Favourite buying/selling stories- the good & bad

My best experience was buying a Soom Heliot. When it came to paying the seller noticed they'd lost a part and lowered the price to a good amount. I didnt necessarily need the part but I found it very generous of the seller to still make a good new price.

I asked the seller some time later on if the part ever showed up again, it didnt, lol. Sometimes small parts simply go to the lost dimension.

 

A standout to me:
I bought my first secondhand doll when I was still pretty new to the hobby. The seller included a wig and an outfit unprompted and unadvertised. It was a small thing really, but to someone just starting out who had nothing ready for the doll since I’d had to scrimp just to buy him, the gesture meant a lot to me!

Another time I purchased a secondhand doll and while he was in his original box, he didn’t come with a CoA. Out of the blue, YEARS later when I’d entirely forgotten, I got a message from the seller saying she’d found it. She mailed it to me immediately at her expense. These days it’s rare to find somebody who follows through like that.

 

Best experience is putting out a WTB thread here for a limited head I'd had a few years ago and sold, and having someone message me saying they had the head, and coming to find out that it's the exact head I had sold, with my name on the CoA and everything! Full circle...I was blown away!

Worst experience is ordering a grail head and the maker sent me the wrong one, told me they knew they'd sent the wrong one, and asked me to mail it back (to South Korea). I fight to get them to pay shipping, six months go by and the post office loses the head, it gets messy, I have to submit a Paypal dispute, and I never get my head

 

Worst was when a package vanished into the ether for about a week and a half. It did turn up eventually and everything was fine, though.

The best was when a friend was selling a doll that happened to be one of my grails. I snatched her up so fast. She's one you almost never see as it is, and this was the sculpt (although not the exact same doll) that made me really fall in love with BJDs. So it's really special to me that I found her.

 

Gift dolls aside, I think the best was when someone saw my WTB for a doll, and saw that doll on a list of trades with someone she was negotiating with. She contacted me and I paid her for the doll I wanted, and she got what she wanted from the other person and everyone was happy.

Worst was a doll that someone said they had in their possession to sell. I contacted the previous owner for I forget now why, turns out I was being scalped and she had not even sent the doll out to the person I just bought it from! She nearly backed out on the sale to that person all together over it. I finally DID get that doll, the scalper was banned by then that time from I am assuming other shady things. I count my lucky stars that I actually got my doll in the midst of this mess, and I am happily unboxing her and out comes a live cockroach from the box!
I was told to ever smash a roach with your foot, you can carry eggs around with you and start a plague, so I might have broken some law by throwing it outside...? Not sure if it was a US roach or a Canadian one, or who put it in there (my guess would be on shady banned person).

Lesson of the day boys and girls: ALWAYS ask for a photo with an item or card with owners name in it.

 

My story is about Moth, my grail doll.
I'd been wanting him as soon as I knew what bjds were but he was disconnected in 2012 or 2013. I've been searching and admiring him and one other doll for a very long time.
One day I was browsing Instagram and saw Moth, he was everything I wanted and more. I stared at his pic for hours .....4 weeks later he was up for sale! I didn't think twice just messaged the seller and made payment, later realized it was 3am in her country and this amazing lady had sorted international shipping and everything that night/morning. She posted him that day. I was beyond extricate. But the next 4months were hell shipping even with the most expensive option that should have taken 5days took 4 months. At more then one stage i though he was lost, and after reading other buyers horror stories of dolls coming home is abused broken boxes my heart sunk. My poor boy moved very quickly through the USA but was stuck being passed between 2 main airports in Japan for 3 months.
On the 9th of October he arrived home, in perfect condition. The box was not damaged and the seller made sure there was a lot of protection for him in the way he was packaged, you would expect this level of care for a sale from one of the big companies for a new doll
I am really thankful the seller agreed to international postage to New Zealand. I am so happy every day I look up at this boy lol all I need is his clothes to arrive in the post. I have a few things from different places but they are all taking very long to arrive, can't wait though!!!
Thanks for reading lol sorry if this was a bit long

 

One of my best experiences was with one of my twigling dolls. I saw her on Instagram for sale, and fell in love with her facial tattoo. I messaged the seller (British) asking if they’d consider selling to Canada, and what their price/shipping would be. And I could not afford it. It was in April of this year, I was laid off, and I was devastated. I told them I’d have to pass, and made a comment about how terrible the CAD is. So they did a currency conversion online and saw what I meant, and offered me an amazing deal on her because they knew I was enchanted with her, then when I paid, we’re able to ship her within the hour. I will treasure her for years to come.

