28th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

SOURCE: Beanies-UK

We received the following information from a source we have at TY®.
This information was sent to us earlier today before Eucalyptus was Retired.

The retirements between now and Dec 31st, will be made as and when stocks run out at each TY warehouse (Europe, US, Canadian) - this is to ensure no stock is left except those beanie babies on the shelves in retailers. No production runs of beanie babies other than the newest holiday/seasonal and the summer trio are in progress at the factories in China or Korea. And we've not had a sizeable delivery from the factories in 2 months. I've never known our stocks seem so low, particulary on Knuckles, Eucalyptus, Millennium, Kicks, Signature & Whisper. The only thing we seem to have quantity on is Osito, but even they're leaving quickly. Beanie Babies which are overstocked in the warehouses are being shipped to TY Japan Accounts on a regular basis, but they're not getting the same range we do - unless it's coming from the other warehouses. Beanie Buddies do not seem to be experiencing the same slow-downs in production, nor relocating to Japan (with the exception of our remaining stocks of Beak and Twigs). Our supervisor is being vague regarding why we are clearing out, all he has stated is that it's to make room for new products due to start arriving in December for shipping next year. He has clarified that our jobs are safe and said we should have faith in Mr Warner. As a collector myself I can see no reason why TY would be so keen to completely sell out of all the older beanie babies before retirement, these are actions he's not ordered before. Perhaps it's really the end for beanie babies as we know them?

27th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Eucalyptus the Koala Retires.

Click Here to view the official retirement.

26th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ms. Janie has written an article titled Ty's Complete History! This article has taken Ms. Janie some time to put together & it's a very interesting read.

Click Here to read the Ms. Janies article titled - Ty's Complete History!

26th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Source: Beanies-UK

The Japanese website Birdl@nd has informed us of some interesting observations made about Beanie Babies® being sold in Japan.

Since being introduced three months ago, the country has not seen anything new from Ty®. This has raised suspicion that Ty® had begun to sell Beanie Babies® in Japan to get rid of their existing, over-produced inventory.

At present, official retailers must order 720 Ty® products, this includes Beanie Babies®, Beanie Buddies®, Pillow Pals® and Ty® Plush. Store owners aren't notified as to which models they will actually receive, and don't know which ones they will get until their order is delivered.

Click Here to read the report in full.

26th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Source: Doodle's Page & Beanies-UK

The actual reason of the retirement of all Beanies introduced until the end of this year rests within the very strict European Health & Safety Regulations Ty® could not meet. This again was confirmed by our Ty® source. European laws forced Ty® to retire all "old" Beanie Babies®, who were not meeting the minimum safety standards in Europe. It was too easy for children to get access to the filling, which does represent a health as well as safety risk to small children.

As of January 1st, 2000 ALL Bean Bag toys must have a 2nd safety lining, ensuring that a torn or ripped toy does not expose children to the pellets.

Click Here to read the report in full.

We at Beanies-UK have been informed that ALL bean bag toys made for sale in the UK should have the beans enclosed inside a bag, that is enclosed inside the bean bag toy. This is to prevent the beans from pouring out if the toy gets torn, this is already law in the UK but not fullly implemented.
Europe are now going to implement this as law on January 1st 2000 and this will affect all European countries within the E.U.

The way the retirement announcement was made may have been a way of turning a possible negative annoucement (ie Beanie Babies® do not comply with safety laws etc.) into something mysterious that creates a media frenzy!

24th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty retires the 1999 Ty Signature Bear today

Click Here to view the official announcement.

24th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Source: $mart Collecting

On May 25, 1999, the domain, tyretailers.com, was acquired by Ty® Inc. It appears that Ty® retailers will be able to check the status of their orders online and/or place their orders online. Retailers will be required to input their username and password to gain access into the website.

www.tyretailers.com

23rd October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ms. Janie's Collector's Studio has a picture of the two versions of The End bear. One with the Gold coloured bow tie & the other with the Copper coloured bow tie.

