Do you sell and re-shell your dolls often?

Personally, I haven't done sold a doll and reshelled it's character. But I have sold a couple of dolls because I just couldn't bond with them or they just didn't fit in with my crew. My first and only unoa was a boy and he was intended to be the bf of a mnf ryeon. But the size difference in their heads and the bodies I just couldn't get around it. Then I had issues with ryeons faceup. I did her faceups myself. And while I liked them, I just couldn't achieve the look I wanted and I didn't have funds back then to send her off to an artist. I think if I ever found the right mold, with the right face, I'd probably reshell the ryeon's character. Though the character might get revamped a bit because that was like six or seven years ago. I have kept the majority of my dolls and when their characters seem a bit tired to me, I give them a revamp/renewal and that usually does the trick.

 

I've sold or given away a lot of dolls, and I usually don't reshell the character after the first one is gone. The main reason I sell dolls is because of some physical aspect of the doll (usually poseability or engineering) that doesn't work for me, and not because the doll doesn't work for the character. For me, dolls may represent my original characters, but the dolls are not the characters themselves. The characters existed long before there were BJD in my life, and will continue to exist whether they have a BJD avatar or not, so I really don't feel a need to re-shell a character after the first resin avatar is gone.

My acceptance rate is pretty high, I guess. The only characters I've ever re-shelled are Tyler (RS Mai >> Iplehouse nYID Oscar), Sini (RS Mei >> IMPL Elf Azalea), Kiva (RS Yu >> IMPL Gela) and Skyla (RS Yu >> Iplehouse KID Paige). The reason for this is because I was 100% fed up with RS poor engineering and because I really wanted larger and more realistic sculpts to represent these characters, but when I first started, RS was what was within my budget at the time. I probably would've gotten the dolls I have now in the first place if they'd existed at the time and I'd had the financial resources at the time.

 

I haven't sold or reshelled any. I have changed a body, but that was because he was a bit bobble headed, so he got a new, bigger body!

 

Certainly I've done this...even multiple times with one certain character (shakes her fist at Lady Shandre!) My OCs just have to be right, and let's face it, sometimes a doll doesn't accept your original idea no matter how hard you try. And especially early on in the collecting process you might make an error in size or style before you fully develop your own aesthetic within the hobby (I learned the hard way that those gorgeous hyper-realistic sculpts just aren't for me...I need a more anime look.) And then, of course, a company might design a doll that is more perfectly what you're looking for and then it's time for an upgrade. It happens, and I believe it's just a normal part of the collecting process.

 

I haven't sold any full dolls, but I did sell off a faceplate as soon as I got it (I bought a Littlefée Shiwoo during an event with the plan to trade his original faceplate for the elf version of the same sculpt), and we (my wife and I) have a floating head that we've just never gelled with that will be sold as soon as one of us gets around to it

I get too attached to them once they're around, I guess - but I think not selling off dolls is more unusual than selling them. I also very rarely shell characters; usually I just buy dolls that I like and make a character after them. So it all comes down to how much I like the doll itself, not whether or not it matches my character.

 

I've sold a lot of dolls. Probably as many as I have now, if not more....but it's not all reshelling. I haven't reshelled everyone, nor will I. Some of those I have reshelled have been changed several times, some only once. I have some heads coming in right now that are the 5th or 6th reshelling of one of my OCs. I've lost count of how many times I've changed her sculpt. I've also moved bodies around a lot, especially in my 70cm range guys.

 

I think it's been about 60% keep, 40% sell as i'm quite picky. The biggest reasons for selling is the issue of not being able to see or try out a doll before buying and not been 100% certain on what size works best for me. But it doesn't bother me to sell a doll if it's not working for me so not a big deal in my mind. Most of the one's i've kept I really love and would find it hard to part with so i'm of the mind set of 'you win some, you lose some'.

I've been quite lucky when it's come to shelling characters that i've found sculpts that have worked well first try. The only exception so far has been one character that I just can not seem to find a sculpt that's quite right for her. I think i've tried 3 dolls/heads and none of them have been right, it's most vexing. I think she's been my biggest cause of buying/selling dolls Ah well, I'm sure i'll get there in the end!

 

I have sold about 50% of my dolls that I have bought since I was in the hobby. Mostly because my taste in the doll changed, I went from Hujoo to Iplehouse. As for some other dolls, I reshelled their characters into new ones and bought few more to have matching characters. Ideas and preferences changes and that's when you might find yourself reselling and selling your dolls.
I believe I am at the point of not selling most of my dolls now because I am happy with what I have and reaching my max. That might change down the road in few years, who knows. That's what make this hobby fun.
But as for the concept of a physical store, that would be nice. But that's why we have doll meets! Look for one in your area and go, it's the next best thing! ^_^

 

Basically, when I look at a doll and all I can see is "dollar signs" (like "Oh, I could get xxx amount for that doll!") and not the doll anymore, I know it's time to sell. For me, the doll's just a batch of hypothetical money anymore, whereas someone else might be looking for that exact doll and be overjoyed to find it for sale.

