Gift items: Should they be sold?

i think that it all depends on the situation really. if you honestly need the money then go right ahead, people sell stuff all the time when they're in financial need. it shouldn't matter whether it's a gift or not. for example: my uncle bought me a whole series of these paintings by a local artist and they would sell for quite a bit. did he say "never sell these paintings even if your life depends on it" no. he said "if you ever need money you sell them. i'm not going to care, they belong to you now."

however, i think that if you're just buying a doll with the idea to get free stuff then sell it...i think that's just...not nice. i mean, yeah it's good to give people stuff that you may not want or need but you shouldn't buy something just to make profit off of it yourself...that's like scalping man! with dolls it's a bit different though...if you get your doll and you get free stuff then realize "hey, i don't really like you all that much." then i think it would be nice to extend the same courtesy you have been given and sell your doll with the gifts(provided you don't plan to use them. say like if you discover you want an msd doll and you ordered a sd and manage to get a free msd head then you should keep the head and sell the rest with or w/o the free stuff.)

i think it's all about usage really. if you're going to use something then keep it. if you know you really aren't going to then sell it and get something you will. if that raises problems with the person who gifted it to you then you should tell them "i'm sorry but i knew i wasn't going to use what you gave me so i sold _____ and bought ______ so thanks for the great present!" ^^'

 

Ah, I was hoping that my qualifiers were more obvious. I did not say or mean "every" or "all" in any sense because I attempt, as a rule, to qualify my arguments. <grin> The professors from whom I learned the trade would expect as much of me.

Your reminder about the community here being international is legitimate. It would be nice to hear from more individuals who are not in the United States vis-a-vis their "spin" on this. Too, I wonder if the "spin" changes with demographics, i.e., as an example, with age and/or socio-economic class?

 

There is one thing i don't get... why has this branched off to cultures??? basically i thought this was a thread about gifts given and sold off. not about cultures.

there should not be a tag on ppl for their cultures, ppl in the same culture have different morals. No one is the same.

i don't see the need for this comment, as ppl have mentioned it's not solely a thing about culture. I am chinese, i live in the UK. they are very different cultures but i've seen the same attitudes in both places. why? morals not cultures.

It may seem crass but it all boils down to that individual's moral not culture.

 

yukihotaru, I appear to have offended, and did not intend to do so. Point of view is a product of our primary and secondary socialization and is, at least in part, a function of the cultures within which we develop our perceptual "lenses."

I love my dolls -- have since I was four years old. That's really all that is important in this community, because it is what links us.

Since mine is the minority view here anyway, I will abstain from further comment and continue to teach what and as I do within the confines of my university classrooms!

 

no u have not really offended. *hugs* i didn't mean it to sound like that.

It's just the debate seem to have esculated to something completely different. I just find ppl sterolyize alot (not u) i've been through a lot of ppl asking "so is Hong Kong like...." or "is it true that..." and i just find some ppl can be so >_<

yea we all love our dolls here and i kno u luv yours as much as everyone elses. i just thought to steer the debate back about ppl and gifts rather than their cultures. hope no hard feelings were made.

anyway, i agreed with everyone,reselling a gift is wrong unless contact the giver and a promotional item... we paid for it, so we have the legal right to resell it.

 

Julie M:

I don't think you need to abstain from comment just because you have a different opinion. This is a debate board. There wouldn't be a debate if everyone felt the same way!

 

But in a way, our cultures have very much to with things, as they have a hand in shaping our perceptions of what's "right" and "wrong".

 

that's correct. i respect that. they influence our decisions but does not handicap our views. in the end, our morals are influenced by our cultures but we act out on our morals.

 

I agree, there have been some threads elsewhere about how we haven't been having real "debates" because people don't want to step on each other's toes by disagreeing. I think it is just fine for people to have different opinions, that's the point of the "dolly debate". Please don't take my disagreement as suggesting you should be quiet !

 

I totally think that "Gifts" can be sold. Especially when it comes to the idea of an event head, or promotion. If it was an actual gift to me, (an intimate friendship, and the person gave it to me, then NO) but if it was part of me having to buy something, it really isn't a "gift".

 

Let's see...

"Gift"

From a company as a promotional item: Can be sold. I would sell it.

From a friend or another doll person: Depends on circumstance for others. I would NOT sell it.

You aren't going to hurt a companys feelings if you sell an extra doll head, it's just a way to get you to buy another doll from them in the future, but you CAN and probably WILL hurt someones feelings if you sell a doll gift that they gave you out of friendship or out of kindness..

$$ You can go ahead and cash in my two cents. $$

 

I wouldn't ever sell something someone gave me, but like..an extra for buying a doll, i might sell.

Things from official sites maybe too, ya know, order a doll from an official site and they give you a button..yeah sure i'd sell it. But if it's a swap gift or something nah. I'll hold onto it. Even if i dont use it...

 

If it's an extra head/hands you get free from buying doll during announced promotion period i guess it's okay to sell them. But if it's a gift given entirely at the doll company's good-will i don't think it is good to sell them even if you don't need them. Perhaps if you can Trade for other doll stuffs you need for your dolls i guess that's okay. But not involving $$$. I think it is rude.

 

I think that if you need the money then It's fine. I mean, It is your property and you don't want it. I suppose if you feel like giving it away you can. But It's honestly not that bad. That's one item that will go to someone that will appreciate it. Instead of having it laying around.

