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

Personally, I like having boxes and CoA, but I consider them extras more than anything else. Almost all of my dolls were bought second hand - some of them have their original boxes and some don't. I don't think I'd ever NOT buy a doll because it didn't have a box/CoA unless I was reasonably suspicious that it was a recast. My Lumedoll Lucas didn't come with his papers or box, and neither did one of my Felixdoll Brownies - but it's quite obvious that they're both legit, so that didn't bother me. I mainly just like having their boxes because it gives me a safe place to store them when I need to put them away. But then, most of my dolls are tinies, so their boxes are hardly bigger than a shoebox and don't take up too much room.

 

Well, it's pretty easy to fake a CoA to go with a recast doll, so even insisting on one won't always keep you safe. If there's a doubt the doll may have been recast, I'll buy directly from the company or dealer. If it's a LE or discontinued I will buy second hand, but only from someone will a lot of feedback that has been around the hobby for a while. It really bothers me that people have to take such precautions in order to avoid possibly getting a fake.

 

It depends on the doll. Generally speaking I prefer them without the boxes (unless it's a smaller box like a Soom Teenie Gem or a Fairyland tiny) because it's cheaper to ship and my room is already full of boxes. I prefer to have a certificate of authenticity, but it's generally not a must-have. On the other hand, if the doll is readily available as a recast then I suppose I'd hesitate before buying a doll with no box, certificate or full set pieces where applicable. If I'm buying a full set doll then I definitely want the box and certificate because I like to have a complete set.

 

Personally yes. I only bought a doll secondhand because it was an LE I was in love with, and would only do again if I couldn't buy first hand. I guess there are two reasons for this.

1. Paranoia. Even with the certificate and box-and all other evidence pointing towards her being real- part of me still worried. I even had this really strange dream about it! I've pretty much stopped with the paranoia (and it was paranoia, there really is nothing suspicious about my doll), but I can only imagine how much worse I'd have been without these things. I will add that I know the amount of worrying I did here (and more generally) was neither healthy or normal, but for me these are just things I need to feel safe.

2. I just like having 'complete' things, so having the box/certificate makes it complete, at least in my mind anyway!

 

I don't really mind as long as there's some sort of a proof that the doll is legitimate. Most companies have special marks on the doll and I'd probably ask for it before buying it. But other than than, if there're rumors of copies or recasts made of the same model, I'd be more careful.

 

I'd prefer it without the box because it'd be smaller when shipped :I
I hate receiving large parcels.

 

I know this wasn't an issue for you, but it's such a great example that I can't resist virtually-borrowing your Lucas for a little thought-experiment.

Lumedolls don't have a box with a logo; they ship in a white drawstring bag with the Lumedoll logo on it, inside an anonymous plain shipping carton.

Anyone expecting a box to authenticate a secondhand Lumedoll--because, don'tcha know, ALL BJDs come in distinctive boxes, just like ALL BJDs have certificates of some kind--would be disappointed in the reality.

 

I generally only buy second-hand if I can't get the doll anywhere else, so usually, it's a limited doll- for me, this usually means Soom of Volks. I'm a bit paranoid so I make sure that I get photos of the dolls certificate/plate/something and the doll before I commit to the buy, and then must have at LEAST the cert/paperwork/plate... if not the box as well. For me, I don't like the idea of getting something that isn't what I paid for, so I insist on some kind of identifying paperwork/box/other thing that prooves that the doll is exactly what I'm paying for.

 

It would really depend on the doll for me. If I'm going to invest that much into something, I would need proof of some sort. Also because for the moment, I wouldn't be able to tell if a doll was a recast unless it was really really bad.

 

I think so, they are part of the doll, aren't they? I know Luts don't have a certificate card, actually, that does't really matter. :p

 

It depends on the circumstance and doll. Personally, I don't mind about papers so long as the doll has proof it is a legitimate doll. If it's limited, then it might be nice to have the papers, but not a necessity. Boxes would be handy to have on hand though! Just for those "what if" moments.

 

My boy is just for me and not a collectible so the box doesn't matter to me. His certificate does however, prove he's the real deal so I def wouldn't have gotten him without that

 

I hope for you guys' sake you never fall in love with an older sculpt or one from one of the many, many companies that have never provided documents with their dolls... It'll be a rude awakening for you if you do, because those CoAs you're all so intent on having aren't a universal thing, as has been pointed out a few times already in this thread.

