How many of you waited around with great anticipation for Ty's
retirement?
I vaguely recall sitting in front of my computer in the wee hours
of the morning, constantly hitting reload. It all seems like a
hazy memory. Sorry, but the toothpicks aren't even holding up
at this point.
I was looking forward to this retirement with great enthusiasm.
I was not prepared for the final outcome!
Twenty-Eight - WOOOOH - Where have all the Beanies
Gone?
I have not drawn a conclusion as to whether or not this is a good
idea! Ty has never retired so many Beanies at one given time.
I will admit, I'm a little confused!
Let's dissect this matter! Why would Ty retire so many Beanies?
Good reasons.
1. I believe Ty retired so many Beanies because he wanted
to give everyone the opportunity to own a retired piece.
2. I'm hoping that Ty is clearing out their warehouses for an
abundance of NEW Beanies.
3. I'm speculating that Ty will reflect back to last year's chain
of events with the Teenie Beanies.
a. Maybe by eliminating old
stock and reintroducing new stock, this will rekindle the fire
for a whole round of NEW collectors.
Bad reasons.
1. By retiring so many Beanies at once, I can not help but
wonder how this will effect the market!
2. Ty has not reintroduced new Beanies into the line. I hope
current collectors do not lose interest waiting for new releases.
3. If you read my recent article on The Secondary Market, we
all learned about supply verses demand. How will this affect
the secondary market? Will it be good or will it be bad?
Ty's Retirement Announcement
Ty obviously had some major web site problems.
I have always enjoyed reading the diary and sorting through the
hints. Ty's retirement did not offer any hints.
I was very disappointed in the amount of time it took for Ty's
page to load. I contacted a few Internet Tec's, to receive an
explanation. I was told the following:
1. The Internet and Ty's server had difficulty handling the
traffic.
2. These difficulties resulted in not enough data being received
in order for the page to load properly. 3. The 350k graphic was
way too large.
4. Ty's front page is top heavy, too many animated gifs.
I had several people offering their opinion on this new retirement.
Their opinions are as follows:
I thought the entire thing was handled terribly. Fleece did not
give us any Clues to go on, or know when to look for the announcement.
I was up late last night waiting for it, the to find out the announcement
was at 3:00A.M. oh please!! Also what is going on with new beanies?
Ty should have given us clues, made it a big deal, (it only happens
so rarely) and made it extra special due to the large number of
Beanies released. Feel free to use me if you need to, or ask any
more questions of me. Thanks Brendan
Ms Janie,
My comments about the way Ty handled it. I thought announcing
when he would announce was very clever. It led to a build up,
there was excitement, there was the mad dash and scramble. The
anticipation was wonderful. However, I guess like a lot of things
eagerly anticipated - the reality was did not match the hype.
Posting the list at 3:00am was ridiculous. Too many people (including
children) gave up at 1:00am. Why not be more supportive of your
audience by announcing it between 6:00am and 11:00pm (at the very
latest)? In addition, it was confusing. What retired the 28 or
the 9??? Some people could not tell and were under the wrong impression.
What not just make one a "word" list and then have a
link to the pictures? Why not put the list in the diary? The graphics
are cute BUT they make it so hard to get into Ty's site that I
frequently give up long before I get the information I want or
need (and last night and today have been no different).
I love beanie babies. I enjoy the collecting. I enjoy the hunt.
I am an adult (sometimes).
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to express my opinion.
Terri
Hi -
The only problem that I had with the retirement was the announcement
itself. My computer is somewhat antiquated. It usually does fine
but it was not capable of handling the size of the graphic(s)
used in the announcement. As a result, I thought the 9 squares
on the right side were the announcement. I wound up giving people
incorrect information (which I hate doing) and I actually missed
buying some pieces because I did not know they were retired.
Thanks -
Jean-EEE
Ty's Retirement announcement:
I think it's good that Ty has finally retired a large contingent.
I'm sure it's hard to produce the quantity and quality that the
Beanie Baby collectors have come to expect when there are so many
of the "Current" Beanies to be produced. With fewer
of the currents, more of each variety can be produced, especially
the Erin and Princess ones that everyone is paying such exhorbant
prices for on the "Secondary Market. This will go a long
way to re-establishing Ty's integrity as not supporting the "Secondary
Market".
If I have a single gripe it is the fact that the list of retirees
was posted on the Ty web site as a gif instead of as a simple
text file. There is no excuse for a web site not being more considerate
of the patrons. I am an experienced web site manager, and I know
better than to make the meat of what the visitor is there for
so cumbersome to load. If the list had been text, it would have
been quick to load, and the cute graphics could have loaded while
people were reading the text. Load time was about fifteen minutes,
then the page wouldn't print correctly so we could keep a list
of the new retirees with us.
I love the Beanie Baby line, and hope that more will be released
in the near future, I just hope that the quantities of the "Currents"
allow Ty to maintain both Quality and Quantity.
All my best.
Carl
Hi Ms. Janie,
I personally feel that the retirement was not done well at
all!! Why put it out on the web to begin with if you are not catering
to the masses. If you are catering to the collecting masses than
why do the retirement with little fanfare and in the middle of
the night. I wonder if they still don't have their computer servers
worked out and were afraid to try to handle the influx during
a peak time? I really was hoping for a retirement similar to last
Mother's Day with alot of lead in and teasing and hints for all
of their internet friends to enjoy!! I also preferred the retirement
earlier in the day when I could share it with the younger collectors.
Thanks, please feel free to use any comments you find useful.
Sue
I would like to comment that you needed an updated version
browser to see the retirement, no pictures or list showed up if
you didn't have this. I tried to download the "new"
browser from AOL and it caused my system to crash so I am only
using AOL 3.0 but not for win95, so no browser, hence no list,
no animated pictures....all I saw were the 9 sitting on the right,
NOTHING on the left. If not for the list, I would have been lost!
Thanks for writing an article!
Janet in Calif
Greetings, Ms. Janie
As you know, you have quite a following on this list. I
felt that it was all downhill from the announcement of the date.
It took away a lot of the mystery and fun. This feeling was heightened
because there were no hints from the Info Beanie. I kept hoping
they were saving all their creativity for the retirement itself,
but apparently not! I haven't had the patience to wait for the
download, but the comments from those who did have not been positive!
However, THERE IS A CLUB BEAR!!! If it turns out to be a new faced
bear with something like a BBOC ensignia, this person will be
very happy with this retirement day.
In the unlikely event that you would like to use these words,
you definitely have my permission to do so.
(((beanie hugs)))
Alice
Ms. Janie,
I fear my report is most negative and you do have my permission
to use my name. Ty has not shown respect for the many people that
buy and sell his product and then to announce that May 1st would
be the retirement day, seemed a blessing. To wait until the wee
hours of the morning, when employed parents are trying to get
their children to school before going to work themselves, they
certainly couldn't stay up for the excitement that this can bring...not
to speak of the children. Then the way that it was shown, or not
shown, on his Web site was almost a farce. I could go on and on,
but brevity should be the case here.
Sincerely,
Penny , Nashville
Ms. Janie to the rescue!
I certainly agree with a lot of expressed opinions, BUT, I
just wonder????????
Did the amount of hits received cause a crash? Is it possible
that Ty has hired the big boys to make their site the best it
could be? If so, Ty needs to remember that this is a children's
site. My children go to bed between 8:30 and 9 PM, not 3 AM.
I truly believe that Ty is probably just as disappointed as
we are.
It appears that anything Ty does now-a-days is BIG! Hopefully,
new releases will make up for these errors and Ty will have better
control over their next retirement.
I know I, for one, will keep collecting and enjoying my Beanies.
