BJD makers threatened by China-based counterfeiter / trademarks

I like to buy from the secondhand market so I totally undertstand your point.
For DOA I also dont have a thread yet since I'm a newbie who still doesnt has marketplace acess.
I guess its kind hard to sell something expensive for the first time regardless of being a bjd doll, because there are so many people dishonest out there this harms innocent people.

One thing I do when purchasing things online (I dont think it can help in international purchases, but selling within your country before can help to build a good feedback page) is getting personal information as assurance, like social security number, if something goes wrong is so much easier to report the person to police. And people who are malicious from the start will think twice before making a deal with you.

 

@flornosertao If someone asks me for my SS# I'm bowing out faster then you can breath. To me that's the sign of a scammer. I wouldn't suggest people start asking for that.

 

In my country is quite a normal thing to do. I am aware this will depend though, I don't know how american ss# work but there isnt really many things you can do with brazilian's one. In mercado livre (which is like brazilian ebay) some sellers even put theirs in the itens description to go straight to the point. You also need it to make a money transference from differents banks so when paying like that you have to give it anyway.

 

I'm going to have to agree with @Cloudedmind when it comes to this. In the US, you don't want to share your SSN any more than you absolutely have to because people can commit fraud under your name with it. They can take out credit cards, get loans(possibly access your bank account depending on your security settings), and buy things that they don't pay for, and leave you responsible for all of it.

This whole trademark/recast situation is crappy. :\ The hobby and my dolls are my biggest creative outlet at this point, it's an inspiration and something I look forward to...and to have the hobby community threatened by this cretin is so frustrating.

In the update I saw on instagram, it looks as though Luo is not only putting company plates on his recasts because he claims they're legal due to his trademarking, but he's putting together authentic looking bags and boxes as well. -_-;

 

I mean, SSN probably isnt the right doc than, but there must be some information you can ask for.

I often buy through people I've see announcing in the internet but not in e-market kind of sites (this sites are built so people can meet and buy the item face to face, but I guess I am adventurous), we have to talk and make directs transations like money transference (we dont use paypal often here, though we have a similar kind of system its more often used by brands than individuals). I was NEVER scammed nor scammed anyone. So really, I cant say I've never been afraid when the post mail delayed or something, but it can be worked out. People arent all bad out there. I know this kind of happening make we lose faith in humanity, develop trust issues and all this problems. But we shouldnt let those people ruin the hobby for us. We will find a way!

Back to luo, I've seen this too. Some pro-recasters still believe in the other luo theory, but the first luo (aka S/L) talked about "owning the trademark anyway" so yeah, I guess its debunked. I heard some people contacted him again and now he changed the whole "is not me, they are trying to ruin me" and is just laughing of people repporting the issue to him now that he got some of the trademarks already.
He is literally laughing in the face of past buyers, I dont know how can someone support him in any way, is that some kind of stockholm syndrome?
I've seen people talking about "wanting to get a recast but not from luo, because of the whole trademark issue", and I am like, "you know how the 'whole trademark issue' started, right?" Is not because luo is more awful than other recasts, if wasnt him, it could have been any one of the others, they are all doing something wrong and illegal, luo was just faster.

 

Actually if an owner who buys direct from a doll company prints off a copy of their order sheet that's pretty good proof along with CoA with matching date information. and you don't need to worry about your personal information on if in the case that you sell it because the 'buyer" will see your details in your return address lable on a package, so no fear in it being on the order sheet. It's what i sent with an Iple body i sold. I X out what they buyer did NOT take circled what they DID take and hand wrote sale details of the secondary market sale on the page. I keep a copy of my printed sheet stapled to my 'shipping' sheets from the company or in the case of second hand the seller. I have two files in a cabinet... one for 'company' orders and one for second hadn sale papers ( My CoA's get a separate file i have enough lol). ... Iplehouse has it's own file lol. but yes do print... it's a good (but scary) record for you as well .. good for insurance purposes
.

 

Am I the only one who's a bit scared some companies are going to disappear until this whole issue is resolved? I saw the Fairyland notice about being on hiatus for who knows how long, and I'm even tempted to impulse buy some dolls I've always wanted because of this and to avoid having to look harder and pay more later on... Have any other companies gone on a break like this so far?

 

Not that I know of. But I am keeping a slightly nervous eye on some companies, prepared to put a doll or two on layaway if things go south.

