Resale or keep?

I buy to keep and it always annoys me when I don't like them as much as I thought I would. I dislike very much selling dolls, but I would rather sell than keep an expensive doll that I don't love.

 

Ditto here. Though I will admit that I justified the extra cost of gray resin for my Soom Byggs because I thought an exotic color would resell better. I loved the gray resin to begin with but I wouldn't have paid the extra cost otherwise.

That said... if I feel that I am not giving a particular doll the attention I feel they deserve, then I would rather they go to a home where they will be loved, played with, and enjoyed. That is the very essence of a toy.

 

I never buy to resell, and most of the dolls I have sold had very low resale value. In my first year of the hobby, I bought 2 dolls, got a 3rd as a gift. I still have the 2 I bought. My 2nd and 3rd year, I went WAY overboard and got too dolly-happy, bought a lot of dolls impulsively and sold almost all of them. my 4th year, I've bought a few more, but kept most. Right now, my collection is at a point where I don't feel the urge to sell anybody, and aside from my two on the way, feel no need to buy more. I'm quite content. I think it's important to look up pictures and info before you buy. If I had researched better towards the beginning, I wouldn't have bought so many that I ended up selling.

however, researching owner pix is not always possible. I bought my AE Adzuki Bean without ever seeing anything but factory pix, and as far as I'm aware, still have the only one on DoA. I bought my ResinSoul Lu before anyone else had her (at least as far as I could tell). I preordered my Only-Doll YiFeng as soon as MoC started selling and have still not seen owner pix and I really hope I like him. Weird, but for me, I tend to like the less popular sculpts and if there are a million owner pix, it actually makes me like the doll a lot less. I like my RS Mei, but seeing how popular the sculpt is actually makes me bond with her a lot less. She doesn't seem as special. I don't plan to sell her, but I'd like her better if she was less popular.

 

Very well put! I have never actually disliked any doll I've bought, but sold a few that haven't really fit in with my plans. I like having a cohesive collection, so I don't see the point of keeping a doll if I'm not going to give it any attention or feel the desire to make clothes for or photograph it. I would rather it went to someone who would really love it

 

I only buy for True Love-- which is how a modest collection got to be such a stadium-sized crowd in 6 years. Because buying for True Love means that nobody gets sold. ;;^^

I have only sold 1 doll in my life, and that was to get the same doll in the skin-color I'd originally wanted. Even selling him to a local friend was all sorts of traumatic, because I am a sentimental twit. So I hope I never have a disaster that requires me to sell my dolls, because I'd go to pieces just deciding who should be put up on the auction-block first.

It also must be a testament to the quality of the dolls I've been fortunate enough to acquire-- I've never been dissatisfied with anybody enough to sell him after he arrived. The vast majority of them were bought on a mixture of faith + sales-photos, because they were either LE or some other kind of previously-unavailable release, where looking at owner-photos wasn't an option. For most of them, when taking the chance, I've been confident that they had good resale-markets if I needed to sell... but so far, I haven't had to even think about that.

I wouldn't want to have to think about resale in today's market, either-- things are pretty well saturated! I'm always amazed when anybody manages to sell anything! Unless you've got a current-hot-ticket grail doll, it seems you have to plan on taking a bit of a loss on resale.

 

I detest selling dolls, truly. The few times I have in the past (two full dolls and two heads), I always severely underpriced them just to encourage them OUT of here, since once I make up my mind to sell I want them outta here asap. So I certainly am not the type to figure I'll be making back close to what I spend when I purchase a doll so that hardly even factors into the occasion. This does make things stressful however as I like to purchase dolls that don't seem to have many owner pics, such as my Elysium Jamie, and I've no idea how either I'll take to him in person or if there's any interest in him if I chose to sell him. Thankfully I'm pretty darn content with my collection as it is and can't see myself selling anyone off, and after a few years forming my group and seeing other dolls from meet-ups and whatnot I have a fairly good idea as to what does or doesn't work for me.

 

I buy with the intention to keeping a doll. It doesn't bother me to sell a doll, it's a little troublesome though with packing and mailing. I think I've sold nine dolls, and it hasn't bother me all to sell them. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the right mould for the doll that you want.

 

I always buy my dolls with the intention of keeping them. Sometimes I get a doll and I don't like it as much as I thought I would so I then have to make a decision as to whether I'm going to keep it or make minor changes to it so I can like it. I have yet to resell one of my dolls. I do have one that's a hybrid that I'm trying to decide if I'll change out the body for a different body. I hope that when the time comes that I'll be able to sell the body I have to someone who will love it more than I do.

 

Being a person who has already sold quite a lot of her dolls over the years, yes, I admit that I always consider whether or not a doll will hold some resale value. When I buy a doll, I do it to enjoy it for some time how ever long that period may be, but I'm certainly not a collector, nor do I get really attached to objects generally. This means that in the end most dolls will likely have to go and if possible I don't want to be out of too much money by that time .

 

I buy them with the intention of keeping them. but too often, halfway through the layaway/waiting, I change my mind about them :/ in cases like that I know they will be going as soon as they get here.
and sometimes, it works for a few months but then I ....get bored?
it has happened very often, but when I buy them, I have the intention to keep them and hope really hard I will love them enough ^^

but I agree with the part on loosing money when you resell. this is why now I try to be reeeeal careful about my purchases!

 

Thanks for posting this thread. Being new I did not know the dolls sell for less second hand and it's getting more difficult to sell them. I really dislike selling anything. I will take more time in doing the reseach and finding out if this is the doll for me or not. Thanks a lot.

