Dolls and your country (pros/cons)

I'm from austria. The biggest pro I can think of is that we have a lot of crafting, warhammer and toy stores so I can get a lot of those "rare" supplies you need for faceups and the like quite easily. We also have a lot of overcast days so my doll, which I've had sitting in my room and never put inside her box for years, hasn't yellowed (at least not noticeably). But if you wouldn't have mentioned it I wouldn't even have thought of it as a pro
Buuut there's a bunch of cons, like extremely long shipping times from china and high custom fees D : and the biggest one for me is that the bjd community here is almost non-existant so I don't know any bjd collectors in person which is quite sad.

 

There are no pros. I've encountered a total of two people from Turkey in the hobby on the internet in a whole 9 years, and I'm surprised to even have found them. It's hard to find anything I want, the shipping costs are ridiculous, translating some terms to get help from craft store employees is probably even harder than finding them by myself, and I have to wait for weeks for even the smallest thing to arrive to me by post. At least I live in a fairly dry part of the country, so humidity isn't much of a problem when I want to do faceups. But despite everything, I still love both my dolls and my home.

 

I'm from the UK...
Cons:
We get MASSIVE import fees: % of total value plus the "handling fee" of £7 or £13. I've paid £90+ before. (See below)
It rains a lot (sometimes even in summer!) so working outside isn't always an option. It gets dark very early in winter, so even if it's dry, it's probably dark. (See below)
Property prices in London are astronomical: you need to literally be a millionaire to get a workshop/outbuilding. I have a tiny shed, though.

Pros:
Uh... This forum is in English. I admire anyone who can speak another language because I can't.
London is very cosmopolitan and I can buy pretty much anything. Even if it's not in a shop nearby, I can usually get it delivered in a few days at most!
It's dark and rains a lot, so at least there's not too much sun on the dolls!
There's a few BJD collectors about, though I'm yet to meet one. Mostly, there's a lot of arty types and all sorts of unusual hobbies so I think I'm unlikely to be judged too much!
Since prices are in USD, the exchange rate is usually in our favour: $500 is currently £370. So that makes me feel better. I see a price, panic, then convert and it's not as bad!

 

It's difficult to take photos in the late fall/winter where I live because it is dark when I head to work at 8 am and dark again when I get home at 5, so my only option for photoshoots is to wait until the weekend when I have the day off and hope that it's sunny (which it's not today, unfortunately ). I should really look into getting some lighting equipment. I suppose the pro is that there are no import fees for dolls and shipping to the US isn't too horrible in my opinion. On the other hand, trying to ship outside of the country can be very expensive and potentially limits sales.

 

The currency exchange as of today is R$3.26 to buy one dollar. Depending on the state, you pay one or two import fees. I pay two and all in all its roughly 100% of the price including shipping. So assuming my package isn't underdeclared, I pay a value a little over 6 times whatever price it says on the company, unless I get lucky with customs, which I never do. :'D In fact last year a bunch of people got their dolls without any import fees due to a strike and I got mine with enough to pay for two. 'orz
If it's above $500 it also goes to this thing called Easy Import (oh the irony) which makes it a lot harder because it requires several documents before you can pay that fortune for your package. MSC is often destroyed when it gets to Brazil so it's very hard to get your hands on and people who manage to import it sell it for a lot, and there's no alternative option that works properly as far as I know. Been looking for a while now.
Our postal system is insane (and usually very slow) and things take bizarre amounts of time to move for no apparent reason. I'm still waiting on a package from November last year, but once I received one in three days. Go figure. My usual wait is two or three months.
I can never find friends in the hobby and the few I've found are either in another state or at least another part of the state so we rarely ever get to see each other. Tried being friends with just doll collectors in general and been treated badly because of my BJDs. :T
The weather here in my city is nuts and changes without warning so good luck getting a faceup done, haha. Although that isn't a country wide issue so maybe other places have better luck with that aspect.

But on the bright side, during daylight saving time (like right now) it doesn't get dark until like 8 or 9pm so there's plenty of time to get some doll photography done. :'D

 

I'm from the US but all my doll experiences are from while I've lived in Japan and the UK.

Pros of doll-ing in Tokyo: easy access to Volks and Dolk shops and events (plus the massive hobby market for other supplies), people tend to take a live-and-let-live approach towards hobbies so you don't usually have to worry about getting harassed, shipping from Korea and China is SO CHEAP AND FAST (never got stuck with import tax, either), post in general is fast and reliable

Cons of doll-ing in Tokyo: Summer = RUTHLESS HUMIDITY, teensy apartments offer paltry space for storage/display or for working on faceups, the language barrier (I speak decent Japanese but it's still intimidating)


Pros of doll-ing in England: The manor houses and gardens around here seem like nice photo spots, but I don't have a good way to carry my dolls around outside yet so I haven't tried. There's a Games Workshop nearby to pick up sealant, and overall moderate humidity.

