beanie babies

[julesdon]

Is ebay running a con,

trying to make us believe that people are really getting thousands of dollars for beanie babies?

[bonjourami]

Those beanies seem to encourage lots of sport bidders...doesnt mean they are paid for.

[theteamsetguy]

julesdon,

Please explain what you are talking about. Ebay doesn't sell anything. Individual sellers do.

[simba6]

Like the days of investing in Emu ranches, buyers have to know what they are buying.   Sellers can ask any price. Getting it is another matter.

[janet9988]

---

@julesdon wrote:

Is ebay running a con,

trying to make us believe that people are really getting thousands of dollars for beanie babies?

---

Please explain it to me how EBAY is the one running a con on beanie babies?

Does ebay make you charge a specific amount for your items that you sell?

[dbfolks166mt]

     Money laundering. 

[theteamsetguy]

Julesdon, 

I’m sure some buyers pay more than they should because they believe something is rare.

Like P.T. Barnum says “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

[fab_finds4u]

I agree with money laundering.

[femmefan1946]

Emu ranching? Pah! That's for suckers.

Ostriches now.....

[annadryl]

There is a specific forum for this> https://community.ebay.com/t5/Beanie-Baby-Collector/gh-p/g-1600005157

Yes, they are aware that these things dropped out of fashion 20 years ago and the current state of the stuff on ebay.

All of the supposedly expensive sales are bosh, of course. It's not an ebay "con".

What do you suppose ebay is getting out of the "con"?

It's not an issue.

[chapeau-noir]

There used to be two emus who lived down the road from me.  As I would run by I'd stop and peer through the fence and say hello.  They would step through the foliage towards me on their giant feet, these tall birds with their sort of bug-eyed, startled, flat-lipped look, bob their heads and then disappear back into the foliage again (it's wet here and people's yards are like jungles).  After a while we kind of expected each other - but then they moved away.  ☹️

[johnrj1226]

Me thinks you  might be on to a new career beyond eBay.  Writing a book titled  Me & My EMUs.

[soh.maryl]

Pretty sure the birth rate has increased significantly.

[soh.maryl]

You are aware that eBay does not sell anything, right? So how could they be "running a con"?

[maxine*j]

---

@julesdon wrote:

Is ebay running a con,

trying to make us believe that people are really getting thousands of dollars for beanie babies?

---

eBay is not running a con.  eBay does not sell anything.  eBay does not tell any seller how to price  items.  eBay does not tell any buyer how much to pay for items.

If you're just looking at Current Listings, remember that the asking price is not the selling price.  Sellers can ask any amount they want, but that doesn't mean they'll ever get it.

If you're looking at Sold Listings, remember that those Beanie Babies "sold" for that price in the sense that those were winning bids or BINs -- but the buyers never intended to pay for them and the fact that the items went unpaid for isn't shown.   The buyers were not crazy.  What they really wanted was what they got -- the illusion of interest and value.  It's an old ploy to attempt to inflate values by those who have something similar they hope to sell for more than its worth.

Read this from the seller himself about the Beanie Baby that "sold" for $45K and made headlines around the world:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Toys-Hobbies/PSA-on-quot-sold-quot-45K-Princess-Diana-Beanie-Baby-From...

It reads in part: "If you are in the beanie baby collecting and selling sphere you may have seen a Princess Diana bear that sold for $45,000 back in August. That was my listing... The person who bought that bear immediately canceled after purchase... [and] never contacted me about it. eBay considers it sold despite... [the fact] that it was canceled and relisted.."

-