Impulse buying a bjd, any regrets?

This happened with my 3rd SDM-F-60. I saw her on Mandarake during the daily restock and fell head over heels. Her default styling strongly resembled a very near and dear OC of mine, so I ordered her on the spot I didn't end up regretting it, but I'm doing well enough financially that it didn't cause any problems. (Plus, the exchange rate between JPY/USD enabled me a lot haha)
I still have her, and I absolutely love her! She's gorgeous

 

I bought a Fairyland Rhea back in the day on impulse, and unfortunately it never really clicked with me, so I sold it to a friend. It was secondhand, too, so I didn't have like 6+ months of slowly losing interest. Definitely an impulse buy. Definitely something I regretted. I've also impulse entered a lottery and won. Even though I no longer own the doll, the character I created for it is super special to me and I don't regret getting her at all.

 

I have always struggled with impulse-buying versus slow reselling in this hobby. At first I was a newbie, and 'All deals are good deals!' I would see a crazy-cheap thing that was vaguely adjacent to my interests or a sculpt I wanted in stock and want to nab it. Then as my preferences fleshed out, it became, "A sculpt with elf ears! I need it!" because fantasy sculpts were usually limited. Now it's, "This thing I wanted was discontinued years ago / only sold briefly / might not get another preorder!"

Not every impulse purchase has been a bad one. Impulse Oni by Studio Bitamin? Love her. Unplanned Dust of Dolls girls I was able to scrape every penny together for? Gorgeous. Unexpected grail dolls hitting the secondhand market? The portion of my wishlist that is 'actual grails' has never been so short. There are few things left that I want 'that bad'. Most of them are unobtainable to people without endless time and deep pockets, of which I have neither.

The biggest double-edged sword I find with impulse dolls is that once you've invested in one, you may find yourself wishing you had that money for something else sooner or later, especially if it was a random doll versus something specific. Right now I am in the longest layaway for the most expensive non-essential I might ever own. It was a one-time chance, and thankfully the seller let me take it. But there have been many times throughout the last year when I've thought, "I wish I wasn't paying for this," and that extra money would have come in handy.

Ultimately I've found I feel better about an impulse if it's something that was already on my wishlist. Then it's not 'really' an impulse if it's something I can't buy at any time of the year, or at a very good price. It is just good timing. (As long as I actually have room for it in my budget. It is not wise to break your budget for non-essentials!) If it is a doll I fell in love with on sight, the more time I have to mull it over, the better. Give it a few days and time to see it blank and from all the angles and I might decide it's not a face I need after all. If I can't stop thinking about it though, even blank, then it's usually a sign.

 

yessss...I have impulse bought a few in my time haha, and yes regrets but I have more regrets of those I sold over the years and have either found myself getting them again or trying to, or buying something similar on impulse and then regretting that because it's not THE one! lol.. follow me? confusing I know. I still have 3 I regret with me and they're not horrible, they just don't fit.
Picture example Airbender, I do LOVE this little guy but he was meant as a friend to some others I have, only it didn't work out and look at how perfect he is!! This is what I find difficult because I feel conflicted and when I sell the regret dolls, I often later wish I didn't but it's too late. Please tell me I'm not alone lol

 

When I had a job that paid well, I impulse bought often...and usually regretted it. I'm the type of person who needs to think, plan, build a character and figure out all the details, sometimes even before picking a sculpt! So impulse buying doesn't usually work for me. Sometimes it does, though, like my Dolkot Bera, Pepper, was an impulse buy and I've had her for almost two years! And still enjoy buying her new clothes and accessories. I don't often impulse buy anymore though, as I'm a housewife and part of the luxury of staying home meant giving up that extra spending money!

 

I've impulsed a few dolls over the years. The first was back in 2011-12 and was an in stock Resinsoul that I bought as a treat when we had a bit of a windfall. I made a whole photo story of him sneaking about the house in faux "nightvision" lighting and would send the pics to my partner who was away on business; it was great fun. I still have him and absolutely love my little sneaky boy. My impulse dolls tend to turn out well, and I still have them all.

 

I am a big impulse buyer sadly, I loose so much money.
I love the look of the doll ..especially here on DOA ..but once I get it I unbox him, hold him and look at him and its like the veil has been pulled from my eyes and the doll is not what my heart wanted but my eyes.
then I try selling to get some money back but in the end I most always loose money because I am impatient and looking for something else.
I am not rich so I must sell a doll to try to get another. I feel so stupid...but in all these years I have pinned down my basic type of doll...mostly..still so many pretty ones to see, buy and hold.
such is my world.
is there a cure?

 

Not really regret but moreso worried about a recent purchase. Bought during a memory lapse and not fully understanding what I'm getting. At least it was something I still wanted just don't know what to do once it arrives.

