Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Topic Author
fyre4ce
Posts: 2544
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:29 am

Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by fyre4ce »

A friend of mine claims to have a collection of beanie babies, including a few rare ones that she estimates are worth $30,000. I have no idea whether this valuation is accurate. But, she asked me where the best place to sell them would be. Any ideas from the forums? This is most definitely not my area of expertise. My first thought was eBay, but I've heard some horror stories of fraud being committed by both buyers and sellers, so I'm skeptical.
LeeMKE
Posts: 2233
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:40 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by LeeMKE »

eBay would also be my guess.

And she'll be very disappointed. Too bad she didn't put that money in an index fund instead.
The mightiest Oak is just a nut who stayed the course.
hi_there
Posts: 1182
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2020 7:00 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by hi_there »

I believe Ebay will take a 10% cut of Beanie Babies sold through their website. Maybe it is worth it, compared to Craigslist or another free listing service, since Ebay at least attempts to provide some form of fraud protection. I would still build in some kind of loss buffer and assume some transactional losses though.
Monsterflockster
Posts: 980
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 11:03 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Monsterflockster »

fyre4ce wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:21 pm A friend of mine claims to have a collection of beanie babies, including a few rare ones that she estimates are worth $30,000. I have no idea whether this valuation is accurate. But, she asked me where the best place to sell them would be. Any ideas from the forums? This is most definitely not my area of expertise. My first thought was eBay, but I've heard some horror stories of fraud being committed by both buyers and sellers, so I'm skeptical.
Google Bernie Baby appraisal on you tube and it will tell you all you need to know.
Caduceus
Posts: 3527
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:47 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Caduceus »

Local buyer paying through cash after on site evaluation is best, failing which I think Ebay or Etsy might be it.

I'm not sure if the market for fraud for beanie babies is high. Sometimes it depends on the item. I've never experienced fraud myself on Ebay but I sell relatively infrequently.

She should sell only to people on Ebay with a long history of being on the site.
simas
Posts: 1295
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:50 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by simas »

Caduceus wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:31 am Local buyer paying through cash after on site evaluation is best, failing which I think Ebay or Etsy might be it.

I'm not sure if the market for fraud for beanie babies is high. Sometimes it depends on the item. I've never experienced fraud myself on Ebay but I sell relatively infrequently.

She should sell only to people on Ebay with a long history of being on the site.
I would not touch ebay as a seller for anything remotely expensive much less a five figure item - they are extremely "buyer focused". Look at threads on this site facing every kind of fraud from 'I never received it' to returning a completely different item vs what was purchased.

for anything valuable, I would treat it seriously vs flea market 'i dont care if I lose it, just want to get rid of it' of occasional e-bay seller.
runninginvestor
Posts: 1796
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:00 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by runninginvestor »

As an alternative to the options listed, look around the area for any trade shows, any conventions, etc. Those places might have better local options you can sell on the spot.
OnTrack2020
Posts: 1422
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:24 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by OnTrack2020 »

She is only going to get what someone is willing to pay. And $30k seems extremely high. I agree with the other person that said there are probably better choices than Ebay. There is a Beanie Babies group on Facebook.
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28859
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Watty »

After a bad experience on eBay I will only sell lower value stuff there when there is no easy alternative.

To make a long story short a "buyer" waited something like 29 days before a 30 day deadline to contact me about a possible problem with the item. I said to go on and return it, but she said she was out of the country now and could not return it. :shock: eBay still refunded her the money and charged me a transaction fee to pay them back so they got all their money back and got to keep the item. I was out the money, the item, the fees for the sale, shipping costs, and the fees to send them the money back.

Now I will rarely sell stuff on eBay that I don't have any other good way to sell. The items I sell there are typically under $50 and I would avoid selling anything there that was worth more than a couple of hundred dollars.

