How Many Did you Make, Ty Inc?

By Jeremy Padawer - Webmaster/Co-Publisher, Absolute Beanie Babies.

Ty Inc donated over $2,000,000 to charity for the sales of the Princess Bear in the first quarter of 1998.  When you first look at this philanthropic act, your heart warms and a large smile stretches across your face.  Buying the much hyped Princess Bear ultimately benefitted a charity.  This is wonderful...  right?

Yes and no.  Yes, it is good to donate money to charity.  It validates us as human beings in many ways.  Not only are you living, but you are contributing to the betterment of other's lives.  Beautiful.  I think that we should all spend time donating money to local charities and, more importantly, working on their behalf.  

Now we get to the BIG NO, or better stated, the big Uh Oh.

No, because it gives us a bit of insight into the quantity of Princess Bears on the market.  If Ty's profits on the Princess Bear were approximately $2 per bear, then Ty produced over 1 MILLION Princess Bears over the first quarter of 1998.  Uh oh...  Didn't they market this as a limited edition item?  What does this mean about the overall quantity of other merchandise which has been slammed on the market?  If over 1 million Princess Bears were produced in the first quarter of 1998, then we can guess that over 4 million were produced this year.

So, why is this bad?  We leave the realm of viable collectable when the supply of an item over-reaches its demand.  I'm having a hard time believing that there is a collectable market willing to pay a premium for a limited edition of 4 million. If the Princess Bear is a limited edition product, then you can bet that the other collectable items are produced in multiples.  Let me be blunt... As the Beanie Babies market softens, the demand for the amazing number of items slows greatly.  The price then drops substantially.  

What can Ty do to continue its success in this market now filled with different variations of bean items?    With the Beanie Babies market softening a bit, Ty needs to limit its distribution and let us know specific numbers of production.  We, as collectors, deserve this information.  More importantly, we DEMAND this information.

Finally, let me add a bit of sunshine to this essay...  The Beanie Babies market isn't dead and can be repaired with the right management.  Unfortunately, in the zillions of Beanie Babies publications, no one is being critical.  Let's save this hobby together and contribute to its growth.  As a member of a community, you deserve a voice.  My challenge to the viewers of this essay:  Tell the Beanie Babies publications to print this and other essays relating to critical analysis of the Beanie Babies market.  Protect your investment.

Here's to the hobby...

  

Jeremy Padawer - click for more info