 

Yes, I've purchased a doll just because it was in stock. While I do like the doll it is better for me to order what I love and just wait.

 

My two biggest impulse purchases were FL Alan's mad hatter, and Myoudoll Macarena fullset. I still have both... but poor Alan does not hold my favour much lol. He ended up costing my a lot more than he should have (denver doll's shipping to europe is very expensive, and their layaways don't come cheap either, and on top of that I had to pay 200 euros of import taxes when he arrived, something I still haven't forgiven him)(I've been tempted to sell him, but honestly he cost me so much I'll never break even, so for now he gets to stay)
meanwhile, Macarena is one of my favourite dolls. She's gorgeous, looking at her always makes me smile. I don't regret getting her at all.

 

I almost never impulse buy because I’m a real stickler for character-based purchases when it comes to my BJDs. Not only do I need to have a fully conceived character in place, I also need to figure out exactly where they’ll fit into one of my elaborate displays prior to purchase, which helps me to know exactly what size I need. I’m very picky about it too. But even I, with those failsafes in place, occasionally get nabbed by an impulse buy. But on the rare occasion when it’s happened, it’s always worked out to be a blessing rather than a detriment…like something inside me was screaming, “get this doll now or forever be sorry!” And they’ve always wound up working out brilliantly within my collection. The odd thing is, in spite of going years and years without doing one, I did 2 impulse buys back-to-back this year! One was for a yosd Dollzone Happy…she’s so cute I just couldn’t stand it! And a character and name sprang to mind immediately when I first saw her, so I ordered her within moments. And one I just did for a Dollzone (mermaid) Sawarieda that was just re-released as a limited. I’d always admired this sculpt from afar but never had a character or the room for her because she’s absolutely huge, and she’s super-expensive so…But when they offered her in purple skin, that tipped me right over the edge! Fortunately I was able to find a way to create a brand new display space for her and excitedly developed a new character for her too. So as I work my way slowly through her long layaway, I’m super excited about this particular impulse buy! I already have great plans for her, and I have no doubt she belongs here.

 

I've been more impulsive lately and I blame it on sleep deprivation.
Last week I placed an order for a full doll without really looking at the conversion rate & my finances in the semi-long term. The plan is to steal the body to hybrid one of my current dolls, then sell the excess parts.
I don't know for sure the hybrid will work so it was rather risky of me to just jump into that purchase, and also I'm not sure I have the patience to sell dolls right now. I'm already regretting it.

 

I don't know if it's more of an impulse purchase issue, or a failure to truly scrutinize the promotional pictures, but I do have a few regrets:

Raccoondoll Qipao Mika head. I'm not a fan of doll teeth, and I guess I missed them in the picture. Opened the box, and yeeeuck. Teeth!

Soul Doll Kids Milky Way (casual) head. In the promotional pictures, a lot of the head is obscured by the wig, and the doll is wearing a bulky sweater. I purchased the blank doll, and well. That head sculpt is really, um, something. Also seems not proportional to the body - like it's a little too big. The body, OTOH, is absolutely delightful.

Had a brief moment of terror when I couldn't figure out how to string the Dream Valley mantis doll, but Dream Valley was lovely and sent me a video (it's in tutorials if you're interested).

I asked Supia doll to try to minimize the teeth on the face-up for my Rosy doll, but alas. Bright white teeth. Gonna probably stick some Apoxie sculpt in there.

Now - I am trying to avoid "limited" sculpts and sticking to more available dolls. That way, I can see other people's pictures, too.

Again, maybe it's just my fault for not looking harder at pictures, but let's just say I have a lot less trust of promotional pictures...

 

When I got into this hobby, I did end up impulse buying quite a few dolls + receiving a few dolls from a friend, which ballooned my collection rapidly.
I'd say I do regret it, because in the following years I ended up selling just about all the dolls, keeping only a handful that I have now. Giving into that "Oooo new/shiny/pretty thing!" impulse didn't pan out because even if I liked the doll enough to buy it, often when I had them I didn't know what to do with them. I didn't have any connection to them, no character in mind, I hadn't really had a chance to spend time on them.

Now that I'm slowly easing back into the hobby, I've tentatively built a very small wish-list, and I'd honestly like it to stay that way. I'm not the sort of person who needs or wants a ton of dolls, and even now with the 4 I do have, I might possibly sell one or more later on to make room for the dolls on my wish-list.

 

Three of my crew are impulse buys while the other four I decided I wanted them beforehand either due to them piquing my interest from teaser pics before they were for sale and gave my self a certain amount of time to change my mind (Aimerai Yeti, DC Arnold) or I was waiting on/hoping for a re-release (Withdoll Alex, Soom Viol&Ling).