 

I've bought and sold so many dolls over the years. I honestly haven't kept track. This year I've just about finished selling the last of the dolls I don't want anymore. I've never sold a doll to re shell, new doll, new character. Now it will be keep what I have, no more sales, and few new acquisitions. I think I sold so many because funds are tight and one has to go so I can get another. Plus over the years styles and selection has grown and more of my preferences are being made. I call those upgrades!

 

In my time in this hobby, I've sold one full doll, one head, and one body that weren't acquired with the intent to sell them (ie "I want this body but it only comes with a head I don't want").

I've also only reshelled two characters. With one, I kept the head on a bust stand and sold the original hybrid body after determining I had no heads that could use it. With the other, I kept her as a new character.

That's a very small number compared to what I've kept. I tend to put a decent amount of thought into what I want these days, and try to avoid buying anything without a plan for it. Of course, I did have plans for the full doll I sold, so that's not foolproof by any means!

 

I have yet to sell a doll. I have re-shelled two, but I still own every piece of resin I ever bought, in part because re-selling means a massive loss after everything is slapped with 20% "import tax". My acceptance rate is very high because I don't buy dolls until I'm very sure about them (partly due to the cost), and even if a doll doesn't work for whatever I bought them for, I try to make them work for something. I only re-shelled because (like @SapphireStargazer said) something better-working became available that was not around at the time I bought the first versions.

My OCs precede my dolls too, but I do "need" the visualization. I'm very bad with visual imagination, and seeing my OCs "in the resin" is a huge help / inspiration for me.

 

I've definitely done it, mostly to get a more appropriate color. (Replacing the NS version of Nyala with a tanned one, for instance, or the BW versions of Crane, Gaia and Kingfisher with NS. They're still the same sculpts they've always been... a DES, an El, an Elf Lishe and an Elf Yder... just now they're in different resin tones-) In most of those cases, the older versions were sold. Crane's the only exception there, since he's so ridiculously "beauty green" that I figured no one else would want him. He stuck around as Yue, our resident ghost.

A few times it's also taken me more than one try to find a sculpt that really suited a particular character that I wanted to add to the crew... Sjhan and Elise, for example, both took three tries before I settled on their current, final forms. T'tomi took two. I'm currently pondering a second round of looking for Cloud Mirror... In some of those "misfire" cases, I still ended up keeping the dolls even though they didn't work out as planned, because I really liked their sculpts. They ended up becoming other members of the gang. Others that I wasn't so fond of were sold on, but they're the minority. I'm usually pretty good at knowing what I like, even if that particular sculpt doesn't end up being who I thought they were.

 

Ummm..very close to 100%. I still have my first doll, but the rest I've had less than half the time I've been in the hobby, I think. I have a very high turn over rate because I can really only afford new dolls by selling old ones, and I often have more fun creating new characters than keeping them. I'm an active hobbyist, not so much a collector.

 

My first human was a SD girl (DOD DOT Calla), when my first Minifee came home, I decided (sadly) that SD was just too big for my liking so I rehomed her. I don't regret it since she's probably getting a lot more attention there now! (Never really reshelled her as she didn't really have a background story/character).

As for my current dolls, they all play some sort of part in my storyline, so reshelling them was a *must*. I've done it four times so far and usually kept the sculpt for at least a while before ultimately concluding that the sculpt did not work for the character I had in mind! But now, it seems like the sculpts I have chosen are staying, I'm pretty content with where my dolls are now.

I have a hard time selling off dolls unless I've tried everything (new faceup, wig, eyes, clothes, etc) and only then, if it all fails, I will finally sell them.

 

Short answer - Nope. I've not ever sold a doll. I only re-shelled one doll (well, I switched two characters so really 2 dolls). I have no interest in the kind of constant buying/selling/refining going on in so many people's doll collection. No time for that. I'll be doing well to get all my characters shelled, face-ups & outfits done, & the main photo stories completed. I research & buy dolls that will fit their characters, & then stick with my choices.

 

I rarely sell/trade my dolls. I've reshelled a couple of characters (they were YO-SD sized, when I found I just didn't like that size, so I sold them and got some Minoruworld/Bluefairy Juniors instead, same sculpt, different body).

 

I hate, hate, hate the doll selling process. I'd much rather pass on a doll I'm not super pumped to own than risk becoming ambivalent towards it and having to sell it... I've only sold around 10 dolls over a 7 year period.