New or Second Hand For your First Doll

My first doll, and almost all my dolls in general, are bought from the company (mostly directly, sometimes through a dealer/agent).
I don't mind the wait that much. It's just a part of the hobby that I've accepted. When I buy a doll from a company, I know it is real. With second hand sellers, I am always afraid of being scammed. I've not been scammed myself, but I've heard a lot of stories from others that make me think twice about getting a second hand doll. And with the rising amount of recasts these days I don't want the risk of someone selling me a certain recast as a real company doll either.
Companies are much more safe.

 

I bought my first BJD second-hand because I found that the doll I had interest in wasn't available from the company site anymore, so the secondary market seemed like the only route to take. A week or so later, I ended up ordering the new limited from that same company site and think I learned the pros and cons of "new" versus "second hand" early on, I think I prefer secondary market in the end as the communication is more frequent between the buyer and seller, you can always request more pictures than the often misleading stock pictures provided on company sites, and of course the dolly gets here faster.

 

I bought my first doll new from a US store so no long wait time but my next several dolls were bought secondhand on Ebay, one because she had been a limited & the next two simply because I loved them. Over the years I've bought both new & secondhand & it has never made a difference to me. I seldom ordered dolls directly from the company as there was a wonderful store (now gone) that had many things I liked in stock. Also the Marketplace, other boards & Ebay have generally fulfilled my dolly desires. I'm sort of into instant gratification so secondhand is often better for me.

 

Well I like both, new and used. I most of the time get new because I get dolls at event times. But I just got a Fairyland girl a few weeks ago and was 2ed hand. She wasn't all that pricey for a Fairyland doll, and she came with all kinds of cool stuff that the seller didn't want. The only thing is sometimes dolls come to you dirty and need a little cleaning like my girl did. But most of the time things go well, and you can see the doll in pics before you buy to see how much work you would have to put into it. So I think both 2ed hand and new are good ways to go. You just have to know how much you are willing to spend.

 

I agree with you Floura second hand do need a little clean sometimes and then they are fine, but you can't beat opening a
brand new doll any day

 

Personally I got my first doll new from the site, but I don't think that it has any noticeable advantages over second-hand ones as it actually depends on too many things, for example the one you like isn't for sale on the site anymore and other situations like this.
I don't think that one of these two options can be better or worse than another one.

 

For my first I went with new... She feels more "mine" that way like I can start her off fresh or something, but I'm totally up for buying second hand too!

 

i prefer 2nd hand doll but her x owner is not keep her too long. its much better because i dont really like waiting too long from pre order dolls company ^^

 

I've felt in love with BJD 2 years ago, but untill now I have enough money to buy one. I want a perfect doll,in the perfect condition, so I think my first doll must be a new doll

 

I prefer the new dolls than with the second hand. They then dedicated only to me. On the other hand only Noi Marmite Sue satisfied me.

 

My first one was second hand, the second and third is new

 

my doll was secondhand, I got her off tumblr lol. She was $130 including shipping and she has no damages. so, secondhand isn't too bad.

 

For my first doll, I got him new. It's because he will be my first doll and so to me, it didn't feel right having a second hand doll. Having a new one seemed to be more special to me because I would have been the first one to hold him, to dress him, name him and such. I think for my second doll I will be more open in considering purchasing a second hand doll.

 

I'm going to get my first second hand. I really want a luka or juri 08 head. just saving so i'll have enough when the time comes when one comes up for sale on her.

 

Either way is good for me as long as the doll is in good condition. I mean if its second hand, in good condition and has a lower price then why not.

 

For my first doll I went new. Partly because I wanted the experience of the brand new, shiny doll in the brand new, shiny box. But mostly because I wasn't on DOA, but had read about recasts. I knew that buying direct from a company was the safest way for me to make sure my doll was legitimate.

 

My first 2 dolls wer used. One came from ebay, the other, my daughter bought cheep from the forum because the face-up was smudged. She sent the head (that just sounds wrong) to her friend who was learning how to do face-ups. She cleaned it off and applied a sweet face. That was my Christmas present last year.
I am very happy with both.
I have a new doll on order and will give the fantasy pars to my daughter, sort of a family split). But the wait for the new doll is tiring/frustrating.

 

I bought my first doll new. Since I wasn't a member of DoA, I only had access to the BJD sales Yahoo! group, and it was pretty hard to find the doll I wanted from there. First, the sculpt I liked (and eventually bought new) seems to be rather rare/uncommon, at least in comparison to other RS sculpts. I never saw anybody selling this particular sculpt in that group, and while there were other nice dolls on there, they just weren't the ones that I wanted for my first doll. And, like some other people on here have said, I really wanted to experience the brand-new-box-opening process!

I think in the end, what it came down to for me was that I didn't really trust most second-hand sellers... I mean, there's always pictures, but I thought buying secondhand wouldn't be reliable. I kept an eye out, still, but I never did end up finding the sculpt I wanted second-hand, and buying new wasn't too expensive anyway. So I just bought new in the end. Now that I'm more into the hobby and the bjd tag on Tumblr, I see that buying second-hand really isn't too dangerous! If I do happen to see a doll I like second-hand, I will probably buy it Though, as for my taste in sculpts, most of them seem to be pretty uncommon so I don't think that will happen anytime soon. OTL

 

Depends on the person and what they want, really. If they find something on the Marketplace that is exactly what they want, then they should do that. If there's something from a company that is perfect for them, then that's the way to go.

Some people don't want to wait, or prefer to buy more locally so the shipping isn't so high, or they want a doll not available from a company, so they will buy Second-hand.

Other people prefer to order from a company so they have a choice of faceup or no, certain parts or no--and know that if there is some damage, the company can possibly send them a new part (which the 2nd-hand sellers can't really do).

Some people prefer the difference in buying processes. Some may not trust independent sellers. Some may feel more secure buying from a company, some may not.

Everyone is different! They have to choose what suits them best!

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I bought from a company because I wanted things like resin color choice and to make sure the doll was in new condition--AND because back in 2004, there were not many dolls at all being re-sold! So it didn't matter if I preferred 2nd-hand or not--there was no choice!

 

I bought my first BJD head second hand, because it was a limited sculpt and I found it miraculously in a french forum's marketplace I bought my second BJD first hand, but after thinking about it I would definetely prefer the first option, for a better contact with the seller =)