Babymagnets was set up in October 2001 by former journalist Jo Leapman, now a mum to three small children, in London, in the UK.
The idea came from making novelty fridge magnets to give out at her daughter's naming party in 2000. Requests for similar magnets for friends' children followed and eventually the company idea was born.
Babymagnets specialised in custom-made magnets, badges and key-rings, largely for birth announcements and children's birthdays for several years, building up a steady trade and regular customers.
But in Autumn 2004, the first ready-made badge was sold on eBay - "Don't Blame Me, I'd have voted Kerry" - for people in the UK to express their feelings about the US election.
The demand was higher than expected and more than 30 Kerry badges were eventually sold.
The idea for Christmas badges followed, with dozens of "Eating for Two this Christmas" badges being sent out via eBay to all over the world! Badges and magnets also sold well at Christmas fairs - held at schools and events run by the National Childbirth Trust.
By the New Year, the company had branched out into selling topical sports badges on eBay - celebrating Exeter FC holding world giants Manchester Utd to a 0-0 draw and then the Welsh rugby team winning the Six Nations Grand Slam.
Then came the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles that turned the media attention on to Babymagnets, with Jo and her commemorative badges and magnets appearing in dozens of newspapers and websites - as well as being interviewed on Radio 5 Live, Norwegian Radio, US public radio and French TV. Her royal merchandise even turned up on ITV1's This Morning with Philip Schofield and Fern Britten!
Babymagnets continues to trade on eBay, under the eBay ID of babymagnets, as well as selling via the babymagnets.com website. eBay has awarded us with Gold Power Seller status as a mark of our continued hard work and success in the eBay community and we have a postive feedback rating of more than 2000. In 2005, we split the ebay trading into two and now sell all our sport badges and magnets under the eBay id of sporting-badges.
In June 2006, we opened an ebay shop. Visit it here
New ideas are constantly being designed to tie in with current trends and topical events and every day dozens of packages are now being sent across the world containing Babymagnets' unique badges and fridge magnets.
Remember to bookmark us and check the website regularly for our new designs!
Or contact us for customised badges and magnets for any occasion.