What it costs to buy an entire G1 collection - introducing the MLP Price Guide

[Scout MLPPG]

Born from the flames of quarantine! Risen from the ashes of lockdown! Introducing the MLP Price Guide:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


www.mlppriceguide.com

I’ve put together a website which gives collectors an estimate for what each pony, accessory or merchandise item is worth. This is done by averaging 5 sold eBay auctions. There’s more info about the process here.

The 2020 stats have just gone up - find out which ponies were the most expensive and cheapest, as well as the total cost of every G1 US pony (spoiler: it’s eye-watering). See if you can guess before looking the least expensive ponies, as there were some surprises in there.

I’m trying to catalogue more info about the masses of G1 merchandise out there and have included photos of my collection. For example, did you know there are more than 100 MLP jigsaws/puzzles? I did not, especially before starting to make little pictures for each entry.

It’s just G1 for now, but there are plans for more generations. International ponies and MOC/MIB prices are coming soon, as well as more merchandise pages. Please keep checking back as there’s lots more to be added!

I found out on the TP that Bluerose has a price guide website too, so please check it out as well: https://www.angelfire.com/oh5/bluerose9978/PRICE/
 
Coming back to collecting after a break, I was interested to see the Princess Sparkle craze has died down and Glow n Show ponies are really expensive now??

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I love the little icons for each pony! This is laid out really nicely, do you have to manually input prices or is it done automatically?

[Scout MLPPG]

Thank you! It's all done manually, aiming to sample a larger number of auctions for each pony next year, so that will be even more typing...

[lovesbabysquirmy]

wow what a great project

[BabyTaffeta]

Wow
That looks like a lot of work!
Great job!!

[Scout MLPPG]

Thanks both

[Taffeta]

So I'm going to be the nitpicker, because that's my job, apparently

It's not an "entire" collection if it only includes ponies sold in the US. The pony community is global, not only American. It has always been that way...but especially these days.

If you've only got US ponies on the site so far, why are Buttons and Ice Crystal's sticker on your main page?

And I have to ask, you're using ebay uk but why is it that you don't have any alternate names listed?

The thing is, you mention wanting to be a starting point, but right now, you're requiring people to have extra knowledge before they come to the site if they live outside the US.

Say I'm a UK person who wants to rebuild her childhood collection. I come to your site and I see conversion into GBP, so I assume you're catering to me. But I also see US ponies and think maybe you're not?

If I were then to look for my childhood party pony Strawberry Fair, I wouldn't be able to find her. You don't include those search terms at all. I would have to know that in the US Strawberry Fair was called Sugarberry and that she was sold as a Twice as Fancy pony. Which most experienced collectors would know, but not necessarily a beginner.

The most common email I receive from people asking for ID help is because of existing ID websites only using US names, or listing ponies under "US ponies" that were also sold in the UK or other places. 90% of the questions I answer would go away if people stopped calling globally available ponies "US" ponies just because the US is one of the countries they happened to be sold. :/ But anyway.

Even if you add an 'international' category, only US collectors think of My Little Pony in terms of "US" and "International", because every pony sold in the US was sold somewhere else. Someone who grew up in the UK will think of the Big Brother ponies as UK ponies. If they grew up in Germany, they'd think of them as German ponies. And so on. It's subjective so for what you are doing, unhelpful.

My suggestion when you add ponies from wider areas is to ditch the "US" and "International" labels and also the archaic "year one" "year two" system and go with simply having a category of G1 ponies with each set listed under their year of release. If you also add alternate names people should be able to search, and even if the release years are slightly different, it would be much easier for that beginner UK person to find her childhood Strawberry Fair if she's not being put off by the "US" label and excluded from the search engine.

[Bathtub]

ambitious and much needed project. Very beautifully laid out page. Easy navigation and everything.

I do want to say that if you offer a seller on ebay a price, the item is listed as having sold for  the price it was originally advertised, even though it was not sold at that price. Also, I think some of these prices used to garner a mean were from before the prices of the ponies got to their modern level. I started to think this when I saw the colorswirl ponies. That just is not right-if you want Springy she's expensive but you'll find her, Lovebeam is more expensive but if you're patient you'll find her, Starswirl is legitimately hard to find and should be the most expensive. I'm not saying you weren't right at one time, or that MOSTLY YOU DID GET IT RIGHT IMO but the prices are shifting all over the place, so I have some discrepancy about that.

Did Quackers and Bright Eyes shift places in value in the last five or ten years? It looks like it, not just from this site, but in general.

[Scout MLPPG]

Taffeta, thank you for taking the time to help improve my website. I am a fan of your website - it’s such a great source of info.

You’re right, ‘entire’ was my clickbaity headline.

I will add the alternate names so it’s more helpful to non-US users.

I will be adding international ponies and had been planning to go with ‘non-nirvana’, then by country. I’m about to go to bed, so need to think it through when I’m more awake, but will look at how the ponies are categorized and adding year of release information.

