What's your pony hunting strategy?

[Haruna]

So when you go out to find ponies in the wild, where do you go? Do you hit up thrift stores, or are flea markets or garage sales more your thing? Do find stuff all the time or never? How often do you go? Do you buy anything you find?

I have a flea market about a half hour away that is a pretty good place for finding ponies. One of the vendors has a booth full of toys from the 70s and 80s; her ponies tend to be expensive, though ($10 each or more). There are several cool toy booths. I've found some teeny tiny baby ponies there and a Spike from the lavender Dream Castle. I've also gone to a huge flea market even further away where I found some ponies and accessories who were comparably expensive. I go to thrift stores, but I usually don't find anything; lately I found a SS Northstar, though, which was a big surprise. Most of my thrift stores don't carry toys, strangely enough, so there's not always a lot to search through. I almost never go to garage sales; the only exceptions are when they've said on Craigslist that they'll have vintage toys or something. I don't go out pony hunting very often at all; I usually buy my ponies on Ebay, Craigslist, and the Arena. Since I primarily collect G1, that tends to be easier.

So what about you guys?

[mothums]

we have two goodwills in our town not far from our house, so about once or twice a month I start my 'rotation' with those two stores and hit one or two smaller thrift shops in between. i havent had much luck though finding g1. Ive found a Twinkle Eye Galaxy, Sweet Suds, and Cotton Candy as well as a few baby accessories and pieces of pony wear in the span of about 4 months. I find tons of McDonalds g4 figures (not really my thing) as well as an equestria girl or two. i check every store i go to for actual ponies, playsets, and any other merchandise (sheets, cups, plushes, etc). i usually stick to ebay for my purchases but i always keep an eye out in the wild (:

[ghouldilocks]

Thrift shops around me are always VERY hit or miss - but usually a miss.  I still check from time to time, though. I usually have luck at antique shops and flea markets, even if it's just a G3 or two. If I happen to have cash on hand, I might stop at a garage sale when I pass a sign for one, but I haven't gone "garage saling" intentionally.

[Taffeta]

I don't really have one any more, as ponies in my home area are more or less dried up by dealers, the influx of new collectors (in the past there was only my sister and I and one other girl, most of whose ponies we ended up buying) and though there are still car boot sales, our local one went to make way for a hospice so I have accessibility issues (can't drive, can't navigate).

In London, I haven't begun looking. Oh, except for one carboot sale I did back in October. It was interesting and in the summer, may go back...but I feel this is an area that probably has already been picked to death by collectors xD.

I am looking for such specific things now that ebay is often more helpful anyway, although more expensive >.<. I'm just glad to have found all the things we did when booting between 95 and 2002ish, because without that, there are a lot of impossibly expensive collection holes we'd have had to fill some other way.

I am only interested in finding G1, really, so though sometimes G2, 3, 4 come up, I'm not really that interested in buying them.

[Emerald]

I've only tried flea markets, but in my area all of the thrift stores are filled with things people donated when someone died. I live in Florida in an area that's mostly elderly and retired people. I've had success at fleas...uh...once? I find G3 all the time but I don't like them. I've never seen a G2 in person ANYWHERE and have only found a G1 I could afford once. G4s are everywhere, but again, idc. lol

[Sunset]

I have most of my luck at flea markets.  I've given up on garage sales because it's so much work to have to drive around trying to find different places only to be disappointed most of the time.  I have very very rarely found something at a thrift shop/antique store.

[Nefalia]

All kinds of flea markets, car booth sales, thrift stores, you name it. I am willing to look for anything everywhere and even do some digging because sometimes you find something worthwhile. Like G1 babies in a sea of fakies.

Recently I have joined a lot of collector and non collector groups on Facebook to scout for ponies. I am only collecting G1s and since there is an influx of new collectors the prices have gone up radically. I just bide my time.

Other than that, I keep an eye out on Ebay and the Swedish equivalent of Ebay.

[SunnyDazeAhead]

If it's summer, I try yard sales or open air flea markets etc. I found a COLORSWIRL G1 pony at a garage sale about 7 years ago I think, and they only wanted $1 for her. Found a couple G2s at other yard sales in that same summer. I have gone to yard sales specifically to hunt for ponies or vintage toys though it's not always very successful. But year round, my stand by is Goodwill, Salvation Army, DAV Thrift and antique malls, though the latter usually prices things so exorbitantly high that I don't usually bother unless mom is with me and wants to splurge and treat me! I seem to have some good luck on Craigslist, too by typing in "vintage my little pony" it doesn't always work but I have scored a few playsets, the G1 vintage sheets, and several ponies from CL.   :bigups:Still, the most thrilling to me finding ponies in the 'wild' is definitely Goodwill. I recently moved to a metro city from my small town and they have a Goodwill OUTLET and it's the most magical, awesomest place I've ever seen!!   Tons and tons of bins of toys and misc items to wade through --- it's truly like a MASSIVE TREASURE HUNT.