 

I buy with the intention of keeping them forever. I have never once bought a doll with the thought of resale in the back of my mind, and I have not sold any of the dolls I've purchased. I try to avoid impulse buys, and ones that I have jumped on in the MP I knew beforehand that I definitely wanted, or I thought about it for a few days.

Do I dislike certain things about them? Sure. I don't like the Dolkot mini arms, they are terribly designed and hard to pose. I don't really like how the JDF torso joint is useless and his elbows are kind of wonky. I wish my Hound was easier to stand and pose. But even still, I don't consider them flaws that would cause me to sell them, because I love them too much. I'm a sentimental person, so I tend to get really attached to my belongings, problems or no. I highly doubt anybody will be leaving my doll display.

 

When I buy a doll I plan to keep it forever but it's a different story sometimes when you actually see them in real life, so in the back of my mind, I always think that in the worst case scenario, I would have to part with them...and that's why I try to keep their paperwork/boxes and keep them in good condition for this purpose.

 

My dolls start as characters from my stories or whatnot, and then if the doll works as a shell for that character they stay. If they don't work, they go. I've only bought one doll on impulse before and she inspired me to write a whole new storyline for characters I already had So she has stayed on, my little sore-thumb.

So with that in mind, I value my characters more than the doll itself. I have sold dolls that I absolutely love, but fitting characters is how I keep control of my collection instead of letting it spiral out of control.

The only doll that I IMMEDIATELY hated in every way, didn't work for the character, my tastes, my collection, or my own sense of aesthetic was a Feeple65 Chloe O_O Believe me, as much as an elf-nerd as I am, and as much as I LOVE a mature, large, sexy ladies, that immediate dislike was a shock for me. It was like...anti-bonding. I sold her within a week I think. I still get chills when I think about her >.< Lost $20 overall when I resold her but it was worth it.

So no matter how perfect a doll may seem, I always keep in mind that I might have to part with them. It adds quite a bit to thought-process of course. I have started waiting a lot longer between purchases, drawing out my excitement for my current dolls as long as possible.

 

I buy with the sole intention of keeping. I'm the type of person that has to invest emotionally into a character, so I can change my mind about the sculpt before placing the order, but anytime after placing-I can't turn around and resale. It's not in me. I rather work with the doll and create a character solely for it. Working with the grain instead of against it, I like to think of it.

 

I buy with no intention of selling. Why buy a doll if you are buying it to sell? The only way I could see benefit in doing this is buying an extremely limited doll to sell a year or two later when it probably had doubled in value. It's not unreasonable to eventually sell a doll, but to buy a doll to sell it...I don't get that.

 

Yes, I tend to buy dolls with the thought of selling them one day. It's because I never attach myself to a doll for a long of period of time['cept my first and second dolls, but that's a very different kind of story] I always get bored by a doll after a while so up they go for sale. It's fortunate for me that I never lose out on too much from the price I originally buy them with. Although sometimes I really have to lower the price to get them going.

It's not that I dont want to keep them, but I really dont want a doll just for the sake it's pretty sitting there but I dont play with/touch it. These dolls are expensive, and they are meant to be play and customize with, what's the point of getting one just for displaying? I dont understand, really. So yes, for my dolls, one day, they will go to new homes if I got bored of them.

 

I know in the 4+ years I have been in this hobby I have bought and sold over 300 BJD. It was esp the first year a learning process and learning what you like over what you love is hard. It would have cut the numbers down a lot more if I had gone to meet ups and asked questions instead of sitting on side lines. Meet ups will greatly help you learn not only what other dolls are like in size, resin color and feel but also how do they stand, sit and pose. I lost money on many of the dolls I sold, very few can I say I broke even. But I consider it a rental fee as other then 2 trips now to Denver Doll as well as now many Meet ups both big & small I have learned from them as well as my own buying what works for me. I have pretty much decided there are 3 companies I will buy from no problem and a total of 5 I would recommend in ways of good dolls that pose as I like and good service & quality. But it was a long and expensive road to learn this. If you want to know what dolls are keepers for you. Get to meet ups and ask questions and esp ask things important to you and hold the doll with permission so you can see if it feels right too. Good Luck!

 

Like anything else I own I dont know when I will choose to sell anything for whatever reason. I dont keep everything I own in immaculate condition incase I might sell it one day either. I always say, lets see what happens, dont think about the future too much

 

I always buy a doll I fall in love with. Granted, I may not always be in love with them after I had them home a while. Lets say I had a plan to make a certain doll look a certain way. I got them home and it still just don't come together. Something feels off. The skintone might not work with the clothes' colour or the wig's colour, or the faceup I wanted did not suit the face shape.
Sometimes it takes me many different tries of different faceups to get it right. My cuprit went through 4 faceups I think, before finally I found a way to get her to look the way I wanted. I still have not found the perfect outfit for her, but I am sure it will come.
I do not buy dolls to resell, but I will resell if I have tried and tried to make it work with them, but failed. Then I think that I should better sell it on to someone who will do something and love the doll, than keeping it and be half-content with it.
I am a perfectionist as you might have guessed already from my post, hehe. But I do not give up on a doll very easily, it often takes many different tries and combinations of faceups/clothes/wigs to see if I can get it to work. Sometimes it is just not as planned, and sometimes it works wondefully.
So yes, resell a doll after many tries to "bond", thats what I do.