I also met my favourite person in the hobby when they bought a doll from me locally and I met them in a Tim Hortons parking lot to drop him off. They’ve become a really close friend, and I can’t wait until I can visit them again.

Another one is a really cool group of dolls I have coming in. When I was 14, one of my closer friends moved out of country, and when I was 19, she moved to England. Eventually, a friend of hers from school moved in with her. That friend wants to get out of the hobby, for some really personal reasons that make their dolls painful to look at. All of them are in rough shape. I’m talking clear parts that have been sanded and yellowed. Partial chest mods in progress and stains on bodies. Chips on limbs. I didn’t think I’d ever see some of these gorgeous bodies in that kind of shape, but where some would weep, and some would just be mad at her, I chose to get really excited. I can’t afford an Amadiz body in good shape, but I can afford hers. I can’t afford the f60 scarlet seahorse body, but I can fix hers. My DC Zenobia needs a body, and she has one. She has a 5th motif body that was a gift from someone she can’t stand (for very good reasons) that’s all scratched up and stained and gross. And they all have CoAs/papers, so despite their unbelievable condition, I know I’m getting legits. I’m paying her more than I’ve ever paid a second hand seller, because I know what bodies like those are worth, and she needs money for tuition, so I’ll be doing a layaway to her for the next... six months, but what a fairytale situation. I’ve told her I’ll buy any SD stuff she has at a fair price, and most importantly, since I have a similar life experience to what lead to this happening to her, I’m not judging the condition of any of them. The only downside is she keeps finding stuff that makes me extend my layaway, so who knows when we’ll be done.

A couple of my worst now: once a package going from Florida to Canada took a little jaunt up to Heathrow before arriving at me, which was hilarious, if a little stressful.

With an OT doll, I learned that people who smoke can’t always smell how much smoke is on their possessions. I had an asthma attack.

I once had a buyer string me along on insta for 2ish weeks, and I had 2 bodies and 2 heads all on hold for her for that time.

Canada post once lost one of my dolls. Like she disappeared on a facility for 6 weeks. She turned up beautiful and unscathed. I clawed her box open with my nails, in a parking lot to check her out before I even got home.

Ringdoll charged a lot for their Red King armour, and it shatters like glass. It’s made of the worst plastic. My ex broke my helmet within 5 minutes of unboxing it, and then the chest plate with it the next day. Not cool.

Not a “selling” story, but I’ve also had 3 event tinies straight up stolen from me, so that’s not ideal.

 

Two amazing acts of kindness from two wonderful people stand out most to me.

First story: When I was brand new in the hobby and had just gotten my first doll, a lady sent me a private message asking for my address. It seemed a little fishy but I did it anyway. She made two necklaces for my boy and sent them to me, totally free of charge. She said she liked welcoming new people to the hobby and enjoyed jewelry making for dolls.

The second one was someone had asked me about a trade and I accepted. As we were just chatting about dolls, the topic of Granado came up and I mentioned that my sister had been interested in their guys but never had one. This sweet lady had a Granado boy she wanted to rehome and sent me the doll to give to her!I was absolutely shocked, she assured me she wanted him to go to someone who would give him more attention and that she liked the company so much, she wanted to give others a chance to enjoy them too.

 

This is a pretty basic compared to most peoples but it still makes me laugh. When I got my first piece of doll clothing off etsy(a cute kawaii-style hoodie), it came with a little extra... a doll sized skateboard! It was SO unexpected that I immediately thought it was the best thing ever, and even though that doll isn't really the skater type, its forever going to be one of his props

 

I was waiting for a doll once and it was misdelivered (to the apartment below mine). The seller sent me a photograph of the correctly labelled package so there was no issue there. I managed to contact the post office, and googled the recipient's name - very fortunately, there was a full address! I went over and asked for my parcel... it turned out that she thought someone had gifted it to them, and she gave it to her young daughter who had taken a scissors to it x.x That was utterly horrifying and almost surreal.

 

I didn't ask her to pay me back. She was claiming innocence so strongly that I actually thought I might've made a mistake. I just got the hell out of there with my doll and sold it for parts after.

