How do I expand my collection?

[littletulula]

Hi, I'm an 18 year old about to move into college. After stumbling upon a 35th anniversary pony in Target, it sparked my love for My Little Pony again. I absolutely love G1s. I previously started collecting them when I was 14, but I had lost interest and stopped. Now, I want to start expanding my collection again. However, I don't really know how. More specifically, I'm not sure how to choose which ponies to buy. Ideally, I would collect one of each type of G1 pony (and g2s, but those aren't my priority), but that's not really plausible. Where should I start? How do you decide which ponies to buy? Not only that, but how do you decide how often to buy them? I only have so much money, and I need to save most of my money for surviving college. How often should I indulge in collecting these beautiful babies? Please help!

[milkywaymochi]

In terms of choosing which ponies to buy, you could start with trying to collect all of the ponies from one set at a time- for example, the twinkle eyed ponies or the rainbow curl ponies. (I'm currently focusing on collecting the twice as fancy ponies  ) or start from year 1- i.e, the collector pose ponies, and work your way foreward.

With deciding on how often to buy, my advice would be to decide on either a monthly budget or a limit on how much you're willing to spend on one pony and stick to it.  It might be an idea to get into restoring ponies as well as collecting them- you can often pick up ponies in poor condition for cheap, and the feeling of bringing a pony back to their former glory is really rewarding! Thrift stores and charity shops are also great places to look for ponies in the wild.

I hope this helps!   

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Never spend more than you can afford.  That is rule #1 of any financial decision.  You alone know your budget.  If that means that you save up fifty cents at a time, then you save up fifty cents at a time until you can buy one.  How often you buy will depend on your budget and monetary needs.  If you feel you need them as incentive for finishing homework or doing well on a test, budget so that you can go out and get one as soon as you hit the goal.

As far as deciding which to buy first, I suggest looking them up and seeing which ones you like the most.  If you love the baby unicorns, go for those.  If you don't care for Lickety Split, don't worry about getting her until you're sure you have space for her (college dorms are limited in space and you'll have to move everything when it's time to graduate).  Once you decide on your budget you can look at what level of quality you want in your ponies.  Do you want them Mint in Box?  If so, they'll be more expensive.  If you don't care as much about possible hair frizz or pen marks, you could probably find a lot on eBay fairly inexpensively.   

[Leave a Whisper]

Look at pony id sites. Compile a list of what you like and do price checks.

Unless you have a collection you can count on one hand,  it cannot be built in one day.

Ads, yard sales, ebay, trading and swapmeets can net you some nice treasures.

 Budget.

Be patient.  Because sometimes, with a little pony luck that impossible grail might come along for the right price.

Or it may not. Its not the end of the world if you don't get your most wanted.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Pick and choose your personal favorites. I use ponies as an incentive for myself for getting over certain humps or accomplishing tasks, and now that summer is over and college is approaching I'll be doing that rather than just buying them for fun. Do some work to see what budget works best for you.
I find a cheap way to increase my collection is checking thrift stores and ebay for cheap lots. Thrift gives me G4 and G3 more than G1, but if you like those as well, it tends to be a bit cheaper. If you buy lots on ebay and get doubles, you can sell them on here or another selling venue and earn some money back. It's not a very...self paying hobby, but I do feel like selling my doubles rather than donating them or otherwise has helped me to recover the cost of some ebay lots where I had more doubles than new ponies.

[Griffin]

Welcome back to the pony community!

Every collector has their own approach to collecting. Maybe it's helpful to ask yourself some of these questions:
- Do you have any favourite ponies or "grails" - ponies you always wished you had? It's easiest to start with these, unless they turn out to be HTF/expensive ones!
- Are you a completionist? When thinking by sets, are you happy with only acquiring ponies that appeal to you the most, or will it bother you to not have a complete set?
- Are you interested in accessories? playsets?
- Does it matter to you where the ponies have been produced? Are you specifically interested in US or UK/Euro releases or nirvanas? If there are several different versions of a pony, would you like to try and collect them all, or do you prefer to have only one of each character?

