Lost Loveys Found on EBay (For a Price)

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Feb 11th 2009 8:00AM

Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Sleep, Bedtime

Maybe it happens halfway into an eight-hour trip home from Grandma's or after a particularly hectic day at the grocery store. It's that sinking feeling you get when you realize your child's lovey has gone missing for good. How can one missing blanket or doll turn your world so upside down?

Not all kids attach to an object, but parents of those who do quickly learn a few crucial survival tricks: Have two on hand so that they can be switched out when one gets filthy. Keep one in the car that travels and the other at home for bedtime. Buy extras... just in case.

But when a lovey wears out or gets lost, parents are often quick to fill the void. So quick, in fact, that there's actually a "blankie black market" of sorts on eBay. Innovative sellers -- likely parents themselves who recognized a lucrative market -- sell loveys that are often no longer available in stores. But these quick and handy replacements often come at a steep price.

A quick search on eBay is revealing. A Carter's baby security blanket lovey bunny sells for $59.98. The seller reminds buyers the bunny blanket is "hard to find." A super soft pink sleeping cat goes for $49.99. It's not that these are special loveys in high demand, it's that when a parent does need one, they need it desperately.

It's easy to condemn parents for their desperation. Why spend $20 to $40 above retail just to spare a few tears? Shouldn't we just be letting kids learn a lesson instead? And doesn't buying into the behavior of eBay sellers just encourage it?

You won't catch me condemning parents. Only one of my kids attached to an object, and that lovey happened to be a pacifier. We tried to give it up three times, and three times I gave in after five sleepless nights in a row. Sure, there's value in teaching kids that it's time to move on and find new sources of comfort. But there's also value in sleep, the kind that doesn't come after hours and hours of sobbing. Pacifiers are a dime a dozen, but there are nights when I would have paid $100 for one.

I can't let the eBay sellers off so easily, though. Capitalizing on a parents' need to stop the crying? Shameful.

Would you pay top dollar to replace your child's lovey? A more interesting question might be would you sell at one of these ridiculously high prices?

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Comments (9)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jamie 2-11-2009 @ 8:42AM

My 4 year old has a lovey and it is a yellow blanket sold at Target about 5 years ago. Target seems to change their selection of baby items every year or so (if I had to guess). All I know is that when I finally realized how much it meant to my 4 year old, we could not find a matching one. My son was attached to blankie at 10 months. They were inseparable. It is not allowed to leave the house (unless he is staying the night at Grandma's). He has not slept one night without it. He is old enough to know that there is no replacement available and he needs to take good care of the one he has. I am just glad it has held up this long.

ame s 2-11-2009 @ 11:04AM

My older daughter didn't have an attachment to a lovey, but my younger daughter loved a pink Beanie Baby cat (which she named He-He, not sure why) and a small blanket with a silky binding around the edges that a friend purchased from a local children's clothing store.
She was always misplacing one or the other, so I bought 4 extra pink He-He's and 5 additional blankets. She would rub the silky edge against her cheek as she fell asleep. She's 9 now and probably has around 100 stuffed animals. She doesn't sleep with any of them because she claims they give her nightmares if they are on her bed. Go figure!

sandy 2-11-2009 @ 12:36PM

My son has a stuffed crochet monkey from Old Navy that he named Cookie. He cannot sleep without it. I've already had to sew a loose thread back into the monkey's face. I tried searching on e-bay for this specific monkey to no avail -- major bummer. So, Cookie is not allowed to leave the house, but I really wish he'd attached to Cookie when he was younger so I knew to buy an extra (or 10). Honestly, if I could find one of these on e-bay, I think $40 would be worth it just to have the backup.

pantrygirl 2-11-2009 @ 1:42PM

I've bought an extra lovey for my baby on Ebay. It's a security blanket for me at this point and I like the assurance that I have a backup just in case.

Jasi 2-11-2009 @ 3:06PM

We don't have many plush animals or blankets. We've been pushing a standard small teddy from IKEA as a companion. Not constant companion, but a tough time buddy. They retail a dollar each and we bought 10 and vacuum sealed them in the attic. So far, 2 y/o loves her Teddy. We'll see.

Kellie 2-11-2009 @ 7:52PM

I just checked ebay to see if anyone was doing this with my daughters lovey. We had looked months ago for them and they are no where to be found. Well, there are two up on ebay. One for $45.00 and one for over $50.00. We paid 19.99 for her lovey.

That is so irritating.

jen 2-12-2009 @ 12:54PM

My son attached to his RaRa (rabbit), so we bought 4 extra. One was lost, another lost its head, the other its eyes, so we are down to one spare. But he knows the difference because the size of the (knotted) paws are different by a couple of millimetres in each rabbit (I didn't notice until he told me, age 2). So although they are duplicates, he knows the difference. Guh. So now when we have to wash his 'Rara', we tell him that Rara's brother is going to look after him instead. He also attached to a green frog whose replacement I have not yet found. Eek.

My daughter attached to a fleece Taggie blanket, and a pink version of the rabbit that my son had. I have bought two more pink rabbits (she is too little as yet to notice a difference in paw size!), but once they are gone that's it - the shop we bought all the rabbits from has changed its design. Double Eek. The taggie blanket I was adamant in buying a duplicate (before the fleece blanket pattern changed), but I dread the day when she notices that the ribbon-tag patterns are different. Triple Eek!

Leila 2-12-2009 @ 11:05PM

Since my son was about 9 months old, he has had a serious attachment to a floppy blue puppy I found at a Kohl's store when I was pregnant. After he threw it in the river when he was a year old, he was heart broken. I searched everywhere for this puppy. I am sad to say I gave in and bought one off Ebay for $27.00. I was outraged that someone would profit off something like this but I was totally desperate. I later found out that Kohl's seems to rotate the loveys and the blue floppy puppy comes back around from time to time. I stocked up and, after a couple casualties, we have four. He is now 2 and a half and still very attached to the puppy. All I can say is, once you find that your child is attached to something, keep your eyes open and buy them whenever you see them. You WILL need backups and you don't want to pay top dollar for them in a desperate moment.

Kari 4-08-2009 @ 3:22AM

How shocked am I!!! I googled articles about loveys and click on this one and find a picture of MY son that I took. STRANGE! What are the odds?!?!

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