Click Here to view the picture.

21st October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty have retired Tiptoe the mouse. Click Here to view the official Ty announcement.

21st October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Source: Maisondours.com reports that Ty® has moved Gordon (with the yellow raincoat & hat) from the list of currents to the retired Attic Treasures™.

Gordon was recalled in Europe due to tests showing that Gordon's raincoat & hat can contain too much lead to pass EU standards.

The recall did not affect the USA, but his retirement will.

Click Here to see the Official Retired Attic Treasure™ List.

20th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty officially announce that there's going to be a blue face spangle. The following was put on the Ty website:

Click Here to see the official announcement.

20th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty have decided to celabrate Halloween with the following goodies on their website:

Halloweenie Beanie Babies Costume Contest

Halloween Colour in picture

Click Here to visit the Ty Halloween Page.

19th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty announce that Tyra the Attic Treasure has been retired today.

Click Here to see the official announcement.

16th October 1999

MCDONALDS NEW

New sets are released in the UK and USA.

The new set which was released yesterday in the UK is Tarzan. A picture and information can be found at the Past and Present page.

While the USA have some Cool Halloween toys, check the picture out below

16th October 1999

SOURCE: http://www.netcore.ca/~gkillops/

Will there be Teenie Beanie's in 2000?

Our news report on August 7th stated that Crain's Chicago Business news reported that McDonald's and TY have agreed to a June 16, 2000, start date for the forth McDonald's Ty Beanie Babies® Happy Meal promotion. With TY's recent announcement that all Beanie babies will be retired as of January 1st, 2000 one can only wonder what the future of the 2000 promotion will be.

We have been reading reports on the Internet that Ty and McDonald's have agreed to 3 more years of promotions. Our curiosity about the future of Teenie Beanies at McDonald's was prompted by these Internet reports (rumors) when we received an interesting email from an individual who has in the past sent us information that turned out to be true. Here is what the email said:

"I was talking with someone from our marketing dept. and noticed that on your site was listed Ty Beanie babies for year 2000. True that we will carry Ty products come June but it won't be Beanie Babies. From what I here the toys are to be from another Ty retail line."

Not being a Beanie Baby collector I have never really looked at what other products has to offer. Any guesses as to what the Y2K promotion will be?

BEANIE NEWS

Source: MBBBW UK Magazine

Beanies4U, the UK mail order dealers of all bean bag related merchandise, has unfortunately closed leaving behind a trail of disgruntled collectors. Anyone who has sent any orders to Beanies4U and has not received or heard anything should contact South Gloucester Trading Standards Office on 01454 633 605.

Anyone taking part in mail order dealings should opt to use a credit card where ever possible as it provides protection should you not receive your goods. Those sending cash or cheques (checks) should be a little more cautious as they have no guarantee of any return should the merchandise arrive.

15th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS- TY NEWSFLASH

It has come to my attention that a claim was made about one of our independent sales representatives pressuring an account into buying more Beanies than the account wanted or needed. Please be assured that Ty Inc. does not want to pressure any account into over purchasing. If any account feels that they are being threatened, coerced, or unduly pressured, we want to know about it. You can let us know by either posting in the Grins and Gripes section of our Ty Talk Cyberboard or you may e-mail us directly at Namenames@tymail.com.

Ty account priority status is dependent upon an account following our suggested guidelines of:

1. Visual representation - Ty products on display in a prime location.

2. Pricing - Beanies/ Attics $5 - $7
   Everything else $10 (except oversized plush)

Ty Warner

BEANIE NEWS- NEWSFLASH

Ty Inc. is committed to protecting consumers against counterfeit Beanie Babies® plush toys. That is why we recommend that you buy our products from authorized accounts, not from secondary market dealers. There is no guarantee that Beanie Babies® toys purchased from secondary market dealers are authentic Ty products.

