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Messages - FantasticFirefly
16
« on: March 09, 2018, 11:46:09 AM »
Yes, there is a bad buyer/seller/trader group to warn others on facebook. it's pretty geared to the pony community. (if you have any difficulty finding it, please don't hesitate to send me a message) Now. this was something I didn't know until more recently. Typically a lot of local police will not care much- but there are very specific places to report fraud like this, and they will handle it. and ALWAYS report it. People who scam don't pick a sole isolated victim. you will be one of many, and the more victims who report, the faster these scammers are faced with legal consequences. And, although it takes time (faster with more reports from more people) when it comes time to pay the piper, it's no longer a crime they can get away with without ruining their entire life pretty much. if one party is in the USA FBI's IC3 and US scammer U.S. Postal Inspection Service Internet crimes involving mail fraud can be reported in both places. Most countries do also have post inspectors to file reports in a scammers home country too. If anyone is wondering, get a criminal record you can't rent a nice apartment or house, you could lose your job, you become pretty close to unemployable. think of all the things in life that you're asked if you have a criminal record.  I have heard of older cases where some victims started getting money back through court restitution. some though, will never have money to repay.
17
« on: March 09, 2018, 08:40:33 AM »
I'd concur with your assessment. and maybe someone could do something with that foam/backing, use a piece of scrapbooking tape to apply the face to the foam? would be clear to be a repair, yet keep the pieces together.
The only sticker US with damage that went for anything of substance for me was for white cap.
18
« on: March 08, 2018, 12:06:07 PM »
yes, that clip if I remember offhand belongs to the DB who's wearing it.
Lucky! I'm still missing that one.
19
« on: March 08, 2018, 09:24:43 AM »
To check for internal gunk, hold each near a light and look for dark shadowing. A clean inside pony is distinct (test on a couple to see what you will be looking for to give a pass on this test). I don't open clean inside ponies, only ones with grime inside (mold or rust). Clean the ones who smell acidic last, and wash up cleaning supplies well with something like dawn before they are to be used again. (launder any drying mats or towels well). Wash hands well, and wear gloves. Anything not with that breakdown acidic smell after cleaning and air drying, place in a tote beside a dish of kitty litter. That's a gentle way of removing smells like musty basement, mildew, smoke etc. seal tote and leave in a cool dark place for a while. Items being deodorized must be fully dry, inside and out before hand. To be safe, I dry as well as possible and leave them out for an extended period before any kind of sealed storage. The breakdown smell ones, don't keep near your collection. I haven't found/read about a sure-fire way of fixing these guys, so for now anything I do find like that makes it's way into a sealed bin with some moisture absorbers in cold storage in my basement- where I detect zero smell outside the bin. A couple in there I do plan at some point to cut up and use for a couple experiments. Here's a paper about safe handling of plastics. Page 4 discusses off-gassing. I hope this is of some help.  https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11186/mci_WAAC2010-Tsang.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
20
« on: March 07, 2018, 07:26:15 PM »
Poor storage breakdown (high heat) triggers weeping (were any slimy?), and the more worrying issue- sickly sweet acidic stench. NOT that soft delightful mint pony smell, this is pungent and gross acid weird sweet. That's off-gassing VOC's which can damage other items. Does this sound applicable to your lot batch?
Also typical for poor storage breakdown/degridation (from some/one all heat, humidity, UV) is patches of dark brown areas, or those tiny fungus spots. or just the bodies discoloring in general.
21
« on: March 07, 2018, 08:30:22 AM »
Thoroughness can be a double edged sword, as a lot of buyers will not read a description if it's "too long". Which means you may still end up with an angry buyer. The safest option is to keep descriptions as short as possible while still describing all flaws.
For example:
Hair: Tail has been cut. Silky, no frizz.
Eyes: Rub on left eye.
Body: Small permanent marks. Children's initials on hooves.
Other: No weird smells. Rattles when shaken.
^ When paired with clear pictures (at minimum, pictures from both sides of the pony and preferably one of their hooves and one front the front), that is all you need.
If you sell on eBay, use the Fixed Price auctions. Do not use the auction style format unless you are okay with your items selling for under value.
I have to agree with using bullet points, and breaking up by category (body, paint, hair, neck seals). It does make it much easier to weed through a description. Like, I don't care about the odd tiny brown spot surrounded by a fainter ring (staining caused by now dead fungus, indicator of past high humidity). Or hair being coarse or rough on some ponies, or starting with a tangled mess. For others, those flaws are a no go period. I will never collect ponies treated with acne cream, re-hairs, hair cuts, or with painted feautures replaced. I also like having original paint intact, and free of scuffs, smears or areas missing. I also skip buying ones who were cleaned of rust or mold, or who are rusty or moldy. Ponies with the neck seal broken. Unlike me, for others, they happily restore ponies and buy restored ponies, or ones with the flaws I mentioned present. Bullet points of various areas make it much easier to pick out anything relevant quickly, in order to place a bid or buy.