Bathtub, I know the type of sold auction you mean, where it’s crossed out to show they accepted an offer, but when you click it, it shows the full price.

That’s a really good point about the Colorswirl ponies, as I’d found about 3 prices each a few months ago. I did another search recently to try and fill in the rest of the blanks and there is a noticeable jump between those prices from a few months ago and now. I’m interested to see if those higher prices continue or it was a run-up to Christmas boost.

My aim for 2021’s prices is to do a larger sample per pony - it will always be limited, but more listings will help.

[Colorscapesart]

Incredible.  The sheer amount of work is awesome.  I think the design is beautiful! Thank you!!

[starrynights]

Really cool website! Good work

[Ponybookworm]

Faved & looking forward to a more international appeal to the site as well

[Taffeta]

Taffeta, thank you for taking the time to help improve my website. I am a fan of your website - it’s such a great source of info.

You’re right, ‘entire’ was my clickbaity headline.

I will add the alternate names so it’s more helpful to non-US users.

I will be adding international ponies and had been planning to go with ‘non-nirvana’, then by country. I’m about to go to bed, so need to think it through when I’m more awake, but will look at how the ponies are categorized and adding year of release information.

Thank you for taking the constructive criticism constructively

So 'entire' is a small red flag, but "US ponies" and "Non" as a prefix are red flags to this bull.

US ponies implies a mythical category of ponies sold exclusively in the US. Since no ponies were sold exclusively in the US, it's really "Ponies released in the US". Not "US Ponies." And it's arbitrary, since some of them were sold in Canada, some here, some in parts of the continent, some in South Africa, Scandinavia, etc etc etc.

I really hate seeing ponies called 'non' anything, no matter where they are sold. It suggests inferior versions of some canon original, rather than valid releases or sets in their own right. 70% of the line sold here in the UK is the same as sold in the US. The other 30% overlaps somewhat with European countries not not entirely.

The easiest way to skip over that without having to tear out hair is to go by release year. If you want to go by region, you either need to do a lot more detailed research on every individual line, or you  shunt all these ponies into one mishmash line that doesn't make sense to anyone, omit ponies and really end up only catering to a US user. Seriously, even the Wiki - which is trying to organise - has a HORRIBLE timeline for international ponies right now.

So this is from an ID pov, but it also applies for just looking up a pony, even for a price estimate.

If you're a US kid, and you have Posey and curly hair Bow Tie in the shy pose, there they are, right there, in year 3, 1985, Earth Ponies. No problem.

If you're a UK kid, with Posey and Bow Tie from 1985, your Bow Tie is in the collector pose. You have to go not only to a different page but an entirely different site section to find two ponies from the same set. Even though that is also the 1985 earth pony set, the characters are the same and the backcard clearly shows Posey and Bow Tie, just as does the US card. Plus, if you grew up in the UK, you'd never think of looking in US ponies for Posey. Being sold in the US =/= US pony, after all.

International is also not one region, unlike "US". Our pony line here in the UK is not the same as Germany, or South Africa, or Norway, or Holland. It's a bit weird to try and force them together. The US is one country. The UK, Germany, South Africa, France, Italy etc are all SEPARATE countries who had their own input, making releases different.

The alternate names are UK names. That doesn't automatically mean they were used in all other countries.

I think you're maybe about to open a dangerous can of worms. Suggest doing serious research on that can and the type of worms within it before cooking toast and serving it up for lunch.

[SunPony]

Wow, that's a really ambitious project, you've put a lot of work into it!  The little symbol designs for each pony are so cute, did you do them yourself?  That's a lot of work just on that, wow.  I can definitely see myself using this in the future for price checks and such.  Looking forward to seeing how it continues to grow!

Edit: none of the links in your original post are working for me other than the www.mlppriceguide.com one.  Not sure if that is on my end or the post's.

I think you're maybe about to open a dangerous can of worms. Suggest doing serious research on that can and the type of worms within it before cooking toast and serving it up for lunch.

What kind of danger do you think they are going to be in?  I thought pony collecting was a safe and gentle hobby    Are you...threatening them??  It is one thing to offer negative feedback on a project, but another to suggest harm to someone! 

[Loa]

Wow, that's a really ambitious project, you've put a lot of work into it!  The little symbol designs for each pony are so cute, did you do them yourself?  That's a lot of work just on that, wow.  I can definitely see myself using this in the future for price checks and such.  Looking forward to seeing how it continues to grow!

Edit: none of the links in your original post are working for me other than the www.mlppriceguide.com one.  Not sure if that is on my end or the post's.

I think you're maybe about to open a dangerous can of worms. Suggest doing serious research on that can and the type of worms within it before cooking toast and serving it up for lunch.

What kind of danger do you think they are going to be in?  I thought pony collecting was a safe and gentle hobby    Are you...threatening them??  It is one thing to offer negative feedback on a project, but another to suggest harm to someone! 

I don't think Taffeta is saying that at all.
But she does remember the spats and arguments over pony country identities etc and knows that it can cause a lot of hurt and issues.