pricy ponies

[Mami Tomoe]

has anyone notice ponies prices are getting very high on ebay its so annoying nowadays you cant find a pony for a dollar

[Mewtwofan1]

Yes! It's so annoying! Or folks who sell a bait pony and overcharge it because it's "vintage!" . Lady! For that price, I could go to the movies!

[Tulips]

I barely even look for ponies on eBay anymore, mostly because of the insane postage prices though.
Overcharging for baits and commons does make me laugh on occasion though.

[01mlplover]

Idk if it's just my luck but when I want a pony on eBay the price goes way out of my range but as soon as I list a pony, could be the same pony I hardly get any bids and I'm a top rated seller with 100 percent feedback. It's sooo discouraging I think I'm cursed.

[Taffeta]

has anyone notice ponies prices are getting very high on ebay its so annoying nowadays you cant find a pony for a dollar

Unfortunately this is a natural evolution of supply vs demand. It sucks but it's longer and longer since the old ponies especially were on shelves, and FIM has brought attention to the older lines, too, pumping up their prices a bit because people are putting them on ebay not taking them to charity or second hand sales as often any more. But more I think it's just the extent of time since at least G1 were out that has caused the worst impact. That and the fact someone thought it was smart to make a collector put prices in a price guide book that is immediately out of date the moment it is in print. These prices are obviously now obsolete but the fact the book HAS prices now makes it a "collectable" ie a moneyspinner to dealers rather than just a collectable among ourselves.

But then we are probably the chief villains in a lot of this too. We don't like paying high prices but we want the best sale we can get for our stuff so we can reinvest into our collections or our lives. Some prices are truly insane, obscene or greedy, and those are mostly not done by collectors who know their toys, but in spite of that I don't think we're in a position to really complain about the state of a market we have probably helped in part to create. Reinforcing the idea of the rarity or value of particular ponies among ourselves has set it in stone rather.

 True, the dealers who don't wash a pony, don't even ID it and hike up a price saying it's rare although they don't know it's name, I look on them with utter contempt. It's not valuable or sought after because it's G1, it does depend on the pony. But the prices of Mimic, Munchy, Crumpet etc has been created here in the community by demand and resale at those kinds of prices...and that's where we just have to accept this is part of MLP as it is now.

Of course, people customising old ponies or deboxing any pony no longer on shelves also reduces the ponies in circulation, and that is going to affect prices too. I know that we operate a very much own item, own decision policy in this community, but we are seeing the impact on MOC prices now of a trend back ten or fifteen years ago when there were many more MOC ponies at lower prices and several of them got bought and opened. Greek and esp. Argentinian ponies spring to mind - they used to cost $20 apiece they were so common, and now you're talking three figures. That's because collectors took them off cards thinking they were plentiful - but now of course, they aren't.

So the summary is, yeah, it sucks, but it's also a good part of the evolution of this community, collectors, how we collect and what we pay for things/how we handle our collections. So it's probably unavoidable, and all we can do is choose whether to pay the prices or not.

And in the cases of the hiked up dealers...I recommend "not".

[Mami Tomoe]

I barely even look for ponies on eBay anymore, mostly because of the insane postage prices though.
Overcharging for baits and commons does make me laugh on occasion though.

there are so many baits going for over 10 dollars

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Shipping prices have also contributed.  Especially since Ebay pressures sellers into having free shipping, the sellers just build it into their prices.  Now this is understandable and acceptable to a certain extent, but at a certain point, it just raises prices higher and higher out of control.  Especially when everyone wants to recoup their prices paid if they resell!

I haven't seen G1s accurately priced "for a dollar" on Ebay in a LOOOOOOONG time.  Either shipping costs or some kind of handling charge negates that.  Or the Paypal fees... 

Of course none of this explains why I can't sell my stuff locally...

[Taffeta]

EBay fees too. And charging a fee on a shipping price that is actual postage cost makes me angry. That money is going to a postal service so the buyer receives what they bought. Don't fine me for being a private individual who doesn't have elaborate shipping deals with courier firms.

EBay was better before it got tailored more for businesses. I sell on ebay sometimes but I prefer to sell here and generally have more success as I  can deal with seller PayPal fees but don't have to worry about being penalised for quoting actual shipping costs.

[Wardah]

Yeah a lot of it is ebay. Luckily some people have gotten tired of all the fees and have taken to selling directly over social media.

[r4fw]

Not just the ponies, the accessories too. $10 for a common comb/brush? And I've seen some common G1 MOCs  with minimum bid in the hundreds of dollars. Hundreds!? Sheesh! 

[Mami Tomoe]

Not just the ponies, the accessories too. $10 for a common comb/brush? And I've seen some common G1 MOCs  with minimum bid in the hundreds of dollars. Hundreds!? Sheesh! 

i hate seeing that
and i see all of these nirvanas that are basicly bait cost hundreds

[Broken Irishwoman]

Yeah, it's really annoying. Something simillar is going on on Etsy. Sometimes I see something I like, very cheap. Sometimes even as cheap as $0,75. But when you click on it to see the shipping costs, BAM, $15. They just lure you in with their low prices, but compensate it with ridiculous shipping fees. I'd rather pay $15 for the item, with reasonable shipping fees. Same amount, but it makes a difference, you know?

[SkyCakes]

Ebay is costly but sometimes its my only way of getting ponies. :/ So I bite the bullet and pay for them. I also do not mind if the ponly is cheap and the shipping is higher. I rather pay that way too. Though those fees get me every time. :/

[Pheasant]

That's why I prefer to purchase from Arena sellers. Inflated prices, poor customer service and the occasional bad seller have long since driven me off eBay.

(Not that you can't find those here either, but I can at least rest assured that scammers will be confronted.)

Of course none of this explains why I can't sell my stuff locally...

Just keep trying! It took me a good six months before I found a good buyer for three nice G3 playsets. All the other buyers kept trying to get me to talk my already-low price down. *eyeroll*

In most cases, buying locally won't spare you cash either. A lot of people - at least in my area - have this mistaken belief that if something is antique or vintage, it's automatically worth hundreds regardless of rarity or condition. That isn't to say that there aren't good deals - like on eBay, you just have to search for them.