G3 Market Collapse

[claricesponies]

Here are the big questions of the day ....

Why do YOU think the value of your G3 collection is becoming less and less?

Why are more collectors getting rid of their G3s?

What has caused this? Too many ponies out there?

Are you going to feel this way in 30 Years?

[nhal039]

I love g3, my collection out totals my g1s atm and I only collected g1s for 9 years: ).
I personally think g3 prices cant get any lower than what they are now, I think the downwards economy is a big factor for this trend. I think ebay is the other reason for low prices, g3s are more accessible to everyone also the market is flooded in ponies due to parents/ kids selling toys rather than giving them away and so collectors don't feel insecure that the pony they want wont come up for sale hence only want to pay a low price for it.

Price will certainly be higher in 20 years I think possible peaking in prices... in 30 years I think prices wont be at top dollar anymore but will be higher than prices now thats for sure

Also I dont think that many collectors are getting rid of g3s well no more than collectors getting rid of g1s if anything I would think more collectors are starting to collect g3s

[Salli]

I think nhal is right. People used to just give stuff away, now with the economy being how it is plus the ease of being able to sell your own stuff to a global audience has people milking every cent they can out of their used stuff.

I'm sure there was a time (not long ago) when g1's were considered 'throw away' items. I think every collectible has a period between 'it's new and cool!' and 'it's vintage and cool' where people just don't value it. It'll come back around when people start wanting the g3's for nostalgic reasons. I think in 10 years the prices will be much higher- especially for complete sets and ponies with nice hair. If I had a nickel for every g3 I've owned/seen with nasty hair I'd be able to make my own line of ponies!

So give your ponies a nice spa treatment, store properly and wait out the dip in prices...

[karrie91]

I love G3's. I think because there were so many common ones, that it's not really that hard to search for it on ebay and pick it up. There aren't as much as a demand for them compared to the other past generations.

I do enjoy them though. Their mold is one of my favorites and I have a small collection. When there's no G4's in the store I need and I can't find any affordable G2's (my favorites), I go and get me a new G3 from my favorite ebay seller who ships them for free! 

[Knibitz]

G3s are just stuck in that "just off the shelf" period right now.

Not new enough for kids, not old enough to be a hot collector item.

If we give them another 5-10 years, I think we'll slowly see them rise in value.

[appleponygal]

G3s are just stuck in that "just off the shelf" period right now.

Not new enough for kids, not old enough to be a hot collector item.

If we give them another 5-10 years, I think we'll slowly see them rise in value.

That's the thign isn't it? Mos tpeopel tend not to hold on to ponies 'til their worth money as not got the room or finances so they tend to let them go.

[MimiTheMuse]

Another thing I think that factors into the whole G3 market thing is that collecting was a lot different by the time they came along. How many people thought G1's were going to be collectors items so they bought doubles to keep one in the box? Probably very, very few people. But by 2003 toys were becoming more mainstream as collectiables, so I know a lot of collectors who bought doubles or even triples. So now people have extras to sell when money gets tight.

Also, I agree with the idea it's the economy. I've sold off a lot of stuff I didn't want to sell for well below what it was worth just to make bills or get medication for my parents. Thankfully our family is past that point, but so many families aren't and tough decisions are being made every day on how to put food on the table and keep the lights on.

[xeevee]

I agree think most of the reasons said seem pretty good.  I'd also add there seems to be a lot of people who saw G3s in the store which sparked their collecting, who are now mostly collecting g1s.  Most G3 sales threads seem to have that as the theme. 

I personally have had a renewed interest in them.  I am not sure what exactly has bought it on, but most of my collection is in a different country to me, and the g3s I've found while out shopping here have been really appealing to me.  Where as last year I was getting a bit over them.

[nhal039]

Another thing I think that factors into the whole G3 market thing is that collecting was a lot different by the time they came along. How many people thought G1's were going to be collectors items so they bought doubles to keep one in the box? Probably very, very few people. But by 2003 toys were becoming more mainstream as collectiables, so I know a lot of collectors who bought doubles or even triples. So now people have extras to sell when money gets tight.
 

I see your point and I agree to a point but its not always the case. Collecting doubles is a gamble as although prices go up its not always going to be relative and 'worth it'
I.e double up of common ponies, cotton candy, baby cottoncandy, sundance etc is not profitable at all say the cost you $5 to buy new but now 30 years on they dont even sell for $5, you would have been better of putting money in the stock market for 30 years rather than storing ponies.
Double up of piggy ponies, htf ponies is a good move cause then you will clearly gain alot of money.