If she looks on eBay to see what Beanie Babies are selling for she needs to be cautious because just because something said that it sold for a high amount it does not mean that the buyer actually followed through and paid for it. People will sometimes set up bogus accounts do that to make things seem more valuable.
dukeblue219
Posts: 4074
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:40 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by dukeblue219 »

I don't think OP was suggesting any one Beanie Baby in this collection was worth 30k, but that was the sum for all. Given a large enough collection its plausible. Look at what some baseball cards are going for these days, never mind absurdities like Top Shots NFTs. People have money and are willing to blow it on silly stuff.

I'd sell them on eBay a few at a time starting with some mid-range items. You're not going to get scammed most of the time, so if you use caution and spread your risk it's probably the best way to get value for collectibles like this.

Selling locally will diminish your buyer pool drastically.
delamer
Posts: 17453
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:13 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by delamer »

With an Ebay account, your friend can check the selling prices of items that were recently sold.

That should give her a better idea of what are items are really worth.

(Disclaimer: it has been several years since I used Ebay, so it’s possible it works differently now.)
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
SmallSaver
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:34 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by SmallSaver »

Assuming there is still value in these, the key is going to be to connect with the buyers who see that value. If there is an active Beanie Baby community your friend needs to find out what they use for their marketplace - they need to go where the buyers are. I'd start by figuring out where the BB community is online and ask them.
User avatar
ClevrChico
Posts: 3259
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:24 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by ClevrChico »

A family friend approached me with a similar situation, since they knew I ebayed. The beanie baby they told me was worth $20k+ sells for $10.

The article they quoted was pure click bait and fake. There are sham ebay auctions that show super high prices, but they aren't real, and get taken down by Ebay. People are very gullible.

Are there any actually valuable beanie babies? I'd be surprised if their collection is even worth the time to list it.
THY4373
Posts: 2771
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by THY4373 »

Your friend needs to check actual sale prices on Ebay. Folks can and do post things at crazy prices. He/she need to register on Ebay and search items sold to see the actual prices that an object is getting. In my experience for rare collectable items that are easy to ship I have always done better on Ebay even accounting for the Ebay and payment fees than local options there are just many more buyers on Ebay. Though you also have to take into account the risk of a buyer defrauding you which is not a risk locally for the most part.

I did a search of sold items on Ebay and there are dozens of $1000+ sales of beanie babies out of 45k successful sales so clearly the are some that still have value (somewhat to my suprise).
HomeStretch
Posts: 11417
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:06 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by HomeStretch »

In addition to checking recent eBay prices for items sold (not listing price), your friend needs to determine whether she has the correct manufacturing lot. Certain beanie babies (for example the Princess Diana beanie baby) only have a high value if it is from a certain lot which is determined by a mark on the tag.

Sadly from personal experience, fraud on eBay and eBay’s Buyer protections that can be exploited to enable fraud is real. If your friend is a new Seller on eBay, her pool of Buyers will likely be smaller as some Buyers will only buy from established Sellers due to fraud concerns. As a new Seller she may also be targeted by fraudulent Buyers.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9085
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by prudent »

THY4373 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:21 am I did a search of sold items on Ebay and there are dozens of $1000+ sales of beanie babies out of 45k successful sales so clearly the are some that still have value (somewhat to my suprise).
I did a similar search and the results didn't make sense to me. Filtered on "Sold Items" (only), ordered the results by highest price first. Indeed there were plenty of $1000+ items shown. I notice that almost none of them show how many bids there were. So I click on one near the top of the list - this one - which said that a Princess Diana beanie baby with white rose emblem sold for $21,920. Offered by a zero-feedback seller.

Now do a search for Princess Diana white rose beanie babies, again select only sold items. I find this one in the search results, looks to me like the exact same item, and it was offered as a buy-it-now for $24. Why do so many multi-thousand dollar items appear in the search results as "sold items" when identical items sell for 1/1000 the price?

