UK Pony guide???

[FantasticFirefly]

I am clearly predictable

Wonderfully so! :-)


I do think looking for more detailed information is good, most of us trade spares, or list them for sale. It's good to have an accurate as possible description. As a buyer, knowing more detail could provide us with more streamlined keywords to search for things we do want.

I wish I could look through Hasbro's files and know everything about the G1 my little pony line. This is one of the most exciting, and frustrating aspects of collecting for me. The absolute thrill I get from a new piece of the puzzle is huge, yet later going back to the frustration of all those missing pieces I still have yet to add to my personal guides and files.  Lore being circulated about some sets and pieces hinders the correct information from taking hold, which is frustrating as well.


For pricing since it was brought up.
Knowing the item is the first step. Some characters did get multiple releases with slight differences.  Again, being able to read a thorough and detailed reference points a buyer in the right direction.

A fixed pricing guide however doesn't work. Too volatile, too many individual factors. Many things are location dependent. It doesn't take much to put one out of date, and hasn't for the most part reflected auction ending prices I have won, or what I am willing to bid myself on an auction.

I tend to take notice of how easy or difficult a piece is to hunt down in the condition I am after (you get the feel for this eventually). Depending on that, and how much I want that item, and timing will dictate the price-point I am willing to pay online, or if I will hold out and hope to find one at a yard-sale or thrift shop if the item is pricey, yet is common enough in my area/country. If I need to determine a fair trade to a collector, I check ended sold listings and compile a comparable average.

I tend to notice popularity of some pieces goes up temporally, driving up prices. Usually happens once someone shows off their example within a collecting community, well photographed in a beautiful display, it makes so many who had yet to discover or appreciate that piece want one RIGHT NOW skyrocketing the price. yet checking many months later, that temporary blip is done with, prices again stabilize to prior points. I try and avoid collecting items during these popularity spikes.  Then there are items which are always popular, and have been since I found the internet yet quite common in the sense there is always multiple active and ended listings to choose from to buy or reference for collector value (think Mimic).

[Taffeta]

All the things you mention are my main reason for steering clear of price guides. People do ask me by email a lot when they find stuff in their attic but I tell them to come to a place like this to ask because it fluctuates. And yeah, a particular craze for a particular item at one point can affect the market. :/

Equally sellers who have great reputations for accuracy get better sale returns than those who dump dirty messy ponies on with one line descriptions, even if it's the same pony.

[FantasticFirefly]

All the things you mention are my main reason for steering clear of price guides. People do ask me by email a lot when they find stuff in their attic but I tell them to come to a place like this to ask because it fluctuates. And yeah, a particular craze for a particular item at one point can affect the market. :/

Equally sellers who have great reputations for accuracy get better sale returns than those who dump dirty messy ponies on with one line descriptions, even if it's the same pony.

Exactly this.
 and, for bolded- and I wrote about this exact thing as a mini rant in a collecting group last night of junk sellers using such examples to price.

Some pony sellers are in such a special class, their prices are irrelevant to use or include in a current price-point. It's not the item that made the end price- it's the reputation that took years to cultivate  (knowledge to a rare degree, kindness, exceedingly exceptional service, accuracy, and integrity) of the seller that created it. Most of that reputation is passed along quietly between collectors too.


second part of my rant references these special sellers.

I've seen some funny stuff on ebay for sure that skews up prices (making them in actuality not real, and not reflect what actual collectors pay when buying and selling amongst themselves) Some ways of doing this are fairly well known, others less known. I won't say how here as it could attract copycats, and people who collect and want to buy things continuing being able to do so is my concern.

Also, in my category at least some sellers have unique end prices to THEM, it's less about the item and more who it is coming from. Those sellers worked and made very good connections for years to get that kind of reputation of service and trustworthiness and it definitely reflects in how high their items hit. Other collectors, or toy dealers can't match. One local dealer I dealt with a couple times when things did get discounted always referenced one particular seller's prices as a base for their items. The sellers who's listings were used as a pricing table was one who was in this rare and extra special seller category.

[Taffeta]

Yep, all true. I can think of a few examples of bizarre ebay behaviour as well, but likewise, I'm not going to detail it.

