Buying secondhand: Boxes and certificates...are they must haves for you?

I never thought about it before to be honest, though now with the rise in re-casts I do think about it a bit more. As long as they are a person who has positive feedback in the sales area, I wouldn't hesitate. All BJD I've bought were well packaged even without their boxes and to my knowledge I've never bought a bootleg. I don't generally keep boxes for my own dolls anyway, as I don't have space, so they just aren't a must for me. However, in some cases I do worry now because I don't always keep those items or I misplace the papers in the depths of my doll stuff, and I don't want anyone to worry.

 

As a person brand new to the doll world, I am sooo tired of waiting for my first doll to arrive so I can open the box, I would not care what kind of box it was in as long as it got here! hehe

 

I can live without boxes but certificates would be a big thing for me.

 

If I buy a full doll, I want the certificate as well. The box would be great since I love them, but not this important for me (except of Soom - here I would want more than the certificate because there are already fake Soom certificates).
As for buying heads second hand, it's sad that most of the time the sellers won't offer a certificate for just the head (but I also understand this, because they'd probably want to give them away together with the body and outfit). I bought some Volks heads secondhand from Yahoo Auctions Japan, I'd never do this from eBay or other bords like DoA, but I trust Yahoo Japan and most sellers here at DoA.

 

I don't think it's needed. Aslong as you like the doll and they have the company plate on the back of the head, then that's enough proof for me

 

It doesn't really matter to me. Boxes and certificates are nice to have, but I'm fine if they don't come with them.

 

A lot of dolls don't come with company plates on the back of their heads. None of mine have them.

Just sayin'.

 

The boxing wouldn't bother me, but I would have to have the certificate to make sure its legit.

 

with the problems of recasts.... CoA would be a must. Especially since any doll I would buy would be from Iplehouse (at least for now ^^) and they require it for everything after the initial purchase... I looked at one doll and if I got it and wanted to send it back for a new face up IH wouldn't do it without the CoA. On a side note I asked Iple about box/foam replacement... I am a believer in keeping original packaging for expensive/collectible/custom items. Also I happen to thing IH has great packing for their dolls and if I need to store/move them I'd want that packaging. If you have a damaged box/foam and want to replace it (for Iple at least), you can. The cost for the box/foam is 20 USD... the shipping is what kills lol for me it would be 40 something... and I am in the second most expensive shipping zone. But to me 60 bucks to be able to keep a doll safe is worth it. At lest it is to me now, since I am waiting on my first IH dolls (yes, plural ^^). Also a fellow club member was lamenting that one of her LE10 dolls had crappy paking, she lives in school dorms and would love to have decent storage for at least him... When a doll costs over 1,000 dollars, a good safe box can be a way to ease your nerves. When my big EID comes we will see if her guy fits... if he does.... he will get an Iple box! lol...

The only thing I don't worry about is the shipping box ^^.

 

I wouldn't buy a doll unless it had the certificate. I would prefer for the doll to come with the original box because I love packaging and I keep my dolls in their boxes. However, it wouldn't be the deciding factor when buying a doll.

 

Well for me it depends.

I bought a limited head from the marketplace here that had been part of a whole doll, therefore, it didn't come in a company box. Or I should say, not a box from THAT company. (He came in a Soom box which made me giggle XD)

However, the doll I will be looking for next, since she's been retired so she will be coming from the Marketplace...she's going to be a full doll. I would like her tom come in the box she came in, and if she did have any papers, I would like to have those as well. But this is simply because...well these are expensive pieces. It would be nice to have the papers and original box they came with. The original box and papers would help reassure me that I was getting the real thing, even though I try to not be so paranoid about getting duped...

 

To me, as a newbie in this world of bjds I didn't want to spend a lot at first because I plan on modding my doll and didnt want to mess up an expensive doll, and also have no patience and didnt want to wait months lol but box and certificates were important for me because as as artist myself I didn't want to buy a knock off or copy. So when I saw an offer for a bjd on the inexpensive side with original box and certificate I jumped at the chance. So yea, for me at least certificate is most important and then box is second.

 

I recently bought an anthro doll that was my MP. I know that she gives out certificates with some, and with others depending where purchased she didn't. They only come in a blanket not a box. So I was fine to get him with just the blanket. Now on a doll from another company like FL or Lati, I would prefer the box or at least the certificate or both. If its a head or was an event doll I know they don't sometimes come with one usually right? So I'd be okay with that. I'm very set I don't ever want to accidentally buy a recast so I'll be pretty strict with this.