Bottom line, to me the list of "sold items" contains a lot of items where shenanigans were going on. Nobody, just nobody drops $22K on a beanie baby from a zero-feedback seller.
THY4373
Posts: 2771
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by THY4373 »

prudent wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:55 am I did a similar search and the results didn't make sense to me. Filtered on "Sold Items" (only), ordered the results by highest price first.
Yeah you are right there are some odd things going on as I didn't really dig deeper and I don't know if there are variances that make a difference but the Princess Diana beanies seem to have sold for between $0.99 and $20k+ in the sold listings. Quite a range to put it mildly.
pshonore
Posts: 8212
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 2:21 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by pshonore »

prudent wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:55 am
THY4373 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:21 am I did a search of sold items on Ebay and there are dozens of $1000+ sales of beanie babies out of 45k successful sales so clearly the are some that still have value (somewhat to my suprise).
I did a similar search and the results didn't make sense to me. Filtered on "Sold Items" (only), ordered the results by highest price first. Indeed there were plenty of $1000+ items shown. I notice that almost none of them show how many bids there were. So I click on one near the top of the list - this one - which said that a Princess Diana beanie baby with white rose emblem sold for $21,920. Offered by a zero-feedback seller.

Now do a search for Princess Diana white rose beanie babies, again select only sold items. I find this one in the search results, looks to me like the exact same item, and it was offered as a buy-it-now for $24. Why do so many multi-thousand dollar items appear in the search results as "sold items" when identical items sell for 1/1000 the price?

Bottom line, to me the list of "sold items" contains a lot of items where shenanigans were going on. Nobody, just nobody drops $22K on a beanie baby from a zero-feedback seller.
Thats an excellent question. Are the items actually sold? Generally Ebay collects the seller fee which is probably close 15% when include you Paypal fees or whatever they use. And do those sellers get a 1099K?. Or do most of those sales fall through?
ROIGuy
Posts: 2452
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 10:10 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by ROIGuy »

Tell your friend to google the name of one or two of their rarest beanie babies for sale. First see what pops up. Aside from the asking price (and condition) see what places people are selling them on.
hnd
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:43 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by hnd »

sold listings are VERY often manipulated in a ton of ways. single bid items sold by 0 feedback people bought by 0 feedback accounts.

there are plenty of groups on FB you might join and research through.
dukeblue219
Posts: 4074
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:40 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by dukeblue219 »

I'm certain there are communities and clubs for Beanie Babies still that could assess whether the collection was even remotely valuable. That's probably a good place to look. If you Google "such and such Beanie Baby" and there aren't any recent discussions it probably isn't anything special.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9085
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by prudent »

pshonore wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:34 am Thats an excellent question. Are the items actually sold? Generally Ebay collects the seller fee which is probably close 15% when include you Paypal fees or whatever they use. And do those sellers get a 1099K?. Or do most of those sales fall through?
I have also seen people selling nonsense books for multi-thousands of dollars, offered by zero-feedback sellers. The theory I had heard was these are used as money laundering schemes, with both buyer and seller being in cahoots. There's nobody to complain and they don't care about the fees.
User avatar
ClevrChico
Posts: 3259
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:24 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by ClevrChico »

hnd wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:01 pm sold listings are VERY often manipulated in a ton of ways. single bid items sold by 0 feedback people bought by 0 feedback accounts.

there are plenty of groups on FB you might join and research through.
I agree, and the high priced BB Ebay auctions all appear to be shams.
surfstar
Posts: 2853
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:17 pm
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by surfstar »

OP's friend needs to create a NFT for these and then they'll be worth many many thousands!!! Payment in crypto only too. ;)
hnd
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:43 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by hnd »

ClevrChico wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:27 pm
hnd wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:01 pm sold listings are VERY often manipulated in a ton of ways. single bid items sold by 0 feedback people bought by 0 feedback accounts.

there are plenty of groups on FB you might join and research through.
I agree, and the high priced BB Ebay auctions all appear to be shams.
they are often used to justify FB marketplace prices. i was buying a few sports cards on fb here or there and was quickly sent links to sold items on ebay to justify the asking price. 0feedback from both buyer and seller. 1 bid made a few moments after it was listed.

