Rare ponies on eBay?

[freezestime]

Also MIP ponies via the GSP is risky anyway. I think it'd have to be a lower price for me to risk it.

What is the Global shipping programme and why is it risky?

/Swedish collector being out of the loop for a looong time ;-)

In short, the seller pays ebay to do the sending to your country via their agent - the risks are:

1*  very expensive for you as a buyer (you pay extra shipping for the agent service PLUS import duties)
2*  the packing agents see something in a box (MIB) and de-box the item so it fits in their packing boxes. 
3*  Or they bend your items in such a way that they are no longer considered mint. 

so, not a popular shipping choice for those worried about the quality of the care of their purchases!

I messaged the seller about GSP and they said the next batch won’t be sold via GSP. I also asked if I won an auction and pay can they just NOT send it through GSP and they said yes.

If GSP is bad, is there an alternative?

Yes just normal international shipping.

Is that more expensive?

[Ponyfan]

Is anyone else having trouble getting the 2nd page of ponies on Ebay to load? I can see the first page just fine but the 2nd page doesn’t show the ponies on it. I can still find them by searching by individual pony names but not by clicking the 2nd page on “See seller’s other items.

 Sweet Scoops is almost $900 now.

Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

Re GSP -all the horrors are real :/ But if the seller is willing to ship internationally without GSP they should take the option off the listings. Admittedly that would a really mundane task, but if they are fine about international shipping they are risking losing a lot of custom by locking it into that system.

Re the prices - it can be. But international postage with or without tracking offers additional benefits such as the possibility to combine items (if the seller is willing). It also offers the option of having door to door insurance (whereas GSP consider dumping a parcel under a bush to be a delivery, even in the rain). The risk is you pay customs charges at your border - but frankly, I'd rather pay customs charges to my own country's agents, as annoying as I find the British govt and their systems, than pay it to Ebay and pay inflated estimations of what they think the custom duty is. Having seen it be almost 3x as high on GSP as it would be in regular post...no thanks.

For me the safety of the item is paramount. I will risk loose ponies via GSP. I won't risk MIP ones. Esp not G1.

[freezestime]

Is anyone else having trouble getting the 2nd page of ponies on Ebay to load? I can see the first page just fine but the 2nd page doesn’t show the ponies on it. I can still find them by searching by individual pony names but not by clicking the 2nd page on “See seller’s other items.

 Sweet Scoops is almost $900 now.

Ponyfan

I'm not having any issues with the second page. Weird.

[Avea2006]

Wow!  This is so crazy.  Very much like actual dreams I’ve had except I always wake up before actually getting to posses the ponies.   I was hoping that I might get to snag a couple of these for decent prices with the market basically being flooded at the moment.  But the Baby Firefly thing is concerning :/  and I just looked and it looks like that bidder only has 1 feedback.  Very scetchy....

I actually messaged them on eBay and informed them about our suspicions, they responded with the fact someone had informed them earlier of the "trickster" so they're gonna change the rules next pony batch.

But wouldn't the most likely cause of this be shill bidding? Where the seller is artificially raising prices? Because I can't think of any reason for a normal bidder to inflate prices like that...

[Taffeta]

Wow!  This is so crazy.  Very much like actual dreams I’ve had except I always wake up before actually getting to posses the ponies.   I was hoping that I might get to snag a couple of these for decent prices with the market basically being flooded at the moment.  But the Baby Firefly thing is concerning :/  and I just looked and it looks like that bidder only has 1 feedback.  Very scetchy....

I actually messaged them on eBay and informed them about our suspicions, they responded with the fact someone had informed them earlier of the "trickster" so they're gonna change the rules next pony batch.

But wouldn't the most likely cause of this be shill bidding? Where the seller is artificially raising prices? Because I can't think of any reason for a normal bidder to inflate prices like that...

Shillers are usually a lot more clever than that and manage to integrate their bidding so that it's hard to detect. I remember we used to stalk a few suspect shillers in the old days and you could eventually root out a pattern but it was one done over time (and then you could see the full name of the bidder as well, which made it easier). The thing is that to profit from shilling, you have to push other bidders up to that price else you don't make a sale. So going too crazy doesn't achieve anything.

