Collectors "rite of passage" horror stories!

[michelle53]

I'm pretty sure I sold my mint Moonjump with wings for a paltry sum..

That is awful, I'm sorry hunny (no, it wasn't me who bought her). 

I think I'll share my story:
I was 8 when the Summer Wing ponies were originally released, and I was SO into collecting them even back then.  See, I had lots of other ponies, but those little delicate wings (that didn't break as easily as my flutters!) and their small size literally stole my heart.  My best friend and I were both dedicated winger fanatics and were always on the look out for the illusive Lady Flutter who we both agreed was the most beautiful looking pony.  This was based off the backcard, because there was no internet back then, so that's all we had to go on.  Lady Flutter was our holy grail pony, and I wanted her *SO DESPERATELY*. 
So one day, I found her in a Kay Bee toy store in the old Newington Mall in NH, but my mom couldn't afford to buy her.  Mom promised me that she would buy her for me for my 9th birthday (August 12th, I saw her in the store in July).  We left the store, and when I got home, I wrote LADY FLUTTER in huge red letters on my calender in my room on Aug. 12th.  Then, I stupidly called my friend to tell her that I saw our grail pony and told her the location of my Lady Flutter.  My friend went that same night to Kay Bee toy store and bought her.  She sniped my pony right from under me.  It literally broke my heart and kind of ruined ponies for me for a long time. 

Fast forward to today:  I have 9 Lady Flutters, and still can't get enough of her!!!!  I seriously love this pony and every time I buy a new one, it makes up for that one devastating moment in time.   I still wince every time I tell this story, and I still remember how incredibly sad I felt when August 12th came and went and no Lady Flutter was wrapped up for me.

I think I'm going to go look at my ponies because now I feel really *sad*

[gemini_pony]

Not really a mistake but, I found out one of the ponies given to me by my grandpa (who is since passed away)was from mexico. ;__; lost during a move this was my favorite childhood pony and now i find out it's a nirvana...and my chances of getting it again feel crushed. It was this seap pony
http://mlparena.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=431219

[Koudoawaia]

Not sure if this would fit here or not but it is definitely something I learned a lesson from. Awhile ago I bought three blind bags I was going to sell at a little bit of a  higher cost so I could make a little profit  to somebody because I had found all three blind bags they'd asked for only to come home to find they'd backed out of it because they thought I was charging too much for them. =P My sweet husband let me keep them instead of returning them since they weren't blind bags I had already. But I learned not to go out and buy ponies to sell to somebody until they'd already paid me for it. Actually since I would have to charge more than the regular sales price to make anything, it kind of put me off of selling ponies at all. Only going to do trades from now on.

[Mintymints]

 A couple of years ago my mom found a bunch of my old g2s from my toddler years... Nostalgia
I decided to give them to the neighbor, who didn't have much...
Long story short she sold them for WAAAAAY underpriced and in addition OPENED MY MIBS...
-.-




&
 Last year, a week, thats right A WEEK before my pony love started back up my mom sold half of my g3 collection (I had like 200 or more) and most of the accessories...  I also had a bunch of G1s which she hates (even thought their from her childhood-ish time)
I had her childhood Dream Castle, Show Stable and a bunch of ponies.
I don't remember them much, I just remember the tears in my eyes learning she had sold them....


  Thanks for this topic, it made me laugh

[Dyzarktarzk]

Now I'm conscious of what I overpaid on my ponies =)

What I've done... lost Mexican Prince Emerald crown... he was a gift... I think the crown should be somewhere in my house, but where is the question.

Letting pass a lot of my dear G1 as a child in my hunting trips because your -insert family member, sister, cousin, etc.- already has it, so let's search for the ones you don't have.

One time, I almost leave behind a Macau Butterscotch, but as RavenWolf said, I grabbed her =)  Years later, I found out that it was a nirvana pony from Macau (yeah, I saw her hooves, but found nothing strange about them /bricked).

[Mermaid]

I made some pretty bad mistakes!

I bought a TAF baby Milky way off ebay when I first started collecting. The guy who was selling them had TONS of them and they were pretty cheap. I opened her though... because I planned on trading her for a Euro exclusive and I didn't think collectors wanted their ponies MIP...*Slams head on desk*

I also have been victim to over paying/over trading! Always use the PC archives when trading ponies! I was taken advantage of big time by trading with a so called "Outstanding member of the community" I traded a near complete Paradise Estate, a bunch of HTF ponies and a few mail orders for some "RARE" Euro ponies and others.

