Have a question about Beanies, Trading, or Selling? Ask our expert Gramma Pat!  Send her an email and she will answer your email, and we will post the Q & A here.  Gramma's email link is at bottom of page Q: How many different versions of Iggy and Rainbow are there? A:  I believe these are the different variations of Iggy and Rainbow Beanie Babies: Iggy the Iguana ty-dyed with no tongue Iggy the Iguana ty-dyed with tongue Iggy the Iguana blue with no tongue Rainbow the Chameleon ty-dyed with tongue Rainbow the Chameleon blue with no tongue Q: I would like to do some trading and buying but I am a little scared I will get shafted. Do you have any ideas of how to go about it. I am only wanting to support my habit, and get some of the older retireds since I just started collecting in June 1998. A: Welcome to beanie collecting! Buying or trading on the internet can be really scary at first. I think that is because all the bad trades are blasted all over the guestbook, but we don't hear of the millions of good ones. The majority of people who come to the Ty site are honest, wonderful people. Just always ask for references and check them, check the good and bad trader lists at www.traderlist.com, get a telephone number and address and verify them with Information, feel comfortable with the person you are conversing with, watch for proper punctuation and spelling..carelessness is not a good sign and you could be dealing with a child, and always insure your shipments..return receipt requested is even better.  Good luck, and happy beanie hunting. Q: My daughter was give a curly, D.O.B. April 12, 1996, with misspelled tag no. 4052. Is this a real or a fake and if you don't know where can in Check. A: What is misspelled in the tag? If it is the word "original" spelled "origiinal," and/or "suface wash" instead of "surface wash" it is a common mistake..probably not a fake. Many beanies were made with this error..especially Curly and the Bunnies. The misspelling does not affect the worth of the beanie. Q: I was wondering if you could tell me what the deal is with Roary? Has Ty been told to stop making him & why? A:  From what I understand a company called Imperial Toys has a bean bag lion named Roary, and Ty has been ordered to take it's Roary off the market. Q: Do you think the bottom is dropping out of the Beanie market? Prices seem to be falling greatly on the guest book and internet auctions. If you can find the time, I would appreciate hearing your opinion. A: No, I don't think that the bottom is dropping out..just a temporary lull.. and I think things will pick up in November and December. The same thing happened last year. I do think that the people selling the older retireds may need to lower their prices if they want to move their beanies quickly.  There are now so many beanies that a new collector can never hope to get all of them, and usually picks a "starting point" and tries to get all the beanies from that point on. The market is good for any retired beanies from last Oct. on. Ty continues to fuel the fire with retirements and new releases, and the lack of availability enhances the collectibility and makes the hunt more fun...but they are walking a fine line and in my opinion Ty needs to do a little better job of providing more of their product sooner to keep the interest alive. Q: I have just recently started my beanie collection,and I have managed to amass a decent assortment. I would like to know how to start to make the good trader list.I want to trade,but I have no references. How can I convey to potential traders and buyers that I am honest and just want to give them an honest transaction? A:  It is always difficult to start trading, however we all had to start somewhere. Just be honest with the people you are trading with. Your sincerity will come through in your message. Tell them you are just starting. Trade with someone who is already on the good trader list, and offer to ship your end first...that is a pretty safe thing to do especially if the other trader has a gold star. Once you have done this, you will have a reference. Even before you get a reference, you can send your dues to the Entire Internet Good Trader List at www.traderlist.com.  There is membership information at the site. Then when a referral comes in, you will immediately be added to the list with the referral. Q: Is is proper to send emails to a list of people telling them what I have for sale? A: Sending unsolicited email to large numbers of people is called SPAM and is not polite and may also be illegal. Q: I have a 97Teddy with a fifth generation tush tag. According to Mary Beth's Beanie World Magazine..both the Oct. and Nov. issues, 97Teddy has a third generation tush tag. Is this correct? Is my beanie a fake? A: No, this is an error. The third generation tush tag was only produced until early 1997 when it was replaced first by the temporary star tape tush tag, and then the permanent star tush tag. The fifth generation tush tag, as well as the 97Teddy were introduced in Oct. of 1997.  All 97Teddys have the fifth gen. tush tag and the fourth generation swing tag. Q: I sold some of my extra beanies, and when the buyer received them she told me they were in horrible condition. I have many stars on the good trader list and told her I check everything very carefully before shipping, however I offered to refund her payment if she wanted to send the beanies back. Now I am concerned that if she does send them back they may not be the ones I shipped in the first place. I am losing sleep over this thinking that someone thinks I am a bad trader. What should I do? A: You are not a bad trader...you are doing exactly what you should do..you are offering to take them back. She may tell you to "nevermind".. this frequently happens. Sometimes the other trader just has a bad day, and takes it out on the first available person! Sometimes trader's ideas of "mint" differ. Now the ball is in her court and she will have to decide whether she really wants to give the beanies up. Do not send her money back first. Tell her when the beanies do come back, you will give her a refund. When they arrive, you will be able to assess the condition and you'll know if she substituted other beanies for yours.  