Is There Pony Thrifting Etiquette?

[Princess Lala]

I have found tons of ponies in the wild! However only 3 of those ponies are G1, I mostly find G3 and G4. Dear goodness there is a scary abundance of G3 in my area! All the thrift stores are first come first serve and won't accept holds or do phonecalls. They get too busy for that anyways. I only go to one thrift store, because it does have a huge section for toys and I love it! I only check there on weekdays in the middle of the week because that's when they seem to put the toys out. I pick through the misc bags hanging up, and I usually find a lot of ponies that don't interest me. So far I have found G1 wise: Quarterback Big Brother, Cherry Jubilee, and a BBE (ballerina shoes symbol).

I have also found some very rare anime plush and Pokemon toys there!

[Skeen]

The only ettiqiette I guess would be not to do stereotypical black friday behavior or ninja snatch stuff.

Exactly, and even then that's just politeness. 

As much as everyone hates to lose out on ponies for any reason, the ones in flea markets or resale shops aren't "yours," and you're not entitled to them.  (generic yours, no one specific)  The stores and markets are public and anyone and everyone is welcome to buy whatever is in them.  I don't go to Oklahoma City often, but you'd better believe when I do I hit all the Goodwills.  Same with anyplace I go, really.  My regular flea market, the one I think of as "mine" is still no more mine than any of the stores in OKC.  I've seen people there with "my" ponies before.  It just means I need to get up earlier on Saturdays. 

Or bring Aadra's husband with me, because the man is a rare pony magnet, I swear...

[Aurora]

For the last 7 months my husband and I have come up empty whenever we go thrifting for ponies. I got to the point where I was starting to thinking that people just weren't donating their ponies down here. This week my husband heard of a good lead on ponies, but when he got to the thrift store he found they were sold. To be sweet he hit up a few more thrift stores on his way home for me. No ponies anywhere to be had, but he did get the same story from multiple thrift stores.

The Story: A woman and her mechanic husband make often trips down from upstate to buy up ponies.

The Question: What's the etiquette when pony hunting outside your home area? What do you do when you find a specific person is picking your local hunting ground clean on a regular basis?

It seems odd for someone to travel all the way to the nearly southern part of South Carolina for ponies. If I wanted to I suppose I could spend the 3-4 hours a day going to all the thrift store in my area, but I really don't have the time or gas money to do that. Honestly, I prefer not to go thrifting more than every other week if I can help it, since I usually go with my husband, and he's got other stuff he has to do on weekends. Its really disheartening trip after trip, month after month to not find anything at all. 

If I could figure out who this person is than I'd ask about maybe becoming pony hunting buddies. I'm sure my husband is tired of looking for ponies with me anyways. 

Anyone have any thoughts on it?

Is there a way to leave a message for the other collector? If they are a collector, you can probably do some trading, or at least make a friend. If they're a seller, they should be thrilled to have a buyer they can call with ponies they find. Maybe chat with the staff, and leave a phone number. If they know this person just by what they buy, it can't be impossible to leave a message!

[RainbowQuartz]

There is someone in my area that buys EVERYTHING just to resell. She doesn't collect, just buys is all up and keeps it in containers and lists on ebay. That really annoys me, as a collector, but I don't have more of a right to them than she does even though I don't like that she does it.

My husband says "It's kill or be killed!" looking for vintage stuff in the wild.

[Snapdragon]

There is someone in my area that buys EVERYTHING just to resell. She doesn't collect, just buys is all up and keeps it in containers and lists on ebay. That really annoys me, as a collector, but I don't have more of a right to them than she does even though I don't like that she does it.

My husband says "It's kill or be killed!" looking for vintage stuff in the wild.

Oooh, I would hate that!! >.< It's one thing to buy up all the ponies, keep the ones you need and resell the rest, but just hunting for the sake of scalping annoys me a bit! I guess it feels kinda dishonest, like ... you don't really want those items, you just want to make money! Then again, in this economy, who can blame them? :/

Personally, as much as I hate the idea of showing up at a thrift store and finding all of the ponies I'd wanted gone, the alternative is that everyone avoids going out of their "comfort zone", ponies languish in the thrift shop, and possibly end up getting thrown out when they don't sell! I'd rather miss out on ponies that ended up in a collector's hands, rather than got thrown away because no one was sure who was "allowed" to buy them.

Still, I can imagine how frustrating it is to have an "out of towner" show up and scoop you on all the good hunting spots!

[Galactica]

Agree that the only "etiquette" is really don't take a pony out of someone else's cart. Don't shove.  (That actually happens at the Goodwill outlet Bins which is why I don't go anymore).

I think the last downturn in the economy, plus the increasing awareness of ebay- means that more and more and more people are combing through thriftstores to sell stuff on ebay.  Probably also people with disabilities, unemployed, retired, just about anyone who needs some extra $$.   I haven't found really good vintage toys for a LONG time now and it is because thrift shopping has become ridiculously competitive.

