If you’ve been a Beanie Baby enthusiast since the beginning, you may remember the original nine, including fan-favorites like Legs the Frog and Chocolate the Moose. These plush toys were already unique and beloved when Lovie the Lamb hit the market, was subsequently pulled, and launched a collecting frenzy.
These days, while the Ty toy company still produces a number of plush toys, the true Beanie Baby line is no longer in production. What does that mean for those of us who want to buy Beanie Babies?
Fortunately, there are still options for Beanie Baby enthusiasts!
Read on for our guide to purchasing Beanie Babies and how to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Why Are Beanie Babies Special?
If you can’t quite remember or missed the Beanie Baby craze, altogether, you may wonder what makes Beanie Babies so special. Why do people seek them out when other plush toys are being newly manufactured every day?
One thing that all Beanie Babies have in common is their unique stuffing. Unlike other plush toys that are filled with cotton or soft materials, Beanie Babies are filled with–you guessed it–beans. These beans are actually PVC pellets and they make it easy to play with and pose the animals.
Beanie Babies are also special because there are so many different iterations. There are hundreds of different bears, dozens of dogs, and a plethora of other critters. You can find Beanie Babies commemorating birth months, major events in the 1990s and early 2000s, and holidays.
Ultimately, Beanie Babies can’t compare to any other plush toy!
How Can You Spot an Authentic Beanie Baby?
When you’re buying Beanie Babies today, you’re going to be in the market of purchasing toys secondhand. How can you ensure that what you’re buying is actually a Beanie Baby and not a knockoff?
Beanie Babies are authenticated by their heart-shaped tags. The outside of the tag is red and bears the Ty logo. The back or inside flap tells you the Beanie Babie’s name and other information.
Not all Beanie Babies still have their tags, but fortunately, there is another way to identify them. Beanie Babies also came equipped with “tush tags,” a small flap of fabric on their rear or back leg. These tags are always white, although the original generation of Beanie Babie tush tags had black print, rather than the signature red.
How Can You Assess Quality Online?
Because Beanie Babie purchases are secondhand, it’s helpful to understand the ways that online sellers discuss quality. We use this system for our own inventory, and you’ll notice these terms in the listings for each Beanie Babie.
Quality terms and their meanings are as follows:
- Mint: the Beanie Babie shows no signs of wear or defects; it is like new
- Near mint: the Beanie Babie shows only a slight sign of wear that doesn’t impact its aesthetic or function
- Excellent: the Beanie Babie is in great condition with one notable flaw (ie a bent tag)
- Very good: the Beanie Babie is in good condition but is missing a hang tag or tush tag
- Damaged: the Beanie Babie shows obvious signs of wear, such as a stain or tear
These terms, particularly “mint” and “near mint,” are also used to describe the state of the tags.
Where Can You Buy Beanie Babies at a Fair Price?
Beanie Babie pricing should correlate with both the demand for the specific Beanie Babie and its condition. As you begin your search for Beanie Babies online, you’ll notice that the price points vary greatly from one Beanie Babie to the next. It’s helpful to keep track of which Beanie Babies are considered most valuable at the time of your search.
At My Beanie Babies, we take fair pricing very seriously. Take a look at our online Beanie Baby store to find your perfect Beanie Babie match!
How to Search Our Inventory
As you can see when you head to our online store, we organize our Beanie Babies alphabetically. With hundreds of Beanie Babies in our collection, however, it can be useful to share a few additional tips for searching our inventory.
If you remember the name of the specific Beanie Babie you’re looking for, you can use the search bar to see if we have it available. If you don’t remember the name but do remember the animal, this can also help. (However, keep in mind that searching “bear” may not narrow down your search by much!)
It can also be helpful to head to Google and do some digging. Even if you can’t remember the name of a specific Beanie Babie, you may remember a few defining details. For example, if you search for “purple bear Beanie Babie,” you may discover that the bear you were looking for was the Princess the Bear or Decade the Purple Bear.
If you don’t have a specific Beanie Babie in mind, feel free to peruse! You can also use our price filter to narrow down your search based on the price point you’re working with.
Which Beanie Babies Will You Buy?
Whether you’re a collector, a 90s kid, or a plush toy enthusiast, nothing beats the joy of an original Beanie Babie! Now that the line of toys is no longer in production, however, they’re not always easy to find. We work hard to make sure that anyone who wants to buy Beanie Babies will find success and happiness in our online store.
Do you have questions about a specific Beanie Babie that you’d like to ask? Are you looking for more tips to track down the Beanie Babies you love the most? Contact us and we’ll help you as soon as possible.