FB marketplace is the worst organized craigslist replacement but it is still better IMO.
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95691
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (beanie babies).
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
SrGrumpy
Posts: 1477
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:21 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by SrGrumpy »

I'm definitely deleting my search history after this:

I found a Vice story about Beanie collectors, and it contained a link to "their unbelievably comprehensive online database of Ty products."

As far as I can tell, there were 9 different versions of the Princess Diana beanie baby, which must be the ugliest thing ever produced, with most worth under $20 at the most. BB counterfeits are rampant, so it's more caveat emptor than caveat vendor.
User avatar
arcticpineapplecorp.
Posts: 15080
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:22 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

fyre4ce wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:21 pm A friend of mine claims to have a collection of beanie babies, including a few rare ones that she estimates are worth $30,000.
it's only going to be worth $30,000 if it's stuffed with bitcoins or non fungible tokens.
It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear. Investing is simple, but not easy. Buy, hold & rebalance low cost index funds & manage taxable events. Asking Portfolio Questions | Wiki
Wanderingwheelz
Posts: 3145
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:52 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Wanderingwheelz »

simas wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:06 am
Caduceus wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:31 am Local buyer paying through cash after on site evaluation is best, failing which I think Ebay or Etsy might be it.

I'm not sure if the market for fraud for beanie babies is high. Sometimes it depends on the item. I've never experienced fraud myself on Ebay but I sell relatively infrequently.

She should sell only to people on Ebay with a long history of being on the site.
I would not touch ebay as a seller for anything remotely expensive much less a five figure item - they are extremely "buyer focused". Look at threads on this site facing every kind of fraud from 'I never received it' to returning a completely different item vs what was purchased.

for anything valuable, I would treat it seriously vs flea market 'i dont care if I lose it, just want to get rid of it' of occasional e-bay seller.
How much did you sell on eBay last year?
Being wrong compounds forever.
Jags4186
Posts: 8198
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:12 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Jags4186 »

SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:33 pm I'm definitely deleting my search history after this:

I found a Vice story about Beanie collectors, and it contained a link to "their unbelievably comprehensive online database of Ty products."

As far as I can tell, there were 9 different versions of the Princess Diana beanie baby, which must be the ugliest thing ever produced, with most worth under $20 at the most. BB counterfeits are rampant, so it's more caveat emptor than caveat vendor.
What a bunch of weirdos. Nice quote from the article...
"Can you yourself imagine paying a thousand dollars for an item that someone bought for five dollars three years ago?" Leon Schlossberg told me. "It's crazy. But a lot of people did that."
Hmm I wonder what else that could be applied to...?
User avatar
JonnyDVM
Posts: 2999
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:51 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by JonnyDVM »

Jags4186 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:39 pm
SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:33 pm I'm definitely deleting my search history after this:

I found a Vice story about Beanie collectors, and it contained a link to "their unbelievably comprehensive online database of Ty products."

As far as I can tell, there were 9 different versions of the Princess Diana beanie baby, which must be the ugliest thing ever produced, with most worth under $20 at the most. BB counterfeits are rampant, so it's more caveat emptor than caveat vendor.
What a bunch of weirdos. Nice quote from the article...
"Can you yourself imagine paying a thousand dollars for an item that someone bought for five dollars three years ago?" Leon Schlossberg told me. "It's crazy. But a lot of people did that."
Hmm I wonder what else that could be applied to...?
That’s a funny article. A beanie baby museum????? Ummm sure. Definitely putting that on my bucket list.
I’d trade it all for a little more | -C Montgomery Burns
IfIOnlyKnew
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:05 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by IfIOnlyKnew »

I couldn’t help but think of this when I read this thread...