And finally, as FantasticFirefly said - no jargon. I hate when people list flaws in pony jargon. Describe what you see and what you think the flaw is caused by (hair cut, frizz, mark possibly ink, maybe discolouration, etc). I've been in the community 20 years and I still have no idea what some of the restorer jargon terms mean, because I don't use them. Plainspeak is good. Jargon is bad.
Exactly, plain speak protects the seller, and is good for all buyers. Also, you are not alone. Use I have seen of some jargon is so inconsistent- from new and old collectors alike. Some make ME wonder what the current consensus is for which flaw a pet name covers. "Smooze" I have seen it describe anything from a pony rusty or moldy inside/outside or ink staining, all the way to ponies having a bubbled surface that collected oils/dirt/dust/debris. That collector speak term is not even the worst offender for confusion and constant "what does this term mean?" question posts.
22
« on: March 06, 2018, 10:02:12 AM »
Me personally-
1- completed SOLD listings to give a ROUGH estimate. What finalizes that is things like how much effort I am willing to extend, and condition.
2-Agree with bluerose re: Common sense.
I use a lot of white tissue and fold top sandwhich bags. Fold tops breathe and don't mess up hair as badly.
I use ziplocks for small pieces to keep them together. When packed the ponies/pieces are suspended inside surrounded by padding.
Shipping mantra "if it shakes, it breaks".
With fragile pieces use sturdy corrugate boxes for shipping. There should be a certificate on the bottom that will show things like type (singlewall/doublewall etc) and the edge crush rating. You don't want to pack say a MOC in a box that could be easily crushed from a larger/heavier package falling on top in the bins during it's journey.
Sample package some things to give ideas of how much supply you will be using so you can account for that in item price. Do not allow anyone talk you into shipping things in poor ways to "save on shipping" like, using no padding, or putting fragile things in bubble mailers.
4- Macro setting on camera. Should be a little tulip or flower. If your hands shake, or you have many pieces having a tripod is handy. There are some good photographing tutorials online. Check your photographs to ensure the pieces look true to life, colours accurate and flaws you see show.
Using clean white pillowcases as a backdrop so colours show well, or a light-box.
5-I'll talk about descriptions here.
in #1 I mentioned effort.
High effort looks like this, and will be reflected in price, as it's time intensive.
description:
-What source did the pony come from - collector, toy flipper, second hand find
-if anything was done to it prior to my ownership I state what (I keep these records. especially anything that were previously repaired, and what products were used)
-what did I do while owning this piece -i.e gentle surface clean with dawn, conditioned and rinsed hair, combed.
- Can the head turn? if yes, and was originally a glued seal open and inspect for evidence of internal cleaning (most people miss spots in hard to access places- typically reddish/brownish was rust, black or grey was old mold, inspect for removed or replaced parts (evidence of rehairing and so on)
-with a light jostle does it rattle? (i.e loose tail washer)
-smells
-and how do things feel
-hold it to a light (briefly). Ponies that cast a weird dark shadow are filled with either mold or rust, even if you can't see evidence of tail rust on the exterior. Compare it to ponies you know to be clean inside.
Does it smell musty? fresh? like any kind of fragrance?
feels-
is the hair slick and silky, does it feel like typical well groomed hair? is it dry, coarse, frizzy, tacky?
Spots marks and flaws.
Use plain English and avoid collector speak.
If a pony has brown spotting, state that also clearly state which flaws will NOT wipe or wash off. (newer collectors often do not know, and buy flawed ponies with hopes the flaws will wash/wipe away)
I overemphasize what I see a little. The end goal is someone opening their package with delight seeing something a little better then they expected. This provides buyer confidence, and a bigger buying pool through word of mouth. I tell collecting friends about my favorite sellers who are detailed, and provide exemplary service. Those are the sellers I feel confident paying higher prices too.
Low effort:
i.e lots or batches, If I am selling ponies at low price points just to unload them I list critical flaws "some of these have ink staining" or "various flaws, spotting/marks, rubs, dry or frizzy hair. varies in severty. "could have prior repairs present, purchased from multiple sources"
Again, here smells a big one- people who get chemical migranes or have athma need to know if fragrance, smells from cleaners or smoke type smells, or foul odours are present on anything.
Photos, in neat rows I still try and show both sides of the pony.
I make it clear these listings are not for picky collectors, and they are not the listings I will do high effort inspections too (as mentioned, all that time investment would then be reflected in pricing)
23
« on: February 25, 2018, 02:41:38 PM »
a neutral still looks like poor FB. If it were me, I'd be tempted to leave something like this in neutral. NO idea if it breaks any rules, or would likely to be removed.
