Beanie Bubble
Sure, prices are insane--but how long can they last?
Ty's philosophy is that Beanie Babies are designed for children. "We take pride in creating and distributing a nonviolent, creative toy for boys and girls that they can afford to collect," Ty states. "It is upsetting and intolerable to us when the short-term greed of some of our customers takes over." But many say Ty's own marketing is feeding the frenzy, and the solution to getting affordable Beanies into kids' hands is simple--flood the market. "Eliminate any economic advantage associated with owning any particular Beanie Baby," says Harry Rinker, author of his own Official Price Guide to Collectibles (1997, House of Collectibles, $18.95).
Secondary-market selling goes on right under Ty's nose. In a guest book on its Web site, Ty warns against fakes and offers a list of typical unauthorized purveyors--flea markets, home-shopping channels, gas stations, private residences, E-mails, baseball card shops, and tables on highway offramps. Right below, the guest book carries messages offering Fortune, a new panda, for $39, Princess for $35, Erin for $45, and Peace for $20.
Shows, conventions, and Web sites devoted to Beanies all bolster the hype. So do magazines and books. The Beanie Baby Handbook, by Les and Sue Fox (1998, West Highland Publishing, $6.95), has been a New York Times bestseller for 19 weeks. The Foxes list the original price for every Beanie, plus the going rate. They also offer an estimated value for the year 2008: Slither the snake, for example, is estimated to be worth $4,000 by then. In no other part of the collectibles world do experts forecast specific values years into the future. Asked about the estimates, Les Fox said he and his co-author made it clear the figures were "strictly a guess" and added that his book was not intended to be an investment guide; if future editions continue to forecast prices, he says, they will explain that investing in Beanies is "a gamble." Meanwhile, the book recommends "putting away five or 10 of each and every new Beanie Baby in super mint condition."
Funny money. Despite the Foxes' figures, some experts question the high prices being reported in the secondary market. Since many transactions take place in private, there's no way to verify them. Transactions via the Internet are particularly suspect: "Have all these Internet transactions really occurred?" asks Ellen Schroy, editor of Warman's Americana & Collectibles (1997, Krause Publications, $17.95). "Show me the money." Compilers of Beanie price guides acknowledge that there may be a few instances of chicanery but say the overwhelming majority of transactions are credible. "We know who is reputable and who is not," says Becky Phillips, co-publisher of Beanie Mania magazine ($21.95 for six issues; 800-807-2730).
Two months ago, Beaniemania on the Web spawned the Electronic Worldwide Beanie Baby Exchange (www.ewbe.com), whose conceit is the trading of Beanie Babies like stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. One big difference between the Web and Wall Street, of course: One is highly regulated, the other is not. Beanie collectors should do their homework no matter where they buy, surveying the marketplace for price variations and questioning claims of rarity. There are about 200 different Beanies but Ty doesn't release sales or production figures, so nobody outside the company knows how many of each exist. And patience has never been more of a virtue; some collectors are finding bargains as the hype over new versions cools. "I've never paid more than $10," brags Judith Bronsther, a New Yorker who has amassed a 200-Beanie collection by scouring stores and trading on the Internet. Her greatest coup: snagging 11 Princess bears for $5.99 each at a small New York stationery store.
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