Best Deal You've Ever Gotten

The best deals I found were at BJD/doll swap meets and conventions. Some small dolls, various wigs and clothes at super amazing prices! These are from sellers clearancing out their stock items or second-hand items (large hobbyists clearing out their extras, basically). I don't typically get good deals for handmade new items.

 

Best deal - probably when I got my Bimong Dandelion twins. I stumbled across the sale by accident and it was a no brainer to pick up twins. I love this sculpt and I've always wanted a set of twin dolls. Not only was the price amazing but I received them in like 10 or 15 days.

 

One of my best deals was Quin, a JieDoll Ashford. He was brand new but the store selling him was closing so he was 50% off. I got a $500US doll for $250US and when he arrived, not only did he have a stellar face-up, his torso was beautifully blushed as well. I think my Unidoll UH-08 Elf was an amazing steal at just $280US considering that Unidoll is long gone and he still has a flawless default face-up as well as coming with his default Unidoll wig (which another doll of mine stole and looks awesome in).

My absolute best deal ever was Khale, a Leeke Khal Limited 2011 fullset in rose white skin with the light face-up and bloody night outfit. he was the grand prize at the charity raffle at DollNorth one year and I entered on a whim never expecting to actually win him. I bought 2 tickets for $10 and went about my business. I was doing my own event at AnimeNorth when the call came that I won him so didn't get the message until several hours later. Because AN is a local-for-me con, I didn't need to pay shipping as I just carried him home (as awkward as that was on public transit *laughs*). So I got what was basically a $1000US doll for $10CAN.

 

I got a SD10 4 sisters head for about 1/4 of what they usually go for due to somebody trying to close her eyes with epoxy putty. I was able to undo the mods pretty easily I recently got the perfect body (and perfect resin match) for a head I've been trying to find a body for months for about 30% less than what others were selling it for because the left hand was broken...good thing the character is missing his left hand and part of his arm and I was already going to cut off half his forearm anyway it worked out perfectly.

 

Probably my Smoky Quartz Shiwoo. Luts only made five worldwide so the fact that he showed up on the marketplace at all was amazing, much less with both heads, original faceups, and all his full set gear for a fair price and with layaway.

Close second would be fullset Sphaler, who I also got with his original blushing and faceup four years after he was released for less then he would've cost me new.

 

Dollshe's half-off sale in 2010. I purchased a new DS Saint for around $350, if I remember correctly!

 

A couple of years ago, a UK dealer closed up shop, clearance-priced most of their stock, and put a few items into a charity raffle. I wasn't too into the sale items, but the grand prize doll, a Little Monica Little Harmony Irin got my attention. I figured I had a snowball's chance at winning her, but I also liked the choice of charity, so I kicked in about $12 for a few entries and proceeded to not hold my breath.

Five days later I got an email with the results, and I'd actually won her! Basic shipping was included, and I kicked in enough to upgrade the shipping, so she ultimately cost me about $25 shipped.

 

The best deal for me was finding someone on ebay who was willing to get DD Kagamine Len for me at the Volks Dolpa in Japan. Len is a lottery and I never win lotteries, the lottery is also like 2 months long so I would die of anxiety wondering if I win or not. I would also probably be so sad to see - again - that I didn't win. I always wanted a DD boy, I'm serious about him so losing would be very heartbreaking. However, this person on ebay gave me a good price, not retail price but it wasn't scalpers' price either. Plus I'm paying him to go to this place in which you need to buy tickets and guidebooks and pay for transport. Now I don't have to fear my anxiety nor do I have to wait 2 months to find out if I won. I fully trust this person so I consider myself lucky.

Other good deals I got were my 2 DD boys, Miku and MOMO (I think I've been lucky with finding affordable DDs). I got the unused Miku head from ebay for just $200 (I didn't want the outfit since he is a boy) then I found the Miku body for cheap on Mandarake, bought it but didn't like it and sold it. With that money I got DDS body for my Miku head. I found DDS MOMO on Mandarake lower than retail price because it was advertised as "only doll, outfit incomplete, used" however, I received a brand new FULL doll with the complete outfit, wig and shoes unused which I sold because my MOMO is a boy so he was even cheaper in the end.

 

Well...I have to say Finney was my best deal because he ended up being free.