Cons of doll-ing in England: Haven't found any collectors to connect with in the south, generally less understanding of this kind of hobby, had to order isopropyl alcohol online because apparently shops don't carry it?, unpredictable rain, dark by 4:30pm, and THAT IMPORT TAX THO

 

Cons
I live in Northern Canada (the arctic) so if i want to go to a dolly meet up, me and my boy(s) have to fly somewhere which is usually why when i travel, if i can take him, i do so i can meet others with their dolls too.

People here are super simple minded (as im sure they are everywhere) and judge me harshly when it comes to my hobby (dolls and anime/manga).. even once i tried to sell a tiny on a local marketplace on facebook and the comments were very rude.

It is dark here with snow september/october to about May... though it does tend to lighten up in the spring slowly so its hard to get outside for photos when its -40C (-40F) outside, i bought mikami (my boy) some winter gear, but resin is fragile so im worried long exposure will make him crack. ive been lucky since then, but almost lost a hand ones...

It is dark here as i said most of the year and it gets dark around 3pm so by the time i get home from work, the sun is already long gone.

buying stuff hurts my wallet, i would want them to have a walk in closet full of clothes, but with the canadian dollar at its lowest, its hard to buy anything and not may waaayyyyy more than expected.

The pros...
well i think meeting other doll owners and taking photos with both of our dolls is pretty great. I also like when i took mikkie to yaoi con and many people loved him because of how he looks with his Seme-ness and irezumi tattoos (though since then ive remolded him).

As it was mentioned too, its mainly dark out so i constantly have my boys out too, so its nice to be able to always look at them even if i dont end up doing too much with them at times.

I do like how Creative people can be with their dolls too. even if its a full set or anything, i love seeing how they can change them to make them theirs

Sorry for the all-over-thoughts but as much as the cons hurt, i love my boys and cant imagine not being in the hobby.

 

Amazon have isopropyl alcohol!

 

That is insane! I feel like I can't complain about UK customs fees now because it sounds like you could almost get on a flight and go pick your package up for cheaper! Adding on postage charges often makes me think twice about a purchase so I can't imagine it being bumped up as badly as 6x the value! It's weird that I have had dolls ship from China without attracting a fee but Korea and the US especially I know I'm going to get stung. Sometimes the admin charge is more than the customs fee itself which irks me. And I do remember asking a seller to post my two items separately to keep the value just under the threshold because I'd rather pay postage twice!

Doing a faceup here is like waiting for the stars to align. It has to be dry and light and I have to have time and inclination. And I would have said that uk eBay is less riddled with recasts but they seem to be on the rise. I still haven't been to a meet because they're always quite far to go and as I don't know anyone it's a bit nerve wracking.

But hey, at least we have Candy Kittens Emporium who does awesome eyes!

 

Well, if we are talking about cons:
It's dark before 16:00 and the sun rises at around 8:30 during winter months, it's almost always cloudy and it's either raining or snowing during the winter months, so humidity is quite insane. But I wouldn't know about the face ups as I am not that much of a painter. Photography, even trying to take photos of my boy during the day time, it feels like we're in a constant twilight zone, where it's neither dark enough nor bright enough.
If your parcel is underdeclared you can avoid all the fees and no one is suspicious how your box, that is a size of a small child can cost 16$ if it's true value is declared, I have to pay 21% fee if for the goods over 20 euros, 14 euros for handling and another fee which I totally forgot just now.
There are a total of 15 people in my whole country who have dolls, all of them live in the capital city and if I want to go I have to take a bus as I don't drive and it's a 2 hour long trip.
People look weirdly at you, either they think you substitute your lack of husband/boyfriend material with a doll and "play" with it,
either you have too much money on your hands when they get to know how much does it cost,
or they think it's a kid's toy

Not that much pros besides the fact that post office is extra reliable (I have never ever in my whole years of buying online have had a parcel go missing) and cheap.

 

I am from the Netherlands, wich weather is very much the same as the english weather...
To my suprise (or not, we are a small country) there is a big group off collectors
Not to far away, so thats nice ...
Bying a doll far away is a pain, customs is killing here, so there is a lot off
People buying from each other or european, one off the advantages of the EU..

 

I don't know about it being cheaper since plane tickets here are pretty expensive as well, but I went to visit a friend in the US earlier this year and boy did I swamp her with packages so I could bring them all on my luggage instead, haha. She even received an entire SD doll for me. I had to pay fees when going back to Brazil as well, but for trips they only really care about electronics (of which I did have a couple, because even with the trip import fees which is 50% they were still cheaper than buying here) and multiples of the same thing that's obviously for resale, so my random purchases got off with no fees added on to them. So worth it! I wish I could afford to go visit my friend more often. :'D

 

I'm in the Appalachian Mountains (southern US) so...

