Another of those pony "experts"

Skelletonimp

Skelletonimp

Teeny Tiny Baby Pony
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
534
Omg this is so stupid. Someone in my country is again acting like a pony expert.
€100 for 8 ponies.


-Please do not post live auction links, you are free to link to the picture only :)

the advertising says they are in good condition. Erhm right, mayor frizzyness, haircuts, etc.

And that they would probably bring up more money if he puts them up in auction, because they are in very good condition for 27 year old ponies XD
 
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I once got into a heated debate with a woman in a charity store here in the UK because she had really boring ponies for sale, behind glass, and wanted £8 each for them. I'm talking faded Blossom, cut haired Bowtie, and some *fakies*.

When I said "Why on earth are you selling them for that much??" she said "Oh, they're COLLECTIBLES" now. I ended up leaving having informed her that if she wants to tote around the word 'collectibles' as though she knows anything she's talking about, she should get her darned facts straight, and that those horrible fakies are *not* part of the line.

Three weeks later they were on a normal shelf, and £1 each (and the fakies were in a box on the floor.)

I really don't like these 'experts'.
 
My mom was at a flea market once, and found a guy who was selling ponies. He wanted like 10-15 per pony, and they were quite common (G1's and G3's). He was selling the G3's for more, and was trying to convince my mom and this other lady that they were getting these ponies at an incdreible deal....ya know, since they are rare. My mom told the one lady to hold on for a second before buying anything. The guy asked why. My mom told him she was going to call her daughter because she is a MLP collector, and will be able to tell me if they are worth what he was asking. Evidently the guy knew he was ripping people off because he started telling my mom that he would do 2 for $10. She still called me, and I told her that the whole lot may be worth $15 if they were in mint condition. Needless to say, the poor manky ponies stayed with him, and the other lady kept thanking my mom. :) I wonder if the other lady was buying for a collector too. My mom didn't ask her, but I wish she had.
 
Ah yeah, there was this guy who comes to my local bootfair and sells off tonnes of various collectibles/antiques and he often has ponies. He wants £2.50 a pony and although I've got some that cleaned up pretty nice most of them are actually really manky and I brought a Majesty that when I went to check her inside her neck ring ripped off! He's an okay guy but I don't think most of the ones he had we're worth it.
 
Don't you just LOVE those experts! There was this woman that had the show stable case and 4 common ponies at the flea market here. Well, she swore and swore that MLP was vintage from the 1970's not the 80's! It was crazy! Even showing her the feet didn't matter! Instead of arguing about it any further I just put her ponies down, admitted defeat, and walked away.
 
I find collectors who are rude/snobby to misinformed people much more annoying :|
 
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Ms Twilight said:
Don't you just LOVE those experts! There was this woman that had the show stable case and 4 common ponies at the flea market here. Well, she swore and swore that MLP was vintage from the 1970's not the 80's! It was crazy! Even showing her the feet didn't matter! Instead of arguing about it any further I just put her ponies down, admitted defeat, and walked away.
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oy! lol... how obnoxious.
 
I'm afraid I've to agree with vanillascoop.

Why spoil the day for both the seller and you over who's right and wrong when you could either haggle the price nicely or just walk off and allow people who are willing to pay, buy them?
 
Well, there isn't a reason to be rude to someone who's misinformed, but it's also not impolite to kindly inform them they are misinformed. I mean, if you're trying to buy some ponies, and you know their actual worth and the background and everything behind them, I don't see anything wrong with politely informing the seller that their information is incorrect and trying to get an actual fair price on them rather than getting ripped off or something. And saving someone from spending $10 on some fakie or something is an act of kindness, so I really don't think correcting someone who is misinformed is rude or annoying, as long as it is done politely.

Just because we know what we're talking about and dealing with doesn't mean we don't have the right to inform someone when we are possibly getting ripped off, especially in the cases when the sellers aren't actually misinformed and actually are trying to rip people off.
 
I think you have to make a clear distinction here between sellers who try to rip off people and those who simply don't know any better. That distinction is easier to make on eBay, where it's pretty simply to check prices (if only a seller wants to), but it's much harder on the fleamarket. Personally, I've never lectured any seller about their prices being too high. Either I want the pony, even if it's too expensive, or I walk away. I wouldn't warn other buyers, either, unless in extreme cases. If I were to see a little girl handing over all her pocket money for one pony, when I knew she could get several ponies for it elsewhere, I'd probably suggest to her to talk to her parents about it first.
 
I think it is all in the delivery. If you are nice and friendly about it, and they take offense then they probably know what you are talking about and just want you to go away before you turn away any other poor high paying customers! If they thank you and reduce the price then you have done a good thing. However if you have a go at them off the bat then of course they are going to be rude back....
 
"I find collectors who are rude/snobby to misinformed people much more annoying"

Really? I find people who work for a CHARITY and were given items for FREE, and then trying to RIP INNOCENT PEOPLE OFF when they don't have their facts straight way, WAY more annoying than anybody trying to correct their ignorance. I'm SO SO glad no normal people saw faded, dingy Blossom and thought they was getting a bargain for £8. If I correct somebody and they still insist they're right and continue to try and rip off innocent customers, I've absolutely no respect for them as a salesperson and "ignorance" or being misinformed isn't an excuse at all, because if you're going to tote around buzz words like "Collectibles", you damned well better know what you're selling, or else you are purposefully trying to con people out of their hard earned cash.

Personally.
 
