BJD website pet peeves... and aspect favorites!

Most of the pros and cons people have already mentioned I agree with- obvious things like non-shopped sales photos, pictures of the blank head and body, etc.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned and really only applies to a couple of the larger sites though... I wish the shop software had an option for you to view all or set how many items you want to view at once. I know it sounds like such a little thing, but it can be frustrating navigating through 10 pages or more on large sites like Dollmore or Luts just to look for a specific wig or pair of pants...

Overall I have to say I think most doll companies do a pretty good job with their websites though. Most of them are pretty easy to use and understand (sometimes a bit of Engrish but it's usually not too bad), and I've never had a problem with ordering or paying from any of the shops I've ever bought from (though I will admit that forum-based ordering systems kind of turn me off and I've never bought from a company that operates that way). It's great that so many shops are opening their "doors" to overseas customers and allowing us to buy directly from them so easily!

 

One of my biggest pet-peeves is wanting to look at sold out clothes or dolls and I can't get to look at them because all they allow the user to see is a thumbnail. Sometimes they actually really do rerelease things like outfits and it would be nice to have looked at them.

Also i pretty much have to go with everything listed so far. I hate lack of updates on their "news" boards. Recently visited a doll website and wondered why all the dolls were "sold out". Checked the notice board and the last update was almost 5 months ago and they had been opened a few months prior.

I also once came across a website that told me my ordering status but it was in Korean while all the rest of the process was clearly in English.

I aslo hate sites that say you can order from them no matter where you are but don't tell you how to order.

Some websites i wish would show more poseablitiy of their dolls while other show a wonderful ammount .

And in conclusion I love sites where you can buy everything in one place, shoes, doll, wigs, eyes, etc. It's great when you don't want to spend a fortune on shipping.

 

I guess my main complaints are:

1: To much flash/pictures/everything! I'm on AOL Dial-up and even with opera turbo on and all images disabled I cannot even navigate some websites.

2: Listing all the measurements of the doll except for eye size. Seriously I want to know what size eyes I need to be buying. >.>

3: Clear detailed pictures of the doll without face-up and naked. Also I want to see the doll itself not a crazy amount of photoshop effects. It's fine to have fancy pictures but please have a few plain ones as well. I also want the plain shots to be clear, not look like someone just plunked down the doll and didn't even bother to get the camera to focus before taking the shot.

4: Having everything open in a new window. This pretty much destroys my computer for some reason O.O;

5: No half translated pages. If your going to allow international sales you need an understandable order system. Translating everything but the shopping cart is a no-no.

Now to things I like about websites.

1: Simple neat layout. Love it when my Internet can handle the page

2: When I can get clothing , shoes, eyes, and a wig all on the same site.

3: When A website offers paypal to check out. Makes things easy for me

 

Things I hate:

Photoshop. I want to see what you're actually selling, not a fake version of it that's going to make what I actually buy a major disappointment. I loathe photoshop on doll images.

Wigs over eyes, dolls covered in lace and frills and bonnets that obscure everything, heavy faceups.

Lack of blank pics. See point one.

Locked Q&As. Hi, I want to see what you're telling your customers, thanks. If you're hiding it, it makes me suspect you need to hide it.

Things I like:

Clear, unphotoshopped pictures. Easy to work out prices. Text that makes it clear exactly what you get.

Lots of pictures of dolls in different wigs and faceups, and also blank - yay, Dollstown.

Clearly laid out policies about returns, customs ect. So reassuring.

Shipping options. I hate EMS, it arrives through Parcelforce, who are a nightmare. I like having the option of DHL or TNT, who have always been awesome for me. And if you are selling clothes, I want the option of airmail rather than paying crazy prices for a small item.

And, oh, delivery times that aren't a complete fabrication.

 

Poor pictures! This one is the WORST! I know not everyone is an amazing photographer, but for a major company to have crappy photos that don't show the dolls very well at all... I just don't get it - especially when there are doll owners that take amazing pictures on their on-site forums. Do a contest for pictures to use on the site and then use owner pictures of non-modded dolls.

No blank pictures. A face-up can really change the way a sculpt looks. I want to see the heads and bodies blank and bald in addition to the artsy pretty pics. And not just from one angle - for heads I'd like to see at least front, 3/4 side, and side views from both left and right. Bonus points for a top-down and bottom-up pic.