It also takes 2 bidders to reach a crazy price on ebay. It may be that there's someone with a crazy high bid on every auction. We only would see that if someone else started bidding them up.

It might be a crazy newbie bidding obsessively. Or someone going rogue with an account that isn't theirs. Lots of potential reasons. Someone really loves baby firefly? I dunno.

There's also a bidder shilling tactic in this that could be included, though. Which is that two bidders work together, bidding it way up so nobody else gets involved. Then one retracts the bid near the end and the auction falls to the price of the other bidder who then wins. I have seen it a couple of times. It's highly disgusting behaviour. But I would be more suspicious of that (if it isn't a crazy person) than the seller shilling.  The fact we're discussing it now as suspicious is counterproductive to the seller who wants to make a good sale and doesn't really need shilling help to do that - so I think if something is going on, that's more likely.

On another note, I think Twilight's bubble has been retaped at the top. It looks like discoloured tape.

[SaraMari]

I also thought of shill bidding as well, but like Taffeta said it's not always that easy. it could just be a petty person who likes ruining things for others.There are people who will go out of their way just to be nuisances.

 Apparently the person who's doing the listing on eBay isn't the one who bought the locker. On one of the pony FB groups there's been a couple threads about this and on the first one a person asked the seller if they'd take offers. The eBay seller replied "HE ALREADY HAD OFFERS TO SELL THE ENTIRE STORAGE, BUT HE JUST LIKES TO WATCH THE ACTION ON EBAY."

I'm just going to sit back and watch what happens. I've been able to get several mib ponies for good prices here, on FB and from local collectors so I'd rather not overpay because of a frenzy.

[Taffeta]

I'm just going to sit back and watch what happens. I've been able to get several mib ponies for good prices here, on FB and from local collectors so I'd rather not overpay because of a frenzy.

Me too. And I genuinely have no space for more MIP items anyway :/

The fact they are in US packages makes me quite relieved because if they were UK packaged ponies I'd lose my mind. There are only a few US packaged ponies I'd be interested in and most of them are above my budget level now so it's become a spectator sport.

It is interesting to see how things go in sales like this. Sometimes massive lots like this up prices, sometimes the opposite happens. I guess we'll see after this. The last time I saw so many sets of newborn twins go up at the same time MIB several of them topped $500...but in normal times on their own they don't usually cost more than $150. I am wondering if that will happen again this time.

What I hope will happen is that this glut will inspire anyone who knows they have ponies in the attic mip to put them on ebay as well, so we have way more ponies to buy from and prices overall go down.

Are we all screenshotting photos of these for wiki pages? We should get permission from the seller. Especially as some of these have never been seen MIB/MOC are may not be seen again!

Second getting them on websites wherever possible, with permission of course! MIP items are absolute prize sources for accessory intel.

What has never been seen MIP before though? I haven't seen anything yet that hasn't been on ebay in the past at one point or another?

They're US carded ponies, which are much more common than MOC packages from any other place, probably due to the size of the country. There's some really rare stuff in there, but nothing that hasn't come up before. (I want to emphasise that before anyone sells their soul to buy a pony xD)

Even Taffeta (Taffetiah xD) has come up at least five or six times in the past. I just can't afford her :/

Edit to add: BY THE WAY...according to ebay's GSP calculator, to buy Baby Firefly at that price would cost an additional $554.34 on customs fees on top of the final price. I strongly suspect even HMRC would balk at that fee.

[Noasar]

What has never been seen MIP before though? I haven't seen anything yet that hasn't been on ebay in the past at one point or another?

They're US carded ponies, which are much more common than MOC packages from any other place, probably due to the size of the country. There's some really rare stuff in there, but nothing that hasn't come up before. (I want to emphasise that before anyone sells their soul to buy a pony xD)

Admittedly I'm far from being the font of all pony knowledge but I personally have never seen a MOC BH Dazzleglow or SSSN in boxes so it was nice to see them on card. I know that many of them have been seen before, and people already probably own many of them MOC

If there are any photos missing from Wiki pages now would be the time to add them, whether or not they've been seen before!