Pros:
I live in a very artsy city. I was able to find a sealant (not MSC, but one that works adequately if you have the right conditions) for faceups in a local shop, as well as quite a few other supplies.
It's bloody beautiful up here. Even last winter, when the trees were completely bare, I was still able to find pretty places to take pictures.
People are strange enough that I barely get noticed for carrying around a doll or two.
Ideal faceup weather isn't too uncommon (60ºF-70ºF, low humidity) even this time of year. I'm wearing a T-shirt today and our humidity is fairly low. It's time I don't have... curse you finals!
I'm only a day away from one of the biggest mail hubs in the southern US, so packages come fairly quickly and I don't have to deal with the customs nightmares. (Ouch. Sorry you guys get those. )

Cons:
Summer is death by humidity.
While our days get shorter in the winter, we're close enough to the equator that it doesn't make much of a difference. My dorm room is conveniently dark almost all the time, though.
I'm at university and our mail centre's hours make me sad.

 

I'm a Finnish living in Sweden, so I know how it can be - it is the same here.

The pros are that the summers are very good for face ups because it is not humid and sealants work fine, without any trouble. Winter time is a dark time, dolls are out and not so much worries about sunlight, yellowing and other troubles.

The cons are, that you can not do any face ups during the winter season, without a good lightning and if you want to work during day time, you better hurry. Then you need to have a place to spray, with a good ventilation, because it is too cold and humid outdoors.

But I try to do the best to make it work.

 

I haven't been feeling so well about the area I live (expenses mostly) but now I feel a bit happier that at least it's relatively doll friendly.

I'm in Northern Cali of USA. Not north-north, which we did live briefly and enjoyed the area...though I'm sure the humidity would have eventually caused some problems.

Pros:
No Import Tax.
As long as packages go through San Francisco customs (and there isn't a hold up) I'll get them very quickly. Any mail from SF takes about a day.
Tons of Con/Festivals/Events within driving distance.
I actually live at a nice midway point where it's about 1 hour to SF/Beaches, about 2 hours to snow in the Sierra (3 to Reno, NV). One of these days I'll take my dolls for pictures!
Mild weather.
Tons of sunlight! (As long as you're not on the coast)
It's a mixed bag of people, you can find as many artsy/open-minded people as ultra conservative/close-minded people - it also depends on where you are.
There are TONS of photo opportunities from zoos, aquariums, national parks, beaches, historical sites, and more.

Cons:
The heat! (Which does make some outdoor photo activities problematic because it's just too darn hot to be outside)
California is a LARGE state, so driving is basically required to get anywhere (such as beaches, mountains, cities, etc).
Though there's a ton of collectors in the state...we all seem pretty spread out unless you're in a major city.
Tons of sunlight! For those that fear yellowing - I'm over it by now.
It's expensive to live here; from rent, groceries, etc...which can eat into the dolly budget.

That's all I can think of for now!

 

That's where I got it in the end, yeah

 

I'm located in the USA (although you could probably get that from my username).

Pros:
USA in general...
- No customs

- Many dolls forums are in English, which I can speak...usually

- Crazy gun laws and no universal healthcare, but at least we're trusted with isopropanol (?)

- [Tangentially related] The Big Three pattern companies are located here, so plenty of doll costume inspiration if you're interested in that sort of thing

- Chain fabric stores, which are sometimes nice (notions) and sometimes bad (strange fabric blends that disintegrate).

- I am very unobservant, so people here might be judgey, but they can't actually do anything (but cry) about my dolls (keep reading stories of customs marking dolls as sex items and making retrieving them difficult in other countries).

Where I live (Midwest)...
- Don't like the weather or temperature? Wait a bit and it will change (It once rained, was clear at midday, hailed, and then snowed all in the same day). Although I think this is the story of many people's lives.

Cons: not many that are doll related; Otherwise (politics) NOTHING TO SEE!
USA in general...
- The customs void that is Kearney, New Jersey's sort center. I've now had this happen twice: once with a dolly package and another that was sewing. Both packages spent a week vacation visiting Snooki, or something.

Where I live (Midwest)...
- The only fabric store here is JoAnn's. Sometimes I wish I lived near NY Elegant Fabrics (in NY, cheaper than Mood), but I think the crowding in New York would kill me. It means I spend way to much time on the internets shopping for fabric.

- We have seasons, so during the fall, winter, and a bit of the spring I leave before light and go back home after dark--so my photo quality (which is already bad on my phone) is even worse.

 

I'm from Dominican Republic. There's humidity and bright sun light all year long (yes, including winter). I guess I can take my dolls to gorgeous places with tropical backgrounds, but I'm worried indirect light will help yellowing. I keep my dolls in the darkest spot in our apartment, where there are no windows. I don't like keeping them in their boxes so that's how I deal with it.

I don't know if winter in other countries is humid because of snow, or if it's dry because everything is frozen, but in my case, I live in the coast, so I have to be careful with humidity for faceups. Ugh, humid warmth is the worst

Also! HIGH customs fees for dolls over $200, it's insane!!