In keeping with our commitment, we sued Walgreen's, a nationwide discount pharmacy chain that is not an authorized distributor of Ty Inc. for, among other counts, selling counterfeit Beanie Babies® toys that it purchased on the secondary market. We recently settled our claims and, as part of that settlement, after a short sell-off period, Walgreen's has agreed never to sell Beanie Babies® plush again.

Please remember that if you choose to purchase Beanie Babies® plush from secondary market dealers, and not from Ty authorized accounts, Ty Inc. cannot vouch for the authenticity of these products.

14th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

The BBOC has included new games to their site. They include crossword puzzles, coloring, mazes and more. Make sure to have your password ready, then join in on the fun!

All can be found at the following link: http://www.beaniebabyofficialclub.com/

9th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Ty adds two new languages to their web site. In addition to German and Japanese, the site is also available in French and Spanish.

7th October 1999

TY NEWSFLASH

As a follow-up to our previous warning, we have now closed over 125 additional Hallmark franchise locations that were in violation of our policy against trans-shipping. We will use all available resources to root out and close accounts that trans-ship. Shipping records and financial receipts create trails, and all leads will be thoroughly investigated as we continue our efforts. Accounts that want continued shipments of Ty products should think long and hard before trans-shipping. We hope that our accounts take our warnings seriously, because we at Ty take our policy against trans-shipping seriously. http://www.ty.com/hobo.html

6th October 1999

TY NEWSFLASH

To ensure that all BBOC Members have the opportunity to order the Members Only Exclusive Offers, the BBOC will be extending the ClubbyT Beanie BuddyT and Clubby IIT Beanie BuddyT offers through Friday, December 3, 1999. http://www.ty.com/offer100599.html

SCREENSAVER NOW AVAILABLE AT BBOC

Members of the Beanie Babies Official Club may now download a free screensaver from the BBOC.  But don't get too excited!  The screensaver begins with a blue screen with a closed door, Clubby II peaks through and then when the user clicks on the door, circles of different BBOC products appear.  This appears more to be more like a product ad than a screensaver.  Collectors were expecting to see Beanie Babies and not product advertisements for the Millennium Calendar, Collector's Card Book, Series III and other BBOC products. http://www.Beaniebabyofficialclub.com

4th October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

Beanie collectors in the USA are starting to receive their Clubby buddies and limited edition clubby collectors cards. Click here to view pictures of them.

BILLIONAIRE 2 BEAR LEFT BEHIND IN RESTAURANT SPOTTED ON EBAY

The Billionaire 2 Bear that was accidentally left at a Chicago Restaurant by a Ty employee was discovered up for auction on eBay by Smart Collecting member, Mark.  The five-day auction ended on September 27, 1999 with a high bid of $4,050 but the reserve was not met.  The auction description contained a great close-up photo of the hang tag that clearly identifies the bear as #318/475. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=169245054

1st October 1999

BEANIE NEWS

The Ty website has posted the following Newsflash:

Rumors

Rumors regarding 2000 product introductions are nothing but that ..... rumors! Any information that is circulating concerning Ty Inc.'s 2000 product should not be believed. Believe me, only one person knows what will happen at the start of the new millenium. Please be patient and DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!!

Ty Warner

BEANIE NEWS

The Ty website has posted another Newsflash:

--Warning--

To all direct Ty accounts that foolishly think they can trust the secondary market dealers to whom they trans-ship, you should know that these very dealers may be providing Ty with information about you, including canceled checks. Case in point - three Hallmark locations are being closed after we received evidence of trans-shipping. The secondary market dealer was kind enough to include canceled checks to the Ty account totaling nearly $10,000, as well as various invoices and other documents received from the account.

We at Ty take our policy against trans-shipping very seriously, and we are committed to the vigorous enforcement of this policy. We are not going to continue to do business with accounts who continue to violate our policy against trans-shipping. Because of ongoing investigations, we expect more stores to lose their Ty accounts because of trans-shipping within the next few weeks.

Is trans-shipping worth the risk? We bet there are three Hallmark stores that don't think so today!!!