Of course, it's always possible to just go by your gut feeling and buy any ponies you like! Maybe collect by pose or by colour even? Or buy lots so that there's an element of surprise (or at least randomness) if you do not feel like deciding.

I started collecting with my childhood herd and went from there. Although at first I would buy any pony that was affordable and piqued my interest, I tried to limit my spending by focusing on certain ponies first. Some of these were ponies I loved as a child but never had. I also aimed to complete the sets for all the ponies I already had. This has been my guideline ever since: I'm trying not to start any new sets until I complete at least a few others. I'm definitely a completionist in this sense - I will buy a pony even if I dislike the pose or colours just to have a full set, and only pass sets which don't appeal to me as a whole. However, I've never been an accessory collector, I feel this is something I can focus on when I'm happy with the size of my collection.

I agree with milkywaymochi on a monthly budget! It's important not to overspend, and that's a real danger especially in the early days of your collecting as you keep finding more and more beautiful ponies every time you look up information online. I'm sure there are plenty of tips on budgeting for college students; just see how much they will give you money to spend on fun things, and go from there.

Have fun!

[LadyMoondancer]

Never spend more than you can afford. 

Seriously.  It's easy to get overwhelmed; there are hundreds of G1 ponies.  But there's no rush.  Only buy what you can afford.

As far as what you get, go for the ones you personally like.

If you check thrift stores you might get lucky and find a G1 pony now and then.  But it's pretty rare these days due to their age.

You can also continue checking Target for the retro ponies.  A great way to get mint condition ponies for a low price, especially considering you don't have to pay shipping if you pick them up in person.

[Taffeta]

Lots of good advice here!

Definitely budget for ponies after you budget for important things like food, books, rent, etc.

Definitely only spend what you can afford.

Definitely only buy the ponies you really like. Maybe begin with a list of ten to track down. It's worth knowing if the ones you like are expensive, but don't target the rarer ones because they are rare. If Peachy is your most wanted pony, get her. You don't need a costly pony that you don't like.

If you find a costly pony you don't like at thrift, sell it and add the proceeds to your pony fund

Also, it wil be easier for you to find ponies sold in your country. So maybe start with the US line and don't worry too much about international stuff till you have a bit more money to spend.

Sometimes collectors on here sell job lots of commons and there may be people who will help you out because a lot of collectors have multiple commons they want to rehome and people like you who are just starting out are absolutely on their radar.

I think personally you're lucky to be in the US. The US people on here may disagree with me but buying ponies within the US is generally less stressful than if you live overseas. There are a ton of US sellers and you can get some good deals because of that.

The 35th anniversary ponies are also cheaper for you guys than they are for us over here.

But definitely begin by figuring out what you want for your collection to be and who your prime targets are.



Happy collecting

[banditpony]

Never spend more than you can afford.

^ this. So much. It's like one of the best rules of life.

I am a big time saver of my money. And when I was more active with buying ponies this is how I managed my spending habits.

I portion every paycheck to fit into 1) bills/necessities 2) emergency/life savings 3) fun money.

Fun money can be everything from going out and seeing a movie or hobbies. And if I have any fun money in my bank account -- then I can spend it. If I don't, then I can't buy anything.

But getting started with ponies -- I would save up for lots on eBay (that price per pony weren't too outrageous). I'd keep the ones I liked, and fix up and sell ones I didn't like. If I made any profit out of this, I would put that money into the fun money account.

Also at some point I stopped putting my paycheck toward my fun money and would only do it with flips from thrift stores and the flea market. I can't do that anymore, but it was fun while it lasted.

[LadyMoondancer]

Oh, also check Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.  I've found local people selling G1 ponies before, that they had as a kid or that belonged to their grown daughter or whatever.

[Minty_Magic]

I’m a big fan of just hunting for ponies in the wild! I’m not someone with a lot of self control when it comes to spending, so I try not to look for ponies online too often. I’ve built most of my collection from thrift stores and antique stores, which admittedly seems to get more and more difficult every year! But it’s also less often you’re spending money! That method also makes it so I’m not trying to get any specific pony, or complete a set, I’m just happy with who I find!

No matter how you decide to collect the most important part is that you’re having fun and staying in a comfortable budget!