Continue to be pleasant with her and save all of your emails..just in case. Please don't lose any more sleep over this..keep things in perspective.. they're only beanies, and your reputation will remain intact if you continue to be nice and do what she requests. You can always add her to the caution list later if in fact she has switched the beanies. Q: Do you know if the older version Peace Bear is out of production, since the release of the new pastel Peace Bear? A: I believe that is true, however to my knowledge Ty has never confirmed this, so I guess time will tell. Generally whenever Ty has changed a fabric or a style, the old one is no longer produced. Q: My daughter has quite a number of the older beanie babies, but they have no hang tags or tush tags (my daughter didn't like the tags when she was little, so we always cut them off.) Do beanies without any tags have any collectors value? Also, could you explain the acronyms used in the listings (e.g. MWMT, MWBMT, etc) A: Some collectors insist on mint beanies with mint tags and to them a beanie with no tags would have very little value. On the other hand, there are many who just want a complete collection and tags are not important. Usually you can expect to deduct about 50% of the book value if there are no tags, but of course the beanie's worth always depends on what someone is willing to pay. Due to the limited space allotted in most guestbooks for ads, many abbreviations are used. The most common are: MWMT..mint with mint tags MWBT..mint with both tags OR mint with bent tags (you need to ask for more information) MWBMT..mint with both mint tags TBB..teenie beanie babies NF..new face (referring to bears) MIP..mint in package (referring to teenies) NHT or NST..no hang tag or no swing tag Q: I have a Libearty with the web site cut off. Why did Ty do this and does it lower the value. A: Some Libeartys can be found with a hang tag that has Ty Inc.'s website address cut off. This tag is worth just as much as the normal Libearty tag. Libearty was the first Beanie Baby to have the fourth generation hang tag, and this was the first time the website was printed on the tag. Evidently, the tags were printed before the Ty website was up and running, so some of the website addresses were cut off of some tags. Q: I just saw an ad for beanies at a very low price..like Britannia for $49.95.  A website was listed, so I went there and there was a form to fill out. There was a notice saying only credit cards were accepted, and a form to fill out to provide name, address, and other personal information, and I would be required to put my credit card number on the form along with whatever name was on the card. I really want Britannia..should I do this? A: In a word..NO!!! Would you just hand your credit card to a stranger on the street? This is the same thing. There is no name at that website..no address..no way to identify who the person is. There are also no references available. Obviously this is a scam and the scammer is trying to trap unsuspecting collectors by offering something they could otherwise never get. Once he gets your credit information he is gone. If you have already submitted the information, call your credit card company immediately and ask for advice. Q: How do you go about sending Clubby back when you are not happy with the tag. Mine came with a creased tag. A: Unfortunately those who have tried to get a replacement for Clubby because of the tag condition have been unsuccessful. The company does not consider a bent tag a manufacturing defect. Q: I have had this problem before but never said anything. Is it okay to ask for a refund when a seller charges you a certain amount for shipping but doesn't use that much? I recently bought 3 beanies on E-bay and the seller charged $6.50 for priority and insured but the beanies were sent only regular priority for $3.Another time somebody tried telling me it cost $7 to ship 1 beanie priority mail!! Are these people knowingly taking advantage of us do you think or are they just clueless as to how much it costs to ship? And would it be okay to ask for a refund-like in my case ask for $3.50 back? Also is it okay to ask the seller to pay for shipping when you are purchasing alot of beanies? I have a friend who bought $2500 worth of beanies and the seller refused to pay the $8 shipping cost it would have cost to ship. Doesn't this seem a bit too greedy? A: Without knowing exactly what the terms of your agreement were with the seller, it would be hard for me to know what to tell you. If the seller said "shipping and handling" then perhaps the costs were meant to cover all expenses..shipping labels, packaging materials, tag protectors, tape, etc. I don't think I would ask for a refund with these trades, but in the future this is something that should be settled during the conversations before shipping. Tell the seller that you only want the package shipped by insured priority mail. Next time you are at the post office, ask for a list of the rates based on size, weight, and value of the contents so you will be informed about what the seller should be charging if S&H aren't included.  I agree with you that shipping should be included in a large order, but this is an individual decision, and should be decided when the transaction is negotiated. Q: How do I ship priority mail? A: To ship by priority mail, just tell the person at the post office that you wish to do that. The charge is $3 for up to four beanies and delivery is in two to three days. While you are there, ask for free priority shipping boxes so you will have them the next time you want to ship by priority mail. There are several different box sizes. Insurance for up to $50 worth of beanies is $.75. Q: Grandma, In which terminal is the store at O'Hare? A: The Ty-rrific store is in terminal 3 of the O'Hare Airport. Q: Beanies were made for children so why are all these greedy adults so anxious to buy them at the store? A: Hi..good question! Ty has created a collectible by controlling how many beanies are available and when. Many adults see the potential for making money and are investing in the beanies. If Ty was so sincere about them being for children, he would flood the market with them, but once something is readily available it is no longer as collectible, and soon the fad dies. He is far too shrewd to let that happen. Q: I would like to know if there is a place on the internet that says what ty dealers can charge for beanies, I am totally disgusted with dealers that do not buy them on the secondary market and get secondary market prices. could anyone answer this A: If you scroll to the bottom of the Ty homepage, you will see Ty's recommended pricing policies.  