Also, places like Goodwill pick out things that are potentially collectible like MLP (from any generation) and sell them in big lots on Shopgoodwill.com where they sell for way over market value almost every time...

[LadyMoondancer]

Yeah, the Tacoma Goodwill sells all it's G1 ponies on shopgoodwill.com.   I've found a few at the Seattle Ballard Value Village--but very few and far between.   They usually have a couple G3s, but I don't actively collect those.

[Galactica]

Yeah, the Tacoma Goodwill sells all it's G1 ponies on shopgoodwill.com.   I've found a few at the Seattle Ballard Value Village--but very few and far between.   They usually have a couple G3s, but I don't actively collect those.

Same-  I've seen a sprinkling of G3s and G4 (plush mostly) at the Seattle Goodwill downtown, and I used to see G3s here and there at the Value Village in Capitol Hill (not sure it is there anymore) but I don't collect them.  NEVER G1s.

[aluke]

Yeah, the Tacoma Goodwill sells all it's G1 ponies on shopgoodwill.com.   I've found a few at the Seattle Ballard Value Village--but very few and far between.   They usually have a couple G3s, but I don't actively collect those.

Same-  I've seen a sprinkling of G3s and G4 (plush mostly) at the Seattle Goodwill downtown, and I used to see G3s here and there at the Value Village in Capitol Hill (not sure it is there anymore) but I don't collect them.  NEVER G1s.

I found a trio of G1s at the Value Village at the Ballard location a couple months ago, so Seattle can't be totally dry yet.

[ringwraith10]

I was once maybe a bit discourteous at a yard sale event. This lady kept getting to every yard sale just seconds before me and snatching up every single piece of Disney merchandise right before I could lay my hands on it (I'm still mad about some cool ceramic figures she got!). She would then tell each and every sales person that she was buying this stuff to decorate a room for her UNBORN CHILD. I mean, COME ON, she didn't even have a child yet! And she was buying ceramic figures for this not-yet-even-a-baby! So I skipped a yard sale so I could start buying literally everything Disney -- even crap I didn't want. Yeah, it was a ridiculous act on my part, but I was mad at that hoarder-mother-to-be.

[LadyMoondancer]

I found some G1s at the Seattle Capitol Hill Value Village on a few different occasions, which surprised me because that neighborhood is mostly young people who don't have kids.  But now that Value Village has closed.    There's a Goodwill on Capitol Hill too, but it has a lousy toy selection.

[Purpleglasses]

You can probably ask the people at the store to call you when they get some ponies in. You have as much right to them as the other collector, (and she has a much right to them as you) but if you get there before she does because you got a call and you live closer to the store, that's that. Nothing wrong with it at all. Giving the store your number is just getting you in the game.

Good luck!

[TajazzleGlow]

Another Seattle person here

Post Merge: May 23, 2016, 11:28:37 PM

Whoa dang don't know how my post got messed up but what I said was. I've found G1's only twice since living here. Once at Ballard GW and once at Cap Hill VV. G1 ponies we're more plentiful in Chicago. Used to find them lots at Village Discount Outlets.

[millenium0chi]

When I lived in CT, my local Goodwill always had G1s, but I didn't always buy them.  I only bought if it was a pony I was really looking for or was in SUCH nice shape that it was a shame to leave it for the price.  But if I already had the pony or it was in better shape for play then for collecting, I left it.

Since I've moved to NC, I haven't found a single pony thrifting...and we have a lot of thrift stores in my area!  I haven't even seen a G3, G4 or any really good toys, really.  Mostly baby things.  I have had good luck at the big flea market in Raleigh.  I've found a few pretty nice ponies there, but I wouldn't fault anyone for swooping in on them before me.  It's a very large, regional market, so people come from all over the central part of the state to walk through there.

Other than that, I've had minimal luck finding G1s in the wild.  And nothing that I would've ever called rare or valuable.  While not as fun (AKA like shooting fish in a barrel), I've grown my collection through Etsy and Ebay.  Actually, Etsy is a GREAT place to get ponies for good prices in good condition.

[ponyqueen]

There is someone in my area that buys EVERYTHING just to resell. She doesn't collect, just buys is all up and keeps it in containers and lists on ebay.

 

Post Merge: May 24, 2016, 11:27:25 AM

I was once maybe a bit discourteous at a yard sale event. This lady kept getting to every yard sale just seconds before me and snatching up every single piece of Disney merchandise right before I could lay my hands on it (I'm still mad about some cool ceramic figures she got!). She would then tell each and every sales person that she was buying this stuff to decorate a room for her UNBORN CHILD. I mean, COME ON, she didn't even have a child yet! And she was buying ceramic figures for this not-yet-even-a-baby! So I skipped a yard sale so I could start buying literally everything Disney -- even crap I didn't want. Yeah, it was a ridiculous act on my part, but I was mad at that hoarder-mother-to-be.