No measurements posted on the doll page, so you have to go hunting on dealer/owner sites just to find what size eyes the darn thing takes.

No naked body shots - a little gauzy lace or something is fine wrapped around, but there are so many companies that take pics of their dolls head to toe in very formless garments and then you have to dig to find pictures of the bodies.

No posing shots - I don't want to just see the doll standing there or slight variations on that - I want to see its range of motion. In my dream world, all companies would offer a posing gallery of all their bodies so you can see exactly what they can do, fully naked, with good lighting.

Lazy English translations: Sites with "English versions" that were clearly just run through Google Translate or something. If you're charging $400 for a doll, you can spend $50 and pay a certified translator to do a proper translation of your site. I'm okay with there -not- being English versions at all (I can use Google Translate, after all) but the halfassed ones just bug me.

Sites with NO navigation - just one long page to scroll through with order buttons.

Sites with BAD navigation - Flash, frames, etc.

 

My favorite things to see:
Blank doll heads included with the default faceup images.
Front on and full side images of the face without wig obstruction.
Full front and back shots of the body, even if it's not available for sale separately.
Bodies that are sold separately from heads.
Heads that are sold separately from bodies
Demonstrations of how joints work and how dolls pose
Height charts of all their dolls

Things that annoy me:
Bodies and heads that are NOT sold separately. I understand it if it's a limited, but if I like a standard body more than I like any of your standard head sculpts (or vice-versa) and I can't buy it separately, then I just get frustrated.
Sites that require IE. Um, yeah... that would be okay except I'm a Mac user and they haven't updated IE for Mac since 2001.
Not being able to tell the size of something. Yes, you can say it's Xcm tall, etc... but sometimes I like being able to tell how big or small it is. (I love eluts body demonstrations where you see the hands of the person posing the doll.). This also goes for eyes. Especially years back when a certain company changed the size of their irises without any notice.
Companies that don't have any grasp on the english language. I'm not trying to force my first language on anyone, don't get me wrong, but when I ask a question and do my best to word it clearly and the answer makes no sense in context or wording, it just leaves me going I know a lot of companies use translation software, but on occasion lost in translation is an understatement. I love that they offer their services to us, but if I can't make an order without getting downright confused, it just makes me not want to order. (I sound so atypically american on this one, but I'm really not trying to be... sorry!)

 

My Least favorite things:

Websites that have all their dolls (add to cart) button on the same page, or websites that use a frame that makes it impossible to link to an item. I hate this because I add all the dolls I'm interested in to my Amazon.com wish list. How am I suppose to add something if the add redirects me to their main page or if there's a long list of other dolls there?

Websites that use great pictures of dressed dolls that they don't offer in fullsets.

Websites that don't offer fullsets at all. Particularly in dolls that are odd sizes.

Websites that don't have dealers abroad.

My favorite things:

Websites that have a list of registered dealers abroad I can purchase through.

Websites that are easy to browse.

Websites that describe the dolls well, with measurements and wig/eye sizes.

 

Great topic especially at this time when I am searching for an idea for a second doll and browsing a number of sites over the past few weeks.

My favourite things:

- Multiple pictures of the doll in question, especially when there are blank head examples minus the face up. I particularly like pictures showing various poses and the doll's ability to stand without assistance. Standing on one leg usually perks my interest in a doll.

- Fullsets that are available with pretty much everything you see in the promo picture included.

- Prices that are in USD, mostly because it makes it easier for me to convert it to AUS so I know what the damage will be

- Easily accessible contact us information

-Websites that have an english equivalent

My least favourite things:

- More and more, I am finding it's a bit of a search to find out shipping information if there is any at all. I like to be able to find this information quickly and easily as most of my purchases will be coming from overseas and I have a vested interest in finding out the method and the cost and whether that will affect whether I buy a doll or not

- Prices that have no information on whether face up is included or whether it is an additional payment

- Busy websites that try to use fancy applications that take a while to load. I generally bypass these websites completely.


I'm sure there's more for both categories but they are the biggest pros and cons for me.

 

Pet Peeve: Not having a full, step-by-step explanation of the payment process. It seems like a lot of sites do not have an intuitive payment process, and it varies a lot from site to site. It doesn't take long to put together a simple page with instructions, and would actually save the company from answering a lot of panicked questions! e.g. On the Lati website, when paying by credit card, it is pretty common to not see any confirmation screen when the payment is complete.

