Pre-orders - Fine, or do you avoid them?

Most of my collection is from pre orders, with a few secondhand. When I began the hobby over a decade ago, I was willing to wait six months for Doll Zone and Doll Chateau (one wait was 8 months). Just last year, I decided I really, really, hate waiting, so my max pre order wait is three months. Also, I agree with @0bsequi0us. Not having payment protection as the order goes longer for expensive dolls isn’t something I am willing to do anymore. With all what’s going on in the world, and how hard I have to work for my money, I’m being cautious. However, I am fine with long pre orders for OT dolls because you don’t pay up front, so nothing lost.

 

For me, pre-orders are an "only if I really know I'll like it" situation.

I did layaway with my recent boy, a Soom Idealian Xenos, and halfway through the wait I was starting to have some regrets because the wait was so frustrating! Even though it was only like 5 months total haha, it felt like forever and spending a lot of money can make you feel guilty, you start wondering if you made a mistake.

All those anxious feelings immediately went away once he made it home and I held him in my hands. It was love at first sight two times- when I saw his photos on the company site and when I got to see him in real life! So I would say don't do it unless you're certain the wait will be worth it. But even if it ends up being disappointing in the end, there's a high chance someone who missed the pre-order period is looking around, so you can pass it on to someone and give them that opportunity too!

If everyone skipped out on pre-orders, then we would have no more new dolls- so I think there is still an importance in pre-ordering as well, it's a means of supporting the company to keep doing the things you like.

 

I have no problem with preordering from a reputable company/artist, even if it takes 6 months or so, as long as they're upfront about their timelines and communicate well. What I'm not okay with is when the company/artist doesn't even warn potential buyers on their website that they're running months behind schedule, or make an effort to communicate with those already waiting about unexpected delays. That's just unprofessional and disrespectful to your clientele.

 

Great Question.

I am comfortable with either and have done both. Of course the secondhand market rocks if you are fortunate enough to work with an honest person. You can't beat receiving a doll within a few days and possibly at a savings. I've been fortunate enough to purchase some incredible dolls with gorgeous custom faceups/body blushing for far less than retail. On the other hand, for some secondhand dolls I've paid MORE than their original price given their exclusivity.

When it comes to pre-orders, I justify the long wait times and price of pre-orders due to the fact that certain dolls may never exist if I don't pre-order them. For example, I tend to favor tan or darker toned dolls. If a company offers a particular head style or set for a limited time, they may only produce that doll based on the orders they receive. If nobody orders a tan version of the doll (if it is an option) the tan version may never be created and thus forever be unavailable. In such a case, finding it on the secondhand market won't be an option. Therefore, if I see a pre-order doll that speaks to me and is limited, I weigh the possibility of never obtaining the doll in that form against the cost, wait time, etc. Right now I'm weighing more than a few possibilities, lol, such as that tanned Gem Of Doll Gaia.

 

I’m not a fan of pre-orders so I’m in the same boat as you. I can’t handle the wait time. When I first got into the hobby I was totally fine with second hand dolls. You can always resell them and you get them right away. It’s a great way to discover what you do and do not like. Which is perfect for me because I am a fickle person. I do, however, have 3 preorder dolls right now but they are all under $400 and $200. Anything larger is too scary a commitment for me. Especially if after the long wait, I would worry that I didn’t care for them anymore or had moved on.

 

Well, it is a fact that BJDs would not exist in this abundance without the pre-order system. It is just no good business idea to invest that kind of money in producing them beforehand and then hoping enough people will like to buy them in just the body option/ resin color option that you have produced them in before they start yellowing. So lots of people avoiding pre-orders would eventually kill a large portion of this hobby.
BUT what is not written in stone is how a company organizes pre-orders. Barring natural and other catastrophes, there is absolute *no* reason why a pre-order should take 9, 12, 24 or even more months. No legitimate reason why a company should start a new pre-order before the last one has been completed. There is also no reason why companies could not go the 'half price when ordering, half before shipping' route - it has been done successfully, even by small and new studios. These are all matters of organisation.

When I started out in this hobby, going through insanely long waiting times was almost considered a badge of honour, it made you a venerable veteran or something. Of course bad things happened too, like whole companies making off tacitly with your money. I've had my share. These days I have begun to view critically what I am willing to accept, like wait times exceeding the paypal claim period. While the fandom is still all too forgiving where bad business practice is concerned, I'm still very thankful we can warn each other off bad choices with our feedback.

 

I mostly collect mature tinies, and they tend to be limited or get discontinued due to lack of popularity. Second hand prices are sometimes insanely high for the same reasons. It's great when an American distributor has something in stock, but it doesn't happen very often. I order through American distributors when I can, and try to order from companies with an established reputation. Though I agree that there are reasonable wait times but Dollshe wait times are ridiculous. It's been over a year since I ordered my first one, but I did order through a respectable distributor and knew the wait would be long going in, but still...

 

When I first got into BJDs (still can't believe it's been 15 years!), the standard waiting time was at least 5-6 months and being a newbie, I had no patience for it, so my first few dolls were all second-hand from local doll forums or auction sites. Since the sellers were local, I was able to meet up with them in person to check that everything was as described before handing my money over.

Then I tried pre-ordering through local dealers after researching other people's experiences with them and I was quite lucky with them as most of my dolls arrived within the estimated time frame. (One of the dealers has also kind of become my go-to person for pre-ordering stuff from Japan as she doesn't just deal with dolls, and she's been super reliable in all this time.)