 

I was looking for my first Volks girl and really wanted a Sophie. I didn't want to make a WTB thread unless I exhausted all options and someone here on the forum told me their family was going to sell theirs in brand new-like condition on ebay. I was so happy she approached me and I bought her immediately. Hope she's doing well!

 

When I got my first second hand doll, the seller gave me a lot of information about the hobby as she noticed I was new! She was so helpful and kind and she even gifted me a wig, some clothes for the doll and free-shipping! She was really sweet to take the time to explain a lot of things to me and we still keep in touch now about the hobby She became my friend and it all started with a transaction!

 

My worst one involved selling one of my larger Soom dolls to a collector in Russia... That had nothing to do with the buyer herself. She was a total peach... It was all about the US postal service and their twice-cursed OUTBOUND Customs office. <_<

If I remember correctly, the buyer wanted to have the doll in time to take it to a particular meet, so we spent some time figuring out which shipping option would get her there the quickest. Unfortunately, in that case "fast" also meant "hellishly expensive" since we were talking about shipping a heavy, over-sized Soom fantasy full-set box pretty much literally half-way around the world. I don't recall the exact amount but it was north of $150.

Still, that SHOULD have gotten the doll to her in time...
... You can probably guess where this story is going. <_<

Outbound US Customs decided that a huge box with a form claiming it contained a collectible doll being sent express to Russia was obviously Terribly Suspicious and so just *had* to be snagged for "detailed inspection".

Which took them almost SIX WEEKS to actually get around to doing... And that was only after I hunted down the direct phone number to the outbound customs office in New York, and had an absolute Karen-level FIT about them holding up an uber-expensive Express package for that long. I felt justified reading them the proverbial riot act over pulling the box and then just farking around and holding it for over a month instead of doing what-ever inspecting they needed to. >_>

Needless to say, my buyer didn't have the doll in time for the meet she wanted to take it to, and once she finally got it, shipping had taken considerably longer than just sending it via a cheaper, slower method.

While the delay and wasted money on "fast" shipping wasn't exactly my fault, I didn't blame her a bit for not leaving me any kind of feedback for the transaction.

 

Definitely buying my Shiwoo vamp as a second hand doll! It was completely out of nowhere that I saw him suddenly for sale on the marketplace, after I had been a "fan" of his previous owner's posts of him in the Gallery. I decided at that moment that he was going to be mine, and ended up in a bidding war for him with another user. But alas, I won him in the end. Actually, he had had a number of previous owners...I ended up getting very curious trying to learn his "history" by messaging everyone he had been with, and one girl who I guess had been one of his first owners responded like, "Oh, so old sparkle butt made it all the way to you huh"

I also messaged another previous owner (not the one who sold him to me), out of nothing but utter politeness and courtesy, to ask if I could use the same name for him that she had. I just thought it was nice and suited him. She said no.

Out of respect, I tried another name, but nothing seemed decent. So "secretly," dumb as it was, I kept his name as I had originally liked to. Now it's nearly 12 years later and I don't really think it's necessary to keep it a secret anymore lol.

 

I don't have any bad stories that come to mind... which is nice, I don't particularly want to remember bad buying experiences. But I have a happy one!

When I finally decided to take the plunge and buy my grail doll, a Volks Williams, a pretty affordable head appeared on Yahoo!Japan. I was able to bid on it via proxy, which had a bidding limit based on how much of a deposit I paid in advance. I decided beforehand the most I was willing to pay for this head, paid my deposit, made a bid, and then got up really early on a Saturday to make sure nobody sniped me. What I didn't know is that on Y!J, if a new bid is made in the last 5 minutes of the auction, the auction is extended! So at the last moment someone DID outbid me, and we had a little bid war with a third person. I finally bid my maximum amount, and was immediately outbid. I was pretty crushed because I had only been outbid by like $10 and the third person had stopped bidding, so I was sitting there cursing myself for not making a bigger deposit. But then, someone else made a bid and they had the same username as I had been using, which means it was another American using the same proxy! They won the auction by perhaps $50 more than my max bid. As it turns out, that person was a friend of mine who had been watching to auction to see how I did, and when she saw me stop bidding, she knew I must have reached my bidding limit and so she jumped in and saved the day! She even let me pay her via layaway My heart feels so warm every time I remember it!!! I still have that Williams and he's my favorite doll!

 

@overlordu omg that's the sweetest story!!! thank you for sharing!