Ever fallen in love with a teddy bear or friend and could not decide how much to bid, or what the reserve was? 

Here is your chance to understand

 Why someone selling a similiar type bear went for $200.00 less then the other?

Why cant you hit the reserve amount?

How sellers decide how to price there item

How much is it really worth?

This starts out very simple the demand for bears and friends on eBay is far higher then the supply.  Many auctions end at very high prices due to the fact the amount of bears and friends you might find are very slim.  No 2 bears are ever the same that doesn't just go as far as OOAK, but it also means the supplies and materials may be completely different making one worth less then another.

Many sellers choose to use a reserve rather then no reserve because much time and money is spent and bears are truely priceless.  Choosing a price for a bear is never an easy task and takes much time and patience, and research.

Each seller has there own idea of how to price a bear or friend.

Well just because the seller says it's that price is it really worth it? What should I put in as my maximum bid?

When looking at bears not only should you factor in the current bid you should try to figure out what the bear is worth yourself.

Finding out the bears worth is much simpler then you might think.

First look at the fabric used mohair versus faux fur is a significant difference in price.

For a 3-4 inch bears mohair costs around $25 dollars for one color, if it is Schulte Mohair, $50 at the lowest possible.  These prices go all the way up until 6 inches where sometimes more is needed.  For a 6 inch bear if it is regular mohair figure in $40 dollars for regular mohair, and $75 for Schulte. For 6-14 inch bears figure $65 for regular mohair, $115 for Schulte, and finally for larger bears 14+ figure in $100 for regular mohair, and up to $300 dollars for Schulte.  For dogs most times 3" mohair is used for all sizes figure in double for dog prices. The longer the pile the more the cost of the fabric.  Many of you may be blown away at the prices because they may be your maximum bid! It would be impossible for a seller to sell at this price without including joints, eyes, stuffing, accessories, time, and fees.

Synthetic fur runs around the same price for German and half those prices for non imported synthetic.

Faux for for a very large bear non-imported is $35 and imported up to $250 for a large bear.

Now that you have figured out the material cost of the bear you are bidding on now its time to figure in the eyes and nose.

For glass eyes add 6 dollars to the fabric, for plastic add 50 cents. For 14+ sized bears add 10 dollars for glass eyes to the fabric.

For noses resin noses run at very low costs, $2.50 for polymer hand sculpted noses that costs around the same but remember the pan and the seperate oven many people use as well as time tools and talent.

For stuffing and steel shot add 5 for under 12 inches and 10 for over.

For joints add $6 for a fully jointed bear or friend. Remember for cotterpins, you have to buy a cotterkey, and for locknuts you need a wrench and screwdriver. Set screws as well require additional tools.

Upholstery thread for each color costs around $4.00 dollars each spool.

Now that you have most of your supplies added up, its time to add your accessories, be reasonable.

Shading on bears is a wide range of different costs its $30-110 for the air brush gun and $5 each color pen for shading.

Paw pads are usually made in ultra suede or cashmere fabric.

Both of these are additional and range widely in cost.

With that total multiply it by 3.

Now is when you decide how much to give them for there effort, when I price bears I bid on I do 11 dollars an hour and usually say 10-12 hours depending on what it is, for a needle felted or scissor sculpted face this will be significantly higher.

Now that you have multiplied supplies by 3 and added there time and effort its time to add over head costs, such as eBay fees and tools they need to create the bear. For featured listings fees start at about $23.00 per category, for regular listings around $5 per category depending on opening bid or reserve.  Many sellers do not count in overhead costs, but it is something you should think about when deciding what to bid.

Last but of course not least, finding out if the artist has awards and there popularity and fame to the bear world will value the bear or friend again significantly higher, so when you see very high auction prices understand that these people have proved themselves to be wonderful artists, but never sell sellers without awards short, many artists are unaware of these contests, or feel unconfident.

Here is an example of calculating a bear:

10" bear- $50 for mohair

$6 for glass eyes

$5 for nose

$5 for stuffing

$6 for joints

$5 for paw pads

$10 for sculpted face

You should be at about $87

now multiply by 3

you should be at $261 without calculating in time.

With all of the time and effort added in were looking at the value at $350 for WHOLESALE. For retail you would need to multiply that final number at 2. For a final value on the bear or friend at $700.

So now you know how artists decide the value, and how much is a reasonable bid.