During the Customhouse\Aidolls fiasco a few years back, I had ordered a Junior Yeonu and had been waiting a while. There were other people in the waiting thread saying they had been waiting for almost a year or more, and I told myself that after a certain amount of time I would tell them to cancel my order. I did, and when they didn't respond several times I did a chargeback through my bank because time was about to run out on doing that. I contacted them and told them to cancel because I did a chargeback.

Their response was 'order has been cancelled' but then when I saw it wasn't, and hadn't been for about a week, I told them again and they said the order had shipped. I freaked out, told them they'd have to recharge it and even contacted my bank to tell them to reverse the chargeback, but they said the seller had to do it.

Again, Customhouse\Aidolls said 'it has been shipped and the order is completed'. I posted everyday for about two weeks and they never charged me again. Then shortly after they closed their webpage and went completely to Aidolls.

But I don't know if you'd call it a deal when he has cracks, bubbles, a non-fitting head cap, a right hand that doesn't fit in the joint, and no matter how tight you string him, he won't stand and barely sits because he's like a rag doll. The only thing they DID get right was the face up!

I still feel bad about it, but I tried SO HARD to make them charge me again.

 

One of my best deals I ran into by accident is an HID from Ipelhouse named Drake. The owner didn't love him & I bought him at about half price with a face up, wig & clothing already. This was one of my biggest doll scores!

 

Found rare doll and was able to get $500 off of it which I then used to get another I wanted that I had found.

 

For me it was a DC Ada bought off the DOA. I'd been watching her but when the seller lowered the price temporary I snatched her up. Centaur parts and belly piece for about $115. I love her

 

My best deal? a Soo-head that was listed as "junk" that the seller waived the payment once I told them I wanted to work on fixing her up and making her pretty again. Once done, I gave her as a gift to one of my favorite face-up artists.

 

My first doll would probably the best deal I can think of so far. She's a secondhand Doll Famy H Zhi Yan hybrid to a Mirodoll MSD body. At first I was stalking the post since I was still looking for other dolls I could find on FB groups. Until her price dropped to $150 with free shipping to anywhere in US. I took the opportunity of putting her on layaway. Funny thing is that my girl never had to go through customs. I'm from the Philippines and our customs had some super holding up issues that it went viral on local news. Since it's a free shipping to the US, I asked the seller to have her ship from Illinois to New York to my dad's friend that's coming home for summer. So yeah... I got a doll free of shipping, no worries of custome and no taxes at all. Hahaha!

 

My best deal ever were two IOS heads (Jaguar and Chaos with default faceup in perfect condition) which I got from Mandarake JP for 8000yen each. After I placed my order I started to worry if they are legit, even I saw their default faceup, I just couldn't believe the price. Mandarake said there was just the box and head, not mentioning the certificates. When I got them, I found the certificates inside their original boxes, I was so happy.

 

Probably my volks dollfie dream Asuna. She has some pretty bad stains but I saved over $500 because of that. Replacement parts are less than $100 if I can't get the stains out. They are covered up when she's dressed anyway.

 

An MSD Blue Fairy boy and FL MNF A-line Miyu for $225 each. I thought those were great deals at the time. I wasn't looking for either sculpt but at a price like that, I couldn't resist. They needed some cleaning, had no eyes or wigs, and were nude but at least you could easily assess their condition in that state.

 

About 2 years ago when the yen-usd exchange rate was really good, I got a fullset Volks Manabu for $150! Found him on Mandarake and had to act

 

A few years ago, whenever I first got into the hobby, I bought my third BJD off of facebook from a seller in Taiwan.

She was selling her Angel of Dream Mo (SD13), who she had outgrown. He was the last of her dolls in that size and all she wanted to do was focus only on her MSD kids. Well from what I understand, she was frustrated because she had been trying to sell him for over a year, so much so that she lowered his price to $240 and included 2 wigs, 2 sets of eyes, 4 pairs of pants and 6 shirts, plus a pair of shoes, in hopes that he would sell. So of course I inquired, and because I was eager to get him off of her hands, she offered to pay for half of the shipping.

To say the last, I got a doll who was almost like new, with a bunch of freebees and a quality faceup, for less than $300.

It was a great deal indeed. And I still have him, his name is Noel (Pronounced like Joel). He's my third BJD and 2nd boy.

 

I got a MNF Miyu head, for about $50. The face up was blank, and there was an unfinished eye-mod. Im pretty happy with the purchase.