Did Volks fall out of favor? How? Why? When?

Volks is still considered high quality and generally good, imo, it just that there are a lot of choices now, which facilitates people gravitating to other styles of sculpts.

Ebay is also not really a great place to sell dolls because its been overrun by recasts and people are very cautious about that. The markets have changed and you might have better luck in a more bjd-oriented space.

 

Yeah, Ebay would be one of the last places I'd use if I'm looking for 2nd-hand SDs, tbh. Maybe you can try FB groups until you also have marketplace access here?

It also depends on the doll. Maybe Claude is not really sought after in general? Especially if he is kinda unpopular + old.

Many SDs are still really hard to get in lotteries compared to their vinyl counterparts and can also sell at very high prices.

 

I think it's likely due to the fact that over the last 10 years there has been a steady increase in the amount of doll artists/companies around. With a wider range of doll styles available that are much easier to get hold of and considerably cheaper then Volks doesn't dominate like it used to.

 

I don't think Volks has fallen out of favour at all, especially on the vinyl side of the hobby? Though I think their vinyl dolls seem to be far more popular and easier to sell second-hand than their resin ones.

And in general, their collab dolls are much more sought after than their original character ones.

 

Volks is still a great doll company. Just like before, it depends on the doll and its popularity when it comes to resale. There are still Dolpa dolls that go for a lot, and there are ones that don’t. Trends have changed as well, and Volks dolls show that. From what I’ve seen, many male sculpts are not going for as high a price as some female sculpts. Factor in age of doll on top of that, and it could explain some of your sale problems. Of course there are some very desirable older male sculpts, but not like there used to be, in my opinion. Volks has also rereleased sculpts and helped those longing to bring one home a better chance of it.

Like others have said, eBay is not a great place for selling. Too many recasts and high fees for sellers.

As for the market overall, due to the pandemic, sales trends have changed, as well. Some people have a lot of ‘fun money’ to spend, some have to be really careful with it and super picky about what they buy and when. Layaway has become a saving grace for many in this hobby.

These are just some things I’ve noticed after having been out of the hobby for several years and then coming back. I’d say trying to sell a doll with a layaway option and using a doll forum or doll-centric group would give you a better chance of a sale. I wish you the best!

 

Volks is still one of the best doll companies. But, I really hate that only people living in Japan could be able to buy some certain special dolls.

 

I agree with all the posts above. Volks is still really popular and considered a high quality company but now there are many more boats out on the doll sea selling their wares. They're still a little difficult to obtain - especially One Off's or Dolpa Only Dolls - but their USA website will hold FCS events or sometimes you can enter their online lotteries.

As for selling your Claude (who is gorgeous, just not a good fit for my personal collection) I would try here or other doll-only websites/Discord servers? Ebay is not the great buy-sell site used to be - lots of fees for sellers and then item prices can be overly high for buyers. I've heard of people selling on social media (Facebook/Instagram) but I don't know how well selling there protects you as a buyer/seller.

What I really loved about Volks is their clothing and shoes, perhaps more than their dolls. It's always very high quality and I've bought some old outfits that are still gorgeous!

 

Yeah, seconding eBay as not a great venue. Instagram has been surprisingly good for selling, once you have Mp access here, this is a really good place to sell, and I know of two discord servers that have sales threads (both of which are anti-recast, which makes the appearance of valuable or sought after limited dolls look less suspect that it would look on eBay, where recasts have absolutely obliterated the market). I’ve heard good things about Facebook groups like bjd addicts, but I don’t use Facebook, so I don’t have any personal experience there

 

I use to love the Haute doll magazine back in the day before it poofed from shelves.

I have been in the hobby 14ish years and far as I know Volks is still a very big deal. I have never really been into them myself, but then their dolls are almost never my taste. The Dollfie Dream in my avatar is one of the only Volks dolls I have ever liked, and the only one I will ever own as the others I have liked were just too rare/limited.

Personal tastes aside recasters are a massive threat to our beloved hobby these days and eBay and esty are not good places to buy or sell BJDs. (esty is ok if you know for sure it is the artist's own doll which can be hard.) Buying/selling here, FB, and on Insta tends to be better and safer markets. I personally have only gotten second hand dolls here and at meet ups in the past. Reselling is a slower market too, lots of outside factors in that. I know people where selling a doll took them years, due to how odd the second hand market is.

But no Volks is still popular, as far as I know, or at least I see their dolls seemingly every where.

 

I still buy and sell on eBay. True that the recasters seem to have the majority of listings, there are still a lot of legitimate dolls being sold. Have to agree that sellar fees are terrible. A lot of people have moved over to other social media sites like FB, instagram etc but there are still A LOT of us who aren't on those sites and have no plans of joining sites like those. With the pandemic and inflation continuing to rise the amount of "free spending" money people have has diminished recently so it does take longer for items to sell.

 

that's also a very fair point! I think eBay only talking PayPal on the buyer end, also made things a little trickier for sellers--I had to set it up to deposit in my bank for some playline dolls I wanted to sell, and that definitely struck me. It's good to know you guys are still using it! I might have to check eBay slightly more often now (I watch used BJD and Legit/ Legitimate BJD--are there other keywords you guys use that make it easier to find people reselling legit?)

 

I wouldn't say Volks has fallen out of favor at all! If anything, their faceup improvements have made them look 10x better than they did in 2010. I do think the number of competitors has risen a lot so it takes focus away from them. Many western collectors are very into fairyland minifees and "artist" dolls right now.

I did see you listing a while ago, just because I like looking for deals on ebay. You have a good price compared to Japanese resellers, but he's also not a doll I personally need. Searching ebay has become an incredible pain though. I have to subtract like 20 terms from my searches and still recasts and mislabeled non-BJDs still end up 50% of the results. It's likely the right buyer just didn't see it, because honestly, it's very hard to see it unless they are looking specifically for "Volks Claude".

I still would prefer to buy here or ebay over social media because there's no good way to do feedback on FB/IG/discord. They're not built for that kind of recordkeeping. I've seen too many horror stories out there since anyone can just change their name at any time and easily disappear off the face of the Earth.

 

As much as I love Claude and think he's a cool sculpt, I own one myself, he's also one of the most unpopular SD17 boys so he's often a hard sell secondhand at this point. Volks are still very much high quality dolls with a lot of fans, but there's a lot of dolls available and the secondhand market overall is much more sluggish and oversaturated. Selling any doll requires patience nowadays.

 

I always include "legit" in my search titles or if I have more time to scroll I'll do the advanced search options to exclude "recast" in just "bjd" title alone which doesn't get rid of all the recasts but does remove a significant amount of them and then I just window shop the next 40-50 pages to find things "I never knew I needed"

 

I think it also depends where you live. I’m in Japan and here they are the most favorite company ever and on the other hand nobody really likes fairyland. Which is super interesting. Feels like another dimension.

 

I also used to be a Haute Doll staff writer, so welcome!

Echoing others here - sadly, the market has changed, especially with regards to eBay and the current selling "climate" there, at least in respect to BJDs. Some dolls / doll items do still sell well there, but alas, not BJD items.

Volks is a great doll company that many people still love and admire. I think you'd do better on the MP here (especially if you're uncomfortable on social media selling sites).