Who decides the value of a Pony?

[Pierlala]

Is it mainly based upon Ebay sales?

Because it's not very clear to me. The same Pony can have a huge difference in price. For example. I have seen Red Roses go for over 80 dollar before. But the same Pony goes for around 35 dollar in a lot of 4! Pretty sure if she was sold seperatly, the seller would have gotten double for just her alone.

So, what is the value based on?

Also, selling on Ebay, is there a trick behind it or is it mainly luck? I have put Ponies on Ebay before, Ponies which I considered highly wanted. But it doesn't seem to draw much attention at all. Selling Ponies is hard. But at the same time I see the same Ponies I put on Ebay in very high price ranges with tons of watchers or (sold).

This is probably 2 questions in 1 topic. Sorry about that.

What do you guys think?

[Stormy31685]

When it comes to pony prices, the market dictates the pricing.  Sometimes a pony will start out at a certain price and sell for that price for a while.  Over time, more of that particular pony will settle in collections, many times becoming a permanent part of someone's collection.  This means that there will be less and less of the pony available for sale.  As more collectors join collecting, they may want this pony that there continues to be less of.  This causes a big spike in price.  Once this happens, other collectors may decide to put theirs up for sale which then causes the price to come back down a bit temporarily.  However, the price does stay up and holds as the new standard price.

Auctions factor in in a different way.  While they are raw setters of price, they can also be misleading because they don't necessarily show what the market will actually do.  This is because when a pony is listed as an auction, the ending price is dictated by the number of buyers who want the item at that specific time, how much money those buyer have to spend, whether all possible buyers for the item are able to see the listing, and whether or not all potential buyers are readily available to spend the money.

Taking Red Roses for example, where she might go for more in a listing by herself, she might go for less when grouped with other ponies because buyers are less willing to spend money for all the items in that lot.  However, you cannot always split the price evenly between the ponies.  If Red Roses were grouped with 3 Sundances for example, you would not be able to value each of the sundances for $35 each, making the true price for Red Roses be $125, and about $5 for each Sundance.

[Khayman81]

There are some ponies, as said before, that are sold at very very low prices, and when I catch them I would pay, knowing that the seller might not know the correct price or is just willing to get rid of her. This is how I found most of the G1's I have. Some times I just buy groups of them because I am interested in just one. If I saw red roses that way even if the other ponies are not interesting I would buy her since I could aleays find a way for the others. This is how I got my Hopscotch which sorted out to be a rare one.
Selling ponies is always been hard for me, so I think in the end people try just to get rid of them and drop the prices so they are sold.

[Elfpony]

Prices are not static either, and many things that you can't foresee will affect a price. For example, many years ago Princess Sparkle was featured as a prop on a popular tv drama, and this caused her price to spike for awhile as many people competed on auctions to buy her.

Many G1s will have higher base prices (ponies that are harder to find, harder to find in excellent condition, or rare ones like later MOs) but that doesn't mean you can't sometimes find a deal on them. If they are hidden in auctions or if the seller does not list them by name, you will usually be able to pay less comparatively than what the pony is 'worth' on her own.

Condition of the pony, quality of the pictures, and time of year will also affect the price people are willing to pay. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to: a pony is only worth what a collector is willing to pay.

Elf

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Absolutely the collectors and the outlets for the collecting community dictate the prices - Ebay, private sales, lot prices, sudden popularity, time of year, general economic state, etc. 

The prices haven't been dictated by retail for several decades now.  As soon as they left store shelves in the 90's.... the collector's market began to dictate values. 

[Taffeta]

Currency conversion into $ also has an impact on valuation outside of the US, as $ is the default valuation for ponies.

I think people go through fads. I think what happens is that it's like a meme of some kind. Someone gets a pony that's a little harder to find, shares it, then people remember that they're also looking for that pony. Demand increases, prices for that pony rise, sellers start expecting more money for that same pony, and it becomes a vicious cycle.

I think too much price checking happens, to be honest. While I can see a point in asking for a range of opinions to set prices on harder to find or tricky items, I don't understand why people post asking if they got a good deal after the fact. Nobody needs the approval of the community to tell them their collection is good or their purchase is worth what they paid. If you can afford it, and you wanted it, and you were happy at the time you bid, then that's all that matters. Too many price checks make a kind of obsession out of ponies as monetary value items. I don't think that's what collecting is about. I also feel like, sometimes, people don't get a range of value options or opinions on their PC posts, but are just told a flat value for that item. The market changes daily and even if you know a lot about it, it doesn't mean that prices for any pony should be set in stone. It's a very personal thing.

