Hello, seeking advice for offloading 950+ ponies thoughtfully

[mariq]

Hello!
My mother has about 950 MLPs from the 80s + buildings and accessories and more. She's downsizing/aging and now is the time to part with them.

I got some excellent advice to try selling them in 50 pony lots, but I am still curious if you had a random pile of ponies that big + a full-time job, what would your approach be to
a.) not dramatically rip yourself off -- but not needing maximum dollar
b.) not rip anyone else off, ideally do the opposite and make someone's day at least once or twice
c.) not give yourself a multi-month second fulltime job.

I like the idea of 50 pony lots because then some people will get super lucky. But even then, there's so many questions about how to organize them, how many lots to list at once (I don't want to upset the market), etc. I thought about seeing if someone would buy the whole thing, but would be at a loss for a fair price or even how to put together that price, or if someone could afford it.

So, now I am here hoping to glean and learn from those who have pony'd before me.

Thanks so much!
Mari

 

[Msmegazord]

This is a big job and without looking at each one and assessing its condition and subsequent value it'll be hard to accurately price the lots. If you could at least get some decent photos of the items (in groups) clear enough to at least see what you have, I'd be happy to help you catalog and research!

This is a big job and without looking at each one and assessing its condition and subsequent value it'll be hard to accurately price the lots. If you could at least get some decent photos of the items (in groups) clear enough to at least see what you have, I'd be happy to help you catalog and research!

I should add I love this kind of thing and have some spare time. I wouldn't expect anything... This is purely a volunteer offer.

 

[Icey_Flowerswirl]

This is a big job and without looking at each one and assessing its condition and subsequent value it'll be hard to accurately price the lots. If you could at least get some decent photos of the items (in groups) clear enough to at least see what you have, I'd be happy to help you catalog and research!

I’d agree with @Msmegazord. If it was me, I would put the ponies that are lower valued in lots and then sell the higher valued ones separately. Best of luck on your selling!

 

[Tak]

Hi! Welcome to the mlptp! I agree with both the above. If it was me, personally, I avoid stress, so I would sell low to someone on here willing to pay a reasonable price for everything. I am, admittedly, one of those who would rather give ponies away to someone who I know would make sure they’re taken good care of, and only have to ship once. It’s really dependent upon you and how much you want to make off the ponies or not. That said. We can help with price checks if you post pictures. Condition is everything. There are many on here who resell ponies and might be interested in buying more for a bit less profit on your end, but then you could just be done and still get some profit. You’re welcome to message me if anyone offers and you want an opinion, only a personal opinion, on fairness of price.

 

[Gingerbread]

That is quite the undertaking and giving your bullet points above, it sounds like you don't have much interest in investing the amount of time it would take to get your top dollar which would be clean, organize and individual sales. You've gotten good advice, sell the rare ones individually and group together lots of the others. If you wanted to make several someone's day I would say post everything you have here and offer to sell individually but you could avoid some of the work by taking group pictures and members could just contact you with what they wanted. We're all used to cleaning up ponies so that saves you some trouble as long as you can give pictures or descriptions of flaws. That is something I wish I could've done is gotten a "lot" of ponies and just gotten what I needed instead of having to resell doubles. One thing that's great about here is no fees! I've pretty much completed the US collection so I don't have many ponies left to find but I would love to hear about your accessories

 

[Msmegazord]

That is quite the undertaking and giving your bullet points above, it sounds like you don't have much interest in investing the amount of time it would take to get your top dollar which would be clean, organize and individual sales. You've gotten good advice, sell the rare ones individually and group together lots of the others. If you wanted to make several someone's day I would say post everything you have here and offer to sell individually but you could avoid some of the work by taking group pictures and members could just contact you with what they wanted. We're all used to cleaning up ponies so that saves you some trouble as long as you can give pictures or descriptions of flaws. That is something I wish I could've done is gotten a "lot" of ponies and just gotten what I needed instead of having to resell doubles. One thing that's great about here is no fees! I've pretty much completed the US collection so I don't have many ponies left to find but I would love to hear about your accessories

This is a good point. You could probably get decent offers just by posting images of what you have here.

Also @Gingerbread I am so envious of your position! I'll be 95 years old by the time I've got anywhere near a complete pony collection haha

 

[mariq]

This is all such excellent and warm-hearted advice. I love the idea of making someone's day and I'm lucky enough that financially, I do not need to get top dollar. It also feels like cheating considering they were mostly thrift store hunts over my childhood (One of my favorite activities). I need to consult with my mom, but I bet she would be delighted about helping people complete their collections. Plus it seems kind of fun to stage a pony photo shoot. We'll talk through the options and I'll post again. Thanks again!

 

[Nerdzuka]

This is all such excellent and warm-hearted advice. I love the idea of making someone's day and I'm lucky enough that financially, I do not need to get top dollar. It also feels like cheating considering they were mostly thrift store hunts over my childhood (One of my favorite activities). I need to consult with my mom, but I bet she would be delighted about helping people complete their collections. Plus it seems kind of fun to stage a pony photo shoot. We'll talk through the options and I'll post again. Thanks again!

I'm actually starting my g1 collection I have an old playset from the thrift store and 2 g1 plushies the rest are childhood ponies from the 2000s. Let me know how much for the whole set once

 

[MustBeJewel]

Welcome! I absolutely echo @Gingerbread's thoughts, and I think you will find plenty of buyers here that are happy to buy in lots.

That said though, please feel free to make a post in General Discussion if you want to double check the value of any of your ponies. We will be able to tell you if you're at least in the right ballpark, so that you don't end up selling your $1200 Rapunzel for $25, so to speak.