Nowadays, I mostly pre-order directly from doll companies after doing my best to check their latest waiting times and seeing if anyone is having issues with them, and so far, I haven't really encountered any problems.

And I guess I'm also just so used to waiting for pre-orders by now, that even if the waiting time turns out to be 6 months or more, it still feels like nothing to me... I've been desensitized to waiting times...

 

I actually kinda enjoy the waiting period... I'm usually insanely productive during it (writing, drawing, making stuff for the doll), and it gives future-me a present to look forward to. In fact, I enjoy it enough that I think I would avoid buying a ready-made doll just because it would be here before I fully appreciated it.

Granted, I have my limits - I've waited a year and a half for some Mystic eyes and stuff, but I would probably not want to wait that long for a doll. I think my longest doll wait was probably 5-6 months, and I think that's fine. When you start entering human pregnancy timelines, that's when it becomes a little ridiculous, mainly because of the amount of money that already exchanged hands.

 

I will do second hand for dolls I missed, but I only pre-order from established companies.

No offense to the little artist, but most arent business savvy and I've seen quite a few get messy.

 

I think I may actually prefer pre-orders, if I’m honest. I just don’t like when they go over 6 months in waiting, because then I tend to lose interest. I prefer my dolls new, and have only ever bought heads second hand, which I’m trying to avoid from now on. The in-stock dolls I’ve bought from dealers, while definitely fulfilling the urge for a new doll, have always been pure impulse purchases, and aren’t completely thought out additions to my doll collection, and I’m unsure if they will end up staying forever. But with most pre-ordered dolls, I think the purchase through a bit more before I pull the trigger... idk. I think every option definitely has pros and cons for me.

 

I have a mix of both, it really just depends what doll speaks to me (meaning, do any of my OCs instantly click with the sculpt and indicate that's their shell). I have 8 dolls who were ordered new from the company because I wasn't on market places, or I bought them when they were newly released from the company. The body I have on the way now is new simply because I had the funds and didn't find one second hand, the head similarly I have wanted for a long time but just had the funds/didn't get a response from the second hand market sellers. One of my heads was new and in stock with a dealer at a discount which was lucky... The others I just happened to find second hand and knew they needed to be home with me!

Pre-orders are a little scary since you can't know exactly when the huge amount of money you spent will materialise into a doll in your hands, but I always look into wait times for the companies I order from. So far, touch wood, the longest I've waited for a pre-order doll was my DOD Homme Ducan, taking around 3 months, but he was more than worth it because he's everything I wanted him to be and more. Plus, with how things stand at the moment globally, I can totally forgive any extra time my orders take.

 

I often fall in love with event heads, so pre-order is a must. I usually have the rule of "one doll at a time" but Fairyland had a couple events in a row that I couldn't miss out on.

It's created some fun surprises recently: over the last year I've ordered four different dolls, and although they were ordered at different times, two appeared last week, and I got shipping notices that the other two will be coming next week (or so--the mail is super unreliable now). Since I'm in quarentine, it's a great time to get new projects!!!

 

Most of my orders are Pre-Orders. I fall for sculpts and often full-sets, so there are times when limited pre-orders are the only way to get some dolls. Sometimes I hate not having owner-photos and reviews to look at first. But most of the time I'm glad to take a reasonable leap of faith. I'm pretty sure I know what dolls I want. I've been buying bjds since 2004, so I'm used to taking chances and waiting. For many years we had no choice but to do this--most dolls were not ever re-sold, since there were so few of them. If they were put up for sale, they used to go for astronomical amounts. So, yeah... not willing to try and save up astronomical amounts for a doll when I could have bought at retail...

 

Most of my collection is second-hand dolls, but some specific dolls (and probably my next dolls) have been pre-ordered from the store since I wanted something specific that I couldn't find on the marketplace for months (or years).

 

I think for me, it really depends on if the preorder doll would be difficult to get in the secondhand market! I do find that there are always people who sell their preordered doll immediately after receiving them because of the long wait times (and changed doll plans during that wait time), which is nice for people like me who purchase dolls in the second hand market. That said, some dolls are extremely difficult to find at all, which means I have no choice but to preorder I can see why it would be stressful though. Although you'd think us doll collectors should have been used to the waiting game by now, it's still hard each time

 

As far as "we should have gotten used to it" goes^^... I was just looking through my old BJD records and noticed something very interesting I had totally forgotten about.
From 2004-2008 when I was very active buying, wait times for new dolls ran from 2 weeks to 2 months at the max. This included companies like Customhouse, Luts, Dollmore, Dollzone, Elfdoll, Bimong, Souldoll, Soom and even the notorious Dream of Doll who were then infamous for their overly long wait times (it was two months).
Only Dollshe took 4 months for their Bermann, and Supia also 4 months.
Then from 2008 on waiting times suddenly exploded, Soom taking 5 then 8 months, the next Dollshe Bermann took 9 months, and so on and so on.

Of course, in the first years there were fewer buyers, but there were also a lot fewer companies to chose from. Some of these companies were extremely popular and sold lots of dolls. But apparently companies knew how to organise their pre-orders better in the olden times. I wonder why they forgot about it later?

 

All my dolls are preordered, except the first one, a Iplehouse auction doll. I don't mind long waiting times and long layaways. I am not really rich and I need to save up the money for tax and costumes.

 

I know the waiting time kills me especially when the doll takes a year

 

I don't mind the wait times and all of my dolls have been pre-ordered except my fullset Beryl that I adopted secondhand. I feel like the ~Yearning~ is part of the hobby for me, and it makes me even more excited when they finally arrive.