[Taffeta]

What has never been seen MIP before though? I haven't seen anything yet that hasn't been on ebay in the past at one point or another?

They're US carded ponies, which are much more common than MOC packages from any other place, probably due to the size of the country. There's some really rare stuff in there, but nothing that hasn't come up before. (I want to emphasise that before anyone sells their soul to buy a pony xD)

Admittedly I'm far from being the font of all pony knowledge but I personally have never seen a MOC BH Dazzleglow or SSSN in boxes so it was nice to see them on card. I know that many of them have been seen before, and people already probably own many of them MOC

If there are any photos missing from Wiki pages now would be the time to add them, whether or not they've been seen before!

Blue heart MOC Dazzleglow's pictured on my website O.o.

It's true the SSN haven't come up MIP for a very long time. They are super rare MIB. They have been up before but it's probably been more than ten years, now I think about it. Like with the Dream Beauties - in the early 2000s there were loads of those MIP but now they hardly come up. That's why I suspect this collection was put together then rather than now, when those things were more available.

I think it's sad thinking how much we took for granted and didn't save in the past that now is not seen as much as it was then. I know there were several big MIP collections back then, and I strongly suspect when the Delaneys sold Helen's stuff and then their own stuff most of these items came up including the ones you mention. The good thing about that is that there are other examples xD And that we have an opportunity to fill those gaps on the other sites that do still exist to include them.

It's the UK and European ponies that are the problem. There are sole surviving examples of those and some we've never seen MIP yet.

[Noasar]

Blue heart MOC Dazzleglow's pictured on my website O.o.

I have to confess I've never been on your website Taffeta! Clearly I'm missing out!

[Chrissytree]

I've got permission to use the photos for the Wiki

[Reaperfox]

They did say there were two boxes didn't they? Isn't there a chance the other one has Euro/Non US ponies in it? I just find it difficult to imagine a collector with this much passion (and money) doesn't own ANY non-US ponies? (I think I saw NSS Magic Star there maybe).

Hello I have risen from the grave

[Noasar]

Brilliant! Well done Chrissy!

I think the general consensus is that it’s not a collector, it’s old shop stock. Welcome back Reaperfox!

[Ponyfan]

On another note, I think Twilight's bubble has been retaped at the top. It looks like discoloured tape.

I noticed the extra tape also. I think her bubble must have fallen off or been about to fall off and someone retaped it. Her bubble is also cracked open in a few places.

Blue heart MOC Dazzleglow's pictured on my website O.o.

It's true the SSN haven't come up MIP for a very long time. They are super rare MIB. They have been up before but it's probably been more than ten years, now I think about it. Like with the Dream Beauties - in the early 2000s there were loads of those MIP but now they hardly come up. That's why I suspect this collection was put together then rather than now, when those things were more available.

I think it's sad thinking how much we took for granted and didn't save in the past that now is not seen as much as it was then. I know there were several big MIP collections back then, and I strongly suspect when the Delaneys sold Helen's stuff and then their own stuff most of these items came up including the ones you mention. The good thing about that is that there are other examples xD And that we have an opportunity to fill those gaps on the other sites that do still exist to include them.

It's the UK and European ponies that are the problem. There are sole surviving examples of those and some we've never seen MIP yet.

The Soft Sleepy Newborns were the first things I noticed that I hadn't seen MIB but I came in really late to collecting ponies so by the time I really starting collecting them the days of cheap MOCs/MIBs were long gone.


I noticed there were some Greek MOC ponies in the pictures but not sure if there are more non US ponies there.

I've got permission to use the photos for the Wiki

Yay! I love looking at MOC/MIB ponies pics. I'm really happy they will be on the Wiki


One thing I've been wondering about is how all of the ponies were so carefully preserved if they were just stacked in a box? Wouldn't the MOC pony bubbles get smashed?


Ponyfan