Second Hand Hunter

I love second hand. I have only had 1 brand new doll before. Almost everything I ever buy is second hand. I love saving money and giving life to used unloved things. I love to thrift for anything we need. Same with dolls. I would rather buy second hand and give a used doll a new home. I also hate waiting. lol

 

I think half of my collection is second hand. Most of the dolls I like aren't that popular usually, and now that they're also "out of style" I can get them much cheaper. From half to one third the price.

 

My first doll was a second hand doll. I really didn't want to wait because I got so excited after I saw his official pictures so I found one on the second hand market!

 

Almost all of my bjd are 2nd hand! So far only my Dollfie dream and yosd Mako are new! I love to buy preloved dolls cos i dont have to wait very long!

 

I’d like to get some preowned dolls in the future. Currently I have one doll on my wishlist which would have to be bought second hand (looking at you Sio2 Ragdoll). I really want to focus on buying specific dolls I’m looking for rather than just jumping on a good deal. We’ll see how that goes lol

 

I love secondhand dolls - I guess there's just something thrilling about giving a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) chance to a doll, plus there's the serendipitous feeling of finding something that just clicks. I usually don't have a sculpt in mind when I'm looking for a character, but if I browse long enough and find myself returning to one that speaks to me, I know that will be the one. There are definitely some companies I am more drawn to than others either through personal experience or through reputation, and obviously making sure the doll is legit is a big concern.

I don't really have any grails, but there are some sculpts that I adore whenever I see pictures of them. I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need to OWN one...but that doesn't mean I don't occasionally browse.

 

I buy nearly everything second-hand so there's no stigma for me when it comes to dolls. So far 90% of my collection is second-hand and every one has given me a better connection to the hobby, to other collectors or just to a particular doll I ended up liking more than I thought. As far as hunting goes, I'm kinda shallow and go for the aesthetics of a doll before things like posing and cost, so whenever I see a rare or interestingly made-up doll in the MP I keep it in mind for later. Sometimes I'll give dolls with company faceups a makeover, but I've never regretted a second-hand purchase yet. And already my grumpy boy Mo is looking like a rare bird, so I'm happy I got him secondhand rather than attempt to get him new.

 

I got all of my current crew secondhand. It's not just because of the waiting times and the price. I am more drawn to dolls with a bit of history behind them. I don't even mind if they are yellowed or have some damage. My Migidoll Jina has a slight dent in his nose where his previous owner dropped him (not noticeable in photos). I think it just adds to his character.

I tend to prefer older doll sculpts anyway (and single jointed!) Most of the dolls I want are discontinued now so secondhand is my only option.

 

I love buying secondhand because I'm very impatient . So far everyone at home has been secondhand apart from one teeny. Although one of the 'secondhand' bodies was actually new but I wasn't the one to order it originally. However I do have two dolls on order currently and will be adding a head at some point who never seems to pop up secondhand. But I'd love love love it if it turned up secondhand before I ordered

 

Secondhand is appealing due to skipping waiting time. As it is, I'm still waiting for my first bjd from the company, and I don't have access to the marketplace here. Aside from facebook groups, not sure where else I'd find secondhand BJD's to browse. Well, aside from mandarake.

 

I love buying secondhand. Not only can you get the doll quicker but you never know what you'll find. Even when I first started collecting, the dolls I really wanted were hard to get directly so I managed to find them secondhand. In the past few years I've not been wanting any particular dolls so when I need a doll fix, I cruise The Marketplace or eBay just to see what's available at a good price. I've gotten some wonderful dolls this way. But now you really have to be careful on eBay as there are mainly recasts there.

 

I started out mostly buying through dealers because of the savings on customs and shipping fees, and also the short wait times for in-stock items. But when I started to fall for discontinued dolls, and when dolls I had fallen for became discontinued, I branched out to the DoA marketplace. I've had really great experiences with sellers so far, and owning those hard-to-find sculpts after a long search is pretty thrilling!

 

About 1/2 my collection is 2nd hand. generally, they are the ones that got away in their initial order period, the sculpt was discontinued or the company closed before I was able to get my greedy hands on them. I got both my grails 2nd hand. One was limited to just 100 dolls and the other had the company close before I was able to scrape together the cash to get either one. It took 7 years but I got both of them within 6 months of each other.

The MP is really dangerous for my wallet. I'll browse if I'm bored and sometimes, I'll see a doll and the want will hit me out of nowhere. Most frequently, the doll was limited/discontinued/company closed so it comes down to a now or never sort of thing because of the difficulty in finding the doll again. I'm experiencing that tough decision about an MP doll right now. I didn't tweak to him when he was available (he was limited) but I've been mooning over his sales thread for a month now.

I have one doll I'd love to have but he's OT for DoA so I can't even post a WTB for him here *sigh*. He's long discontinued and I doubt he was all that popular either because of his unusual sculpt. He's not a grail for me but I'd dearly love to have him in my collection.

 

The second hand market is really dangerous. When I am bored I find myself browsing facebook groups and instagram bjdsale tag. I have ended up with dolls I didn't think I would ever had. But you can find some really amazing deals.

 

All 3 of my dolls are second hand. I thought I’d be searching for ever as I knew which dolls and in which colours I wanted and missed out on buying new. The first one popped up and I thought I’d have time to recover financially but 2 and 3 popped up within a couple of months (thanks for PayPal credit lol!)
I like that you get them “complete” but sometimes the stringing is a bit loose or you’d prefer a different faceup, but that will come in time.
The major benefit of buying secondhand for me was that they were all UK sales so saved me a fortune in postage and customs fees which I would have had to pay if I bought new from America.

 

I do think there's definitely a special appeal to FINALLY FINDING THAT RARE SCULPT. I was feeling pretty smug when I finally found a DC Irma secondhand on ebay after like 7 months of looking.

I honestly think it's a good way to save money, since I almost always find rare/niche heads at shockingly good prices. Also the possibility of finding a rare sculpt secondhand keeps me from impulse buying them brand new lmao

 

Half of my dolls are second hand. I like buying second hand, as it’s a good way to find a rare / discontinued sculpt. It’s also usually cheaper, which is always a plus!

 

I love buying second hand when I can. Rare and discontinued sculpts and releases can pop up where you least expect them. Heck, I have a grail doll in the mail I never thought I'd get, being a limited release from 5 years ago and a company that isn't too common secondhand. Immediate gratification is also great! Any new doll I acquire in the future will be secondhand or in-stock from dealers most likely, I just can't handle anything but a short pre-order length

 

All of my Volks dolls were bought secondhand since there's no other way to get a doll from this company in Europe. But I don't mind and it even is kinda fun to hunt the market to find a sculpt that I like. I prefer their fcs models so it's also cheaper to buy one of them secondhand.

 

I am always looking for second hand dolls but I also buy them new and don’t mind the wait! I usually am looking for fairyland event heads second hand or bodies for floating heads hehe