Good Things:
1. Pictures of the doll from multiple angles, with and without faceups.
2. Pictures of the body/posing.
3. Listing the doll's measurements on the same page.
4. For accessories (clothes, wigs, shoes), allowing searching by size!

 

Eranu
- Showing off the dolls' jointing and how they pose. Luts is really good at this ^^
- Blank sculpts from all angles. I always like to see the profile of a head~!
- Detailed measurements, including suggested eye-size.
- Ability to put through a ghost-order to find out shipping charges, or a chart for shipping charges. Always good to know~

Uvavu
- site will only load or work in certain browsers. It's... it's not cool. I'd expect most companies to at least try their sites in different setups D: They are businesses after all!
- Sites that take forever to load, not because of lots of pictures of the sculpts, but because there's bunches of Flash or whatever chucked in. Really annoying~!
- No shopping cart option. I don't HAAAATE it, but I do find it mildly off-putting using order-board style payment methods... than again it makes me likely to buy less, ohoho...
- Stating clearly what "sold out" actually means. It differs from site to site... sometimes it means it'll come back in a week or so, sometimes it means it'll never appear again, etc.

 

I like to see plain, full pics of the head and body from various angles, no artsy effects or costume obscuring the details. I also like to see complete and accurate measurements, a clearly spelled-out ordering system, and order confirmations (so reassuring!). Recent news and announcements are nice, they give me an idea of what the company is planning. Sites that haven't posted updates in months make me nervous. Also, I love a site that loads fast. Domuya is an example of a good all-around site IMO.

 

I basically agree with most of the other posters- I like clear shots of dolls in good lighting, and clear navigation.

My biggest peeve is when I'm shopping for clothes or shoes, and I have to go digging for size measurements of dolls and try to figure out the measurements of the clothes from there. My doll (Musedoll Ciel) has some unusual measurements for an SD girl, and it's really hard to find clear cut clothing and shoes measurements without having to hunt and match dolls for an hour.

 

one big one for me, the photos!
in a hobby where u cannot touch or see the product you want in real life, the photo must be real!
i cant stand it when photos are taken with flash and horribly edited making the doll look worse than real life *ex bbb, im not sure if theve fixed there photos since but i remember buying and thinking how much better the doll is irl and not very flattering in the photos*
or over done photoshops! *soom* drives me nutters when i wanna buy a doll but i cant decide because i dont wanna be disappointed because they stuck way too much flashy lights and shineys in the photo's they took of the LE doll!! missed out on amber because i thought "no way shes THAT great" but then seeing owner pics u can decide better.
if its a LE doll then please just show everything straight forward, wouldnt want to buy a doll on the market place with a conveniently placed hand over the scratch or weak point, so theres no reason to do it in professional photos and websites.

 

I think I have a few pet peeves that haven't been mentioned yet:P (and a few that have of course).

Pet peeves:

-as was said, pictures all taken from the same angle with wig and/or clothes in the way. I'm now looking for a doll with a very specific eye shape, for one thing, and I found one that looked promising, but all of the pics were shot from the above right. I want to see at least a straight-on face shot, durnit>.<

- no pics of blank heads, or only of non-limited heads

- sites you have to be a member of in order to even view what's on there (you listening, Elfdoll?)

- sites that don't send you an invoice or any kind of payment request and don't state it anywhere. Sure, it's minor, you get used to it fast enough, but I still hate it if I have to dig through the site in order to find a paypal address somewhere before I can send my payment. First time I ordered from a site (I usually buy secondhand) I got a reminder I hadn't paid them, because I was foolishly waiting for an invoice=_=

- sites putting your order confirmation info in a friggin pop-up>.> I shouldn't have to deactivate my pop-up blocker in order to obtain important data. To be fair, that happened to me on Ndoll, shopping as a non-member (and being unable to access my order status because the popup containing the info on how to get there got blocked), and they've since gotten rid of that option.

- not marking sold-out items as sold out at all or only on the order page itself and not on the preview.

- concerning wigs: showing a preview of a certain wig in a gorgeous color it's not sold in >.< Ndoll is good at that=_=

- picturing dolls or even fullsets with awesome wigs and eyes that aren't available anywhere or at least not on the site

- sticking measurements in places you don't expect them and not where you need them. Why are measurement lists for instance in the FAQ and not on the page of the doll you're selling??

