system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why did people think beanie babies were going to be worth thousands?

Who did the beanie baby speculators think were going to pay the thousands of dollars for a beanie baby?
gpt
Collectors. 

It was an item specifically made to be collected, each one having varying degrees of limited production. This was an era where toys from the previous generations were becoming major collectors items naturally and the makers of beanie babies wanted to cash in on that trend by having a toy purpose built for collecting. It like most things intended for collecting failed miserably as collectors come to their loves organically and it cannot really be forced.