1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

Scalping and YOU.

May 18, 2007

    1. My feelings exactly. If we refuse to buy from those people maybe they'll stop one day.
       
    2. i think is a bad habit of some people to buy and then re-sale at gigantic prices. I do wonder how many actually have bonded with the doll, or if they just bought it to make a few extra dollars on the side. I have seen it here as well two or 3 times, dolls priced fromm $800 to the most extreme i saw $1100!!! i mean geez! BTW the dolls looked untouched, mint condition.
       
    3. A lot of scalpers buy the dolls purely for the jacked up resale value. They don't ever intend to 'bond' with the doll, it's all about money.

      ETA: If you don't believe me, just go to ebay and type in 'unoa'.
       
    4. oh absolutely!! ebay has TONS of scalpers. The most expensive doll i saw was in fact a Unoa mold going for bids starting at $820 (i mean c'mon!)
       
    5. Hi, I find your post(s) interesting and was wondering if you could clarify for me. I too do not like scalping and I have followed this thread for a while. In your posts (this one and the one after it) you state dolls costing $800 to $1100 as scalping. Do you mean dolls that are $800-$1100 above their original price? Because I must agree with you that is quite pricey!! However, your posts lead me to believe that any doll on eBay or the marketplace priced $800 or above is scalping and I must disagree with that. If I found a Volks or Soom SD limited for $800 (especially if it was full set) I would be paying less than what the person paid for them new! I sometimes think that maybe people do not take what the seller originally paid into consideration when they proclaim they are scalping (not saying you are doing this, it is just something I see in this thread). So I was just interested in what your opinion was on how you define scalping, because I think so many of us define it differently and sometimes maybe it is just the high price of the doll that is what people dislike and maybe not that it is actually being scalped (I hope that makes sense lol)
       
    6. Forexample say ebay: only 2 gays ago i saw a bobobie (at least the seller said it was), approximately 6 years old, never taken out of the box. etc. To me the doll very much like a bobobie Mei, and his/her starting bid was £120. When i finished watching the item it went for £600. When i saw where the doll came from it said China, and the shipping price the seller asked for was £50. It is ok to sell your dolls, but you also have to consider factors such as being limited editions, etc. A bobobie Mei costs $177 with shipping to the UK.
       
    7. I'm kind of horrified by scalpers, but I'm equally horrified by someone who's trying to sell a mellowed/yellowed doll, slightly modded, with a custom face-up for the same price or higher than a new doll of the same sculpt would go for from the factory. However, I'm of the opinion that you can't legislate greed or stupidity. I just vote with my feet and don't buy dolls that I consider too expensive. Like any other hobby, you'll have people who take advantage of what the market will bear. The only solution is to educate people so the market doesn't bear it.
      -Pere
       
    8. There are many sellers who buy limited dolls and then put them on Ebay at ridiculous prices, after taking the set apart and selling it in pieces--one example was a 300 doll was put up (not sold, LOL) for 550 for the doll, 150 for the outfit, and 100 for the wig! THIS is scalping at it's worse, and even if I could afford that I would not buy from anyone who does this sort of thing.

      Another thing I have run into is this--there are people here on DOA who read the threads and watch for when someone, or several people, start wanting a certain doll--and lo and behold, that doll will appear in the MP for some ridiculous amount of money. Now of course, it is up to each person to decide what is a reasonable amount to pay for a doll they want. But it IS scalping.

      Just say NO.
       
    9. i totally agree! i hace seen limited ed ones here and on ebay going for ridiculous amounts. Latest crazy one i saw, was a dream of dollfie going for £1200 :P , they were passing her as a "pure resin" and with no modifications or clothes, just a blank nude body. The nude body u can get for $268 on the volks site.
       
    10. Jenny, I think I saw the doll you are talking about, and I find it ridiculous! Like most people here, I would simply not buy a doll that was severely overpriced. All of my dolls but one are second hand, and all for very reasonable prices for what I received. There is no reason to pay hundreds of dollars more than what something is worth, if it is available somewhere else for less!
       