A seller can't give you what was never there in the first place.

 

Fight the good fight, Brightfires! Me, I give up. This is way too much like my day job.

 

Haha, I didn't even know Lumedolls didn't come with boxes. ^_^;; I feel a little foolish now! I suppose I just assumed that they *all* had boxes of some kind, since so many doll companies do that. Knowing that some don't doesn't really change my opinion, though, since I already considered boxes/CoA as a bonus, and not something I require to purchase a doll. I suppose I'm glad I'm not finicky about it, or I might have missed out on my Lucas! x)

 

I am perfectly aware of this. My other doll, which I got new, did not come with a certificate. It's sort of a big assumption that everyone who says they want these things isn't aware of this, and I thought it was pretty obvious that we were talking about dolls that originally came with these things.

I have stated my reasons for wanting these things (where they exist, to be absolutely clear) but I would not jump on someone for not feeling the same way. What does it matter to anyone else if I miss out on a doll because it does not have these things? There is absolutely nothing wrong with either choice, and I don't understand the need to be judgemental on others.

 

There are so many quirks in the ways that BJD makers package their dolls, aren't there?! Lumedoll has (fairly recently, in my experience) started sending handwritten cards with the name of the sculpt when she ships a doll or a head, but I don't remember getting one with my Keid Duo, a few years ago. Some of the even smaller makers (Aoi-Tuki and Production Ariadne are two that I know about firsthand) don't have any kind of distinctive/identifying packaging or paperwork at all, or at least didn't when I bought dolls from them. There just isn't any standard set of authenticating items for BJDs, any more than there are standard body shapes.

 

No not really. But I have heard that some companies won't let you buy replacement pairs unless you can prove that you're the original owner of the doll so I guess that papers would be handy if you could change the owner's name on them.

 

Wow. If pointing out something like that is "being judgemental on others" to you, all I can say is that you have a pretty strange definition of what being judgemental is. It's just a matter of fact that there are an awful lot of perfectly legitimate dolls out there that DON'T come with paperwork and never have. My supposed judgement of your personal opinion has nothing to do with it, and I certainly didn't "jump" on you.

That aside, while making exceptions for those dolls may be an obvious thing to you personally, Luna, after seeing more than one seller given grief over Volks School heads with "missing" head plates (School heads have never come with them, which you would think anyone seriously looking to buy one would KNOW... though that's apparently not the case-), and having been personally asked to provide a CoA on an event head that didn't come with any such thing (And then having the buyer balk and all but accuse me of lying when I pointed that out to her-), it may not be as widely-held an exemption as you assume... either in this thread or in the marketplace. People have gotten it into their heads somehow that most, if not all, dolls should have CoAs, and not all of them are aware that the facts of the matter are different.

As for why this collective "OMG!GottaHaveThePaperworkOrElse!"-trend matters to me personally, it's pretty simple... I have a lot of older dolls in my collection that didn't come with documentation, including some relatively valuable Limiteds. Some day I'm going to leave this hobby, and it would be nice to be able to sell those dolls on, to get at least some of my investment in them back to apply to whatever hobby I take up next. That's a whole lot less likely to happen if the majority of my potential buyers have become SO convinced that every single legitimate doll out there has paperwork that any doll without it is instantly suspect, and so practically unsellable.

 

And yet you don't seem to understand that there's a difference between not wanting to buy a doll without a certificate when it came with a certificate, and not wanting to buy a doll because it never came with a certificate. The first makes sense, and the second is largely a problem with information/research on buyers' behalf. I'm sorry you've had that experience of being attacked over a doll which had no paperwork, there is no excuse for that, but that does not mean that this sort of belief is widespread. I'm sure you've heard that anecdotal evidence is a poor form of evidence.

What is judgemental is not pointing out that not all dolls have certificates, but the way you describe it as the "OMG!GottaHaveThePaperworkOrElse!-trend", and the way you phrased your first post is judgemental. I will repeat, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting paperwork and boxes when such things exist. This has absolutely nothing to do with your paperless limited dolls, and in any case the community at large is under no obligation to buy your dolls now or at any point in the future. There is a reason why people are wary-recasts-and this is a legitimate concern, and you have to understand that.