Discovering the Price...

My close friends and family know the prices of these dolls. As an adult, I don't feel that I need to explain or justify what I spend my discretionary income on, so it doesn't bother me to reveal the price tags. The reactions I've received have been varied, but I'm happy to say that all ranged from neutral to positive. My mother, for example, would never spend so much on a doll, but she appreciates the quality and craftsmanship of BJDs (she would easily spend quite a bit on a purse or a pair of shoes, though ). My husband thinks that the dolls are worth the price and is very supportive of my acquisitions. He has a similar interest in resin dinosaur models which cost about $300 on average, so he appreciates and understands the appeal of resin dolls.

In the end, it is all about doing what makes you happy.

 

OK...there is kinda embarrassed for me to tell my friends or someone else the real price about BJDs because the majority people who aren't be familar with BJDs would be astonished about the price of doll.

 

I feel for you, sweetheart. It's terrible when people get on someone's case for not buying expensive stuff. I too sew my doll's clothes, and I personally feel that it's a really good way to "bond" with the doll- I always seem to get a better sense of the character's personality when I'm making clothes, and it's also very relaxing for me. Besides, which is a greater sign of affection- buying something expensive, or making something from scratch? You keep doing what you're doing, and don't let what anyone else says get to you.

 

I most certainly pay for my dolls on my own.
My mother thinks I'm crazy, but as long as I don't owe her any money, I can do whatever I want. I'm 21 after all.

Only my band has a problem with the cost of my dolls because recently my microphone was stolen and I haven't bothered to buy a new one yet (In the meantime I use a cheap, rather okay mic. it's not bad but it's not good either).
They always say I should buy a mic instead of dolls, because I'm grown up now.
But as long as I have a mic that's working, and am not in desperate need for a new one.

What else would I do with the money? Drink alcohol?
Buy clothes that I can't fit in my closet? Or shoes?
I think a BJD teaches young people resonsibility and the value of your own earned money, and the value of things you have bought yourself.

 

I had a friend once tell me in college that I didn't have my priorities straight in saving for a doll... never mind that she always blew her money on alcohol and partying, but somehow I'm in the wrong for wanting to explore a new hobby--but that's beside the point. Aside from that one friend, no one has given me any grief about my desire to be in this hobby... aside from my best friend, but she's just not into the aesthetic.

Most of my friends don't even care that I'm into dolls, though a few have inquired about my... "progress".

 

I'm also in college, and my parents would freak if they knew the true cost of a BJD. My mom thinks I spent $250 on my Soom Amber, and still thinks it's too high! Thankfully I have a very supportive boyfriend, who will buy me bodies for my male dolls XD But like others said, what else would I spend the money on? Alcohol? Shoes? I have myself taken care of, and I have enough money in my bank account if an emergency occurred (or for BJD impulse buying! Okay, just kidding...). I plan on posting a photo album on my Facebook as well for my BJD photography, and I guess I'll find out who my real friends are! I'm curious about the strange comments I'll get as well

 

I actually refused to tell my mother how much I'm spending on my doll. v__v She said that as long as the doll costs LESS than my beautiful, 27" imac, she's fine with it. The doll was significantly less, so all is well. :P

My friends are into anime and cons and stuff and have a general idea that BJDs are hella expensive, but since most of my friends are artists too, they get paying a lot for fine craftsmanship. My friend who isn't an artist recently bought himself a BMW, so he has no room to talk.

The one person I really, really don't want to know how much I spent on this doll is my dad. He would lose his shit. (Despite the fact that he wastes money on his network marketing things all the time) XP

When it comes down to it, BJDs are beautiful pieces of art. I'm an artsit and I hope to make my living selling paintings and illustrating things, so I understand that a fine piece of art is worth the money spent on it. Art has no "point" either, not in a practical sense, yet people will still spend crazy money on it!

I mean... I would willingly spend $1000 on an original painting by Stephanie Law if I had it, so why not $700 on a beautifully crafted doll as well as beautifully crafted clothes, hair and eyes for her? The painting would just hang on my wall and look pretty, the doll I can interact with at least. XD (But seriously, maybe someday on that painting. When I'm a rich and successful artist myself :P)

 

Everyone Iv talked to about the dolls I'v explained them, and no one seems to be too bothered about their price. I guess I'm pretty lucky no ones over exagerated about it

 

It's encouraging to see the more confident responses. I'm 20 and I earn my own money to fund my doll hobby. There could be worse things I could choose to spend my money on. My dolls make me happy. I love to talk about them, to share pictures of them, and to buy more things for them. Sure it seemed like a lot in the beginning to spend hundreds of dollars at one go for something, but to repeat the responses of others in here, I don't buy new brand name clothes, make up, purses, shoes, et cetera. There are certainly other hobbies or collections out there that are similar costs or more, but don't get the same critism because of certain stereotypes or whatnot.

