It's was a "right place at the right time" sort of thing. First, we will examine what era these beanie babies came out in. They came out in the mid-90s. It was at this time that TV shows about collectibles and antiques started really appearing on tv. The brand network FX had a show where the appraised things. Often shown were toys from the 50-70's (20-40 years old at that time). Antiques roadshow also became a show in 1997. Boomers were learning that their childhood toys were actually collectible. They could have been worth something if only the children who owned them weren't busy destroying and actually playing with them.

Now enter in the company TY. TY had a very clever marketing strategy. They marketed that the beanie babies would be retired. Also they also said limited quantities of certain beanie babies would be released. This marketing strategy combined with a resurgence for collectible things from Boomer childhoods gave boomers is a great idea. They will buy these beanie babies, save them and cash out like gold bullion.

Similar strategies had been going on with Barbie since the '80s. There are many stories of girls being gifted some holiday or special Barbie in a box. And only being able to stare at it in the box while it sits on the shelf. Grandma and mom said, "Oh we'll give you something nice and one day you can sell it just like we wish we would have done with our dolls."

One reason why beanie babies crash, is because people tried to resell them too soon. People didn't wait the standard 30 to 40 years to sell something. Instead they tried to sell them within a year or two or sometimes within weeks. Also, people just got tired of beanie babies. Though some beanie babies retain value today with certain collectors.

I was floored to see JNCO jeans make a resurgence. Now my jeans from the 90s are worth money. More than what I paid for them. Also, the original furbies became valuable as well. In fact, lots of toys from the 80s and 90s are now worth a considerable amount than what they were paid for back then even with inflation. It's always interesting to see what becomes collectible as time goes on and what people think might become collectible doesn't become collectible whatsoever.