I don't know how it all started! I guess it started with one, it was the elephant. I bought it and sold it and missed it as soon as it went out in the mail.

And then the insanity began. One hundred and twenty Build a bears have taken over the living room.

I buy and sell (occasionally), I study, I watch, I dress them all once. My kids play with them, careful not to rip the tags, but sometimes it happens. An ink mark on hello kitty occurred mysteriously. A couple of deep breathes, but I kept my lips sealed. I buy them in garage sales, ebay and occassionally the store. I won't stuff em without the kids around. Hey I have my pride. And when company comes they all go in the baby crib, luckily the 'baby' sleeps in a bed now.

So what can I do to help you collect-

What to look for- true Build a Bears (BBW-for build a bear workshop)- have both tush tags and yellow heart tags on the side of the body. I have yet to come across any that don't. So please correct me if I am wrong.

They come tiny- like the McDonalds BBW toys , to larger 19 inch bears. And they are not all bears , as a matter of fact some of the really hard to find (HTF) BBW are not the bear types at all. The animals range from cats- exotics (wild life WWF) Dogs, frogs, turtles...etc. and St Louis opened up a BBW in the zoo. This location is the only one you can buy Zoo animals! You cannot even get them online. NYC has a whole bunch of BBW exclusive to the city. Las Vegas has the white tiger. Each state might carry sports teams and uniforms. A lot of profit can be made from these exclusive items, cause they won;t sell them online, and no begging ( I tried) can get them to send them to you. The clothing is a whole story in itself. Typically the bigger sellers are costumes and holiday outfits. If you can wait it out, a retired bear or costume can triple in price, the day after retirement.

Buying lots on ebay is a great way to get started. A true collector might want one item in a lot, they won;t drive up the price or might not be willing to pay to ship the entire thing for one item. For instance, I cannot bring another brown cub into my house. I don't care what it is wearing (please don't tempt be in a bumble bee outfit, it won't work...I hope)

The downfall is the shipping. They are bulky and they don't fit well in the priority bag from the post office. So it can get pricy. but if you are willing to buy an item with a ship charge , that means somebody else will when you go to sell it. It is a wash.

Well here are some of the things for a true collector to avoid-

stuff a bear, like build a bears, bears to build, fluff a bear, fit a build a bear,  and yes they are even putting in wanna be a build a bear

If you have any questions or authenticity ask questions before you bid. No answer , don't bid unless you want to take that chance. That goes with anything on ebay. You probably figured that out already :)

I can go on forever, but I hope this enough information to get you started.

Have fun!