November 29: TY RECENT RETIREMENTS: It seems that Ty is not waiting until December 31st to begin retiring several of the beanies and buddies! So, if you haven't gotten your collections complete, better hurry up and get your beanies and buddies! 
Tracker Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_rettrackerbuddy.html 
Bubbles Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_retbubblesbuddy.html 
Pumkin Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_retpumkinbuddy.html 
Tracker Beanie- http://www.ty.com/ret_trackerbaby.html 
Smoochy Beanie- http://www.ty.com/ret_smoochy.html 
Chilly Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_chilly.html 
Squealer Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_squealer.html 
Erin Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_erin.html 
Millennium Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_millennium.html 
Halo Beanie- http://www.ty.com/ret_halo.html 
Cranberry Buddy- http://www.ty.com/ret_cran.html

November 26:  Platinum Toys Celebrates Grand Opening! A great new website has just opened that features such popular toys as those listed below. Go by and check them out at http://www.platinumtoys.com  (editor's note: this site will also be Planet Beans December contest sponsor, so be sure to check our contest page for details on how to win)

October 27:  Pre-retirement planning: Once the career's cut short, what's a Beanie Baby to do?  The recently retired Erin the Bear, for example, has started working as a bagger at her local grocery store. ``I can't tell you the number of new friends I've made,'' she said when we caught up with her on her morning break.  Full Article

October 27:  Eucalyptus Retires Today! 

October 25:  Ty Has Retired 1999 Signature Bear Today!  http://www.ty.com/ret_99sig.html

October 24:  Rosie O'Donnell's Auction Finishes Up At Ebay  This was for a basket of beanies signed by the great man himself, Ty Warner. The winning bidder will pay $13,100 for these special beanies!  To view some of Rosie's other auctions, click HERE.

October 23:  It's been confirmed! There are different variations of The End Bear's bow. You can see the actual pictures of the variations at Janie Daniel's website.

October 22:  It has been discovered that there appear to be two different variations in the hang tags of the Ty2K Bear. Apparently, some versions have his birthday as 12-31-99, while others say his birthday is 1-1-2000. We discovered this over at our beanie club when several members began comparing the tags on their Ty2K Bears for a trivia contest they were entering. According to several of our members, the 12-31 birthday was listed at several other beanies sites. So, it must be that the certain shipments came out with the wrong birthday on them. Below are the photos of the different hang tag versions. 

October 21:  Tiptoe the Mouse Retires Today!  http://www.ty.com/tiptoe_ret.html

October 19:  Ty Has Posted Their Halloween Beanies! Go visit Ty's annual Beanie Halloween Contest at http://www.ty.com/halloween99/hw.html  These are really cute!  Here's an example of what you might see; Erin as a Christmas Tree or  Millennium as an Astronaut! 
    Very creative stuff here Ty! 

October 18:  Beanies are featured in nationally syndicated comic strip! Thought you all might get a kick out this one:   
Source: Philadelphia Online

October 17:  Mary Beth Sobolewski gets comment concerning rumors about the a new line of beanie babies coming in 2000:  In a rare acknowledgment of Beanie-related Internet rumors, Ty Warner has posted a message to the collectors who have been whispering on the Web about a possible new line in the year 2000. Read the full article HERE.

October 16:  The Beanie Ark is back on Ebay! If you didn't catch a glimpse of this awsome auction the first time around, go check it out now! This is every beanie lovers dream and on this new auction, there is no reserve! However, you will be shelling out BIG BUCKS for this titanic collection of beanies as the bidding is already up to $57,800! See the auction HERE.

Richard over at BeanieWonderland secures an interview with a Ty Rep concerning the recent lay-offs, pay scales, transhipping, and the rumors concerning what's in store for the new millennium. Read the entire interview by clicking HERE. 

October 15:  Newsflash on Ty Website: 
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.

October 4:  Clubby Buddies Arrive!  According to Mary Beth's Beanbag world, collectors who were among the first to place their orders when the Clubby Buddies became available, have now started receiving their bears! To read more....

October 3:  What do you do with 5,000 Ty Beanie Babies?  Bring 5,000 smiles to the faces of hospitalized children! That's what's happening at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, where a generous donation from Ty Inc. is putting beloved Beanie Babies into the hands of children hospitalized or receiving outpatient treatment for illness or injury. Read the full article here.

October 1:  NEWSFLASH ON THE TY SITE: According to the great man himself, rumors of the year 2000 new releases are just rumors. The following statement can be found at http://www.ty.com/news100199.html

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

2ND NEWSFLASH POSTED ON TY SITE TODAY: http://www.ty.com/news100199a.html

--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.


October 1:  According to Mary Beth's Bean Bag World, the Blue-faced Spangles are not being distributed to retailers contrary to previous reports. You can read the full article at http://www.beanbagworld.net or view some of the current auctions going on for these rare bears at http://www.beanienation.com/auction/1119000/item_1119824.shtml

* October Ty Order Limitations *
36 maximum Beanie Babies
12 maximum Beanie Buddies Gobbles and Pumkin'
10 maximum Beanie Buddy Snowboy
6 maximum all other styles of Beanie Buddies 
24 maximum Attic Treasures
12 maximum each new Ty Plush bear
No limits on Pillow Pals
6 dozen maximum on BBOC Platinum Membership kits
No limits on other Ty licensed products