It's also weird to me that ponies with an international release, like Red Roses, fetch higher prices than certain ponies exclusive to particular areas/countries. Red Roses is as common as any other Perfume Puff. They didn't make fewer of her. Prices are thus not set by rarity but by desirability, and that's something also that the community has decided. Mimic is the ultimate example of this. She was sold in stores and although she never came to the UK, I have found her second hand here and I've had doubles of her over the years. She's not so hard to find that she's ever really off Ebay. But her price began crazy and just got higher because of collector hype. That's the incremental damage of almost two decades. It's a sad reflection that we've done this to ourselves.

[scarletjul]

Prices are not static either, and many things that you can't foresee will affect a price. For example, many years ago Princess Sparkle was featured as a prop on a popular tv drama, and this caused her price to spike for awhile as many people competed on auctions to buy her.

Many G1s will have higher base prices (ponies that are harder to find, harder to find in excellent condition, or rare ones like later MOs) but that doesn't mean you can't sometimes find a deal on them. If they are hidden in auctions or if the seller does not list them by name, you will usually be able to pay less comparatively than what the pony is 'worth' on her own.

Condition of the pony, quality of the pictures, and time of year will also affect the price people are willing to pay. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to: a pony is only worth what a collector is willing to pay.

Elf

All agreed. 

I'd also add that some somewhat rarer ponies are just more popular in the collector market than others, and that will drive the price up.  Mimic is super popular.  People who collect ponies will want often want her.  But she isn't nearly as rare, IMHO, as the price she goes for.  She's probably about as rare as some of the ponies that go for half her price or so.  TAF Buttons, for example, costs quite a bit less but was also a second set release and is probably similarly hard to find.  But Mimic seems to be more popular and goes for more.

Another example would be Rapunzel vs. Sweet Scoops vs. Mommy and Baby set.  All 3 were later release, special order ponies that were very HTF and released at the end of the run.  But Rapunzel goes for insane amounts on eBay, because she's extremely popular and more well known to the newer collectors.

[Taffeta]

Another example would be Rapunzel vs. Sweet Scoops vs. Mommy and Baby set.  All 3 were later release, special order ponies that were very HTF and released at the end of the run.  But Rapunzel goes for insane amounts on eBay, because she's extremely popular and more well known to the newer collectors.

Again, collector hype. Sweet Scoops is ten times prettier than Rapunzel in my opinion, but not as expensive. If I hadn't traded for Punzie years back, I wouldn't bother with her now, but she's one of those ponies that people look for because she's considered iconic.

[Leave a Whisper]

@Stormy and @Taffeta, thank you both for the highly detailed explanations. I sometimes wondered those things myself.

[LadyMoondancer]

Red Roses is worth more than her compatriots because she's a more sought-after color scheme, IMO.  There's no objective way to determine price, it all comes down to how many people want a pony and what they're willing to pay.  Even rarity is not necessarily a factor.  The color-changing hair Sweetheart Sisters hardly ever turn up, but they're also quite cheap.

Personally I could never pay a lot of money for Sweet Scoops because she's basically the same pony as Sherbet, lol.

Regarding eBay:  a lot of ponies will be cheaper (per pony) than the sum of the individual ponies in a lot.  You might get $6 for Sundance.  But you won't get $24 for a lot of four Sundances.

[ladybastilla]

In retail we'd normally talk about supply and demand, but since this discussion seems (mostly?) about older gens of ponies, I definitely agree with the others that the community has a lot of sway in how much a pony is valued and what she or he will go for.

Honestly, I often avoid eBay as I find that between the prices wanted for the ponies and the shipping cost I'm usually better off waiting until I find a seller here or at MLPTP if I can. I can think of three reasons for this:

(1) eBay sellers need to sell at a higher price to cover fees.

(2) They have often tried to sell at a better price to those directly in the community and are doing eBay after not getting response.

(3) They are not collectors, but have instead gotten behind the g4 hype and think every pony is rare or expensive and that ponies are a gateway to money.

For example, I purchased a gorgeous Dainty Dahlia from someone on MLPTP for my Girly Swap partner this year and paid $10. Right now on eBay much less pretty Dainty Dahlias are going for $45 and $32. And as a swapper, I often have an additional consideration that I must keep in mind: the price I pay for a pony is irrelevant. What matters is its value here. I could hypothetically buy a $35 Dainty Dahlia, but her swap value is really only about $12-$16.

How I calculate Swap Value:

Spoiler

To figure out a pony's swap value when I'm considering it for a wish list or buying it, I tend to go to the price archive, type the pony's name in, find it's recommended value based on results there from the most current year possible, and use that. It helped me avoid listing Diamond Dreams on my wishlist last year. I'm horrible with price knowledge and wouldn't want to unintentionally send a box to someone with an incorrect value.

When I'm buying for me my logic is way more simple and I agree with Taffeta. Either I want a pony or I don't and I decide to buy based on whether the price and quality of pony match up and sound fair to me.