Fickle Owners?

Forget the doll hobby for a minute and look at ebay. Everyone sells things that they once loved, couldn't live without and cost them a lot of money. I don't know why nor do I care why they're selling their stuff, all that matters to me is that I may want some of it. Or that some one else may want that Michael Kors purse I bought and found to be way too heavy for me to haul around everywhere (and we think dolls are heavy D: ).

Dolls aren't the only expensive luxury item out there that gets resold. And I don't consider people who resell things fickle at all, I call them smart. They/we/I are getting money back before blowing it all on another big purchase. How is that fickle??

On the topic of impulse buys I would just like to point out that what might be an impulse buy for one person is not really for someone else. my last impulse buy was a PKF from the MP. I saw him, he was WS and I bought him. The thing was, I'd been wanting a PKF for months before that...I also sorta impulse bought an Off Topic doll recently, but I wanted that doll a year ago and it was unavailable. Just because I didn't plan a few weeks ahead and budget for it I call it an impulse buy. For someone else an impulse buy means a doll they just saw for the first time and bought on the spot....or it could mean something entirely different to someone else. No one can say we're all buying too much on impulse, because no matter how you look at it, it could be wrong.

 

Just going to answer the original post... the current thread/chain seems to be winding down a bit and there isn't anything I can think to add to it.

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?

If the owner claims to have had their doll for less than 2-3 months, I sometimes wonder if they actually gave themselves a fair chance to like the doll. Or are they selling only based on their initial gut reaction? (Sometimes there is no getting over an initial reaction - like if the owner got screwed over by the company.) (In before everyone: I know I can't judge how much time it takes another person to decide whether or not they like a doll - this is just my general train of thought.)

When I ordered my first 1/3 doll... there were a few people on the forum who ordered the same doll at the same time I did. A couple of them did end up immediately selling. I will admit... I was a little disappointed to see the other dolls get sold off so quickly, because I really liked my doll. (It's kind of like... I made cookies and gave you one, and you just didn't happen to like that flavor of cookie. I'd be disappointed that you didn't like my cookie, but it's not a crime to not like something.)

(And I'm a little paranoid - I wondered if there was something wrong with my doll, that made her an inferior product, that I just wasn't seeing. I don't think that now, but at that time...)

And, as Alewife put it, "you can replace Mr. Almost Right with Mr. Perfect."

I actually did consider immediately selling my 1/3 as soon as she arrived. About a week after I placed my order, another company released a doll that just made my jaw drop and I didn't have enough money to afford both. If the second doll had existed before I ordered the first doll, I probably would have purchased the second one instead. I never acted on that thought - I ended up loving the first doll I ordered, and the second doll wasn't limited, so there was no sense of urgency to purchase that second doll.

Another reason I've thought of selling one of my dolls... One of my absolute favorite things about this hobby is painting and faceups. I can't afford to have a large collection. I've also gotten to a point where I'm really happy with the faceups I do and I'd like to leave them on my dolls for a while - I don't want to keep repainting them just to get my art fix. Selling the doll to someone who would keep the faceup would be something of a win/win. I could get a new doll to paint and my other work would be preserved.

 

I'm only ever suspicious when people have the extreme revolving door tendency. I get that sometimes there are money problems, or that they'd prefer to sell a doll they just got in order to acquire immediate funds for one they'd like better, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous! When I notice that someone has owned 30 or more dolls at different intervals but their actual collection only consists of three (and they've been in the hobby only a year or two), I get the idea that they might not know what they want. That being said though, I actually don't mind it too much. Better to let the doll go to a better home if the owner thinks they can't be attentive to it.

 

I started collecting dolls in highschool, Putting my lunch money towards a first doll instead of food xD.

I bought him, but wasnt happy with him at all. I dont think theres anything wrong with that. You just cant really tell about something unless you have it right in front of you, i think.

So i sold him to buy another doll i liked better.
And then when i found a doll i liked more than that second one..
I sold the second one to buy the third.

That was generally the same sequence of events that would happen when i buy a new doll. I would have to sell the one before. One of my dolls i had to sell because my desktop broke so i was buying a laptop.


At some points I had a handful at a time, but i again had to sell those dolls to afford a more expensive one that i loved more.

