When we were originally thinking of a name for our family business, we wanted to come up with something clever that people would remember but also a name which said a little about ourselves and our business goals.

The first products we sold online were Beanie Babies. This was in 1998 and 1999 during what seems now like the peak of beanie collecting. (If you're a Beanie Babies collector, you probably know the time...  where excited people would line up outside of stores an hour before opening, just to hopefully get the chance at the latest, greatest, hard to find animal!  What a frenzy!)  Well during this "era", we accumulated a LOT of these animal friends, not as retail vendors but as collectors!

Since our home looked like a bean bag invasion AND we were expecting our first child, we both got the idea that we should COUNT all our BEANIES and sell the extras to other lucky collectors through eBay, Yahoo Auctions and our own website.  At the time we were donating Beanie Babies to various children's charities and we wanted to continue the theme of helping kids.  We also wanted to offer our customers fast and friendly service, convenience and a special value as well. By saving some "Beans" (pennies & dollars) with us, we believed our online friends would get more collectibles for their money and we would earn their repeat business and trust.

At the time, John was working in the accounting division of a Fortune 100 company. Occasionally referred to as a bean counter, we laughed about how the nickname fit in perfectly with trying to inventory and sell our vast collection.  "Count Your Beans!" was born in 1998.

Now in 2008, we believe the Count Your Beans name still fits. Although John is now working with Karen from home running the family business, he is still in charge of counting inventory!  We now have 2 little helpers too.  Our first is named Justin who is 8 years old and has the official title, "Director of Toy Inspection".  Our second is Ryan who is 20 months old and who is a "Toy Inspector In Training". Our product lines have changed over the years to specialize in collectible dolls and bears but we are happy to say that we are still helping customers "save some beans" by offering special values and fun promotions on the lines we carry.  

We are therefore excited to share our new Bonus Beans Customer Loyalty & Reward Program with our website friends and visitors!  Now when you shop with us through our website, either online, by phone or through the mail, you will earn Bonus Beans with your purchase which you can COUNT and SAVE toward great merchandise, gift certificates and other special sweepstakes and promotions.  In some cases you don't even need to make a purchase because we will also plan to give away FREE Bonus Beans for answering surveys, participating in Count Your Beans sweepstakes and other fun events.  Although auction purchases do not currently qualify for Bonus Beans, we will be running selected auctions in the future where Bonus Beans can be earned as well.

We are still offering FREE UPS Ground/Insured Shipping in the continental USA on all website orders of $50 or greater but we thought our BONUS BEANS Customer Loyalty & Reward Program would be a fun way to help enhance our customers' collecting experience and give them a chance to revisit our site and be rewarded for shopping with us.

Our Bonus Beans Store is where you can shop for your rewards.  We're offering dolls and bears and gifts from almost every product line that we sell.  We like the idea of you being able to choose your own reward so we will also have the opportunity for you to redeem your Bonus Beans for future store credit, charitable donations and gift certificates.  For our international website customers or those looking to ship via the post office, we do offer partial shipping credits on orders over $50 and we will also give an opportunity for you to redeem your Bonus Beans toward additional shipping costs.

We invite you to visit our new Bonus Beans Frequently Asked Questions section to learn all about the program and how Bonus Beans can be earned & redeemed. Then please visit our Bonus Beans Store where you can redeem those Beans you've been Counting!

Thank you for visiting!  We look forward to working with you!

John, Karen & Justin & Ryan

Auction Specials   eBay - Lots of Special Deals CountYourBeans eBay store Click here to add CountYourBeans to your eBay favorites list!	Featured Lines or Artists with Specialized Sections Artista Dolls - Candy Fashion Dolls  - Charisma Brands - Dolls by Berenguer - Kewpie Dolls - Marie Osmond Dolls - Show Stoppers - Whispering Willow Fairies	Bears & Animal Collectibles Featured bear & animal friends lines include: Jaymar Creations & Show Stoppers Babes In The Wild - Retired Annette Funicello & Knickerbocker Bears
Company Info About Count Your Beans and the special charities your purchases help to support.	Retired Lines with Clearance Sales Jaymar Bears - Little Miracles Figurines - LIPSTIK Dolls - Magic Attic  - Terri Lee	Charity Information In addition to cash and merchandise donations, we run auctions each week through the Giving Works Program at eBay which benefit multiple charities. Please look for the blue & yellow ribbon in the listing title & place your bid!
BONUS BEANS Customer Loyalty & Reward Program  ** Our Bonus Beans FAQ & History Page are available for viewing. The Bonus Beans Store has stuff inside! ** "Bonus Beans" are available for all the product lines we carry on our website. Redeem Bonus Beans for Dolls, Bears, Gift Certificates & More!
Count Your Beans Home	Lots of new goodies coming soon	Thanks for stopping by!