Is it considered cheap if all someone's dolls are second handed?

I have about half & half in my collection. And my 2nd hand dolls were NOT necessarily cheaper than new. I HAD to buy my Ryoma 'second hand' if you count some guy in California buying him to immediately resell here 'second hand' which frankly I don't... That's VOLKS of course so I spent beaucoup $$$ - NOT cheap - in fact more than from Volks (if, you know, one could buy from Volks whenever one wanted to.....)
I've chosen MP dolls over company ones several times because a doll on my wishlist showed up there & that meant no waiting & cheaper shipping (usually - except the two I got from Australia....) I've bought from dollie friends which is nice.
To me, talking about 'second hand' w/these dolls is like referring to a piece of art as used. Not applicable. Clothes, furniture, etc - yeah, 2nd hand. But not the dolls. More like, company bought, 1st owner, 2nd owner kind of thing.

 

I don't think its cheap, its just you will get your item faster then a pre-order item.

 

No. Consider there are sold out dolls and only have secondhand, thats not cheap.
And second hand is a benefit to both side since the seller and the buyer will get what they want

 

I think what you have to bear in mind is that there is a very different mentality to it in the doll world (much as there is in the fashion doll world, or any other hobby where you collect something that is often only sold in limited numbers). For a start, you'll fairly rarely hear doll owners refer to a doll as "secondhand" - but you'll often hear them talk about buying on the secondary market. As others have said, some sculpts wee so rare and limited that the only way to get them is on the secondary market. It's not like mobile phones or other gadgets where there's a certain cachet to having the very latest brand-new model; it's more like the antique or vintage market. You'd never dream of shaming someone for buying a vintage dress instead of the latest high street tat - nor would you necessarily have expected them to have gotten it cheaply; if they did get it for a bargain price you'd admire them for being an astute buyer. Same goes for BJDs. If someone scores a mint-condition 2005 Elf El for $400 for instance (and oh Lord how I wish!! ) then no-one would think of that doll as being cheap. They'd all be envious of them landing such an amazing bargain and wishing they had half as much luck.

It's a completely different attitude. Unless you're deliberately looking for broken/tatty dolls with a view to doing them up then no, you're not going to find cheap dolls in the Marketplace or on ebay unless you are incredibly lucky. There are certain companies whose dolls go for lower prices and might be viewed as "cheap" but that has far more to do with brand snobbery and elitism than the price.

 

No. Usually buying a doll second hand means you just save on shipping costs. And what's wrong with saving some money? Means more money to buy stuff for the dolls! I can't see anyone calling you cheap for buying secondhand when many secondhand dolls go for just as much or just slightly less than the company price. And if someone wants to consider you cheap, who cares? If you're saving money, that's money you can use to spoil your doll with stuff, or save for another!

However, as others have mentioned, be careful of low prices. If the bargain seems a bit 'too good', I would suggest asking the seller for pics of certs, or the original box, anything that you can use to see if the doll is legitimate and not a recast.

 

I don't think anyone should think about it as a cheap way because even second hand are not that cheap the difference at the price is not that big comparing the brand new, if I like a discontinued doll I will definitely look for it at the second hand market, or even if I wanna buy a body only or head only I will search second hand, no need to order from the company and wait for at least 3 months for things available at second hand market as long as it is in a good condition, so second hand BJDs are not a cheap way

 

Definitely not. Most of the dolls i have purchased sell for more on the secondary market than at their initial pre-order. I also think that you get to see the actual doll you will be receiving rather than an example photo which is a positive, when you consider some of the seam line and face-up differences that can be an issue when you pre-order. Not to mention the long wait times. I find that my taste is constantly evolving and having to wait nine months for a doll is a concern when I may not like the sculpt as much almost a year later.

 

I did get a bargain, £80 on a Bobobie Elena on ebay. I love her, even though she is 'cheap' and now that she has a face-up and a body blush, not to mention an incredible wig, I love her to bits! But I was lucky to get her. As others have pointed out, second-hand is not cheap. Anyway, who cares what other people think? I'll start taking other people's opinions seriously when I can pay my bills with them!

 

Considering how many dolls are impossible to find any way other than second hand (the LE's, the retired sculpts and the dolls from companies that no longer exist), I can't imagine how anyone would dismiss a person collecting that was as "cheap". Never mind that some (admittedly a select few) dolls cost more on the secondary market!