I don't think there's anything wrong. My dolls never really had a personality .
Its generally an aesthetic that im interested in at that moment. Or i want to try something new.

At the moment i have sold 12 dolls. I have 1 at home and 1 on the way. i don't think im fickle >>
I just like alot of things. I like variety. But i could never have all the variety at one time.

 

This kind of does and doesn't relate to me, the first doll I had was a Soulkid Miryu, I still have her 6 years later, I've had my Minigem Uyoo almost as long and the same goes for my Minifee Shiwoo, however, aside from those guys I find it really hard to settle on other dolls. Sometimes I'll see one, think it's perfect for a character I have, buy it, then when it gets here it just isn't right, for me to own a doll it has to be something which I adore, if I don't it has to go. Four of my dolls are loosely based on the four seasons, my Miryu has always been Autumn, Shiwoo is Winter, I just struggle to fit the Spring and Summer characters, I wanted them all to be MSD but my Zaoll has fit the Summer character so there's a slight deviation! Spring is another matter, I don't know if the perfect one will ever happen but I have been through so many dolls in the process! I do have quite a 'revolving door policy', if I see a new doll I fall for then one of the others has to go, mainly because I get stressed if I have too many dolls! I feel like I can't keep up with them financially or have enough time to enjoy them all. Also I REALLY want to find the perfect blue resin doll for me and this has been a lot of my 'fickle' behaviour, if you can call it that, trying to find exactly what I want (so far we have too big, too small, not blue enough, just bought because it was blue but didn't actually love the sculpt/body .....I could go on!). So even though maybe to other people it would look like 'whoah she just bought that, now she's selling it?" it isn't such a flippant thing, I just really want to completely love every doll I have! I do feel guilty sometimes when it's been a doll I bought from someone I had good communication with on here, I guess I don't want them to feel bad that it wasn't right for me or if they still have residual feelings for that doll. Some people have mentioned why not keep it for a while and see if you like it then but personally I have to sell straightaway before I start to 'bond' with something that I know I don't really love. The usual trick in our household with unsure dolls is put it back in its box in a cupboard for a week, if you don't miss it then you don't want it!

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?
Well, it's a natural thing to do actually, I don't think its weird or make them "evil" doll owners.
Maybe they found a limited doll that they really want and have to sell one (limited or not) of their current dolls simply to fund the new one.
People do this all the time in every hobby: videogames, clothing, stamps, dolls.. Yeah. That's just how it works.

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?
I sold my PW FOC Goldie one month after I got her. She is the most stunning doll, but she was just too big for me. I sold her to a better home and bought a DC Alberta for the money.
It was a bit sad, but she didn't fit into my story, she was the wrong size and it just didn't feel right.
Now she has a lovely home with other PW dolls, that feels so much better.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?
In my case - wrong size. But there can be lots of reason for letting a doll go. Not bonding, size, wrong character.. I won't feel guilty for letting dolls go, it can happen to anyone.

 

I will admit, I definitely have a revolving door. I've restarted my collections multiple times. I started this hobby when I was very young, and my tastes have changed A LOT since my first doll. I did hang onto him due to sentimentality, but at the end it's just an expensive toy. Why hang on to it when it does nothing for me? I felt guilty back then, but now, if I decide to sell, then...I just sell. There's no emotional attachment to a doll I've decided isn't working out for me.

My doll family is kept to a small amount because I have space issues and I like to collect expensive outfits. It was because of those two factors that I didn't want to keep an SD girl around anymore, because she took up space and so did the outfits I got for her, in addition to being quite costly. I very much prefer yoSD now in comparison to before - back then I loved SD's and wanted lots of them, because hey, bigger is better, right? But now I'd rather get an entire cast of tinies if I could, however my sole SD boy doesn't have a tiny equivalent, plus he's special so he gets to stay.

People sell and buy for a lot of reasons, and quite frankly, I'm not really interested in hearing why, nor should they be obligated to disclose to us the entire story. (Unless they're withholding essential information which would be very bad.)

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?
I can understand if it's a matter of "I got him/her and he/she wasn't as nice as the pictures." or something like that. But someone who has gotten their grail doll and then sells it almost immediately is so puzzling to me. I just recently got the doll of my dreams. He's currently just a head but I'm so excited to get him completed and I can't imagine selling him!

