Risks of "Chaser Items" in Secondary Market:By Jeremy Padawer - Webmaster/Co-Publisher, Absolute Beanie Babies.
Ty Warner and Co needs to be quite careful in their marketing of special promotion Beanie Baby items. For years, the excitement associated with collecting Ty Beanie Babies was focused into the retirement question... Will my BB be retired on this next round? The most valuable Beanies had been around for a few years and then retired on a somewhat predictable schedule. I'm not saying that all BB's were retired after a specific period of time, but there definitely were not any "special promotion" items, such as Game Day Cubbie or, on a much larger scale, Princess.
The problem with a "Chaser" or "Special Promotion" item isn't evident at first... The hobby gets really excited with the addition of an arguably rare, unique item. It allows for new collectors to accidentally get their hands on an item which explodes in value. The employees at Ty Inc are probably thrilled to find out that their Christmas present from Ty Warner is now the highest valued Beanie collectible ($3,800+); The first several thousand fans at the 1997 Cubs baseball game must be shocked to find that their little bear is now worth hundreds of dollars; The seemingly thousands of PVC Princess owners must be grinning, while the PE Princess owners growling. However, a large percentage of the hobby now feels left out. What about the kid who owns a perfectly wonderful MEL Koala? Will he be so ready to buy another "common" Beanie item when he finds out that old Mel and his other 34 "common" Beanies combined will never be worth as much as his friend's special promotion item?
My guess is that Ty will produce more "Special Promotion/Chaser" items in order to stimulate the interest which will most definitely wane in the common Beanie market. That kid who owns the Koala and the other 34 commons won't buy the new commons released in 3rd quarter 1998 or 1999; That kid WILL save up his allowance and buy the special Cubbie promotional item released to several thousand fans at a 1997 professional baseball game... or a 1998 hockey game... or a 1999 basketball game... or the 2000 Olympic games. Heck, I'm ready right now to preorder an Olympic bear if Ty produces them. Wanna place a bet on whether Ty will produce one? As the lack of interest in the common Beanie Babies items increases, you will find plenty of available non-retired and newly retired issues at your local Beanie Baby retailer.
If you don't believe me, go ask any baseball card set collector from the late 1980s. The baseball card market was humming along, as the interest for regular issue baseball cards exploded in interest. Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score and the rest decided that they would spice up the hobby by introducing special promotion, chaser cards. I was excited... The other 15 year olds were excited... The long-term collectors cringed. The hobby is now on a long decline. Kids don't want the regular issue baseball items any longer, but they will rip open a pack to get to a chaser card. The sets go unsold.
I certainly hope that the Beanie hobby lasts for the long-term, but it is difficult to sit back and watch my fairly new interest take the same wrong turn as my old and almost forgotten interest.
Before I get out of here, I'd like to thank Randy for his outstanding graphic and content contributions to this site. Without Randy, Absolute Beanie Babies would be just another Beanie site in a vast Beanie site wasteland.
Here's to the hobby...
Jeremy Padawer