I ended up sending the person the P.E., Mimic, two paradise babies, a fancy mermaid, Adult Sea Pony White Cap, The mommy pony from the mommy and baby set, Baby Rainribbon, Baby Chuck E Cheese, MO Sparkle Napper, Hollywood and the birthday baby twins for *Drumroll*

Kisscurl
Flutter pony lily
Tulip
Nice and Spicy
TE Quackers
NSS Wind Whistler
Sprinkles
Lemon Drop
NSS North Star
NBBE Baby Half note (who she said was a euro exclusive)
Baby Toe Dancer
NSS Shady
Italian Peachy
Baby North Star
Main Sail
Sparkle Baby Gusty
Rice Krispy Baby Stockings
Hopscotch
Snowflake
Tutti Frutti
and Baby Billie

So yeah. I got pretty much royally screwed over.

[scarletjul]

Besides overspending (which I'm sure most of us have done - I was convinced that all year 3 ponies were htf for awhile. . .) my biggest mistake was:

Accidentally donating a mint SHS Spring Song with her ribbon.  We were cleaning house and there were a bunch of bags of g3s that I was intending to sell.  But my family wanted to clean so I finally agreed to donate them - and completely forgot there were a couple of g1s in there until the bags were already in the truck.  Still kicking myself for that one.

[Shenanigans]

I had a beautiful bride pony, very clean and with gorgeous hair. I wanted to give her molded hair out of clay to look like "The Last Unicorn" and so I cut off all of her hair. Turns out I had no idea what I was doing and she is still bald to this very day since I don't know how to reroot ponies

[Icecrystalline]

Eek! I have had many face palming moments! Probably the worst was paying £10 for majesty's crown as I couldn't find it elsewhere, I felt awful afterwards as it was a speical present from my mum, I still feel really bad so I don't talk About it xxx

[hathorcat]

One word:

ponyadore.

Whats that? Sorry if I'm being stupid.. 

Anyway, mine biggest "oops" is buying a fakie  before I knew about G1's. I way over payed, but luckily the seller was okay with me returning it c:

Just a reference to a naughty seller who scammed pony buyers.

[BrightSide]

Whats that? Sorry if I'm being stupid.. 

She was a huge meaniepants who scammed myself and various other members recently on the Arena. Luckily everything has been more or less sorted out for those involved, but it was a rather nasty scenario when at its peak.

[LadyMoondancer]

I LOST a Baby Dancing Butterflies that my sister gave me right after I started collecting as a teen.  To this day I have no idea where she went.  I tore my room apart looking for her, but she was gone!  Why couldn't it have been a Cotton Candy . . .

[Unicorn_pops]

Yeah overpaying on ponies that I just had to have "right now" But my biggest mistake was selling my childhood smurfs! I had over 300 with a bunch of mushroom houses and everything! Out of all my childhood toys, they were the only thing my mom kept for some reason and I stupidly sold them     Still upsets me to this day!

[Sunset]

I just discovered this one a few months ago so I'm still kicking myself.  I have my childhood Lullaby Nursery and I distinctly remember pulling out the bed some years ago because I thought it wasn't mlp. Now I know different but it is too late.  It probably went in the trash.  I also lost the bow from the top.  I have no idea what happened to that.

[ShortyBoo]

When I first started collecting, I know I overpaid for some ponies, but my biggest problem was that I just started buying all kinds of ponies without thinking about space and money limitations. I especially was like this with G3s. I didn't collect during the G3 era, so seeing all the pretty G3s, I just started buying them like crazy. Same with Ponyvilles, but I've since traded them all away. Now I just have one 6' shelf of G3s and I'm not planning on getting many more. I think I have like 3-4 more on my wishlist, but other than that, that's it. With the G1s, since they weren't as cheap I made a list of the ones I liked most and didn't buy any not on the list.

Now I mostly try to only buy ponies I really like and if I can trade something I already have for them, even better. Of course with the G4s, I want one of every pony, so it doesn't save me much money.

The other thing I'm slowly learning is not to be so trusting in regards to trades. In the beginning I didn't always check everyone's feedback first and I'd trade with new members without any feedback which one time did end up leading to someone getting stuff from me because after I shipped my half of the trade, they then told me they wanted to back out, but said they wouldn't return my package, either.

Oh, and also I used to not ask any questions about condition, but now I know if I don't ask, I could end up with a pony with flaws that aren't acceptable to me.