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?
I thought the first doll I had ordered, a DoT Sha, was going to be perfect. I thought he was so cute in the photos and I was so excited to get him. However, after a few months of owning him I realized he wasn't quite for me. I still loved his face but the resin color was just too pink...and I didn't like his body. I thought maybe if I sold his body and got a new one I'd like him more. Sadly the money from the body ended up going towards bills and eventually I sold his head too. I still like Sha but I don't think I'll ever buy one again. He was nice but not for me. I don't feel too guilty. I actually owned him for almost 2 years before I sold him.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?
As I mentioned, I didn't end up getting another doll with the money from my boy, however, if I did get a doll and end up not liking him as much as I thought I would, I'd resell in hopes of getting someone closer to that ideal.

 

I bought a bunch of dolls because they were cheap/on sale that I ended up regretting and re-homing to get the dolls I REALLY wanted.

 

These are dolls. Of course we have shallow views of them, we pick the ones we think are prettiest, or the ones that look the most like our characters, or the ones that appeal to us for other (almost entirely physical) reasons. Don't get me wrong, I adore dolls, but they are literally hunks of plastic with no emotions or sentience. It's not like you're buying a pet because it's cute and then leaving it at the pound when it grows up, now that would be terrible, irresponsible behavior. But I don't see any problem with changing up your collection as your tastes and interests change, and as new dolls are released.

I've been around this forum long enough to know that some people think their dolls do have come level of sentience, or something like a soul, but I believe that they are just fantastic plastic toys, and so I'm not going to feel guilt over them. I feel nothing but enjoyment from my collection, otherwise I would not like the hobby

 

This. This is exactly how I feel =D In a way I like that some of my friend buy and sell a lot it gives me first pick and they have good taste. I currently own two rehomed doll from friend in my town.

I passed many doll during the time I have collected doll. I had to count and was afraid to have miscounted but I came up to 17(without counting floating head or body) I only have 8 of those left.... Wow I sold a lot of doll....

 

Exactly.

Also. In my opinion, the "trade" aspect is as much a part of the hobby as photography and face-ups are. Selling and trading and buying is a fun part of the hobby, be it dolls, wigs, eyes, outfits...
A collection that is ever changing, fluid, progressing, to me makes the hobby more interesting than having a stagnant collection.

That said. I have never sold a doll. Yet.

 

I don't really care if a seller sells their doll to get another one. Well, I guess I like it if it means I can get a doll I want for cheaper.

I've been thinking about selling one of my dolls to get money for another. Originally I felt kind of bad about it, but I'd rather see my doll be owned by someone who wants her rather than just laying around in a box doing nothing. It actually took a really long time to decide. I put up a marketplace thread, took it down, tried to deal with her again, tried everything, gave up and leaving her at my parents while all my other dolls stayed at my dorm, I don't miss her at all. So that probably means selling time.

I sort of regret buying her on a whim. >_<' But I spent a long time trying it insist it wasn't a random whim.

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?
-- I actually rarely ever see people's reasons for doing whatever it is they do with their dolls. It's just one of those things. What they do with their dolls is not my business, unless I'm buying from them. Even then, I don't care why they're selling it so much as the condition it's in.

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?
-- I have, and no I didn't because I really wasn't feeling very attached at all to those that I sold.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?
-- I thought the new doll would have been a better fit for my family and I didn't have the money to spare to keep them both. I wasn't very attached to the first, so I was willing to let it go rather than one that I was actually more firmly attached to. Luckily in the end I was able to keep them both though, and now couldn't bear to part with either.

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?
Don't really care, its their business, unless its a doll I want to buy then its an opportunity.

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?
Not a bit, why should I? Honestly in the end its just a doll, its resin and not going to cry if it gets a new home.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?
I've bought dolls only to realize the doll was not what I was expecting (you can't always tell from pics), then a doll showed up I had wanted so I sold and bought another. Another time a doll company was a nightmare to deal with, months later the doll shows with a faceup that made me cringe, I couldn't get attached, she has a new home, do I feel guilt? no. Should I? no.

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?