Late 90s Photo Of Divorcing Couple Splitting Up Their Beanie Babies

Image
SrGrumpy
Posts: 1477
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:21 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by SrGrumpy »

JonnyDVM wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:49 pm That’s a funny article. A beanie baby museum????? Ummm sure. Definitely putting that on my bucket list.
I would probably visit. Weird stuff like that is amusing. Maybe it will surpass the toilet museum I visited in Ukraine.
NotWhoYouThink
Posts: 3595
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 3:19 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by NotWhoYouThink »

IfIOnlyKnew wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:56 pm I couldn’t help but think of this when I read this thread...

Late 90s Photo Of Divorcing Couple Splitting Up Their Beanie Babies
Now that is a picture worth 1000 words or more! Glad we made sure each Beanie Baby that entered our household was de-tagged and treated like a toy. We wanted to discourage hoarding and speculating.
Last edited by NotWhoYouThink on Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
TomatoTomahto
Posts: 17158
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by TomatoTomahto »

Decades ago, I ran an eBay based consignment shop. People brought me their “valuable” BBs. I soon began to refuse to list them, as they didn’t sell well. I said they were no good as packing material because they were too heavy although they did cushion well. :D
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
simas
Posts: 1295
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:50 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by simas »

Wanderingwheelz wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:34 pm
simas wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:06 am
Caduceus wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:31 am Local buyer paying through cash after on site evaluation is best, failing which I think Ebay or Etsy might be it.

I'm not sure if the market for fraud for beanie babies is high. Sometimes it depends on the item. I've never experienced fraud myself on Ebay but I sell relatively infrequently.

She should sell only to people on Ebay with a long history of being on the site.
I would not touch ebay as a seller for anything remotely expensive much less a five figure item - they are extremely "buyer focused". Look at threads on this site facing every kind of fraud from 'I never received it' to returning a completely different item vs what was purchased.

for anything valuable, I would treat it seriously vs flea market 'i dont care if I lose it, just want to get rid of it' of occasional e-bay seller.
How much did you sell on eBay last year?
Huh? Is this some kind of e-bay defense through ad-hominem attack? if you disagree , re-read their dispute policies
lovejoypeace
Posts: 213
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:24 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by lovejoypeace »

My aunt and mother collected beanie babies. My mother could afford it so it was a hobby. The beanie babies were my aunt's "retirement plan". Within 2 years I had to clean out my parent's and my aunt's houses from their passing. I bet there were 1,000 or more beanie babies - it was RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!! Lots of multiples!!! I sorted out one of each for my 2 kids (that they could play with or whatever). There were about 15 total that might be worth something that I put back (but still have not done anything with). The rest have been taken to school for "prizes", sold by my daughter at a yard sale for $1 each, or given away.

My aunt died owning a home and that's it. I have to think that if she would have invested that $$ instead of buying beanie babies she might have had an actual retirement plan.

This is just an example of why I DO NOT COLLECT STUFF!!!!
User avatar
ClevrChico
Posts: 3259
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:24 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by ClevrChico »

aprilcpa wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:10 am My aunt and mother collected beanie babies. My mother could afford it so it was a hobby. The beanie babies were my aunt's "retirement plan". Within 2 years I had to clean out my parent's and my aunt's houses from their passing. I bet there were 1,000 or more beanie babies - it was RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!! Lots of multiples!!! I sorted out one of each for my 2 kids (that they could play with or whatever). There were about 15 total that might be worth something that I put back (but still have not done anything with). The rest have been taken to school for "prizes", sold by my daughter at a yard sale for $1 each, or given away.

My aunt died owning a home and that's it. I have to think that if she would have invested that $$ instead of buying beanie babies she might have had an actual retirement plan.