And frankly, even if a person did collect only second hand dolls that were cheaper due to still being available new, how would anyone even know?

 

Not really? I wouldn't consider it cheap at all! A lot of my dolls come from the secondhand market and if it weren't for it I would never be able to re evaluate my collection. Furthermore a lot of event dolls are only available through that route for some that weren't fortunate enough to join in the original event and the same goes for limiteds. Coupled with how well some companies hold their worth regardless of age... It's just as viable a route as buying firsthand in my opinion.

All this, of course, without taking into account that it's no one's business if one's colection is firsthand, secondhand, cheap or expensive. Just buy dolls you love and all will be fine

 

Nopes, aslong as you love the doll its fine ^-^
I have... lets see..

Madeline (Secondhand)
Eileen (Secondhand)
Minette (Secondhand)

Aru (Firsthand)
Seraphina (Firsthand)
Nika(Firsthand)

Vanilla (tiny doll, for Free as a gift with Aru)

So yeah got 3 dolls secondhand and 1 for free XD (+ bought 3 dolls)
bought 2 of the secondhand dolls + traded one doll I won at a con which I didn't really like for a secondhand doll

But yeah like I said, aslong as you love your dolls, secondhand or not its fine ^-^

 

Definitely not! I consider it super thrifty actually and am always kind of jealous of people who manage to find dolls they love secondhand. Mine just happen to be all ordered straight from the companies mostly because I had no means of finding them secondhand at the time but if I was able to and did, I would have been all over buying from a previous owner. Who doesn't want to save a bit of money and probably get dolls faster?

 

I wouldn't call it "cheap" by any means. I don't have a large number of dolls that were purchased from the marketplace (a mere four out of 24); all came to me for less than their original price, but I wouldn't call any of them "cheap." Just as there's no cheap new dolls, there's no cheap secondhand dolls either. And even the ones that came to me for a good drop from their original price (before they were discontinued) have needed hours of repairs and restoration to get looking "like new" again--I wouldn't call that cheap!

 

As long as they have the doll i want and they took good care of its condition . I think absolutely worth my time and money. plus u get it faster!

 

How could it possibly be viewed as cheap??? Lately everyone seems to sell dolls for MORE money secondhand than if you buy it brand new straight from the company!!! I don't know what's going on with that.
But regardless, NO, it's not cheap, it's just more convenient because often you are cutting down a wait time. For example, I ordered a Fairyland doll in July that I'm still waiting for and will likely be waiting for until January because of how backed up on orders they are, and I expect they'll be having a Christmas Event which will throw them back even more. When I placed the order in July, they were working on filling orders from January. Ridiculous. It's that kind of situation that people take advantage of when re-selling at higher than retail cost.
But even if you're getting secondhand dolls at lesser than retail price I still don't view that as being cheap. I'm always looking for convenience and a deal. But I won't rob myself unless it's a Limited Edition I missed out on.

 

Not at all! If that's the only way you can obtain a sculpt or participate in the hobby, doesn't matter if they're second hand.

 

Of course not ^^ second hand dolls isn't cheap. Besides it depends of how the dolls you wanna purchase, if its good taken care by the previous owner or, limited and discontinued dolls, probably the price are more expensive than basic dolls. Besides, you will get it faster than you ordered through the company. And for me even if the dolls are not new, the important thing is you love him/her. ^^

 

Update to my previous reply... I now have two dolls on the way (still none in hand yet!) and they're both secondhand.

 

I don't think owning second-hand dolls makes them "cheap" or the owner "cheap." It's like buying a used car. Something happened where the original owner no longer wanted/needed the item, and so they decided to pass it on to someone else. Also, a lot of dolls are limited, so purchasing a previously owned doll is a great way of getting one! (Hopefully people don't purchase the limited dolls just to jack up the prices.... Supply and demand can be a cruel thing.) But I personally see nothing wrong with purchasing second-hand dolls.

 

Well, I got my first BJD second-hand, and man, was he a bargain. Perfect condition, factory face up Vampire Miho on a Lati Red (?) body. I'm taking a guess here, but including shipping, he was $200 cheaper than getting him straight from the company would've cost me, with the Migidoll body which I'm not such a fan of.

Since then I've been molesting my girlfriend to look around the MP for other bargains, and we've managed to get a reasonably priced Switch head for her, and an Fdoll body for me, so I'm all for second-hand. With a bit of luck you can really score a great item for a very good price.