BJD website pet peeves... and aspect favorites!

Peeves:
-no option to hide sold out items. I hate going through 20+ pages of stuff when 75% of it is sold out!
-not being able to sort by size on dealer sites. I don't care what company makes the clothes, give me a way to see ALL SD clothing at one time instead of clicking through ten different clothing companies.

Likes:
-seeing a full nude blank doll with no eyes or wig. I want to see how it looks without all the extras.
-body measurements on every single doll listing. I hate having to go through the FAQ or forum to find that info.
-having options to buy the wig/eyes/outfit shown in the pictures. I rarely want default anything but there are times when I do like a wig or eyes shown and don't have an option to buy it.
-fast customer service!
-lots of high quality clothing and shoe options. Especially if the doll is an odd size. I like being able to get some clothes to start out.

 

Keeping sold out items listed forever......I hate going to SOOM and look through everything only to find out everything is sold out.

 

Pet Peeves:
> When company photos rarely show a doll's profile / sideview.
> Some companies doesn't have a direct-messaging system, and instead, you'd have to create a locked thread.
> A bit of a miscommunication with the English language.
> Whenever there are restocking updates, they do not include the photos of the items they're restocking.
> Bad website design and overall aesthetic. Aka ones that look as if it was made by a child or pre-teen new to the internet.
> When you have to email the company regarding your purchase instead of having an actual, working shop/cart system.
> Cluttered sidebars with far too many categories.

 

Let see...
Pet peeves:
-Like some others have said, not having a way to filter out sold out items from what is still available. I don't like searching through many pages of sold out items to find the stuff in stock.
-[this is more for dealers' sites] not having a separate section where you can see all the bodies/heads sold separately. I don't like having to go through each company's listing to see if/what they offer for separate bodies/heads.
-[same as the last] being able to search all company dolls in a specific size. I don't want to sift through a bunch of YOSDs or MSDs to get to the SDs. Or look through listings from company to company. Same applies to clothing, shoes, etc.
-Pages designs that load slowly. I think that's pretty easy.
-A lack of blank head/body photos in the listing, and the various angles and poseability as well. I would especially like it if there can be profile shots taken.
-No body measurements listed on the doll's profile page. I like to know these numbers for outfit sizes, as well as for head swapping if I decide to hybridize, etc.
-Sites with broken/misleading links. Especially if it brings you to a defunct page or (in the case of numbered pages) it doesn't go to the next page when you hit next.
-A site missing a proper FAQ, where you can get specific answers about products, policies, layaway, etc.
-No photos of bust options (in female doll listings where options are available) or skin tone options. It's nice to get references when making choices.
-Clear photos of the doll's face, body, etc. I don't really care about heavily photoshopped glamour shots if I can't clearly make out the doll's features.

Pros:
-Easy navigation and clearly marked listing sections.
-Direct to paypal payments when checking out when making a purchase.
-Active and informative news section, to keep customers informed of new products, dolls, events, etc.
-Good, clear images of dolls for sale.
-Reference section to view blank heads, bodies, etc.
-Sites that have clear navigation for basic and full package dolls, by size/style, and a separate section each for heads, bodies and other available parts (if a company sells these separately).

 

• That manufacturers of BJDs don't seem to hang out on forums like this and pay attention to suggestions or participate and answer questions
• That some manufacturers have clearly never tried shopping on their own sites. It's 2016, internet shopping has been a solved problem for quite a long time, I don't know how some get it so wrong.
• When manufacturers have a bunch of photos of a basic (i.e. body&head only) doll all dressed up, but don't tell you what eyes/wig/clothes they are wearing.

 

Pet Peeves:

• When the company doesn't list the size and measurements of their dolls.
• When all the photos of the face are taken at only one angle - and very rarely is it a straight-at-the-face, no obstructions, showing all the details, clear photo.

Pros:

• Clear photos are always a plus in my book.
• Resin color choices!
• Photos of a blank head are great.
• Pictures of various doll sizes next to each other.
• And of course, they exist, so I get to see all of the beautiful works of art that the company creates.

 

I have found some websites that were really unintuitive and hard to to maneuver, with small icons and no clear direction of where to see photos of dolls. Mainly smaller companies suffer from this, and it is such a huge shame. Some of these dolls are really gorgeous and unique, but having an unecessarily complicated website where the shop is hidden between 3 layers of icons really damages the general impression, and would be SO easy to fix! Also, having only about 5 photos of the doll and being unable to zoom in is a turnoff. And a big plus to those who show the doll without faceup!