This is just an example of why I DO NOT COLLECT STUFF!!!!
Yes, anything sold for the purpose of being "collectible" is going to be nearly worthless. Thrift sales are flooded with collectible plates, Christmas ornaments, mass produced beer steins, Avon car bottles, etc. We can add beanie babies to that list too.
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28859
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Watty »

aprilcpa wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:10 am This is just an example of why I DO NOT COLLECT STUFF!!!!
When people have posted about collecting things like art one suggestion that I give is that they should periodically sell a few items from their collection to get a good idea of what the resale market really is.
Jack FFR1846
Posts: 18499
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2013 6:05 am
Location: 26 miles, 385 yards west of Copley Square

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

prudent wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:23 pm
pshonore wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:34 am Thats an excellent question. Are the items actually sold? Generally Ebay collects the seller fee which is probably close 15% when include you Paypal fees or whatever they use. And do those sellers get a 1099K?. Or do most of those sales fall through?
I have also seen people selling nonsense books for multi-thousands of dollars, offered by zero-feedback sellers. The theory I had heard was these are used as money laundering schemes, with both buyer and seller being in cahoots the same person with multiple accounts. There's nobody to complain and they don't care about the fees.
I fixed that for you. It is not difficult to open multiple eBay accounts. Back when I was rotating gift cards from eBay to Gamestop to eBay to Gamestop, I reached the $5k limit per year on gift cards, so opened another account, reached the limit, opened a third account. That's all I needed as both Gamestop and eBay started making it more difficult to continue my shenanigans. In the current eBay environment, sellers are looking to make things look to be valued more than they are, drawing in unsuspecting marks who overpay. Buyers likely receive exactly what they're paying for, so they really don't have recourse when their Princess Diana Beanie Baby they paid $1,000 for (what a bargain) happens to sell in Wal Mart still for $8.99.
Bogle: Smart Beta is stupid
delamer
Posts: 17453
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:13 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by delamer »

SrGrumpy wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:33 pm I'm definitely deleting my search history after this:

I found a Vice story about Beanie collectors, and it contained a link to "their unbelievably comprehensive online database of Ty products."

As far as I can tell, there were 9 different versions of the Princess Diana beanie baby, which must be the ugliest thing ever produced, with most worth under $20 at the most. BB counterfeits are rampant, so it's more caveat emptor than caveat vendor.
This article is just sad. For the daughter, particularly, who has no gainful employment.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
hnd
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:43 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by hnd »

its about knowing when to get out of mass produced collecting trends. Most do not.

I had a chunk of comics i got graded and sold on ebay. one of them was a basically previous worthless incredible hulk comic from the 70's. but it was the 1st appearance of Rocket Racoon made famous in the guardians of the galaxy. which the 2nd movie had just came out. got it graded it sold for over $500. today its worth probably 150-200.

We were at an estate auction and saw one of the items was about 50 unopened tickle me elmos. it didn't sell.

my buddy is an estate auction junky. He said most often they are having this auction to pay down debt like mortgages. and often you find giant collections of things that you know people thought would be worth zillions. precious moment collections, home shopping coin collections, 90's toys or baseball cards, etc, etc. and they go for nothing.
surfstar
Posts: 2853
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:17 pm
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by surfstar »

Revisit this thread in 20-30 years and see if Crypto/NFT plays out the same... :D
User avatar
JonnyDVM
Posts: 2999
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:51 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by JonnyDVM »

surfstar wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:21 am Revisit this thread in 20-30 years and see if Crypto/NFT plays out the same... :D
Won't be so funny when we're all clamoring to visit the cryptocurrency museum

"...and over here is where we keep the very first boitcoin ever mined" *curator points to empty acrylic box*
I’d trade it all for a little more | -C Montgomery Burns
jrbdmb
Posts: 776
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 4:27 pm

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by jrbdmb »

hnd wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:11 am its about knowing when to get out of mass produced collecting trends. Most do not.

I had a chunk of comics i got graded and sold on ebay. one of them was a basically previous worthless incredible hulk comic from the 70's. but it was the 1st appearance of Rocket Racoon made famous in the guardians of the galaxy. which the 2nd movie had just came out. got it graded it sold for over $500. today its worth probably 150-200.