Repair undisclosed, zero padding for fragile item, zero response when notified.
24
« on: February 25, 2018, 12:44:16 PM »
My apologies, I didn't mean to intend you sent off a message in anger or harshly worded. And I fully understand where you are coming from. Last I checked (it's been a while since I've been ebay buying) sellers are under no obligation to credit buyers via partials for items not described. They do however have to take the item back if a buyer chooses in those cases. Since you did word well, hopefully they simply need a little time to formulate a response and come up with how they'll fix this for you. Sadly, if they ignore you, your other options are escalating with ebay which likely they'll ask about returning (which I also avoid because I too lose more money than keeping and reselling those items again honestly), or leaving poor honest feedback. 
25
« on: February 25, 2018, 09:56:18 AM »
That sucks, I've been there multiple times.
Unfortunately as a fellow buyer, there are a wide away of bullpucky buyers. Makes things worse for us all. They complain and create issues where there are none in order to extract deep discounts, and too many do return scams against good sellers. Depending on your wording, if this seller goes to the ebay sellers groups and shares your message they could easily wonder if you are part of this group of awful buyers.
Now, If you want to return for refund, state that. Do not ask for partials.
Myself- I DO send message when I find undisclosed damage that could be easily found, poor packing etc. I tend to underbid on unknown people's stuff. I don't fully trust a non collectible expert to pack, and describe properly- so when I do encounter issues like these, I still haven't made a horribly awful purchase. (at least my track record thus far)
"Hello, First I would like to thank you for (something they did right).
I've been buying these as an online collector since (). Unfortunately there were a couple issues I wanted to bring to your attention. I am not looking to return these, but wished to make you aware (poor packing specifics that could easily result in damage, how it regularly results in damage, how to pack safely), as well as (about checking for damage carefully- details of undisclosed damage that could have easily resulted in an irate customer). Thank you for your time, and I do hope you find this information helpful in future sales
Kind regards"
What I really want, is some acknowledgement, and sellers to not do the same errors to future customers. People can't improve if they don't know what's wrong. People make mistakes, some don't know better yet. MANY people think insurance protects them so they don't need to pad, and the PO is gentle- both untrue. If they either thank me for letting them know and apologize, I am happy. If they become hostile that is where I bust out using poor reviews. Usually my messages are well received, I get some genuine apologies and thanks for info, some have (unasked by me) shot my PP back a few dollars.
If your original message could come across as hostile, try and apologize for that and clarify your issue. If the seller never gets back even with that (or if your message was informative and non-confrontational) leave appropriate feedback.
26
« on: February 22, 2018, 11:28:17 AM »
Sure have, unfortunatly. Each half was from different batches I am sure. Sadly, the right wasn't as good of a batch (stabilizers and such). Could have been from heat, off-gassing from another piece stored nearby. How warm does your storage area get? any wide fluctuations in temp?
27
« on: February 22, 2018, 10:54:47 AM »
So yeah. Enemies of PVC are UV, Heat, Humidity and pollutants. The first purchases I would recommend is an indoor hygrometer for the room the collection is kept, and some light blocking window coverings. I personally also have UV film applied to the window itself then light blocking coverings, but I do understand those who live in rental homes not being able to alter the premises that way- the UV film does not come off easily. Now, for your query about light. Do remember, the way light will move around the room from windows changes with season, and time of day. We know direct exposure will cause issues, I err on the safe side of just blocking outside light entirely. For room conditions, the safe handling paper I link to below stated this- "Keep the temperature at or below 20oC and relative humidity 30-50%, suitable conditions for most plastics". Using a indoor hygrometer, you will see where you stand, and you'll know if you need other tools such as an AC if heat is an issue, or a dehumidifier if there is an excess amount of moisture in the air. oh, and move collections somewhere safe if work is being done to the room, i.e use of strong finishes/painting walls, near or where your collection is being kept. "safe handling of plastics in a museum environment" https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11186/mci_WAAC2010-Tsang.pdf"Care of plastics" http://cool.conservation-us.org/waac/wn/wn24/wn24-1/wn24-102.htmlAlso linked, particularly for this reference: "Exposure of PVC to light (especially ultraviolet radiation) and heat will cause a degradation reaction, called dehydrochlorination, which produces hydrochloric acid and causes the PVC to change color from yellow to brown to black. Manufacturers control this by adding light and heat stabilizers. Unfortunately these stabilizers are consumed as they do their job, until at some time the stabilizers are exhausted, and additional exposure suddenly results in deterioration. Thus a PVC object that has been surviving nicely under lights for several years may suddenly begin rapid deterioration." Hope this is helpful.
28
« on: February 21, 2018, 10:42:52 PM »
fragile items in bubble mailers- flutter pony WEARING her original intact wings was shipped to me loose in a padded envelope. I was absolutely shocked those wings survived.