 

Reviving this thread because I’ve recently noticed a surge in doll sellers censoring the bits on doll photos and it really pisses me off, I need a place to rant! Not only do a lot of companies already take blurred/ too close up/ too far away/ not showing enough angles photos but now I’m not even allowed to see the sculpting of the boobs on a doll you expect me to shell out 400 + dollars on. I’m not complaining about the price, far from it, but when I spend that much on a luxury item I expect to be able to see every inch of the item before I buy, it’s already hard enough to decide to spend that much when you’re, in most cases, not able to see the doll in person before you buy but now it’s just a whole new level of frustration. And might I add who are they even censoring it for?! If someone has an aversion to seeing tiny fake doll boobs then they have no business in this hobby!

 

Being a business marketing major, I tend to look at websites as something to make a company look really good. My pet peeve is outdated website interfaces, which a lot of doll sites have.

 

Things I dislike:

• Dolls/bodies with no measurements.
• No profile angle photos (seriously, I've barely seen them)
• Photos that are more focused on effects than the dolls themselves, or where it's hard to see the doll's face.

Things I like:

• Separate resin color comparison photos
• So many beautiful BJD photos!
• When companies include measurements. Seriously, a lifesaver.

 

Things I dislike:
- options that don't have pictures of the various alternatives
- lack of measurements
- no nude and/or unpainted pictures
- photos that are more about the outfits/full set and custom face-up than about the doll
- internet shop websites that require you to list a 'state' (not all countries have them)
- internet shop websites that get the city and zip code in the wrong order in the final address listing
- sites that don't automatically add your extra's to the end price until you're checking out

Thinks I like:
- unpainted heads, preferably from front and profile
- measurements, including foot length and width and wig and eye size
- FAQs that are easy to access and that include the answers
- an easy way to e-mail/contact a sales rep if you have specific questions
- an easy way to just see what's still available and what's sold out
- comparisions of the various resin options available

 

I agree with the common thread asking for a way to filter out sold out items.

Personally, my biggest webshop pet peeve is... no picture(s) of the back of a wig/outfit. The front is lovely, I'm sure, but I'd like to see the back as well, before I purchase it.

 

For a website to be helpful to me, it needs to have the following:
-English
-Pictures of the doll both nude and clothed
-Pictures of the doll with a faceup and wig (I have a VERY hard time visualizing possibilities on a blank head)
-Exact measurements of the doll

I know they're not bjds, but Smart Doll is a great example of a good website...while there are some confusing things about navigating deeper into the details, each doll page has EVERYTHING you need to know, including links to help pages, currency conversion, products that look great with that specific doll, etc.

 

I only have one major pet peeve when it comes to doll (and wigs, and clothing) websites: having to buy from a site that doesn't have a HTTPS connection. Yes, I get that payments are usually on PayPal, which is safe to use. Still, doll companies are gonna require my real name and address to be able to ship and when I see that such data is going through a site that is not protected and that even my own browser advises me against sharing my data on there... I simply give up on that company .__.' which is frustrating, because there's just so many companies selling lots of amazing stuff, but so many of them come with unsafe websites -___-

Other than that, I do definitely appreciate a site that has a modern and easy to navigate user interface and has plenty of pictures for each doll from as many angles as possible and that shows the doll both painted/clothed (even better if the photos show different styles and skintones!) and unpainted (so I can see what the sculpt actually looks like).

 

My biggest problems are lack of measurements and lack of or hard to find photos showing the different skin or body options. Especially hate it when the display photos aren't even labeled, so you know it shows a couple different skintones, but you're not sure which ones.

 

Uh, there ar some I don't like...
-No updates. I hate when the site looks like as if they are not in the business anymore...
-Weird, not logical menus. When you can't find a simple category (like, clothes), because the menu is cluttered with subcategories only a longtime fan of the brand can tell what it means...
-Not putting sold out items in a different category. When I see a website with mostly sold out items in all category, I usually don't visit it again.
-Not enough pictures of the doll or the face covered with too much faceup, hair, accessories etc.

What I like:
-Showing the head blank from multiple angles.
-Logical, simple menu design.
-Showing all the colors of resin they have.

 

@Melinda89 Ugh I hate Sold Out items being all over the site with the normal items. I think Soom and Ring Doll do this and it makes me so upset. One of them (or another company, I can't remember) puts $999 as the "price" when it's sold out...but I didn't realize that and thought that was the actual price for their dolls....

 

I didn't want to mention them byí name, but yeah, this two companies, especially Soom, does almost all of the things I dislike :/

 

I love Soom dolls, but their website isn't the most straightforward...especially for new people in the hobby

 

Speaking of Soom, I also hate it when a company has a separate site for each line of dolls they make. Although this is a lesser hate.