Depending on who I'm speaking to, I am open to talking about my dolls even if they are a non-dolly person. For others, like cousins of mine who have always disapproved of my other collections and hobbies and feel I spend too much on "useless" things, I avoid such conversations altogether because I know they won't understand anyhow (and would much rather buy $500 wallets).

I have few friends, but the ones I keep are always very understanding of my interests, or I would not have wanted to keep them as friends if they couldn't accept that this is me. And since I have always entertained odd or more niche hobbies, this makes introducing BJDs to some of the company I keep a lot easier for me.

 

I wouldn't let my friends know the real price. Not because they would be judgmental, but some of them are can barely afford food/rent and I don't want to seem like I'm bragging about having disposable income. Not all my friends are poor (most have far more money than I ever will), but if you tell one person that you bought a $1000 doll, other people may find out.

 

i met new people who is doll owner as soon i got to this hobby so i am very lucky even though that time i didn't have a doll yet ^^

they understand pretty much specially the price , but most of my other friends doesn't because they think its stupid to wasted so much money on a doll ~ (most of the offense came from my male friend)

but i think it over i rather spent hundred bucks on a doll with healthy hobby instead spending thousand of thousand of dollars in 3-4 months just to buy crack and eventually killing you slowly

 

The First Time I Saw The Price I Was Like "THAT MUCH...FOR A DOLL?!!?!" But I Have Came To Realize That It Was Actually A Really Decent Price. xD

 

I have never felt these dolls aren't worth the price (maybe because I've seen the price of antique dolls, which put BJD prices in the bargain basement - for years I wanted a BeBe or Jumeau....) - I couldn't afford BJDs, let alone the pricier dolls, but that's like saying I can't afford a Chanel suit... I think they are worth the $$$
As for other people, I don't like to broadcast how much the dolls cost, simply because I don't want it widely known that I've got pricey items sitting about the house. Kind of like the advice to NOT keep the widescreen TV in front of the picture window in the living room, etc.
As for saving money by sewing, that would be something I do - but the main reason I make most of my own costumes & doll clothes has to do w/quality - ie I make better quality costumes than I can buy, & they are exactly what I want. Which makes me smile as I also save money (although looking about at the mounds of material, perhaps not as much as one might think LOL)

 

No matter how much you keep your dolls price a secret, eventually family will know about their prices. I was surprised one time that one of my family discovered how much I paid for my Code 2. Lol. I am extremely uncomfortable too on disclosing doll's price tags. It's like asking a woman's age.

 

I was kinda a shock finding out the price, and it does feel like an unnecessary expense....
Still, hobbies tend to be expensive, so it's a matter of picking your poison?

 

I find it kind of humorous that a certain degree of non-doll people think alcohol is a better alternative to buying BJDs.

I know people in my life always tell me I could be spending the money I use on dolls on other things... but no one ever has told me what those "other things" entail.

Although, truth be told, I finally realized why people freaked out about the hand I bought that cost $9.

 

Why did people freak out?
I dunno, 9dollars on its own doesn't look too... expensive?

 

That's what I thought, too. But then yesterday, I actually thought about it, and the hand in question - one hand, MSD-sized - is quite small. I think one would assume it costs less money being it's a hand and not a significant part of the doll - like maybe $2-3. A pair of hands would seem more believable as being $9... but a pair of hands (at Dollmore) are almost $20.

In essence, you're paying $10 for a half-dollar sized piece of resin. I finally realized why people were weirded out over it.

It was a peace-sign hand, so it was still worth it.

 

Interesting thread. For me, I've always had hobbies so my wife is used to seeing me buy and sell things all the time, and a degree of money spent. But BJDs are on a whole new level of spending, and when she found out the price tag, it made her uncomfortable.

She knows that I have my hobby budget, and how I spend or save it is up to me, but she's struggling to understand why I would even want to spend that much money on a BJD. It really baffles her mind. She looks at a BJD's price tag and sees a vacation we could be taking instead. She values memories far more than material objects, but as much as I love memories...sometimes I want something tangible. She doesn't understand when I fall for a physical object and want to have it. She can understand saving up to buy a computer, because a computer does something.

For me BJDs are an investment in an entire hobby. It made me interested in sewing, faceups, fashion, and it led me to join forums and meet new people. It's more than just a physical object, to me BJDs are a full fledged hobby with all that it entails. And I really like them.

I guess some people are wired to see a physical object and fall in love with it, while to other people it will just be a "thing". Thankfully she understands that people are different, and lets me go on with my plans to spend horrible amounts of money in the coming year. Heh.

I don't know if I'd be comfortable telling my friends about the prices. Though then again, I'm still not sure if/how I'd even out my BJD fandom to them.

 

I see price and my budget, then I see if I want the doll THAT badly. I will not buy a doll over $700.00, I just will not do it. Sometimes I see a price and I do the thing you do in a store when you see the price tag, slowly put it down and walk away lol.