babies. Originally marketed for kids, the Beanie Baby craze began to whir up a storm!
People still buying Beanie Babies to this day! Recently Ty has released a special Beanie Baby designed after Barack Obama’s first dog, Bo!
How is a Beanie Baby Made?
The first thing to understand is that despite their names, Beanie Babies do not have beans in them. Inside are small plastic pellets made from either polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene. This makes Beanie Babies different from regular plush dolls. The outer cover of the Beanie Baby – its fur is made from synthetic plush. Soft to touch, it makes petting a Beanie Baby so much more fun!
The rest of the Beanie Baby – eyes, noses, etc, are plastic and made by specialty subcontractors. These are child proof to prevent children from pulling out these small parts and choking on them. The are difficult to pull off, will not come off after washing, or rough play.
Tags are fastened onto a Beanie Baby via a plastic fastener. The tags themselves are printed on paper with the Ty logo on it. (Other brands have their own logos)
Ty Beanie Babies are designed by Ty Warner himself. He makes many prototypes of a design he is trying, and will use different materials, or colors or shapes until he gets the design he wants. He talks to employees as well as collectors to gather ideas for his next design.
The manufacturing process contains many steps. These include:
1) Choosing a pattern and having a machine cut it out
2) Assembly of the face of the Beanie Baby. Eyes and nose are inserted. Ears are sewn on
3) The Beanie Baby is stitched together and then turned inside out
4) Pellet filling is inserted after measuring the right amount. The Beanie Baby is sewn shut.
5) Testing of the Beanie Baby takes place – squeezing, hugging, etc, to make sure the texture and weight is appropriate
6) Details such as ribbons, or bows are put on. Tags are put on.
And thats the basics on how Beanie Babies are made!
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