What Was Your "Newbie" Mistake/Assumption?

[toralei]

I spent $16 on g3 taf Minty. I have no clue how much she's worth, but, I'm guessing it's definitely not that much..

[Ringlets]

My newbie mistake was to pay £21 on evilbay UK for a frizzy haired ,crinkled tinsel ,  slightly tipsy Princess Dawn I thought  that since she wasnt sold here in the UK (and I hadnt bought internationally before, or even joined the pony community online at the time) she must be rare LOL    and besides she is in my fave pose. Oh well. I still have her, improved the hair, straightened the tinsel.. and I still like her even though I have better ones now  

[Pythia]

An anniversary Snuzzle who looked white in pictures, so I thought I'd scored myself a Polly for $6. When she arrived...nope.

[tehrin]

I paid... $30 for Masquerade.  She DID come with her original ribbon, comb and clipping from her back card. But I neglected to notice she came from another country when I BIN'd.  She's a lovely pony and she's staring me in the eye right now, so I don't regret it.  But... I just felt silly! I pay more attention when I find ponies on ebay. :p

[scarletjul]

I overpaid on white haired Lickety Split and Posey because I read somewhere that the third year ponies weren't as popular and I somehow translated that into them being somewhat HTF. 

More recently, a few years ago I made a gamble on a dirty lot of g1s from shopgoodwill, thinking that I saw a hidden Mimic in the fuzzy pictures.  I won the lot, paid the enormous shipping costs and got the lot of grungy g1s - and not a Mimic in sight.  Sigh.   There wasn't one pony in there I wanted.   

[Moss]

I think mine takes the newbie cake.
 
Along with the G3s, my sister's herd contained a mom and two baby ponies. They came with this little yellow plastic barn thing, and they certainly didn't match with the others. Our whole house was convinced that these were original MLPs and that they were something special.
When I was helping my sister id her ponies, the funky barn came out of storage. Still under the impression she had originals, I looked them up. They're Tara Toy fakies! My mom, sister, and I were so suprised! Never saw it coming!

[cesprins]

that I would only collect the mane six g4 ponies. haha

[kellyponyfeathers]

I wasnt a NoOb but I sold MIP..ah crap. I forget their names but they were 2 super long hair ponies that were only found in some hardware store in the midwest..for $25. I had NO IDEA their value had skyrocked to over $100. One was blue and one was white with a green bird. GAH, its gonna drive me crazy till i remeber their names! 
 

tiki, sounds like you're talking about Beach Belle & Caribbean Delight

[Rhini]

I left a bunch of my ponies on my dark brown couch, only to realize it stains them    Now Sparkler and Bumblesweet have dark brown blotches on them.

[PinkRosedust]

I customize more than collect, so I'm always looking for the cheapest ponies I can get so I haven't made any mistakes like paying too much for a common pony... But I'm afraid that one day I'm going to somehow get a rare pony and not realize it, and then chop its hair off and customize it and stuff... hah!

For this reason you should always know who you're baiting before you do it. There are ID sites out there for G1 and G3, and if that fails, you can always show us a photo and we will tell you what you've got! Please be cautious if you're not sure. =)

I'm sure I probably overpaid a bit for a pony or two when I first started ebaying. =P Nothing extreme as far as I remember, which is definitely a good thing.

[ButtercreamDream]

I've had a few newb mistakes that others here have mentioned.  I traded a G1 year 3 sea pony to someone (on another pony site) for a $8-10 pony, before I knew what they were worth.  I also customised a couple of ponies that could have been saved, but they were doubles for me (they were super common at least).  This was before I knew about the online community, and G1s were way more common in general.

The one that stands out for me, though, was thinking that 'good' condition meant 'in good shape', when in fact it's closer to the bottom of the scale.  I paid close to $20, including shipping, for Moondancer and Medley on ebay in the early 2000s, because they were both part of one of my favourite childhood stories.  What I got was 2 ponies in baity condition.  Medley's ear was chewed, Moondancer was pretty yellowed, and both of their symbols were almost completely gone.  It was really disappointing.  I was too much of a newb to even take it up with the seller.

Dr. Mowinkle, I dream about a find like that!!  I want Diamond Dreams so badly! 

[LadyStarCatcher]

Didn't think this through when I did it, but a fair amount of my ponies have sharpie on the bottom of their hooves. It has their year and an ID number. I did this originally so I wouldn't forget who I had. Now I feel So stupid because it has started bleeding out a bit and blurring on them. ACK! So many of my poor girls are scarred by sharpie! Luckily it hasn't spread to where you can see it when they're on display. 

[SweetScoops]

As a new collector, I was tricked by "senior" collectors and sold many ponies I came across from flea markets. I did'nt get near their worth, when I found out I was so angry about people I trusted tricking me into selling them my rare ponies I almost gave up collecting :'(

I sold a mint condition Baby candy and two of the princess Dragons for $1 each to a collector who swore they was'nt worth baiting. And another collection graded my Sunburst to $8 and told me she was going to sell it for me, she kept the price difference by herself.
So much for honesty. I'm sometimes kicking myself for beeing so stupid. But mostly I just sit back and let karma have it's way with them XP It's just money in the end, My ponies mean more to me than that.

[hathorcat]

As a new collector, I was tricked by "senior" collectors and sold many ponies I came across from flea markets. I did'nt get near their worth, when I found out I was so angry about people I trusted tricking me into selling them my rare ponies I almost gave up collecting :'(

I sold a mint condition Baby candy and two of the princess Dragons for $1 each to a collector who swore they was'nt worth baiting. And another collection graded my Sunburst to $8 and told me she was going to sell it for me, she kept the price difference by herself.
So much for honesty. I'm sometimes kicking myself for beeing so stupid. But mostly I just sit back and let karma have it's way with them XP It's just money in the end, My ponies mean more to me than that.

Ooooh....thats....very similar story to me on another one I just remembered [I think I try not and think of this one as it makes me cry lol]. When I started collecting I decided I didnt want accessories [yes, you may all faint in shock at that statement lol]. But I sold on here a couple of sweetie baby pony barrettes for $20 each - when I noticed someone had posted looking for them and I had no clue as to what they were worth...when I decided I needed to buy them back from another seller - times that number by 5 and add some more!! *Cry* 

[TokiBear]

I guess I would say that I overpaid for my first few ponies.  I really wanted to get my hands on NSS Wind Whistler as she was my grail at the time.  I think I paid like... $25 for her.  I feel she was totally worth it for me, but now I know better.  I just got her for less than $10 with shipping last week.  Also way overpaid on Medley and Firefly...