Pricing: why do 2 EXACT SAME Beanies get ending prices of either $8.50 or TWO THOUSAND (2k) scam?

[glass_pirates]

I have been researching this awhile, because I thought I had a collection worth TONS of money after checking the prices on ebay.  I feverishly looked up nuances & errors, took crisp detailed pictures of the supposed rare ones (the red pig (i am an amateur if you can't tell), the princess bear, curly etc etc etc (you know the ones that get WAYYY too much in auction)...  Then, I noticed something.

EVERY SINGLE AUCTION that ended with a high price only had one bidder, and that 1 bidder usually only had 1 feedback.  There are no complaints/returns on the auctions, everything seems normal.  Then, when you click "show original auction', it will say 'the buyer relisted the item, if you want to see current, click here".

There is some scam going on with overpricing Beanies (maybe inflate the market?  Maybe buy yourself and use a a tax deduction you sell vintage items??? I don't know!!!)

But what I do know is these Beanie Babies are worth less than 10% of what these super high (1k-10k)  auctions are showing... Something is off.  Not ONE of my big auctions sold and I purposely put them at much lower (but high-priced for my opinion, maybe $500 for ones selling for 5k), ZERO INTEREST.  Not one question, not one offer.  There is some kind of scam going on in the Beanie community, I just cant put my finger on it yet... yet!!! (by the way I am a very-versed IT Consultant and I WILL get to the bottom of this after wasting so much time trying to sell them!)

If you have ANY info or insight to this, please let us all know!  I have a picture of what I mean, but I cannot post it:  just search for princess beanie baby, choose 'sold items' on the left, then on the top right area, choose "price highest to lowest + shipping" and you'll see exactly what I mean?  WHAT IS GOING ON!??  I wish my princess was worth that much, I got really excited to think I could pay for my health care issues until I realized this was all a big hoax   😞

[isopresso]

I'm really

 

sorry that this happened to you 😞

There's a lot of people overcharging for beanie babies online and the main reason is to artificially inflate the price. When you see beanies that have sold for several thousand dollars they'll have a little thing underneath saying "Best Offer Accepted" (I've underlined it below) which means they didn't actually sell for the listed price but for an amount someone offered privately (which is often just the regular price of the beanie baby). 

People do this with beanies that used to be valuable, like Princess which people paid a lot for when they were first released because originally only 12 were stocked in each US store (although later on more shipments came in and they became as common as any other beanie baby), and they want to artificially make them appear more valuable in order to make their money back/justify how much they spent on it back then.

I've also seen theories about overpriced beanie babies being used to launder money or as a front to sell illegal goods but I've never seen any actual proof for this, just speculation.

[blp229]

I'm still noticing the same thing.  I'm pretty sure this is money laundering.  Very easy to do with collectibles.  You'll notice that the sellers usually have listed 0 other items, legit collectible buyers won't touch ebay users with low listing counts.  I have a good amount of experience with ebay (my personal user listing number is low, but I use ebay every day all day for my job).  I'm kinda surprised ebay isn't stopping this more, but i guess they're making their money.  This is just my opinion.

[eburtonlab]

Look at the feedback of the sellers of those high dollar Beanie Baby transactions and you will likely find zero feedback as a seller. Many of the listings are removed or are relisted immediately. No feedback is exchanged because no money was exchanged and there was no transaction. No transaction means no fee for eBay.

There are much better ways to attempt to launder money than by phony Beanie Baby sales on eBay.

Most likely those sellers are trying to create an appearance of high demand in order to unload those Beanie Babies at inflated prices to someone who hopes to sell for a similar inflated value.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

Most likely those sellers are trying to create an appearance of high demand in order to unload those Beanie Babies at inflated prices to someone who hopes to sell for a similar inflated value.

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"APPEARANCE" of high demand -- appearance being the operative word. 

At the thrift stores I shop, they have thousands of bags of beanie babies. Each bag has 5 beanies prices at $1.99. And know what? They sit and sit and sit.

At 40 cents each, they aren't selling! Thus no one is paying $2K for them.

[ms*ellie]

I have been collecting  these  for probably 35 years. I probably have about 350 in total. This is absolutely no different than collecting Baseball cards!  The VERY first ones maybe be worth a few cents! But, after that, you are being suckered in! Not sure what any of them are actually worth, I have several of the full-size Lady Di.  They are really nice, but not sure what my Boyd will think when they inherit them. Probably thing I have flipped my mind.

[soh.maryl]

To determine the true value of these, you'd have to look at those that actually sold.

Then you'd have to realize that it's very doubtful that they were paid for.

And, if they were actually paid for, then the old saying is true:  There's a sucker born every minute.

And, since it's an "old" saying, it probably could be revised to: There are several suckers born every minute. 

[crucifoxie]

Yes I think this is people just setting up a fake account to click buy and give the impression of value. Not money laundering. Has anyone actually sold a beanie bait lately a single one on eBay for a sizable sum? I would like to know if so. I looked at completeds recently and saw the same thing with the big priced solds 

[lacemaker3]

@crucifoxie--

NO.

[powell-memorabilia]

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@blp229 wrote:

I'm still noticing the same thing.  I'm pretty sure this is money laundering.  Very easy to do with collectibles.  You'll notice that the sellers usually have listed 0 other items, legit collectible buyers won't touch ebay users with low listing counts.  I have a good amount of experience with ebay (my personal user listing number is low, but I use ebay every day all day for my job).  I'm kinda surprised ebay isn't stopping this more, but i guess they're making their money.  This is just my opinion.

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Seriously, why would anyone want to lose 13% in fees to eBay on laundered money?  When I launder money, the most that I will pay is 4.5%.  That is the industry standard.  

[bbqueenb]

I have sold beanie babies for $75.00 thats the highest Ive received. Most of my beanies sell for 5- 15. I have some high priced ones. I have 400 views on a beanie selling for 75$ with no takers yet. Mow Ive become somewhat enamored with the more unique beanies I have do I post them for higher $. As far as the beanie racket goes, where they sell for 10,000 but the seller has 0 reviews. I don't  know. I have messaged them to ask and they haven't answered. Who's benefitting from this scam? 

[traveling222]

I too am wondering what the actual scam is.  I wonder if they are actually selling something else ...like drugs or something on the blackmarket and the beanie babie is some sort of covert signal for what they are selling.

I have listed some high just to see what happens and had the same results as you.  There is some sort of scam going ....but Ebay isn't stopping it.

C

[isopresso]

Hi there!

There's a few layers behind why this happens that I can go into if you're interested but here's the short version.

Most of the ones that say sold for several thousand dollars will say "Best Offer accepted". This means that a private offer of any amount was accepted and it's just showing the amount it was listed for not the actual amount that was paid.

Another reason this happens is that people are selling (then refunding) beanies to their friends for high amounts to artificially inflate the price of beanie babies. This isn't as common as it was in the 90s since there isn't really a thriving beanie baby market anymore.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if this did happen in the 90s, I doubt anyone's laundering money or selling illegal goods with beanie babies now since there's much easier ways to do so through the internet nowadays.

- Hailey

[isopresso]

Just realised that I had responded to this thread over a year ago! I just got an email about it and assumed it was a new thread!! Sorry for repeating myself.

[*morningphoenixdesigns]

I am 1st time listing Monster High dolls and noticed something similar, not quite as extreme.  That's why I stopped in to see the Beanie Baby answers.  Thanks for all your answers!!  🙂   So I've been heading to the mid to high range of the recently sold items and setting my price upon comparison of condition, etc.  I'm looking forward to see how many feed-backs, etc. the sellers have on those high priced dolls.