pony flipping.....kinda

[Stormpony6]

i saw a recent post about pony flipping and how some people were upset by this. I am curious becuase a fair few of us were not at all upset by this (which i can find understandable) however clicking through ebay just now i saw a very well known custom pony by a very well known community artist that is being sold at an extremely high price and believe me i do expensive ponies but this was a bit...................

this pony was sold only fairly recently, i guess it just upsets me when people buy customs then try to sell them for higher amounts than what the original artist sold them for.

PoniesandPetals was brought up in the other post about flipping but i am quite happy to pay more for a pony that someone found and cleaned up to sell on. But does custom flipping upset anyone else? i do realise people run into hard times and have to sell their collection but this seems more like trying to get as much as possible for the custom.

maybe its just me.............

[Like A Tea Spoon]

Once you own a pony custom, it's your's to do with what you want. Yeah, it's kinda sad to see a nice custom being flipped when you are one of the people who wanted it.

Once the Artist sells the custom, they loose all control over what happens to it after the initial sale. There really isn't anything anyone can do to prevent a flip but to maybe take mental note of those being found to do this on a constant basis and just avoid them as buyers/sellers in the future.

I'm not really up and up on customs, but I get the feeling most customs on the Arena are done between friends and other customizers, haven't really noticed a lot of customs being sold directly, or I may not be paying attention. 

[pyrodarknessanny]

well i think  flipping is ok, but
i think  when it comes to customs   it can be disrespectfull to the original artist,

ive got some g1's im waiting to restore, then will be flipping them, heck thats why i brought them in the first place.

as a customizer  id be pritty cut up if i happend upone one of my customs beeing sold for a higer price than what i sold it for,   as i have a hard enough time trying to sell my  customs as it it.

so yeah id be up set if i seen one  sold for 3 times the price i sold it for.

but at the end of the day, once you sell something, you relinquish all ownership of it , and thus  all say over what happens to it.   

[Ringlets]

I hope that the person selling the custom has given credit to the artist in her listing, because if she hasnt then that is a big no-no!   I think most of us agree that buying ponies to clean up and then resell is fine, but buying a custom and selling it quickly for a lot more than the person paid the artist is not going to go down well.  Yes they paid for it, and  so its theirs to do with as they like,  but things like this are still not going to sit right with a lot of the community.

[Maniah]

as a customizer  id be pritty cut up if i happend upone one of my customs beeing sold for a higer price than what i sold it for,   as i have a hard enough time trying to sell my  customs as it it.

so yeah id be up set if i seen one  sold for 3 times the price i sold it for.

but at the end of the day, once you sell something, you relinquish all ownership of it , and thus  all say over what happens to it.   

Once the pony is out of my hands, then it's a done deal. It iis no longer mine. If they resell it later on for more than I charged them, that is their right. I have a custom I am mailing out today of Fry from Futurama. I charged my customer $50 for it. It's been reblogged in its WIP state by comedy central and has gained a bit of attention. I bet I could easily sell it for more than that. SHould my customer decide to sell it, I bet they won't have a problem. But I committed to to work for a set price, and I am morally obligated to hold to that.

In short, if you think your work is worth more, then charge people more money for it. Don't cry because they turn around and sell it for more money than you are comfortable or confidant in asking for. If that happens, just look on the bright side. You have probably been under charging, so up your prices!

It's polite to ask the customizer if they would like the opportunity to buy the custom back, but I do not expect it. After all, it isn't my pony anymore. And if I sold it for $50 and they want to sell it back to me for $100, then that is their right and I can either pay the money, or let them sell it elsewhere.

I honestly feel like the people who get upset over this sort of thing just don't have a really good grasp on how the market works. If you are going to sell an item, you need to be willing to accept everything that comes along with making the sale, and that includes fully relinquishing any claim to ownership whatsoever, and giving up any sense of entitlement when it comes to that particular work.

Post Merge: September 10, 2012, 05:08:43 AM

Adited to add, in the OP, is the auction in question the Marie Antoinette pony by PoniesYeah?

[Em_L._Pea_Customs]

Re: the poniesyeah custom- I am assuming the starting price is probably what she paid for it.  I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I liked the subject matter more.

[GoldenLambPony]

I don't mind because usually there is no guarantee they can make a profit flipping. I had that ponies and petals person buy a lot of ponies from me and resell them right away. It was kind of disturbing to see that they described them as in much better condition then they actually were. I could still see some of the same flaws they still had when they were listed and they were not mentioned. I just didn't want anyone to be disappointed. However, I calculated how much they sold them for and they actually lost money on the ones they bought from me. It must have been a slow bidding week. They take their chances trying to flip when they start the price that low.

In the case of this custom one, it is slightly different because the artist created the pony. So hopefully the artist will not be too upset that this person is selling the custom and trying to make a profit.

[NoDivision]

There are some people who consistently resell customs that they've gotten either in trades or as gifts or sometimes from commissions, etc. But usually the ones I see they are selling them for less than what they're worth, and that's the part that really bothers me. So like a pony that was made as a gift gets thrown up on ebay with a stating bid of $4.99, and sells for that. As a customizer that would upset me, because I hate the idea of someone else devaluing my work to that degree.

True, once the pony leaves my hands it's not my say, but it's just completely disrespectful. I think if you're selling a custom by another artist you should either try to sell it for what you paid, as that is a price the artist established as fair, or if you don't have a price contact the artist and ask them what they think a fair price would be or look at comparable customs.

Just my $0.02 as someone who has seen a lot of customs sold at insultingly low prices. I'd much rather people charge more - art appreciates in value, after all!

[Alatariel-Silimaure]

I personally find it disrespectful to flip customs like that... If someone commissions me for a pony I would hope that it would be to give it a forever home, not to just turn around and sell it. I understand if they eventually have to sell because of unforeseen reasons, but I know I for one would NEVER make a custom for someone that was known to just turn around and sell the custom, I don't do the work for someone else to make money off of it.

[Cassie85]

I don't get what the big deal is about flipping. I would never do it with a custom pony because I feel it would be rude. But if you find a regular pony in need of some TLC, then go at it.
I've done it with ponies I've found. I was upfront about restoring them when I did sell them, just so people would know.

[saply]

Personally, I don't mind if people resell the ones I make, especially if they were just ponies I customized ahead of time and sold on eBay or something. I'm glad to get the work from time to time because it helps keep my kid in diapers

I understand why some people would be put off by it though, specifically the artists kind enough to undersell themselves and offer fixed-rate commissions... only for their work to be immediately resold at auction. I feel like those slots are better saved for serious collectors who would cherish the artwork instead of trying to make a profit off it.

[mlpfan]

I am going to say as hard as the economy is, I can't hold pony flipping against anyone if it makes them some money, once you sell someone something they own it and they can do what ever they want with it, it is disrespectful to act like you still own it and get mad at them for making a buck.

[aellos]

Sadly, the custom thing is something that's frowned upon...but I don't think there's anything you can do about it.

[Like A Tea Spoon]

I don't consider restoring a pony and selling the efforts of your work as flipping. Not everyone can restore a pony and there are tons of bait ponies out there that need help! To me, flipping would mean buying or getting something and not putting work into it at all.

 I'm a sentimental person. If I were to own a custom pony, I would feel it was made especially for me and it would take something like a huge emergency vet bill or a really serious life issue to make me even consider selling it. I wouldn't say I'd never sell, just that it would take a heck of a real life issue to make me consider it an option.

[PoniesYeah]

Hi there.
It's killing me to know... what custom we sold?