 What kind of unearthly beings owed you favours for that to happen?! Feels like you so much as look sideways at original flutter wings and they snap.
To be fair these weren't the first run, thin, tiny tabbed wings. I've seen them broken while still sealed in the original package. They were 2nd edition, with the clear rubbery tabs. They still shouldn't have survived, one heavy item dropped on top and they'd have been toast. and of course, the auction said something along the lines of "You almost NEVER see the wings with these on ebay! RARE! GREAT for a collector!" I just love when people want fine auction house prices, while providing yard sale service.
29
« on: February 21, 2018, 10:17:56 AM »
Jammed tightly into a box - deformed ponies, potential smears or rubs. wrapped in newspaper - yay ink transfer shipped damp, or with residual water inside- horrible, covered in mildew, stained, steamy. will not describe smell. 0/10 tossed into a box, tiny pieces and all- legitimately, there was one incident where the piece I had really wanted slipped out of the box flap. I had hoped it was before it left the sellers house, in the event she found it kicking around. alas, it was not. I kindly let her know we typically secure tiny pieces inside a zipper style freezer/sandwich bag to avoid this. fragile items in bubble mailers- flutter pony WEARING her original intact wings was shipped to me loose in a padded envelope. I was absolutely shocked those wings survived. So, poor sellers. Before I drop any kind of cash on major resale sites, I do inquire how the seller packs items for shipping. Postage insurance does NOT cover being terrible at wrapping/protecting contents.
30
« on: March 01, 2017, 09:40:56 PM »
Just planned on popping here quickly for a fast read. I’m not in the best place at the moment, and didn’t plan on responding but I couldn’t leave this. so please take this with a grain of salt.
Looking through past posts.
-it was an ex that threw away the original collection.
-groceries/baby clothes. Hard to say what is sufficient or not with no frame of reference. Obviously if caloric/nutiritional needs are unmet, and a child is in filthy tattered too small clothing there is an issue. But, if it’s a case of no fun snacks- cookies, chips, etc or beverages like soda or juice (which add substantially to a grocery bill) while having cheap yet healthy filling food with tapwater, and having to do laundry a little more often, but still a sufficient amount of appropriate comfort/fit clothing then he would be correct to continue to be frugal at this present moment.
-the man is living with what sounds like a potential NPD parent, with his wife and infant while they are going to school. NO WONDER he is “over-saving”. He is so stressed he vomited blood from getting a stomach ulcer. For those who have never been the winner of a stomach ulcer from crushing stress, it is a very unique special kind of misery you don’t wish on your worst enemy. It’s truly, truly horrible. Terrified of eating anything, what will react and terrified knowing not eating anything will result in pain too. The treatment drugs are not exactly fun either.
I am making assumptions here. But my suspicion is he wants the heck out of that house and keep OP and his child safe from his mothers toxic influence, but not until there is enough saved to cover enough independent expenses as well as some for infrequent costs (i.e new tires for a car, they wear out eventually) and emergencies- so when you’re out of there you aren’t stuck in the pay to pay trap and the first surprise expense doesn't in a disaster of panic and stress, borrowing money or going to a payday store in desperation. I am also assuming they are cramped together in a smaller area together with all of their belongings and the clutter accumulating from collecting in that shared space is a constant visual reminder of over spending and what he sees as totally misplaced priorities.
I would be in a silent rage if my spouse and I were cramped with a relative like that and I see blu rays and video games piling up in our shared space- something he enjoys collecting- while I feverishly save to get us the heck out of dodge. My spouse has a large collection, and collects responsibly. I don’t get excited about them or anything, essentially zero interest for me, but I am pleased to see him happy when he picks up one he enjoys. But, he can go months without acquiring anything new for that collection and enjoying the ones he has when we need to cut way back. Easily. If the pony collecting appears like a never-ending acquiring/buying fest- then it does appear to an outsider that they “couldn’t make you happy”. Because if they did, you could be content and enjoy the present ones for now without adding more while other goals are of higher priority. Under stress too I do see the temptation of uplift of a new score for a collector- it can get addicting.
Please have a sitdown with him. Is there a goal amount he is working towards for an EF (emergency fund) or other saving goals? Why are they important to him- please find this out, the hows and whys of his saving and current money stress.
Both Dave Ramsey as well as Gail Vaz Oxlade (she’s the Canadian counterpart) are both good reading for financial literacy, and why things like staying out of consumer/personal debt, budgeting, and planned spending emergency saving are important, and how to calculate how much you’ll need to achieve what you each want. I didn’t read as much of Ramsey’s work, but Vaz Oxlade does a great job breaking things down, and how to communicate about money with a spouse and plan goals together.
I adore pony collecting, but please don’t let it hurt other areas of your life or loved ones. <3
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