I do not care what people do. Why should an owner be scrutinized when they sell their doll? They don't have to explain anything. It's their doll, their hobby they can do whatever they want (keep or not to keep). They don't need anyone's approval.

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?

Yes. I try to keep all my dolls if possible but there are really times where I actually feel guilty by keeping it and not selling it (because I do not play with it much). I had a normal skin scarface Cecile once that was adopted from a friend and he was really beautiful with a rare face-up done by another friend of mine who does not take commissions (except of close friends). Normal skin scarface Cecile was very rare and hard to come by. I really thought he looked beautiful and thought I'd keep him forever. But after I played with him once, I felt he was not for me. I kept him for awhile and didn't want to sell him because he was so beautiful, but I feel really guilty at the same time because I know I will not be playing with him much. I question myself the true reason for keeping him.....was I afraid to be judged? Will my friends be upset with me? I asked my friend (who sold him to me) and the friend who painted him if it was ok for me to sell him. I just feel too wrong to do anything without running it by them FIRST. They both said it was no problem and it's my doll now I can do whatever I want. They know I always mean well. So I put him up for sale and sold him quickly. In other words, I do not feel guilty for selling. But I do feel guilty when I try to keep the dolls that I know I will not be playing with too often.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?

One reason I can think of is: when I feel that in comparison, one is better for me than the other. Then sometimes I let one go for another. For example, letting go of SD13 bodies and replace them all with SDGr because of better mobility. I also got rid of all my delf bodies because I just couldn't deal with the handling of them any more and I replaced them with other body types ^^ There are many other reasons too but it's late so I can't think of any now lol.

 

I recently sold a couple of dolls to get a new one, no regrets at all. I didn't wanted to have a mismatching
Family, all the dolls that I have MUST be part of the same story. Personally I rather have a small
Amount of dolls that I'm pleased with rather than a ton of dolls, only for the sake of not wanting to sell any.

 

How do you guys feel when you see a seller sell away their doll just to get another one?
I don't notice how often people sell their dolls. The only time I hear about 'revolving door' collectors is from debate/discussion threads. It doesn't really matter to me how people choose to approach this hobby, so I don't care one way or another if a person sells dolls often or never.

If you've done this, have you ever felt like...guilty at all?
I have sold a total of 5 dolls ever since joining the hobby. I purchased all of them in 2004 and, back then, the forum was still new with few owner pictures, so I took a gamble on these dolls and lost, so to speak, as I didn't like them in person. I stored them away in their boxes for many years and finally posted them up for sale. I felt huge relief when they were sold - they were no longer captives of their respective boxes and were able to go on to bigger and better things . One doll I sold because I wanted to upgrade her body (the company has released an updated version since I bought her many years ago), but since the resin has yellowed significantly, I had to sell the whole doll and repurchase the same mold, as resin matching would have been a nightmare. I was happy to get the updated body, and since the head sculpt is the same, it's almost as if I didn't sell my doll at all.

What are your own personal reasons for letting one go for another?
See above. But, to sum up - didn't like the dolls in person, wanted an updated body, and, in the case of event gifts, don't want to keep them because they are not what I want in my collection. There are multitudes of reasons why people sell their dolls, listing and analyzing them all would be exhausting. I've been fortunate in that the majority of dolls I buy, I love when I see in person, but if I didn't like one of the dolls I bought, I'd have no qualms selling her.

 

I don't think you can really judge someone on selling their doll(; For one thing we wouldn't have the amrketplace if everyone kept all their dolls! A doll that one person gets tired of could be another's dream doll. Also, there are countless reasons why someone may want to sell one of their dolls! Perhaps the sculpt was not what they origionally thought it was like or they grew detatched after awhile. I feel that since it IS such an expensive hobby it makes more sense to let go of the dolls you no longer care as strongly for rather than having tons of super pricy dolls hagning around that you'll never use.

THough I could be bias since I buy and sell a lot C; For me going through multiple dolls helps me find the perfect ones....I buy and sell until I bring one home that really sticks with me and I could never part with!

 

I am completely agree....they are dolls not animals or persons.....in my opinion is someone is not comfortable with something and need the money or want to spent the money that gets with the sale for buying another doll is okay for me.