 

I've always been really worried about recasts so I need proof that the doll is legit - preferably certificate AND box, but lots of dolls never came with certificates anyway - many only come with an identity card/photo. It has occurred to me that if someone has both certificate and box for a doll which is popular recast, they may sell either the certificate or the box to a recaster. Usually if you have either certificate OR box, a buyer is happy the doll is legit - So a recaster could possibly buy one or other from people - if I've thought of it then I'm sure someone else must have, as it would be quite easy to do. So generally I also like to hear the doll's backstory, where they bought it from etc. - just to get a more rounded idea of where the doll has come from. Never mind the fact it would be easy to fake a certificate surely - less so to fake a box.

 

i bought most of my dolls when certificates did not come with the dolls, i still have most of the dolls boxes but my first doll didn't come with a box either, so i don't know what i would do if someone wanted these sorts of things, and i bought my dolls over 7 years ago so the details are not on the websites anymore (but i highly doubt i'd be getting rid of my dolls!)

 

Considering I had a buyer accusing me of selling a recast despite having proper box, headplate, and paperwork for a particular doll (that I had bought new from the company), I don't think it matters much. The doll in question didn't have the original factory faceup, and I had stated in the ad that said doll had been repainted. It didn't stop an overly-long paypal dispute from occurring over this nonsense, and said dispute only ended when I pointed out that no one would ever recast a doll so unpopular that there were still new ones in stock from the company 5+ years after the model was officially discontinued, and said buyer could have bought a new one if she was so worried about authenticity.

IMO there's been too much of a witch hunt over recasts, and it's not worth all the aggravation. That dispute cased me to sell almost all my older Volks dolls that dated from the time when Volks sold enough optional parts to build a full doll (torsos, arms, legs, etc) -- none of which had boxes or paperwork because they were built entirely from parts. I was unwilling to risk trying to sell them after a few more years of paranoia about "no box, no paperwork = recast", so I decided it was best to sell them while I still could. Fortunately all the buyers were very happy to have rare older "parts dolls".

I don't tend to like dolls which are popular enough to warrant recasting, so I'm not overly picky and box and paperwork. I have acquired one doll whose authenticity I question, but I will take it up with someone from Volks at my leisure. I'm sure they can verify (or not) whether she is authentic.

 

Did I answer this already? Can't remember. Ugh, my head hurts, fading migraine, think not, but if not here goes. Honestly I could not care less on either count. I do keep the certificates and boxes for certain dolls I collect but that's just because I like them. I've never kept them with the idea of proving a doll is legitimate. Recently I was overhauling my space and I actually pitched a lot of boxes actually and only kept the ones I really liked, and only so many of each one. None of my BJD's came with a particularly attractive box or a nice certificate actually including the ones that came direct from the company but then again I don't buy high end dolls so I'm guessing the whole recast thing is a mute point with dolls that are too cheap for anyone to bother going there. I guess if I was going to buy an Iple or a Soom or something like that I might care more simply because I would not want to pay the prices people ask for those for a recast given it would be a total ripoff for a doll that is of questionable lineage. But normally no, I don't need to see a box. It's pretty obvious to me that my usual choice of dolls isn't likely to be a recast. It's one of the advantages to collecting on the low end of the hobby I suppose there are plenty of the dolls I like out there. They are not limited or expensive and therefore there is no incentive for them to be recast.

 

I don't really care about the boxes, but I want the CoA. I'd like to know that the doll I'm buying is actually the doll I'm receiving. CoA's are fairly important to me when I'm buying secondhand. Now, that's not to say that I'd never buy a doll without a CoA. It would just depend on the doll, the seller and the situation.

 

Being in the process of buying a limited edition doll, its a must have to have the papers"/certificates. The boxes however don't really matter to me. It would be a nice touch but boxes can be hard to store/keep track of. Sort of like any box, the longer you own it, the more chance it has to be recycled.

 

TIL some dolls come with CoA's like autographs on Ebay @.@
I don't think I'd care about a box or CoA unless like someone mentioned it was required (Iplehouse) to have it for any replacements on the doll after the initial sale. Boxes definitely don't matter unless they're something special because I have nowhere to store them. But I am new so take with grain of salt. YMMV.