Honestly, its 2016. The 80s have been over for close to 30 years. Most people who wanted to toss out/donate their 30 year old toys already have. With the popularity of eBay/Craigslist/etc and the growing knowledge random people have about collectors, most people aren't just going to give away piles of really old toys anymore. A lot of people won't pass on the opportunity to make money reselling something by giving it away, especially with all those ridiculous not-at-all-researched clickbait sites screaming about how 80s-90s toys/kid stuff is worth $83849234203 each.
Plus there's the people who buy from thrift stores and resell as a means to pay bills. If you know what to look for it can be really lucrative, not just with ponies.
Honestly, its 2016. The 80s have been over for close to 30 years. Most people who wanted to toss out/donate their 30 year old toys already have. With the popularity of eBay/Craigslist/etc and the growing knowledge random people have about collectors, most people aren't just going to give away piles of really old toys anymore. A lot of people won't pass on the opportunity to make money reselling something by giving it away, especially with all those ridiculous not-at-all-researched clickbait sites screaming about how 80s-90s toys/kid stuff is worth $83849234203 each.
Plus there's the people who buy from thrift stores and resell as a means to pay bills. If you know what to look for it can be really lucrative, not just with ponies.
Yes, this. :) There were tons of G1 ponies in thrift shops in the 90s, because that was when their original owners were outgrowing them en masse. It's just going to be really difficult to find them "in the wild" now because they're 30 years old.
Regarding trading G3s for G1s: Personally I think it's more efficient to save the money you would have spend on G3s and just buy a G1 online. It's hard to move G3s and most of them are not worth much. If you see a more valuable G3 then yeah, totally pick it up.
Honestly, its 2016. The 80s have been over for close to 30 years. Most people who wanted to toss out/donate their 30 year old toys already have. With the popularity of eBay/Craigslist/etc and the growing knowledge random people have about collectors, most people aren't just going to give away piles of really old toys anymore. A lot of people won't pass on the opportunity to make money reselling something by giving it away, especially with all those ridiculous not-at-all-researched clickbait sites screaming about how 80s-90s toys/kid stuff is worth $83849234203 each.
Plus there's the people who buy from thrift stores and resell as a means to pay bills. If you know what to look for it can be really lucrative, not just with ponies.
This saddens me.
I'm discouraged by thrift stores. Everywhere, actually.
That's scary!
I'd never give a child a vintage (or fakie) toy like that to keep but now I'm really glad my boyfriend's little sister outgrew ponies. She absolutely loved to play with my baity G1s when we visit. I'd let her play for a short time as long as she was careful but man, I definitely wouldn't let her do that anymore.
The trend of passing down American Girl dolls without getting the plastic parts replaced is worrying me now too...
That's scary!
The trend of passing down American Girl dolls without getting the plastic parts replaced is worrying me now too...
I wouldn't worry so much about the American Girl dolls. I know that plastics are plastics, but their materials used to be of a higher quality. I can't speak for the 1980s dolls but the most popular "vintage" dolls were from the 90s when concerns were a lot higher. Although I do have a Rabbit Hutch that is made of real wood and real wire netting. I always thought it was dangerous even when I was younger lol.
I love going thrifting for ponies although it is highly unlikely that I see anything besides G3 ponies at this point or really gnarly common G1s.
Daystar- There is a known issue with some colors of hair on G3 ponies that do that. Specifically the pink you are describing. Someone can link you to the thread hopefully but it is common that this color gets brittle and just falls out as if a razor cut it. It's so sad that it has happened to so many ponies.