Ty Beanie Babies® Official Collector Cards

The Ty Company does it again! Beanie Babies Official Club Collector Cards, Premier Edition, Series I, was introduced in October of 1998 and retired in December. The Cyrk Company distributes the cards for the Ty Company and also is the sole distributor for the Beanie Babies Official Club Kits.

These cards are HOT, HOT, HOT! Beanie Babies collectors once again have the thrill of the hunt and are diving in with both feet! There are 296 cards that were hand signed by Ty Warner in the first series! Acquiring one of these is the ultimate for any collector.

Series I cards have something for everyone, from the serious collector to folks just starting out with Ty collectibles. Beanie enthusiasts and sports card collectors are excited about the excellent quality, attention to detail, and the rare cards included in the Premier Series. The secondary market potential is huge because the first series is already retired. Parents love the common cards for their children to play with and collect while Mom and Dad focus their attention on the rare cards. Each card has "Little Known Trivia Facts" on the back of the cards for each animal. Ty Beanie Collector cards are educational as well as fun to collect. The cards are numbered (on the back), beautifully done with the photo of the beanie, name, and style on the front of the card. The Beanie Cards are divided into four groups, Original Nine, Retired, Birthday/Rookie and Regular Cards.

Currently there are thousands of listings for cards. As magazines and news articles report on this rapid area of collecting, the numbers will rise at a breakneck pace. The Ty Series II Collector Cards will be released to the stores in mid to late March. eBay is a real time source for news, market trends, and pricing for the secondary market. Collectors who get in on the ground floor are eBay users. Whether it is a new product or a newly retired or variation, collectors" in the know", check eBay daily for news and take advantage of buying and selling with ease. Experienced collectors know that by the time the news hits the street via printed material they will be way ahead of the game. The eBay site is where many of the breaking news stories originate.

The official name is collector cards but the majority of the users has been listing them on auction as "Ty trading cards." We will continue with this description for collector card listings. The new sub-category "Ty trading cards" is the place to list and find beanie trading card listings.

When listing your auctions, keep in mind that there are hundreds of new collectors and new users in the eBay community searching for the cards they need for their collections. There are also collectors bidding on several auctions simultaneously. Time is of the essence when trying to locate and bid in the last few minutes of an auction. If you use the standard terms that other people use for listings, you will enable search engines to locate your auction quickly. It is important to establish a uniform method of listing to facilitate this growing area of collectibles early.

The following is a quick overview with examples of auction heading descriptions that will greatly benefit the sellers, bidders, and browsers.

The best way for buyers to find your auction is to be concise in your heading descriptions. The search engine needs to locate key words. Below are examples that will cover the different types of Ty Trading cards in Series I.

Important Note: The numbers on the BACK of the cards are the "card numbers" and refer to the number of Beanie Babies represented in the series. Each Beanie Baby has an assigned card number. There are 149 total cards in Series I. The number on the FRONT of the card represents how many of that particular card was produced. These numbers are important in determining the value of the card on the secondary market. Obviously, the lower the number, the rarer the card, and it will have a higher secondary market value.

The Original Nine are all Clear Cards. They are, red, blue, silver, or gold. The best way to list one of these cards is by using the description, Ty Trading Card, Name of the Beanie, Color of the Card and the fact that it is a clear card. If you wish to list the number on the card, do so at the end of the description.

The above tells the reader that Patti is a red card, clear and there were 8,160 of them produced. By listing it again as Ty Trading Card it can be located from any section of the eBay site.

The above example tells the reader that Pinchers is one of the Original Nine Beanies and that the card is clear and a red one. The card for sale is number 2289 and the number of cards produced was 8840.

The above example tells the user that the card is an Original Nine, Clear Gold and number 30 is for sale, the number of gold Patti's produced is 168

IF you are one of the lucky few who have an Autographed Clear Card, the following is the best way to list that card:

The above example tells the reader that you have a card that was hand signed by Ty Warner, it is a Patti, clear, and gold. These cards were numbered 1 of 1 signed for this beanie.

Note: There are some clear cards that were NOT numbered. At this time, it appears that only the blue cards are unnumbered. If you have a clear card that is NOT numbered, DO list that information in your header description.

Retired cards have a gold strip on the left side of the card and a medallion on the right side. The name of the beanie is on the top of the card. The style number is in gold on all the colors and is on the lower right of the retired cards. NOTE: The color of the medallion, determines the color of the card. There are only 150 gold cards for any of the gold retired cards. When you list the number in the header or the item description you help new collectors learn more about trading card collecting and buyers know what you have to offer. The number of the card is important, especially if it is a low number or is the last of the cards issued.

Examples of Header Descriptions:

If you have something to add and have space do it at the end of the heading description. The Retired Lefty card number 42 is for sale and there are 150 gold cards that were produced. DO keep in mind that when the next series comes out it is important to have established a uniform method for listing Series I cards.

The Rookie Cards come in Red, Blue, Silver, and Gold. The Birthday Cards have the name of the Beanie on the left side of the card and the color of the type is what determines the color of the card. The birthday is on the lower left side of the card under the name. Only the gold cards are numbered in the Birthday or Rookie Cards. The Rookie Cards have the word Rookie in a blue highlighted box under the birthday of the beanie.

There are many different combinations for listing these cards. See the sample header descriptions and keep in mind that you want NEW and seasoned collectors to locate your auction.

Ty Trading Cards/50-149 Complete set commons

Ty Trading Cards, Flutter, Web, Orange Digger HTF (HTF means it is a hard to find regular card)

(Unlike Original Nine, Retired, Birthday, or Rookie Cards, no production numbers are listed on the front of these cards and they are not ranked by color)

There are eight different slide cards that come with each box of 24 packs of trading cards.

Ty Trading Cards, Born to be Wild, Slider

Ty Trading Cards, Complete set of 8 sliders

If your title is too long use words like rare or HTF for hard to find, but do include the word SLIDER.

The Collector packs also have a puzzle in each pack and a checklist insert. If you are listing these, use the word Puzzle in the header description.

Ty Collector Cards, 12 Unopened Packs (this tells the reader that you have 12 packs of cards still in the foil and they have not been opened). You can explain in your description that there are 8 numbered cards, a checklist and a puzzle in each pack.

Ty Collector Cards, Box unopened/24 packs
Ty Collector cards, Case, 6 unopened boxes,

The above listing explains that there are 24 packs in a box and 6 boxes in a case of cards.

Please note that there are countless combinations of items for sale and we could not possibly cover all of them. The goal is to establish a clear, consistent method of listing items in this category.

NOTE TO BUYERS: When you are using eBay, it is a good idea to click the "search item description" box when you do your searches. This will pull up more auctions for the cards you want to locate.

If you have questions about the auction, ask the seller. Great auctioneers are most happy to help answer any questions you have regarding their listings.

Feedback on this category is MOST WELCOME. If you have suggestions, questions, or comments, email, ImDaisyBB@aol.com. We have spent countless hours researching, networking with fellow collectors and experts in the secondary market and users in the eBay community. I have personally opened several cases of cards and even struck gold once! eBay will continue to be the first source for news and market trends.

Good luck and welcome to the Gold Card Rush!