Ok, so I was writing this up, and it turns out that if I ever have to prune my collection for any reason, 2 of the impulse purchases would for sure stay. (My Withdoll Alex and Soom Viol would 100% stay no matter what)

Of my impulse buys:
Daydream Sally - literally bought her at 4am after having been up for more than 24h. To be fair, by that point I'd been looking to buy my first doll for 5 years already and Daydream actually had a sale - something like 10% off? I cannot remember the discount but it was enough to push me over the edge. I also remember having difficulty choosing between regular Sally and Sally in Lo. Sometimes I wonder if I should have bought Sally in Lo instead, but then I have to wonder: would I have had the same issues with that headsculpt too?

About a week later I had instant regret because Soom opened up a free choice event with Appini, a doll I had also really wanted.

She's been an odd doll, I love her face and how she's sculpted (all the fine details) but I had been technically planning for a 1/6 as my first (all my clothing and Etsy bookmarks) and she was 1/4. Her feet are ginormous and the cute shoes I wanted for her didn't fit, she's gone through many name and styling changes and I've thought about selling her multiple times, but it seemed like such a hassle, so I never did.

Currently, I really do like her - I've finally settled on a name and style and I've pretty much finished her off (she just needs eyes). I finally feel like she belongs to my little crew.

If finances were ever an issue or I wanted to cut down/prune my collection, I probably would try and sell her.

Tamikan Space One Little Alien - The moment someone in a Facebook group said she bought one and brought the preorder to my attention, I emailed the company to buy one. Didn't even think about it, it had barely been 5 minutes that I knew it existed, but I had to own one!

That doll took forever to get here (oh Covid messing up production times) and spent around 70 days in the mail, but I had absolutely zero regrets the minute I opened him up! He's green, he's got such cool sculpting, I love aliens and have since I was a child AND he takes up very little room. Honestly, He has a very special place in my heart and I fully believe that I probably would have wanted to buy him even if I wasn't a doll person already.

I will never sell or get rid of this doll.

Bluefairy May - I was browsing Mandarake on a whim and I just fell in love. I've always wanted a Bluefairy doll, Shiny Fairies included, and her price was just so good. And that was with the exchange rate and shipping! She was considerably cheaper than buying new from Bluefairy. And if you add on the fact that I had an inkling that she was mislabeled and actually a discontinued sculpt of theirs to boot, the price was justified. Even if I turned out to be wrong and it wasn't mislabeled, I still couldn't get over how cute she was while bald and I just knew she'd look even cuter in person and once styled.

I look at her and I feel so much contentment. I also really feel like her purchase was a "stars perfectly aligned" type of thing for me.

I will never sell or get rid of this doll.

So yeah, like I mentioned above, while writing this I totally realized that more of my impulse purchases (2/3) are faves/perfect in every way vs the planned ones (2/4).

And I just think that's super funny!

 

Almost all of my dolls have been impulse buys for the last 3 years or so. Some work and some don’t. But I don’t really have regrets about any of them. If they don’t work for me, I sell them, and use the money for something else, no harm no foul.

 

My only impulse buy was Little Hela, my j-baby. Being a small skeleton, she is right up my alley. I absolutely love her. So, no regrets.

All my other dolls are part of my Ultimate Doll Plan. Dolls on the plan have higher priority than what I see through window shopping. I also ask my husband before buying any doll impulse purchases to make sure I don’t go overboard.

 

I've just bought a impulse-bought a doll a couple of times and it's not something I usually do or like to do because I like to do my research, search for pictures of other owners, take my time deciding characters and backgrounds and such... but the situation with those two dolls was different from the dolls I usually buy.

While I was looking for a tiny Yo-SD girl, I had settled on one sculpt (Grape) from this lovely company (DollsBe) and I had saved my money for it and I just ready for when the preorder started. Then, on the day of the preorder, I discovered the company had released new sculpts (my fault for not following the company on social media) and instantly fell in love with one of those new ones (Mango). Changed my mind and bought it in a whim. Never regretted it.

The second time was regarding a limited doll (Dearmine Lupin, which ironically was rereleased some time later so...). I even had to borrow some money from my sister and my husband cause I was broke when it came out but I just had to have it. It was a little bit of a letdown when it was rereleased (and then even released in a smaller size) cause I realized I could've thought about it better and get it smaller or without the monocle he originally came with (which I didn't needed for his character).

 

Ok, so funny enough - I impulse bought a tiny angel doll to stand as a symbol for my impulsive spending, and named her "Avarice".

I don't really LIKE her because having a constant reminder of my bad shopping habits is irritating (and ironic) but at the same time having her in eyesight does help me chill out on buying more dolls just because they caught my eye.

I don;t really regret any of my impulse buys, for the original question, but I did need to knock it off. Avarice giving me the side-eye from her little display is enough for now XD