G3s are notorious for having quality control issues.  I have pretty much every G3 released in stores in my collection.  I opened them all myself, and it's amazing how random the hair can be.  Some ponies have good hair, others have terrible.  I have had more than one where literally half the tail is a good inch shorter than the other half, and that was straight out of the box.  Glue in the hair, uneven hair, chunks cut out of portions of the hair, one section of hair 3 inches longer than the rest, I've seen it all straight out of the box.   

It could very well be that this is a factory issue and not a haircut.  Either way, the buyer is unhappy.  Fair or not, if the buyer is unhappy, give a refund once the pony is returned.  It stinks to be out the postage fees, but that's unfortunately the way things go.  You can block the buyer from bidding on future auctions if you think she's got unrealistic expectations of G3s so you don't have to go through this again.

I was at SDCC this year, and I've been going for many years.  This is actually not new at all.  This system has been in place for at least 6 years now(I think).  Unfortunately for us, this is the first year that Hasbro included the ponies in the ticket system.  They weren't popular enough to force limits on them before, so if you were *just* buying ponies in previous years, you could just walk up to the cash registers in the Hasbro booth, and they'd let you buy the ponies without any fuss. This year we just got stuck doing what the GI Joe and Transformers collectors have been doing all these years.   I did manage to get my pony this year, but it wasn't easy.  I was prepared for this too, and it was still all kinds of horrible.   Apparently Hasbro thinks that my time, and everybody else's time, is completely worthless. 

Hasbro is unlikely to change its system.  I was there when they first started the ticket thing.  They've been doing it for so long, they really should have figured out how to do it RIGHT.  They know how many tickets they have, it can't be *that* hard to make a educated guess at how many people are in the line.  It wouldn't be that hard to go along the line and tell the first section of people they'll get tickets, the next group of people that they're in the "maybe" section, and figure out the "no way in heck" area of the line and tell those people they should spend their time somewhere else.  As it stands, you don't get told you won't get a ticket until you get to the front, and by then you've wasted so much time in their line, you can't get a decent place in any other line.  It really is the *worst* organized shop of all the major toy manufacturers.  This is not new at all.  This has been going on for years, and I'm sure it will continue to go on for many more.  They just don't care.  Until people stop buying their toys completely, they won't care.  Judging from the line I saw though, they've got plenty of replacement customers just waiting to snap up whatever they put out. 

I actually wish I collected Mattel toys.  We did the preorder thing last year, and it was BLISS.  Didn't get everything we wanted, but we just had to go to a room in the hotel next door(no line), show them the printout, and we got our stuff.  5 minutes total.   That's it.  So well run! 

Just want to reiterate - darkling1976 is an AWESOME seller.  I've bought from her before, and she's got nothing to do with all the nastiness.  Very sweet lady, and a really good seller.  Her items are amazing:)  I can't imagine anything as foul as what bloodyangel was saying coming out of darkling's mouth. 

I have bought from low feedback sellers in the past.  I fact, I just did a few weeks ago.  The seller had only two feedbacks for selling and a few more for buying, and one was a neutral from a crazy buyer(buyer admitted that item was shipped quickly, packed well, and described accurately, but he still complained that the item wasn't actually better than the description indicated).  I find that if you've got a newbie seller who's actually trying to get a good reputation, you're more likely to get a seller who goes well above and beyond for you.  This seller did for me.  It was one of the best transactions I've had on ebay for a long time! 

That said, I know how to generally identify sellers like that.  I also have been around ebay long enough to spot a suspicious auction.  I always pay with my credit card and paypal for auctions, so even if I get "scammed", I can get my money back.   With all the things ebay has done to weight transactions in the buyer's favor, I actually have very little fear of getting truly scammed on ebay anymore.  I had to file a chargeback for a pretty hefty auction not too long ago($200+), and I got my money back in less than 24 hours from filing.  Only time I've had to do that in all my years on ebay, but it was surprisingly easy.  It's disappointing not to get the item you were waiting for, but you're really not out anything if you get your money back.  You just wasted some time on a headache of a seller.  It's not like a straight up pony trade where you send your end and you're actually out something if you never get anything back. THAT'S a scammer!  If you can recoup your money from Paypal, it's not a scam, it's a hassle.

New sellers can be good,  just as established sellers can go bad.  The worst transaction I've ever had on ebay was from a seller who at one point was a *very* well respected member of the pony community for many years.  She had been having some issues for a while(slow shipping mainly), and I knew to steer clear of her auctions due to the hassle. Unfortunately she started to use her husband's ID to sell because nobody was buying from her well known IDs.  Her husband's ID was well established with years worth of positive feedback and nobody knew it was connected to her in any way.  I eventually got my stuff($400 worth of ponies shipped media mail), but 90% of the "just need a wash to be great" ponies were really bait.   She left the community shortly after that, and hasn't been seen since as far as I know.

That's not to say that feedback is meaningless, but there are lot of factors to take into account when trying to figure out if a seller is a potential scammer or not.  I tend to factor in the feedback with my overall impression of the auction.  Auction pictures, descriptions, and even the terms of service the seller lists can all help flag a potential problem seller.  Some auctions just scream "problem seller" even if they have decent feedback.   I also like to look at what the seller leaves as feedback for others.  Sometimes you can identify some real nuts that way.

I got some of mine from collectors here. I actually have a bunch of extras from when I was buying lots on ebay to complete my collection. I'm open to trades and possibly sales. Feel free to PM me if you're looking for some.

They're pretty tough to find in thrift stores and flea markets. They sometimes get mixed in with accessories, so if you ever see a bag of those, check it.  Your best options are other collectors and ebay. I have found lots on ebay can be cheaper per petite than buying individual petites for some of the rarer sets(Glowing, Twinkle, Bright). The lot prices can vary wildly if someone is looking for that last petite they need to complete a set.  I've seen(and paid)some crazy prices for the little things, and I've also seen them go for shockingly low prices. It just depends on who's looking that day.

Congrats on your first G2s!  That's a nice start to a G2 collection:)

Melting chocolate is a BIG problem over here during the summer.  If you do send anything that might melt, wrapping it in a plastic baggie will keep it from melting all over your box:p

I have been particularly blessed when it comes to these.  I have two sets - one MIP and one loose.  I'll try to get pictures up today. 


They were released as a promotional item for Toyfair, and are often called "the Toyfair petites".


They are exceptionally rare.  I know of only a few sets in existence.  Most of the people who own them are really long time collectors who were in the pony community at the time when they originally sold.  I know of less than ten people in the entire pony community who own a set. 


I have seen only one set go up for sale somewhat recently.  About a year or two ago a MIP set went up on ebay.  It ended at well over $500.  I think the final auction price was somewhere around $550.  That was the first set I've seen for sale in many years.  I have no idea what they go for loose since the only set I've seen go up on ebay in the last ten years was MIP.


Back when they were first sold they were a heck of a lot cheaper.  I got one of my sets for $35 off of ebay when they first came out:p  From what I remember back then, there weren't very many sets put up to begin with, and it was a very limited window of time that they were popping up on ebay(like maybe a month or two).  They sort of came and went mostly unnoticed which is how I got a set for $35.  Once they were gone, that was it.  Now the hardcore petite and G2 collectors all know about them, so when a set does come up it goes for insane prices.  I actually have two loose Toyfair petites for trade/sale, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them since they're so rare and it's not a complete set.

Post Merge: June 10, 2012, 12:25:53 PM

Picture!  Hopefully the size is ok.  I lost Photoshop when I had to wipe my hard drive recently.


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