Now a big difference in ponies today is we know who is htf/ popular (at the moment), limited released so I guess if we find doubles and put them away we are going to gain money but at the same time peoples preferences change so just cause one is rare it doesn't mean its going to sell for alot.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think there are a couple different factors behind the low market value of G3s.

1.  The Core Seven.  Who remembers this?  Going into the toy aisle and just seeing the same seven ponies, ooooover and oooover and ooooover.  It was worse than the current re-releases because it wasn't just "not very many other characters", it was literally NO OTHER CHARACTERS.  It was around this time that I began to see an exodus of collectors from the community, or people going into "sleep mode."  "I don't bother checking the toy aisle any more, what's the point?"  "I'm just not excited about ponies any more."  The G3 ponies who had been released previously became tarred with the same brush as the Bore Seven;  people were less excited about G3s in general. 

It was also at this point that G3 prices began to nosedive.  I do not think the dip in prices had much to do with G4s.  Long before G4 came out, I had a rather extensive sales thread where I was STRUGGLING to sell absolutely mint G3s for $2 each.  Two dollars!! 

2.  Okay, but that wasn't the only reason.  There was also Pony Fatigue.  I hated the Core 7 for erasing all but seven characters.  I am not happy with the lack of new brushables in the current line.  But there was a time when many collectors were completely overwhelmed with the continuous onslaught of new G3s.  It was almost impossible to keep up and very, very expensive to buy them all, if you were a completionist.  In addition, some ponies were kind of generically similar (especially in the Crystal Princess line).  Like, "pink + purple + flower", you know.

So, I saw some people burn out from that.  They were just tired of trying to keep up. This leads me to my next point . . .

3.  Lack of emotional attachment.  The toys we had as kids we played with and loved.  Toys we want as collectors we usually have to search for, which is exciting.  Going into a store and buying six new ponies all at once is not really exciting and, in my opinion, can become more of "just a goal" rather than a toy.  What I mean is . . . it's all about the acquisition, not about enjoying what you acquire.  When the glamour wears off, you're left with a lot of things you don't want, at just the point when a lot of OTHER people discover they, too, have acquired a lot of things they don't want.  They all go for sale at once and doooown goes the value.

Within a few years, we will see the market for G3s re-emerge, as the kids who played with them hit that "nostalgia stage."  It really is different if you grew up with something rather than collecting it later.  But for now, there is just not much demand.

(I also think G3s are hurt by a more limited palette of colors compared to G1 and G2.)

[elish2]

I will agree with what everyone else has said here, but i think it all just comes and goes in waves. I sell g3s on eBay at times, and sometimes it is a wow I sold all but three, then sometimes it is a I only sold 3. People come and go and I just feel that there is always someone out here who wants it. I had a sweet sparkle bait pony, started at $0.99, by the time auction ended she went for $12.50! Shocked mè. I think it will always just depend.

I think prices might rise eventually, that is nice, but not the reason I collect.

[Galactica]

I tend to over-collect generally- so sometimes I get to the point where I need to make a lot of stuff GO AWAY.

When I am deciding what collections I can part with- I will part with the one(s) that takes up the most amount of space and have the least amount of value.   That is why I got rid of so many G3s.  They were super easy and cheap to get- and cute, but I never struggled to find them or paid a lot for them, so it was less of an issue to give them away. I didn't need all of them- so I kept a couple and gave the rest away. 

[sweetstuff]

I think there are some good points here.

For me the biggest thing was the burnout factor - there was a point where there were too many released at one time and I gave up trying to hunt them all down and then it became nothing but the same thing over and over and over and over....

I still like the G3s and I'm keeping them. I don't know if they'll hit collectors values down the road  - but I'm not worried about it. I plan on letting my daughter play with the big ol bins of loose ponies when she gets bigger.

[achab1984]

I was wondering the same thing....... I love G3 ponies and its not really worth it to buy them to resell. I buy them to keep for my collection. Down the road I think they will be worth something. Some of them are getting hard to find still in there boxes. 

[karrie91]

Thinking about it more.. I think once the kids that actually played with them grow up to that stage where they want to own them again, much like myself with G2's.. that the prices will have gone up again. By then we should at least be in G5 and that will make G4 the new G3's... imagine how many pinkie pies we'll see on ebay for 1 dollar! lol

By then, G3 will be a little harder to come by, G2's will be even rarer  and G1's will still be as hard to get, and the more common one's will probably be even higher in price.

I worry that by then, we won't find anything but G4's in thrift shops. The future worries me! lol