    11. patty-pan--I don't want to mention the Ebay sellers name, I do not know if she is a member here. But even if you CAN'T buy the doll any more, it's up to you if you want to pay a crazy price. I say, there are new dolls out EVERY DAY--and there will always be another doll I love.
       
    12. Well I am in the "choose your limit" crew... as in, they can set the price, but it is totally my choice whether or not to buy it or wait for a better offer ;)

      I bought a limited doll recently on MP, and the seller was fantastically fair and only charged what the doll had originally cost her.... I then saw the same doll selling for $450 MORE than I had paid... which let me tell you was almost DOUBLE!!! And it was totally obvious the doll had been bought for resale, which I think is really sad because that doll could have been given a lovely home from the start, without all the money grabbing :(
       
    13. It makes me sad when someone has bought a limited doll (one in which only a few were available, as opposed to one that was available for a limited amount of time) and then sells it for much much more, because they caused someone else who really wanted it to miss out. On the other hand, perhaps they really did mean to keep it and are having serious economic difficulties, so I guess given that I don't know their circumstances, I shouldn't be so judgmental. On the other hand, there are the individuals who always have the desirable dolls in mint condition listed at very high price, and they seem to be opportunistic business people, rather than people who enjoy the hobby like most of us here.
       
    14. Scalping will always happen, one way or another. Remember when the Wii came out? People bought the WHOLE store's stock. Scalpers re-sold them for 4x the initial price - and they got away with it!

      Thousands of moms whose spoiled little rich brats wanted a Wii SO bad, were forced to buy this piece of crap at $1000+ sometimes, when it retailed for $300.

      It's part of life, just like failure is. You can't do anything about it, just do your best to avoid it and the people that cause it.
       
    15. I don't really have a problem with resellers (the so-called scalpers) as long as I have the same chance as they do to buy the particular item in question. If I choose not to order quickly, I have no reason to complain if someone else buys the "super limited edition whatever".

      On the other hand, if I do not have the cash to purchase said "super limited edition whatever", then at that point, the reseller is providing all of us a valuable service, by making available, items which are now sold out from the original manufacturer.

      Granted there is a higher price to pay at that point, but the reseller (i'll stick with that term, yes) has risked his own money with no real guarantee of return. That seems fair to me.
       
    16. When selling LE dolls I wish the BJD companies would only allow each buyer to buy one each of the LEs. IF scalpers can go and buy multiples of each LE than that means people who really wanted that LE now have to pay the scalper's ridiculous price to get said doll or go without it. As far as non-limiteds go it would be fine to let buyers buy more than one quantity of the non LE sculpts. I know this wouldn't completely stop the scalping problem. So by limiting the quantity of each LE to one per person than more people who actually want the LEs can buy them instead of scalpers who will immediately turn around and sell for a lot more money. Scalpers can still buy one each but you won't see the same scalper with a number of the same LEs.

      It would be nice if companies did this but I don't think they will. IF a scalper wants to buy all 30 of the limiteds as long as they got the money to pay for them that is all that matters to the doll companies. It doesn't matter to the doll company if Joe Schmoe who really wanted that LE has to pay 3 x the price the scalper paid to the doll company for the LE.
       
    17. Scalpers in the DoA's MP are really easy to spot. They are usually selling other limited Fullset dolls at the same time and also, they require that you pay the 4% paypal fee. Which sometimes adds another 100$ or 200$ to a 1,600$ to a fullset, just for the privilege of buying a rare HTF that they went through the trouble of getting just to make a profit.

      I have no interest in fullsets anyways, I usually only buy the heads if it's a limited doll that I want and then look for a matching body that's got a discount price. (I don't mind buying damaged doll-bodies either as long as I can fix it or cover it up.)

      Scalpers selling doll clothing with jacked up price? If the price is reasonable and if I really really really really really want it. Then I will consider it.
      Again with the dolls, I don't mind waiting for however long it takes to see a price that I like and can afford. (Or even better the seller accepts layaway!)