I've found lots of vintage plush finds at the one closest by me and a few days ago my BEST G1 FIND EVARRRRRRR.   

G1 DREAM CASTLE!!!!!  

Ok, PART of the G1 Dream Castle....   

But you can't expect to find an entirely complete G1 playset in the wild especially in a huge plastic Goodwill bin with tons of other crap piled on top of it! D:  I was happy however to find the MAIN base piece and I searched on ebay and BIN'd the missing pieces that I needed to help complete it. I've been coveting a Dream Castle since I started re collecting in 2007 but didn't want to pay eBay prices or the high shipping rates to get it here so I was SUPER EXCITED to find at least part of one in the wild and I can't wait to assemble all the pieces together and display it in my pony room. That's right, with my move, I finally have a pony room AND a pony closet!!! 

Also, my mom recently called me to tell me that she found 7 G1 ponies for me at a Goodwill right by her house and that TWO had 'squiggly lines on their feet.' I was like... :O !! And I said did she mean it looked like they had hairy hooves ?? And she said 'yes.' So that means she found me TWO BIG BROTHER PONIES OMG OMG She's wrapping them up for Christmas so I won't get to see who I got until Christmas morning and I'm so excited that she found Big Brothers as I don't have many of those, only Chief, Quarterback, Tex and Salty. I guess I have more that I thought haha.

My best advice is hit up  your Goodwills because as they say, one person's trash is definitely another pony's treasure!

[Stormness_1]

Right now, I'm hunting at Woolworths, because blindbags, blindbags everywhere, and I only need two to complete the current wave! I do periodically check department and toy stores for new G4, waiting for a new line... waiting... and waiting...

I haven't been earlier gen hunting though, saving for a holiday and stamp duty on the house we're buying (well we're buying part of, long very frustrating story)

[kakenterprise]

I usually go thrifting once a week and I hit 1-2 stores.  I don't go expecting or only looking to find ponies.  I go looking for lots of different toys, plush or other random stuff.  I just like going out walking around and looking at stuff.  The best part about hitting 2nd hand stores is seeing stuff you'd never see else where. 

I also do garage sales, rarely mom 2 mom sales, and large city wide sales.  I just feel if you go looking solely for ponies your going to be pretty disappointed.

[Sweet_Stuff]

I typically go to garage sales, antique stores and donation stores/thrift shops.

The latest pony I found in the wild (baby Surprise) was like 20 years ago! Never found another since then (so far). . . All I've found here recently are fakies, which I leave behind because I don't collect them, plus they freak me out.. 

Surprisingly and perhaps ironically, I have way better 'pony luck' when shopping for others...I stumble upon some amazing deals for private and public swap partners, and I've only been on the Arena since May! -- Hence my custom pony rank.

[Juliepants]

I love going round charity shops anyway, any new place I visit I try and have a look if there's any charity shops. I always have a look for pony stuff, but as yet have never found anything. I've also on occasion tried car boot sales, once again, not a bean as yet but I live in hope!!! I think I would probably buy anything pony-related I found at this point, even if I don't collect it, I'm getting desperate!!!

Jules x

[scarletjul]

I go to the thrift store closest to me once a week.  There's a few more in a twenty mile radius, which I'll hit up every few months.  Occasionally, I'll also check out flea markets/garage sales and the like.  My luck is hit and miss (lately miss) but I did find a g1 puzzle yesterday. 

I always buy g1s and g2s.  I leave g3s and g4s behind *if* they're super common.

[CottonTALE]

I don't really have a plan anymore for going pony-hunting. Due to being on a fixed income every month, If I can afford ponies that month that's great. If not, then I just look online from time to time to see what's new in-store and save up to get that (hopefully still being in stock when I do save up enough money.)

When I go out to thrift shops it's usually with my mom, so I swing by the toy section to see if I can find any G4s or other ponies of interest. The last time I went, I found a G1 Posey with very pink hair, so I was quite pleased about that

My best Thrift-store pull would have to be when I found a G4 brushable from the favourites pack (one of the top ponies I had been looking to get for that year) and I only paid $3 for her!

[SnorkMaiden]

At least once a weekend, I go to a couple of charity shops in my area, though I only find pony items every now and then. Every six or eight weeks, I go on a huge charity shop tour in the area where I used to live, as there are lots more charity shops there. It takes me the best part of the day, but it's such good fun that it's totally worth it. I'll go on my next big tour this Saturday, and I'm looking forward to it very much.

Also in the area where I used to live is a huge car boot sale that I love going to when the weather is nice. It takes place once a month, but only from September to November and then again from March to July, so I've got a wait quite a long time till the next one. It's worth it, though. I've found quite a few ponies of all generations there over the years, along with playsets, pomanders, plushies etc. It's a great place to go, and the atmosphere is very friendly.