We were at an estate auction and saw one of the items was about 50 unopened tickle me elmos. it didn't sell.

my buddy is an estate auction junky. He said most often they are having this auction to pay down debt like mortgages. and often you find giant collections of things that you know people thought would be worth zillions. precious moment collections, home shopping coin collections, 90's toys or baseball cards, etc, etc. and they go for nothing.
This made me take look at a few baseball cards I bought in the 2000s ... Cal Ripken and Roger Clemens rookie cards, Topps Tiffany set for 1984 and 1985, etc. To my surprise they have significantly appreciated sitting in my closet this last two decades. No Beanie Babies to price though. :)
User avatar
telemark
Posts: 3389
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:35 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by telemark »

NotWhoYouThink wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:55 am
IfIOnlyKnew wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:56 pm I couldn’t help but think of this when I read this thread...

Late 90s Photo Of Divorcing Couple Splitting Up Their Beanie Babies
Now that is a picture worth 1000 words or more! Glad we made sure each Beanie Baby that entered our household was de-tagged and treated like a toy. We wanted to discourage hoarding and speculating.
This is a problem with a well-known solution. One person divides and the other person chooses.
capsaicinguy
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:00 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by capsaicinguy »

As someone who had to suffer through selling those horrible things, I hope they get nothing. We used to get them by the "sleeve" aka a big plastic bag that had a dozen of them in it at a time. We paid 2$/each for them, regardless of what one it was. Yes, even the ones that sold for hundreds of dollars we paid 2$ for. No wonder everyone wanted to sell them, massive profit margins on those things. Ty would only "restrict" us to a certain number of bags of the princess/etc ones that were selling like hotcakes. :P :D

On topic, I'd just ebay them all as a lot and hope to get the shipping paid in full to get them out of the basement. If the whole lot fetched even $100 I would be stunned and want to see actual proof.
westie
Posts: 601
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:00 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by westie »

BB collections were going to pay for a lot of college educations...... :moneybag :oops:
hnd
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2020 11:43 am

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by hnd »

jrbdmb wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:28 pm
hnd wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:11 am its about knowing when to get out of mass produced collecting trends. Most do not.

I had a chunk of comics i got graded and sold on ebay. one of them was a basically previous worthless incredible hulk comic from the 70's. but it was the 1st appearance of Rocket Racoon made famous in the guardians of the galaxy. which the 2nd movie had just came out. got it graded it sold for over $500. today its worth probably 150-200.

We were at an estate auction and saw one of the items was about 50 unopened tickle me elmos. it didn't sell.

my buddy is an estate auction junky. He said most often they are having this auction to pay down debt like mortgages. and often you find giant collections of things that you know people thought would be worth zillions. precious moment collections, home shopping coin collections, 90's toys or baseball cards, etc, etc. and they go for nothing.
This made me take look at a few baseball cards I bought in the 2000s ... Cal Ripken and Roger Clemens rookie cards, Topps Tiffany set for 1984 and 1985, etc. To my surprise they have significantly appreciated sitting in my closet this last two decades. No Beanie Babies to price though. :)
mid 80's is about where baseball cards started to slip out of value, they were so massively produced in the late 80's and early 90's that outside of a few key cards, most of them are worthless. go through any neighborhood and if there is a somewhere within the vicinity of a 40 yr old male living there, there is likely a tote of 80's/90's tops/donruss/upperdeck baseball cards in the basement or attic.
Jack FFR1846
Posts: 18499
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2013 6:05 am
Location: 26 miles, 385 yards west of Copley Square

Re: Selling rare/expensive beanie babies

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

Mike Wolf talks about "rare" stuff on his show American Pickers. It used to be that a collector had never seen a particular item or spent decades looking for something. Now, with the internet, little Joey decides to go through Grampa's stuff after his passing and finds boxes of these "never seen one" items and throws them onto eBay. They sell easily and little Mikey sees this in passing, while looking for a water pump on eBay and realizes "hey, my dad had some of these" and puts them up on eBay. Pretty soon, that elusive thing is out there and selling for nearly nothing. With the internet, rare things aren't so much anymore.
Bogle: Smart Beta is stupid
Post Reply