- no measurements with shoes. I like to be able to see if the shoes I want will fit the doll I have that is not necessarily of the same brand, without having to dig up the measurements of the dolls of the same brand as the shoes first

- when browsing a site, I constanly use the backspace key to navigate, so I find it mildly annoying if a site is programmed in such a way that my cursor automatically gets put into the search bar, which results in the following: instead of going to the previous page, I go to the top of the current page, and if I want to actually go back a page I have to first click somewhere in the current page before hitting backspace or the arrow in the top lefthand corner (Firefox user here). That's a lot of unnecessary clicking, at least it feels that way.

-Selling dolls with different bust sizes, but outfits for only one size (or two out of 3 or something)

- not selling all your wigs in all your available sizes (oh, the times I stumbled on the perfect wig, only to find out they only had it in SD size while I needed tiny size or vice versa...)

 

Pet Peeves:

I hate it when there's a sculpt I really like, and there's only one picture of it on the company's website. I also don't like it when there are multiple pictures, but they're all from pretty much the same angle. Really big pictures aren't good, either.

Complex website layouts are also annoying. I'm discouraged from buying from a company if I can't even navigate around their site.

Don't get me started on companies that you have to be a member of to buy from.

Oh, and flash pages are cool, but they make my computer lag.

Likes:
Multiple shots of the doll, with and without a faceup and wig. I also like to see pictures of the body sculpt. No photo-shopping the pictures, please!
Easy to understand website layout and friendly customer service
Measurements of the dolls

 

Browser compatibility is a big one for me. There are some sites I can't even get to open in Safari. And if I have to switch to firefox just to look at something I have to be pretty motivated to see it, so most of the time I don't bother. A more minor annoyance is when the site loads, but their flash crap loads incorrectly. Scroll down menus that show up three inches to the right of the original menu are useless to me.

I really like it when companies offer airmail as an option for small orders. I don't want to buy $15 dollars worth of stuff and then spend $30 to have it shipped to me. Most companies don't do this, but I really appreciate those that do.

 

Peeves:

Not having full lists of doll measurements.

background music, especialy when it can't be turned off or at least turned down.

Over photoshopped pictures, even worse when its to the pont its difficult to see details properly (heres looking at you Souldoll and the pictures of Kayla).

Message board Q&A type things were you can read the titles of but can't read anyone elses questions, even if its identical to what you want to know and/or you are making an enquiry about one you are interested in.

Having dolls organised by height, but no indication of their size till you get onto one of their pages (if its there at all).

Having clothing and shoes organised by they company named type of doll, but give no indication of size unless you go through the doll pages to find the coresponding mesurements to the type.

Flash menus, especialy the ones that you cannot click on to keep them open to use the dropdown without it opeing a new page, and the ones that the dropdows open over an inch over the screen.

Likes:

Comparisons of skin colours and diffrent parts that are standard.

Full lists of mesurements, inculding foot, wig and eye sizes.

Pictures of outfit parts not worn and sepertated, not just ones of the complelte outfit being worn.

Shots of blank heads and full blank body shots, from various angles.

Clothing, shoes, wigs, eyes ect organised by size, With mesurements.

 

I concur with the cons that mention how some websites do not offer what a head sculpt looks like blank. Some doll molds are "well-disguised" by the face-up they have, and end up looking way too radically different if the face-up is different. I like seeing the blank slate and be able to plan accordingly from there. Even finding owner photos of blank sculpts can be quite the search and find, since most of us prefer our resin with face-ups.

In hand with that are photos of the doll for sale with a "custom" face-up that isn't available to the buyer. I'm not talking about limited face-ups, but just a face-up on a standard... for the standard sale... but the face-up itself isn't what you're going to get. And there are no pics of what you do get.

I can work my way around most of my peeves--they're annoying and inconvenient, but still manageable, but then there's...

My biggest peeve.

Though it is probably something that puts me in the minority: huge pictures not properly saved for the web, so they take forever and a half to load if they don't actually time out.

It's even more offensive when they paste together all their shots as one large image that's 1MB or more in file size. Just ouch. Think about us poor dial-up users! The icing on the cake is when the shots are pretty much the same thing over and over...

And flash is such a punch to the gut, especially when it's not skippable or worse, nt even related to the dolls themselves but an "intro flash," that I actually do not shop with certain doll sites any more because I cannot load their sites.

