For those of you who have downsized...

[MLPlyte]

..How did you do it?
We moved about six months ago, and before that we stayed at a family members house for a few months, so my ponies have been packed up for almost a year. In that time I havent missed them as muvh as I thought I would (I have also been buying the G4's during this time to supplement, lol). I recently decided there are some rather spendy things I want to purchase and it made me think how I have all these ponies I don't really 'need.' So I decided to downsize.
Well, I started unpacking them the other day and getting them on display again, thinking I would weed out the ones I wasn't so attached to. But as I opened the boxes and put them on the shelves I found myself falling in love all over again. They are so stinking cute! I still feel like I should downsize, as I really dont have room to display all 650+ of them anymore and I could use the money towards a few things I've been wanting that are a bit more practical. But I'll be darned if I know how to do it. I can't decide who I really don't want, and then I can't choose to sell them off as a lot or to do individual sales.
To sum it up, how did you decide to break up the herd, and why? And how did you go about it?

[butterflybuttons]

I tried to downsize, but same as you, I couldn't find any I didn't like. I ended up selling some of my to-be restores and doubles.

[Taxel]

I don't have as many as you, 100-200 when I counted. The first pony I sold was a G4 Sweetie Swirl. She's worth a decent amount and with the fact that G4 head-body mismatch gets worse when they're exposed to darkness, I couldn't justify keeping her just so she could be destroyed when I didn't even want her very badly in the first place. So even though I loved her I decided to sell her to someone who really wanted her. I don't regret it.

Later, I got into Liv dolls. Where they're sitting on my dresser one needed something behind her, so I placed an empty cracker box between her and my G4s. HUGE mistake. After a month I realized my mistake and moved the box, and found exactly what I expected. Horrific head-body mismatch on previously okay G4s. So I picked out all my darkest ponies, and offered them up for trade. I've already found a trading partner and packed up my girls. I don't miss them at all, and my Carousel Boutique (G4 display) is much neater!
I've also decided to stay far away from brushable G4s except in certain 'extreme' circumstances (white Celestia, glow-in-the-dark Zecora, and blindbags).

But that wasn't so much my decision as it was Hasbro's terrible quality driving me away from them. Though I have been buying less ponies since I got into Livs, and I find it harder to justify a pony purchase when I have cheap Livs on my wishlist.

[LadyGuinevere]

I've downsized mine, but I've done it over about 5 years, and it's been very gradual. Although think of it more as a 'refining' than downsizing. Space reasons mostly, as my ponyroom is fairly small and doubles as a spare room. Plus I'm addicted to 80s merchandise Periodically, I go through and thin out ponies I'm less bothered about and sell them. Not sure I can refine much more though!

[Sandi]

I have tried to downsize too. I have sold a few, but not enough. I like all the ponies I have left (about 400) and it's really hard to part with any of them, lol.

[fingerpaints]

I actually downsized a huge collection of 1000+ a couple of years ago, I have about 20 - 30 ponies, and still buy on rare occasions, but only one here & there, and I often cull the ones I do own to make room for the new ones. I got sick of the bulk of them, I love ponies don't get me wrong, but I had well over 1000 mlp's + another 400+ fakies & other horsie type things, so I have stuck to what I really love, most are gifts or sentimental in some way, with a few ponies that I just love (like the friends & pony pals). I think you need to be ready to take that step though. I don't regret selling off the majority of my collection, but I do regret selling a few of them here & there, but thats what happens

All the best with whatever you wind up doing with your collection

[Nappercasper]

I downsized last year but still have a few. I sold those that were less special (special being brought 2nd hand by a family member or myself). Less special to me were those whoes colourings or poses i were not so fond of. And i also sold those doubles i had nirvana counterparts of. So if i had an Italy cotton candy... i would sell all my normal cotton candys etc.

[hathorcat]

Its something I do think of...but I try to think of it more as how LadyG has mentioned it..."collection refining" rather than "collection downsizing". Although I ll admit it is also something that no matter how hard I try...as soon as I make a start on the "keep" and "sell" bundles...the latter tends to get very little added to it.

I think they key is to take your time. Dont rush to sell things and if you are even remotely worried that you may regret selling a particular piece than put it to the side and think about it before deciding either way.

Good luck with how much or how little you decide to "refine"!

[scarletjul]

I downsize gradually.  Every so often, I go through my ponies and see if there's any that I never got attached to - there's usually a few for which that is the case.  I'll pack them away for a little while and, if I don't miss them, then they go up for sale. 

[medleysong]

Wow, I know something about this I had about 1600+ ponies and merchandise as I had been collecting since I was a kid. I started selling some when we were trying to have our daughter and because it was for a good cause it didn't bother me too much. Then I had my twins and it became more of a space thing. I realized most of my ponies spent all their time in bins stacked in my closet. I was hoarding ponies ha ha I decided I would sell all my nirvana ponies first to see how I felt as they were definitely the ones I was most attached to. It actually was hard at first but then felt totally fine after. I then started on the UK/Euro ponies and then the US G1s. Now I am working on clearing out all G3s. In the past when I would sell I would eventually regret it and work to get the ponies back. This happened because I was still hanging on to ponies. Now that all I really have are some G4s I don't find any desire to buy them or need them. I still love them and love looking at other peoples' but I don't need them myself anymore. However, be careful if you have a big collection. Paypal now has you report it on your taxes if it is above 20,000 dollars in sales. This happened to me last year and it came as quite a shock. I had to ammend my taxes. Yikes, wasn't prepared for that!

[YellowCat]

I was forced to downsize after I moved home after graduating, I didn't have the room for all my ponies anymore and I didn't have any place to display them.  At the time I think my collection had a little over 100 ponies (my 20 something childhood ponies, a few special G3s that were gifts from friends and all the others I picked up on ebay, or at fleamarkets and thrift stores).  When I started the cull I dumped out all my ponies on the floor and picked out the ones that appealed least to me or ones I didn't like at all, those were the ones that made it into the sales box.  I did this multiple times until only my favorites were left and until my pony collection could fit in one box I could store under the stairs.  I need to do go through them again since there are probably a few more ponies I could get rid of.  I plan on only keeping my childhood ponies and the ones that were gifts.

The only problem is, as the ponies have been going out, dolls and their accessories have been coming in.  I have 20+ dolls I didn't have last spring and a crap load of doll accessories.  Oh well, at least dolls don't take up as much space and are easier to store.

[MLPlyte]

Thanks you guys! I appreciate the stories and advice. Did any of you end up selling ponies you got in swaps? I don't want to offend anyone by doing that (although I know once it is mine I can do with it as I please). I think I'll start small, maybe a few G3s here and there, and work my way up from there. I do fear selling my G1s and harder-to-find G3s and then serching frantically for them again!

[nsunshine]

you all are stronger then I could ever be! I mean I can see out of doing it because you need the space or the money, but to do it just because...I can't do that...I got too many ponies, so I bought a house...guess if I had a fella I might have to downsize! well however you figure out on doing so good luck!!!

[Juri]

I picked out some of the G3s that I didnt want and I gave them as a gift to a friend's neice. None of them were rare or in particularly mint condition, but she loves having a whole herd to play with- and I am happy they are being loved

[ZennaBug]

I don't think I could do it.  But my collection is relatively small, only around 65.  And quite a few of those are actually childhood ponies.  I'm too attached to them all, so I'm no help here.  Good luck if you decide to part with some of them!