If someone told you that on a foreign ebay, a very ordinary plush toy costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, would you feel a little ridiculous?
However, it is true... The toys, known as beanebabies, sell well on ebay.
It is understood that beaniebabies plush toys originated in the 1990s, with bean-like pvc (polyvinyl chloride) material as padding, is a very ordinary children's toy. But such an ordinary children's toy has set off an unusual trend in the history of the American retail industry.
"The great Beanie Baby Bubble" records that beaniebabies once accounted for ten percent of the total sales of the entire ebay, and a bear that costs $5 can even rise to tens of thousands of dollars, an increase of tens of thousands of times, making countless people rich overnight.
How did an ordinary plush toy cause an uproar in the United States?
In 1986, a man named Ty Warner founded Ty Toys in Chicago, USA, and the first Beastabies were born. Compared with the plush toys on the market at that time, most of the fixed postures on the market, the emergence of beaniebabies that could "wave, dance and hug" filled the gap in the market and was greatly loved by children.
In 1995, a disagreement between TY and its suppliers led Beniebabies down a "crazy" path. At the time, beaniebabies were oem by Chinese merchants, and disagreements between ty and Chinese suppliers led to the suspension of a stuffed lamb named love.
It was this accidental incident that set off a storm among consumers.
After learning that love is discontinued, many consumers realize that the ordinary beaniebaby in their hands will no longer be ordinary, and they will become valuable due to rarity. On eBay, the price of lovie began to soar. TY also saw business opportunities and found the "wealth code" - scarce and limited.
As a result, ty company began to deliberately discontinue some toys. Scarcity strategies have also transformed the beansabies from ordinary plush toys into investment tools.
According to Fortune magazine, beaniebabies accounted for 10% of ebay's total sales during the most popular times. 30 years ago, someone told you that "beaniebaby" was an investment and not a joke.
For collectors, it is not uncommon for many objects of a certain age to appreciate in value over time and to premium several times over several years.
So people at that time rushed to buy "beaniebaby" toys to invest in collections, waiting for one day these toys to become "rare items" and then sell them for profit.
Some so-called authoritative experts even estimate that "one day, rare items may be worth thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars." ”
For years, fans of "beaniebaby" toys have been selling at high prices on ebay, and many media have been paying attention to the latest offers of these toys.
In 2015, a couple bought a purple beaniebaby for £10 at a "car trunk sale", which turned out to be a limited edition daifeibebaby, one of the world's first 100 daifeibebaby, which soared to £62,500.
Although the "beaniebaby" boom has passed for two decades, the list of items selling this toy on eBay is still very large, and many sellers have listed very crazy prices.
So these jaw-dropping prices, will anyone really buy them?
In 2017, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in the United Kingdom, a "Princess Diana Beaniebaby" that was sold in limited quantities in the 90s has aroused the interest of many people.
Later, at a party to raise funds for the Diana Memorial Fund, several animals with six-figure price tags on the ebay price tag were surprising at the actual sales price.
They sold for $4, $17, and the most expensive, $135, respectively.
Obviously, the beaniebabys who have "high hopes" on ebay don't seem to be worth much. But on ebay, there are still many sellers who dream of making a windfall.
When searching for "beaniebabies" on ebay, more than 100,000 product results are displayed, and the price of the products is at least tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Some sellers in order to show that the strange goods are habitable, but also specially wrote that these are problematic "rare" toys,
For example: typographical errors on labels, irregularities, typos, etc... It's just that in these toys under the protective device of plastic labels, you never know how much it is worth and how much IQ tax you have to pay.
Nowadays, on ebay, all kinds of beanie babies can be found. Some of the same dolls can be set at hundreds of dollars, while others are priced at only $3.
Nowadays, beaniebabies are no longer crazy, but there are countless "beaniebabies" that have emerged, such as the brick bear that was fried at the beginning of the year, and then the "fried shoe" fever...