Updated for Winter 2020

I get a lot of questions asking what Beanie Babies are worth. The answer to this is…it depends.

As a general rule, Beanie Babies with 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation hang tags (the heart shaped tag) have the most value (for more information on hang tags, see my tag generation guide). If the tag has anything other than the word “Ty” (a yellow star, Beanie Babies, Beanies, etc), then it is probably worth around $1-5, but there are exceptions to that rule.

For example, there are some Beanie Babies that are worth a lot (e.g. Chef Robuchon), who were released in limited quantities, thus making them rare and valuable.

However, there are some very misleading articles out there on the internet (most notably the article in the Cosmopolitan) that claim Rainbow is worth about $50,000 and a Valentino with a tag error is worth $100,000! That simply isn’t true. These articles are pure click-bait and completely misleading (and downright frustrating for collectors).

Just to clarify, Rainbow is one of the most common Beanie Babies available, and Valentino, even with a tag error, was so mass-produced that he is worth no more than a Valentino Beanie Baby with the tag spelled correctly. The only Valentino bears worth more than a few dollars are those with a 2nd or 3rd generation swing tag, and even these aren’t worth anywhere near $100,000!

There are no Beanie Babies worth these silly prices being quoted. Ever.

So what are Beanie Babies really worth?

As with anything, Beanie Babies are only worth what someone is willing to pay, but there are ways of finding out what a Beanie Baby is currently selling for.

One of the simplest ways to find this out is to go to eBay, type in the name of the Beanie you’re looking for followed by “beanie baby“. For example, we’ll search for how much Rainbow is actually worth.

First, we’ll type “rainbow beanie baby” into the search box, which I’ve highlighted in red.

You’ll see below that there are Rainbow Beanie Babies that are on sale for extortionate amounts, claiming they have “errors” and they are “rare”. Ignore these listings. This is what people are trying to sell them for, not what they actually sold for.

On the left, scroll down the filters until you come to “Sold items“. Click on it and it will highlight this and “Completed items“.

This will bring up a new list of results. What things actually sold for.

I usually look at the lowest amount that a Beanie Baby has sold for as there are fake bidders who will bid their own item up in value to gain interest and these can sometimes show up in the sold listings, creating a false impression of what a Beanie Baby is worth.

Next, click on the box on the right that says “Ended recently” and change this to “Lowest price + P&P“.

As you can see in the picture below, this changes things completely. The Rainbow Beanie Babies that were going for $1000 or more change to around $1-5. This is Rainbow’s true value.

Here are a few more listings to give you an idea…

This method can be used for any Ty product. Just replace the word “beanie baby” for “beanie boo“, “attic treasure“, “ty classic” or whatever product line you’re searching for.

Click here to go to eBay US to find out how much your Beanie Baby is worth

You can also use the same method for eBay in the UK. Just follow the same instructions on eBay UK to get the value of your Beanie Baby in GBP(£).

Click here to go to eBay UK to find out how much your Beanie Baby is worth

I hope you find this article useful. Happy searching!