The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Mana Minori on September 13, 2018, 05:31:16 PM
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I'm kind of excited, because I just got in my first traded pony, today, from someone off one of the many MLP Amino apps! Raincurl has joined my herd, and I am now in possession of 5 non-retro g1's! (6, technically, but BBE Half Note is one I'm looking to get rid of). I always hear so much stuff about scams and identity theft, so I was really wary about giving my info to some guy I didn't really know, until they provided me with a legit tracking number for the USPS when I learned that Raincurl was on her way. After that, I stuffed BBE Lofty into an envelope, and sent her on her way as well. I don't regret it one bit, since I've always been wanting Raincurl. I'm glad my first trade actually worked out. Do you guys have any memorable stories and fond memories of your first pony trade?
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She is charming. Big congrats!
My first traded pony was for my daughter's G3 Butterscotch with a TP member. I traded her my Pretty Parasol in return.
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My first ever trade was probably for Strawberry Surprise in real life with a local collector back in the middle 1990s. I don't remember what I traded for her. I had never seen Strawberry Surprise before and didn't even really remember her existing because I was so focused on the comics, but it was a pretty basic trade really.
My first online trade was different. I was fifteen when I first found the internet. I used to go to the library on a saturday morning for an hour and print off pages from DV or look at the posts up on the Trading Post which back then was just a black and pink noticeboard. Doing so, I learned of all the ponies that we had either never heard of or had wanted as a kid but couldn't get. I had permission from my parents to put an advert up there but the thing is, I didn't have an email address and back then I couldn't create one on the library PC. So I had permission to put our phone number but didn't expect anyone to call.
Flash forward to the end of August and we get a phonecall from a lady in the US. She has ponies to trade with us! Again, parents knew and were involved in this whole thing. But back then UK ponies were first getting known about and this lady asked if we were able to find them. We were.
In November of 1997 she sent me Mimic and Best Wishes, Powder and Truly - 2 for my sister and 2 for me - in advance of a trade that we planned to do in person in April the next year, when she was over visiting her family here. Which we did. That trade was ultimately for around 100 ponies. Also, in talking to her, I was able to realise a lot of UK variations we had and not only find them for her but find information about them to share online.
So my fascination for UK ponies and my trading began at the same time - in 1997, at the age of 15. And I guess it began with Mimic and Best Wishes ;)
That trader is sadly no longer around - she passed away some few years ago (she was in her nineties by this time). But she was a well known and well thought of trader who, I believe, had the best collection anyone in the pony community has ever had. She had Nirvana ponies back in the mid 1990s, because she brought three of them to show me in April 1998 - several years before anyone online was talking about Argentinian, Brazilian or Peruvian ponies. Looking back I realise how amazingly lucky we were that she took the chance to phone us and that the person we first talked to was someone we could trust.
In this trade she physically brought the ponies over, or sent them to us - I didn't do any mailing out. I think the first mailing out trade I did was trading baby Squirmy for one of the newborn twins - but I don't remember.
Trust is an important thing. I feel like it is a lot harder today to trade safely, even though there are more safeguards for buying. In the past, there were scammers, and probably we all got scammed at least once (in my case, twice in 20 years), but we also kept a much closer eye and record on the individual scammers because they were so few and they kept coming back. Now keeping track of all the problems is much more work for those involved. Congrats on setting up a good trade and on getting your new pony :) I'm glad it worked out for you.
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Grats on Raincurl! She's a lovely pony :lovey:
I actually don't think I ever traded, unless you count swaps, which aren't specifically trades... :blush: I've traded art commissions for ponies, though, does that count? That's always fun. My first art/pony trade was when the previous retro ponies (25th anniv.) came out. I traded two a2 pony paintings for both sets of collector's pose ponies, here on the Arena :)
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Oh good question. I traded baby sapphires ring for Dutch love letter, it was through the arena too. I am still friends with that collector :)
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Congratulations! The first and only trade I have done so far was for bait Tex with cut hair and pink highlighter marks (who I now have) in return for bait Whizzer with no tail and head/body mismatch.
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Two bait Starshines traded for two bait unicorns and baby pony. It was through the arena.
Second trade was a bait Pinwheel for bait BBE baby Hearthrob and Lofty.
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I traded a bait that I got for $1 (G1 Chief, honestly a steal for a BB bait) who was the specific pose in the specific condition that the person wanted for a custom (he was my grail but I wanted an upgrade eventually anyway) and in return I got a G3 McD's repaint/rehair custom of my favorite G3 (Waterfire) in a Starfleet uniform. I as so happy with that trade that I traded an old BAB plush for a full size G3 custom of Waterfire in a different Starfleet uniform.
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G1 Baby Tappy and G1 Baby Shaggy for G1 Fizzy <3 Happened in 2004.
Hm, I was happy at first but when I finally realized that I gave away my childhood Baby Shaggy and Baby Tappy reality kicked in :P ouch.
Wanna know what happened to Fizzy later? It was my second trade and taught me a lesson about thinking before trading (and the fact that the new owner may do whatever they wish to their stuff) :P
Fizzy (who had been the first trade partners childhood pony) lived with me for about half a year or so until a fellow collector offered me a real nice trade for her (I dont remember what I got but it was tempting enough to give her away). To be honest, Fizzy wasnt in great shape (i.e. she could not stand on her own, had black marks on her body, hair was rough and so on) and the collector told me they would "fix her up". I thought, oh wow, Fizzy is going to be special! So we traded. I was happy for her being fixed (I had no idea how to clean marks or remove frizz back then, so yeah, I loved the idea!).
When I visited said collector a few weeks later they showed me what had happened in the meantime : they had removed the body and put the head onto a not so well fitting body and added lots of modelling clay. I cant remember what body it was but there were smears allover from the clay and the whole thing looked pretty strange/ugly to me. I almost burst into tears... I had given away my childhood ponies to get another persons childhood pony and instead of valuing and caring for it I gave it away just to be destroyed. I was sooo floored (and didnt understand the concept of customs and work in progress back then, lol). Lesson(s) learned! Dont give away what is close to your heart and always remember once its gone, its gone and no longer your business!
Btw., Ive never seen the finished custom pony... I wonder what she looks like now! ;)
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Oh boy I really don't remember my mind cant seem to search back 12 years ago. Im sure it was a good trade. Ive traded so many ponies its hard to keep track of them all.
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My first trade was c.1997 on Ye Olde Trading Post. I'm not sure which pony I got, but I think it was either Whizzer or Sweet Stuff. It was definitely a Twinkle Eye of some kind, because I was really disappointed by the huge, glaring scrape on her NDS eye even though I'd asked specifically about the condition of her eyes. (She had a big mostly-faded pen mark down her side too. This was back when the best on-demand "photos" you could hope for were wonky flatbed scans, so I was taking her "near mint" description on faith!) I never called the trader out on it because she was popular in the community and I knew which way the wind would blow if I complained -- and because I didn't want back whatever baby ponies I had traded away, plus all the wasted postage fees -- but it soured me on trades for a long time.
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My first trade was on MLP Trading Post I sent a G3 Windwisher in exchange for a G3 Snowflake