If you have a lot of money... Well you can still sell it... It's your property... But you don't really need the money so you could gift it to some one and have them spread the word of your awesomeness and then create a little network of people that think you're cool.

My verdict: It's yours, you technically have the right but if you're on top then maybe you should provide for the masses and reap the benefits from being really awesome later.

 

I find no problem in selling "gifts" from company's, because it all promotion to sell other related items. Event heads especially are to increase sales of that company's products ( doll body's) in the end the company still makes a profit, and promotes the brand.
I also find no problem in selling an event head for more than the value of similar option parts, because most event heads are limited and as such if sold as a whole doll or not, would have been sold by the company at a higher price than standard dolls.
Event heads/ gifts are limited items thus people/collectors put more value on them. (but it is nice to see recipients of "gifts" sell them at a reasonable price."remember to thank them for not being greedy.")

 

As a buyer and seller of "gifts" from companies I would have to say I find no problem with it. But on the other hand I would not sell a gift from a friend... unless there was a dire need and I discussed it with said friend first.

 

i disagree. i think that if someone got teh item for free, then they should give it to someone for free. i can understand if you won a car and resold it, but the companies usually aks that you not resell...right? also, dolls arent as expensive as cars.

i think that i would feel bad because there are people taht want the event items but werent able to get them and if you were ordering anyway, it was like they just gave it to you for free. i don't think its fair to the people that really want the item you got for free (and if your selling it, you dont want it anyway) to sell it.

i can understand selling it if you did a faceup and modding work on it and charging what you think the work is worth, but if its a blank head i think its better to take after the spirit of teh company and give it to someone that really wants it. i think the companies would like that bettwer instead of people making money off of something they were nice enough to give away for free.

 

In another community (non BJD related) someone has gotten a badname for charging 45 dollars for a free piece of clothing. I think you can resell it, but keep in mind it is a gift so be honest about that.

I do think it is silly when people get free stuff and charge a high price for it... It's a gift allright.. but by charging a hefty price for it you will have some people who will shun that sale and possible any other sales from you in the near future. Perhaps silly but when I see someone got a pair of free boots and he/she tried to sell them and charge a full price fot it, than I will not even consider bidding. But that's my personal choice..

Often it works better when you trade it for a other stuff. And esp. in this community you must be able to find someone who has something you like.

 

Janus saith: i disagree. i think that if someone got teh item for free, then they should give it to someone for free. i can understand if you won a car and resold it, but the companies usually aks that you not resell...right? also, dolls arent as expensive as cars.

They often _don't_ say anything about that or ask that, although I have noted before that if they do I would view it as a purchaser's obligation - and the expense of the item is not relevant to whether it's right. If you do pursue that line of reasoning, it being cheaper means that it should be more ok to sell because it's not as big a burden to the buyer. US companies that do prize giveaways often allow you to take the cash value of the prize instead because they know that what you won may not be what you need. For a smaller company that's not as practical since they can better afford a bit of extra resin than the cost of a doll, so we don't see it as much in smaller company promotions here or there.


(more Janus) i don't think its fair to the people that really want the item you got for free (and if your selling it, you dont want it anyway) to sell it.

If they really want it, they should have bought it, the same as the original buyer did with the cash they earned (by buying whatever it came with). If they don't want the item it came with, they can always sell that item. And if the response to that is but they don't have the money, then think twice about making the assumption that if you are selling you it don't want it because that discounts all the people who have to sell for various reasons from dental bills to other dolls.

It's absurd to give them a "bad name." If they people on that board don't think the clothing is worth 45 dollars, they simply shouldn't buy it. If someone *does* buy it for $45 then apparently the market has decided it is worth that much. Same as any buyer's decision. I think the "don't overprice things but it's ok if they go for a high amount on auction" argument I'm seeing in the thread is a red herring, because whether someone buys outright or bids in an auction, either way the buyer is making a decision "is this worth X amount to me?" Being concerned that it isn't "fair" is as irrelevant as whether it is "fair" that anything else costs money. We all make decisions every day about what to spend our limited budget on, and it isn't fair that gas is $3.50 a gallon, but if I want to go gallivanting about in my car $3.50 worth, I pay it.

The only time I have a fairness issue with product pricing is when the item is critical to survival - e.g. food, water, air - if you can't afford these you can not live (hence the reason governments get involved in their pricing as a social issue). There is no moral concern with reselling a doll head because the person who decides it's not worth that much is going to die without it.

BtA

 

It was totally deserved..
If you sell a free something it is not always the top quality that you expect from that company. This was clearly not even worth half of that...
But not all people can recognise that it was a free gift as such.. Esp when the listing (which I see happens often with free gifts being put up for sale) doesn't state anything about the nature of it. Rather the buyer often claimed they paid for it and they have to charge so much to get some of the costs back.

If you go about that way, you are lying and should think twice as you are cleary being dishonest. If you want to sell it than be honest like with all your sales.. Don't say you paid money for it, if it is of lesser quality than say so.

Yes you can sell your free stuff, but if you do so.. than give the correct information. If people want to pay insane prices than let them do that.. But don't lie to drive prices up or act like it's is something very rare as it wasn't (perhaps) available in store.

It was a free gift nothing more and nothing less.. Let people pay what they want to pay. But don't drive the prices up by insane ammounts by making it sound better than it actually is.