I think that we've crossed a line with this MLP thing. What was a toy that people didn't much value back in the nineties is now known to be collectable. And these kinds of sellers think we're stupid and gullible and going to pay any asking price they put on it because any pony is as good as another and any seller is too.

Some of the sellers write such RUDE descriptions with rants in capital letters about how they won't accept low offers and know what it's worth and so on and so forth. Others completely ignore condition - things like, "pre-loved, has no hair or tail, great condition otherwise, rare!" are growing in frequency. No, the pony your child wrecked and dog ate is NOT worth the same as that pristine one sold by x seller. (Although some Nirvana collectors haven't helped by actually spending stupid money on ponies that look like dog chew toys, so maybe that's part of the issue as well).

And finally range of sale matters too. This goes back to my points about UK ponies, actually. If you're selling Collector Pose Bow Tie in the UK, you can probably expect a lower price than if you are selling her in the US. But if you are in the UK and selling her TO the US, be aware that people can be put off by shipping costs and thus you might not make a good sale. These things are important. They impact on price and on what we pay. Equally if you only sell within a certain area, you reduce your potential market. It's fine to sell where you are happy, but there's a difference between offering your pony on a global sale site, and offering it at a market where you might meet 2 or 3 pony collectors if you are lucky.

I guess ultimately knowledge is power? I actually think all these situations are going to get worse, since we're living in a time where people adding auctions on their phones while at work is becoming more common than people who write out decent descriptions and care about customer service.

I am firmly in the camp of know your collectable. Otherwise you are just putting yourself at risk from people who just want to make a quick buck.

[pinkkittywinks]

I have the G1 book/price guide for all the US releases, but is there a guide for UK only G1 releases? I keep seeing ponies I have never seen on Ebay and I want to know if the prices are fair or where they came from.

Also is there a nirvana guide?

There is s nirvana guide written by Deb Berge

However pricing is very tricky since the nirvana market is very fickle. It’s best to ask for a price check

If you are interested in nirvana ponies, please have a look at the mlp arena nirvana gallery . It is perhaps the most complete visual guide currently available

http://mlparena.com/archive/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=20319

Love pkw xxx

[PrincessNikki]

Woah! Thanks so much Taffeta! I was looking for a comprehensive guide like that! And it's your own site? That's super impressive!! When I made the post, I already knew about Strawberry Reef, but it's a little too basic. I didn't think it had as much info as I wanted.

As for prices, that's not too important to me because like you said, they fluctuate through the years. Such detailed and informative info IS what I was looking for!! I absolutely love the ID guide.

btw the book i have that i was referring to was Summer's book.

[Taffeta]

Thank you for the compliment and sorry for derailing your thread a little with walls of text It makes me think it was worthwhile posting up the link

UK pony stuff has been my project since 1998 and trying to figure out all the stuff we don't know is probably the main reason I still collect - more than just having pretty things on my shelves, I want to know how it all fits together My Nirvana is generally rare UK info, backcards and boxes O.O.

It is my site, and my collection (I always say my ponies are a working collection because they have to model on pages of my website xD) for the most part but I have had a lot of help from people donating pictures (especially of MOC ponies, as UK mip are much rarer generally than US, esp. old ones, and sometimes the accessories are different) as well as information. So it's kind of all a collective effort of my obsession and my research and the recollections and knowledge of a whole lot of other UK people.

I don't have Summer's book but I've heard nothing but good about it and have seen lots of people using it at Ponycon to check off things they need. If she hasn't done any further ones it's maybe a shame.

[Stormness_1]

Taffeta, I must just say that us Australian collectors are hugely thankful for your site! We got such a hodge-podge of ponies from everywhere, it's hard to make heads or tails of anything, and just knowing where UK meets and comes together in sets with US and other distribution areas is HUGELY helpful, because we can see where our ponies fit, and get a closer guess at when/if/why ponies were released here. So thank you, Taffeta, you'll never have to defend your site where I'm concerned!

[Taffeta]

Good to know

I would love to know more about the releases in NZ and Aus and also Singapore, Malaysia etc as they seem to have overlapped several markets but not always in the same way. It's good to know my page is of some help even if I don't really know very much about the overall picture for that part of the world.

Kind of sad there's no site dedicated to that area. Oh well.