Although Ty has policies concerning what they would like to see dealers charge for beanies, they cannot enforce anything. Once the Ty account purchases the beanies from Ty, they are the shops' to do with what they wish. (Welcome to America!). The only thing Ty can do legally is limit the number of shipments to the dealer. If Ty finds out the beanies are being sold out the back door, then they can stop shipping to that dealer altogether. To report a dealer who is a regular Ty account and is not charging the recommended prices, write to Ty Inc at: Ty Complaint Dept. P.O. Box 5377 Oakbrook, Illinois 60522 Sometimes they will send a representative to check out the store. They used to have a form at the Ty website to report these dealers, but they received over 100,000 complaints in about two weeks and had to remove it until they could check them all. Q: I have a 97 teddy but it has the old face on it. Is this a fake beanie? I am very concerned. A: If the eyes are on the outside of the face stitching, then yes..it is a fake. If they are on the inside of the stitching, then this is a common problem with the bears. The thread under the eyes which makes the eyes and nose a little more scrunched together has either been omitted or clipped or broken. This happens frequently and is not a problem, although it should be mentioned if you are planning on trading or selling it. Without this thread, the face does look kind of "old-face" but the position of the eyes is the key. Q:  Would you please tell me what you know about the tie-dyed batty? I saw it for the first time and was just wondering about its value since I'd never seen it before. Any information you have would be appreciated. A: It appears that the new tie-dyed Batty replaces the original Batty. Recently shipments have been showing up all across the country. In the past, when Ty changes the fabric or the design of a beanie, the older version is no longer produced. Right now the tie-dyed Batty is rarer than the original Batty, but since Batty did not retire, we can assume that soon it will be plentiful and the price will be the same as any other current. Whichever version is produced for the shortest period of time will be the most valuable in years to come. Q: I have heard that bears manufactured for sale in Canada have an added tag with their tush tag. Apparently the tag says (in French and English) the products the beanie is made from - is this true? A: Yes, this is true. Canadian beanies by law must carry the extra tag. Q: I am new to the beanie world. Fell in love with Peace. I purchased a valentino,,,, and,, curly, both with PVC bears not PE. The dealer said this was important, is this true? Also, where can I see the difference between 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation tags? A: Welcome to Beanie collecting! Originally all beanies were made with PVC pellets. Sometime during the winter of 97-98 Ty changed to PE pellets. The only beanie that this makes a difference with as far as market value is Princess as some collectors feel the PVC Princess is the first edition. (I have heard that this isn't necessarily true and the price of the PVC Princess is coming down). The best way to find out about the differences in tags is to purchase one of the many beanie magazines...Mary Beth's Beanie World is a good one, but there are many. They have pictures and descriptions of all the different versions of tush and swing tags. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to write. Q: The place i buy beanie babies from has not received any for over 3 months. Rumor has it that they have been turned in for selling at a higher price. How do I find this out. A: There are a several possible reasons for the store not receiving beanies recently. Shipments have been very slow since October especially to Ty's smaller accounts. Ty has also said they will not be shipping to accounts that are not following their pricing philosophy until after they ship to the accounts that support their policies.  If the store was turned in when Ty had the questionaire on the website and Ty verified that they were not putting their beanies on the shelves, they may have lost their account.  The last possibility is that they are receiving their shipments, but selling them "out the backdoor" at flea markets or on the internet. If Ty doesn't know about this already, and they find out, the store will lose its account. Q: I've got a couple beanies that have gotten something on the fabric it's not sticky or anything like that but I was wondering if you had any ideas as to what I might use to remove it without damaging the beanie. A: The safest way to clean a beanie is to spot clean it with a tooth- brush or cloth and cold water. If this doesn't work, sometimes sprinkling cornmeal on the dry spot and letting it sit for 24 hours before vacuuming off the cornmeal will help. Do not use chemicals if at all possible as they can damage or stain the fur or plush.   For really tough jobs, you may need to take your beanie to a professional. Gramma Pat's Home Page Q & A - Page One  Click the button below to send Gramma Pat a Question © Traderlist, 1996 - 2004.  Ask Gramma Pat,  1998 - 2004. All contents are copyrighted and may not be copied onto any website or redistributed in any way without the express written permission by the webmaster of Traderlist. All Rights Reserved. Ty Beanie Babies®, Disney®, or Mattel® do not endorse or support this site in any way.Individual beanie baby graphics are copyrighted by Ty, Inc®.