It's my pet peeve in general with almost any professional website but doll sites are a big offender since they have to rely on the photos to express their product, yet they have no idea how to actually create a site that loads quickly and maintains pictorial integrity.

I can only think of one, two doll sites offhand that saves images "right."

 

Peeves

I think every doll by every company needs to have a straight on face shot and a profile face shot, so we can see the doll without the "pretty angles" as well as it is presented by them

I think every doll should be shown blank, unpainted, and at least one nude shot, preferably two, one front and one back

I hate when you have a wishlist and the item is not automatically removed from it when it is purchased

I loathe that some companies do not inform you what the maximum shipped in one order is (Hi Dollmore I am pointing at YOU)

I hate sites that have poor navigation or automatically open a new tab or page every time you hit a new category (Angel Studio, you drive me insane, BBB and Resinsoul too)

I hate sites that require you to use a strange order process rather than just an online order form (Ringdoll I am staring in your direction this time)

When a large category is not divided by gender (Luts divides SDF clothes by gender, but Delf are not and this drives me batty)

When the internal measurements of shoes are not listed, some company shoes do not fit other company feet, all the companies KNOW we don't just buy from them, so why make it harder? We also have a tendency of buying shoes for different genders and need to know how they will look.

Customer service is key and if your customer service is poor I will nto shop from you again. Soom/Rosette have earned my disgust. A shame their dolls are so pretty because my last purchase from them was a nightmare, my order got lost, my account got lost! I asked them questions and they gave answers in extremely poor english that made no sense (If I say I cannot log into my account and you answer by saying that I should check on my order through my account instead of the order progress button I know you are not misunderstanding me, you are just not paying attention!)

Poor English. Ok honestly I do not care if you do not have an English website, but if you DO at least go to the effort to have it in proper English. Additionally if you DO have an English site please make sure there is someone in your customer service department who actually is fluent in English and not just running things through a translator.

Flash intros- Soom is once more on my bad list for this! OMG the new soom intro takes FOREVER before I can actually choose whether I want the Gem, Rosette or AR, and well frankly making me sit through that makes me unlikely to buy from you. I am an impatient person when I have money to spend.

When the photos of a doll are so heavily augmented/decorated/dressed up you can barely see the doll. Souldoll is a big perpetrator of this one

Companies that only offer white skintone as a limited item, come on folks, really? it is not that hard to produce and a lot of us want pale pale pale dolls! Souldoll finally started selling them in white, but Luts and Soom stopped! Dollmore and DoD are my eternal bane as I have to wait forever for the doll I want to be released as a limited just to get the white tone -__- C'mon...gimme a white Nayuta kenzo!


Pros
Being able to search by size, instead of wading through pages upon pages of irrelevent products

Skintone comparisons (applauds to Ringdoll and Angelheim)

sculpt comparisons. (applauds to luts)

Good customer service (applauds to Dolkot)

Pictures of outfit parts not worn and sepertated, not just ones of the complelte outfit being worn (Dollmore are good at this)

What i would like to see:

I would like it if every site had a "past products" section, where we can look up past limited outfits, dolls etc. Luts in particular is notorious for releasing limiteds, both dolls and outfits, and every time they update their site the picks and info go byebye for all of those that are sold out. I KNOW there are people out there who would benefit from seeing past creations, such as the more elaborate goth and Jrock outfits, and classics such as the elf and vampires of lishe, yder and El, and of course the tans.

 

I have to agree with the comment about showing a really awesome wig and then it's not available for purchase. Hey, if you're using wig (or clothes) that you, as the seller, think make the doll more marketable then odds are some of your consumers are going to also share your good taste and want that item. I actually prefer seeing a completed doll rather a blank canvas because I personally have a hard time visualizing what a doll could look like without a little visual help.

One thing that did confuse me for awhile was the F&Q areas. When I see F&Q I think of it as the area that will have a list of Frequently asked Questions rather than an e-mail your question to us area. I don't mind hunting around to find my questions or find items on a website but it's frustrating to go to this area hoping that this will give me a good place to start and then find out that I still have some hunting to do.

I do like that some websites put their accepted forms of payment right on the home pay along with their PayPal IDs. I've run into a few where I've, again, had to play hide and seek. Really I think my "cons" are more of a technical and personal preference.