 

Fairyland is one of the 3 companies that had the trademark for their brand done not only in china but also in usa and european uinon, its a big deal so I'm also worried. I dont think they will give up easily, they probably got the time off to fight the issue, but if things go down can they really keep going on? Is not like not being trademarked in other countries would stop people from there from still buying recast so their sales will go down so drastically... They can rebrand everything to be able to sell everywhere again, but this would also take time.

 

I suppose one of the other problems that might be expected is that companies will increase the prices, especially if they have legal fees because of these criminals.

 

Although I agree its possible, I dont think it would be a good business strategy.

 

Seconded. I hope they heed what people on here have suggested and start fundraisers so people can help if they're in a situation to, instead of making it harder for people in general to afford their dolls.

 

Yeah, this way people who are willing could help while people who dont have much and carefull save money for it could still afford them. You know pro-recasts say a lot about the prices already. Not that they wouldnt talk about a fundraiser too, because I've seen people saying the companies are unprofessional for asking the buyers help in dealing with recasts (what?), but if less people buy because the price is higher there is kind of no point in have it higher since the profit will still be low.
I actually think that make a big sale so they can sell more dolls or/and release new dolls, maybe limited editions or something that have a higher cost would be a greater idea.

_________

A friend who have some contacts told me pro-recasts are reading us (and talking bad about us, but anyway), so I just want to send a Hi, there!

 

oh how irritating! doa stopped giving me notifs for this thread! >.<;;
and i come back from my vacation to this headplate copying nonsense ;___;
geeze, could it get any worse...??

 

Sometimes when you see the last notified message and dont make any new post you dont receive more notifications (thats pretty much why I always talk a lot here, dont want to miss anything )

 

i don't know about hiatus being officially due to the Lou debacle ... but i have had the fear of it for sure... every time Iplehouse seems to 'cut back' or not restock quickly my anxiety ratchets up another notch for sure. I am not even 'looking' at other doll companies right now even... well trying not to lol.

 

I wish all company can get over this problem.

 

As for the second hand market, even COAs hold no values. A friend of mine got a SOOM that was named legit, with COA...just to discover it was a recast. She collects SOOM so I think everyone here can imagine that you see the difference between the original doll and a reacst.

There are even recast dolls who own COA and original headplates, so for newbies or thoses who do not own a doll from that specific company already I think it has become very hard to find the difference between a reacst and an original...so my fear also is that the 2nd hand market will break down as well, because you never know what you buy...so I think for the future it really is good to ask from a copy of the billing...but in some cases, if you get a doll 3rd or 4th handed, even this can become a big problem...

I often think it would be useful to make some sort of photo-gallery where original heads are compared with recast heads for example, in order to "teach" newbies how to figure out a recast.

A recast is still a recast. If we take SOOm as example, the faces of the dolls are smooth and very well detailed, while the recast ones often appear "hard" or are smaller then the original ones.

Recasts are nothing but illegal...I was Recast Neutral until that day I read about the theft on Instagram...v.v°
I do understand if people have less money for a doll or simply wanted a recast to e.g. practicing FU or BodyBlush...now I just think:
Save up for a while and buy a legit one and if you wanna practice get yourself a large Monster High Doll.
So I now became totally Anti Recast...v-vb

 

Soom dolls are registered with a serial number from the company if I'm not mistaken? So the COA has a specific number for the doll and it may be checked out with soom directly. That is the best way to check for legitamcy. I think companies should consider carving a serial number into every head and body sold individually. That way they have a number system on file that can't be duplicated.

 

I always seem to be the one who ends up mentioning this in threads, but people really, really *need* to know about it, and Soom has never posted a notice about it themselves...

There's one HUGE problem with Soom's serial number look-up system.

The serial number database that the site pulls from only dates from their last big website redesign. (That was in 2010? I think?) That means that there are many, many older Soom dolls... including the first year or two of their fantasy zodiac dolls, like the original Sard, Beryl and Heliot… that CAN'T be verified in that way. You can enter the serial number from the CoA of a perfectly legitimate doll and have it come up "not found" just like a fake. I found that out when I tried it with a couple of my own. (Dolls that I know for a fact are legit, because I'm their first and only owner, and I ordered them directly from the company themselves-)

So... yeah. If it's an older Soom sculpt, you absolutely can't rely on looking up the serial number. They aren't in the system.