Okay I'm an addict, I admit it. Both to EBay and currently for Painted Ponies. I've noticed that quite a few of the bidders are "newbies" (less than 100 EBay feedbacks) so I thought I would share some of my hard won expertise on getting the best value from your EBay Painted Ponies collecting experience. Bidding, shipping, sniping, feedback, powersellers, best offer, EBay stores, Buy-It-Now, retired, 1E they can all be overwhelming to the newcomer.

First- Price-  Remember collectors exhibit alot of the same behavior as gambling addicts and EBay with it's timed bidding can get you further sucked in. So be smart, spend some time with the full list of ponies and determine which ones you really want. You can get lists of them online. You can also find out the current online retail prices. EBay by far will give you the best deals but not always, so know your prices and check out the actual ponies at your local brick and mortar store to see what they really look like and if you still can't live without that particular one.

Second - Shipping - It can vary wildly. I've seen shipping as high as $20 on some ponies and even higher on other items, particularly the ones with start bids of $0.99. Be smart. never bid until you add the cost of the shipping to your bid price. Combined shipping from some of the Powersellers (really high volume folks) can bring your purchases down to an acceptable level but even here research your sellers. Some have initial fixed shipping of over $15 and other as low as $6.95 Each additional pony can be anywhere from $1.25 to $3.00.

Third - Buy-It-Now and EBay Stores - If you're looking for current ponies or newly retired ones the stores have a good selection and with the combined shipping you can pick up quite a few at a good price. Resin ponies have the highest discount over other sources, some as high as 30% (Fetish pony, Silver Lining and Fallen Heros etc), ceramics not as much. Buy-It-Now saves you the brain damage of a bidding war and gets you your pony much faster. If you convert a Buy-It-Now into a Best Offer you will have put the pony up for bid which I'll cover later.

Fourth - Seller Feedback- This probably should have come a bit earlier. Most sellers are reputable and ship quickly. Some are less so. The most chancy purchase you can make is with a new or occasional seller who may not ship for awhile or may forget he had the listing running at all! For new EBayers it's best to stick with the larger sellers (at least 200 and up) and do check any negative feedback you find to see what the complaint was about.  

 Fifth - Bidding - An artform in and of itself. This technique you want to save for the retired pony that you absolutely have to have. I started with "Give Me Wings" and "Go Van Gogh". For both I checked the current listings, then I went to the advanced search page and checked the completed listings. That way I saw what they were actually selling for (about $40-50 each plus shipping) and knew (approximately) what I would have to pay to get one. After picking auctions that had a seller I liked and with a time when I could be at my computer and "defend" the bid from sniping (more on sniping next) in the last minute of the auction I bid in at a low bid. The low bid was not what I expected to pay but I have found that if I put in my highest bid first that it can raise the price on me from what I would have paid as newer EBayers put in 7 to 10 bids at small increments trying to get higher than my bid. If I am outbid and I am still interested in the listing I'll wait until just before the end (in the last minutes) to up my bid and -hopefully- take home the prize. When it's a newer retired pony and coming from a PowerSeller I will then pick one or two of the additional current ponies that I want and Buy-It-Now to reduce the shipping cost.

Sixth - Retired & 1E  - Some older retired ponies can still be gotten for a good price on EBay if you are really interested in them. Spirit War Pony can be successfully bid for $20-25, Love as Strong as a Horse for about the same. Dances with Hooves, Floral Pony, Give Me Wings, On Common Ground, and Route 66 for double that. Wound up Time on the Range is the next most expensive running from a low of $86 to the more usual $100 to $130. I don't worry about 1E, boxes or hang tags because I don't intend to resell - I just love the artwork. This allows me to get a better deal on price. In fact I will even use an advanced search that eliminates the phrase 1E so I know the bidding won't be as high. Sometimes 1sts may look a little better because the artists are not so bored with painting them but I haven't seen a large difference with this product except with Golden Girl. Lists of who retired when are also available online - the earlier the retirement, generally, the higher the bid price. The other old retired ponies are frenzied bidding wars and require special techniques if you are willing to spend the money.

Seventh - Sniping -  A really nasty trick to play on a newcomer (although I have used it myself). You've found the pony, you've bid it out, you check at 5 minutes to the end and it's still yours, then you go get a cup of coffee and come back to pay for it and it's gone! You've been sniped. Sniping occurs in the last 1 to 2 minutes of the auction and may be done by someone who never appeared as a bidder at all until that last minute. It requres a high speed internet connection, some manual coordination and nerves of steel as you watch the time click down. It's done within the last two minutes because that's too late for EBay to get you the outbid alert on your Email and for you to get back and rebid the item. You will usually only see this with the 2004 retirements now but more will be added later. The defense? Either learn to snipe yourself or hold off on your top bid and put it in at less than half a minute to the end of the auction. If you are not sniped you won't wind up paying more (since you're the same bidder) but you will avoid - hopefully - losing that oh so special pony that you are willing to sacrifice dinners out for a month (or the rent check) to get.

Eighth - Who will retire next? If you're a bonafide collector addict this also causes you sleepless nights. First rule, get the ones you love the most first then you don't worry so much. Second, look for complicated ones that might cause production problems (like Golden Girl with all that glitter), slow selling ceramics (over half of them have been retired already), ones that people could classify as ugly or weird and the older releases. If you miss one and it retires see points one through seven. Enjoy your collection and enjoy the hunt as well!See you at the auctions.