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^ yeah it's sad that people do try to make money out of things that aren't worth it, but who are you to judge that? how do you know they're not just misinformed? i've worked at charity shops and they've mostly had no idea about prices for older, literally. and honestly if i was selling something and someone tried to tell me the correct price with the same attitude as you, i'd probably take the same route as them and be more offended than willing to listen.
at the end of the day you don't get anywhere being so rude, and you do sound rude (not to mention aggressive o_O) be polite, if they don't want to listen, their loss, and like you said other people probably won't buy them for high prices anyway. but it honestly makes me very sad to see people posting on here with this disgusting sneery attitude. collecting is supposed to be fun. and as a collector you should get used to overpricing because it'll always be around. being rude and having an attitude over it won't change that.
 
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We are all entitled to our opinions. Calling people out can be just a rude Vanilla. ;)

Overcharging will always be around. While trying to "correct" a seller can be seen as rude, it can also be educational. However, if someone is going to be rude when I point this out to them, then I am going to throw the same attitude back. People can become rude when you are not rude to them, and likewise people can be kind even if someone is rude to them. It's business.
 
I don't think that collectors should be rude (because I don't feel that anyone should be rude), but I also disagree that overpricing is something people should get used to. I don't think it's right to let sellers misinform their buyers. The buyer that pays more than an item is worth doesn't benefit from doing so--the benefit goes all to the seller. There will always be people who will charge too much for their items, but some might just be unaware that they haven't actually uncovered some magnificent expensive item.

In the end the seller can still snub his or her nose at you and keep charging $100 for a grimy Peachy, but I'd personally feel really guilty if I didn't say anything and a stupidly uninformed buyer bought a pony at that price!

I have a friend who is just getting into collecting, and I've been worried about him overpaying for ponies. He doesn't have a really good grasp of what he ought to pay, although he is trying to learn. However, I've been trying to provide some guidance so he doesn't snap up every $10 pony thinking "wow, these are cheap!!" when they're absolutely not. I'd feel the same uneasiness watching a stranger pay too much.

On this note, I hate seeing the term "rare." It's virtually never used with accuracy by most resellers. I've seen many people claiming that a dirty half-chewed toy is "rare" or a faded and incredibly abundant item is "rare" or a damaged item is a "rare variant." u_u It's very disheartening. I don't get butterflies in my stomach when someone says "rare" and feel the need to own that item, which I think is what sellers expect to happen when that word comes into play.
 
Shrug, I started off the conversation as politely as any regular conversation. I foolishly thought I would help inform them (and get the darned fakies away from the real ponies so people don't become even more misinformed.)

The whole thing became pretty snarky when she responded to me ignorantly and huffily, I don't need someone turning their nose up at me and declaring something "collectible" when they clearly don't have the evidence to support that statement. Even my mother whom I was with at the time said she wouldn't bother shopping there again.

In the end the seller can still snub his or her nose at you and keep charging $100 for a grimy Peachy, but I'd personally feel really guilty if I didn't say anything and a stupidly uninformed buyer bought a pony at that price!
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Yes, exactly. When I first got into the pony community I traded Bobbi (the symbol-less pegasus) for a not-even-mint Twilight (unicorn) and nobody was there to tell me "Hey, this probably isn't all that fair a trade." - I WISH somebody had been there to tell me, as I thankfully feel I helped people in getting fakies and common G1s for any price less than £8.

If I walked into a charity store and they wanted £50 for a behind-the-glass Ice Crystal I would happily say fair play to them, but I reiterate, it's one thing pricing something how you feel fair, and another to tote around some sort of authority when you clearly don't have it. Say I'd been a new collector? How in God's name is it fair of anyone to *STATE* something as fact when it just plain *isn't*? It was when THAT attitude and sheer refusal to even look to see the fakies weren't Hasbro that turned the conversation from helpful advice to snarky commentary.
 
sorry, i didn't clarify what i meant. i don't mean get used to it as in, ignore it, but there will always be people who think they know best. if you can put in a kind, helpful word to guide them the right way in terms of pricing, that's great, but there will still be people who try to get a little more from what they sell. i told the people at the charity shops i've worked at the sort of price range things are worth, and showed them good sites to get price guides from, and they were really grateful. but i wouldn't go into a shop, see them overpriced, and go up to someone who works there and be like "OMG these are SO overpriced how can you do this?!?!11" because it's just... pushy.
and i'm allowed to express my opinion, just as some people are allowed to post about people in a derogatory way who aren't even on this board to defend themselves. it's fair enough to have a little chuckle about it, or even a small rant, but i find some of the posts quite unkind.
 
Oh gosh, how will the people who will never see this, who probably don't even recall this happened, cope with my moaning about something that happened about five years ago? :\ I must be a horrrrible person. :/

Again, everything started friendly enough. I actually thought I was being helpful, but I'm not prepaired to be spoken down to by anybody. Being sneered at and told "Well I'm sorry, they're collectible now!" even after I've held a freaking Remco fakie against a Hasbro pony to try to explain the differences is not respect, so why on earth should I return it?

It'd be excellent if they had said "Oh really? Hrm" and even pretended to care that I was stopping other customers from being ripped off. Sadly I guess customer fairness wasn't high on their priorities. I've no problem with someone saying "they're collectible" if they have anything to support that statement. But mannnn has this argument gone circular, I'm saying the same thing again, and I'm farrr too lazy to keep defending my opinions :p
 
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honestly, none of these sellers are (most likely) ever going to see something like this... so I don't really think anyone here is in the wrong to rant about it.

are we being snarky? maybe... but we're just talking. We're not hurting anybody directly.
 
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