Selling dolls you can't buy again

I've sold several dolls that would be impossible to get anymore. But I spent months and even years pondering the decision so I don't regret them deeply. Sometimes I have a passing regret but but it's just a passing thought. Hopefully the buyers have given them a good home.

 

In my early years in this hobby I did sell on occasion…and I never considered rarity as a part of that decision. My decisions were always made entirely based on character needs: the character no longer sparked joy, or the sculpt didn’t suit the character as well as I’d hoped, or (as in one case) the character became so big in my mind, they outgrew their diminutive size and required a larger sculpt. It was all part of the learning process for me as I worked towards refinement of my crew’s aesthetic. Today I can look back on some of those lost dolls with fond nostalgia, but the reality is that selling them enabled me to have the wonderful crew I have today. And that’s all that truly matters.

 

I have had 3 Kim Laser's Alice and sold all of them. Wish I saved a least one!

 

I have sold dolls that would be difficult to buy again and I mostly don't regret it – for me, it was a matter of avoiding sunk cost fallacy.

With every doll or head I sold, there was something about it that didn't work for me, whether that was the doll looked beautiful in sales/owner pictures but didn't work for me in person, or it was out of proportion with my other dolls.

Some of the dolls I sold came with artist faceups, and I wasn't so determined to try and force myself to like the doll by sending it off to an artist to see if a different faceup would work (let alone the cost of faceups and potential risk of trusting someone else to deliver the service you've paid them for in a timely manner).

The only regrets I have is when a doll looked perfect for a particular idea/character but was out of proportion with my other dolls – my dolls are more "bobble head" than "pin head" and against current trends, meaning most beautiful sculpts coming out are just too small-noggined to ever look right with the others.
IOS Confutatis, if only you were closer to 9–10 inch size than 8...

 

I've sold far more dolls than I have kept. There are regrets, absolutely, but I did what was right in that moment for me and usually regrets came literal years later. I think people stated approaches to dealing with those feelings already with great eloquence.

My contribution here is before you sell a doll take a lot of pictures. Stings a little less when you can at least look back now and then if the regrets do in fact seep in.

 

I've owned a lot of off-topic dolls, parts, figures and sold them. Some now go for $1000+ when I rehomed them closer to $500 because that was the market value at the time. I hadn't anticipated them being discontinued and sought after so soon. I don't really regret the sales though. Of course it would have been nice to make more money, but I also don't like dealing with very high priced sales.

 

I'm in the middle of making such a decision.
I've got a couple of limited / hard to find dolls that I only display even though I like them, but I think they're no longer what I want. I always try to think very carefully about both purchases and sales, so I'm still considering all the pros and cons, but I think limited availability is not one of the things I take into account; I always use my feelings towards the doll in question as my compass.
In my opinion, the doll market is quite slow right now (cause life is being hard for everyone, I think) and even limited dolls that would usually sell well and fast are no longer that easy to sell. Plus, limited availability doesn't always mean desirability. If a doll is very niche, even though limited, it might not capture the attention of most buyers.

 

I had bought a Dream of Doll Ducan second-hand a few years back and had to sell him as I was in a really tight financial situation and I will forever regret that decision. Every time I've seen him for sale again he's been either modded, has really uneven yellowing/staining or someone's only selling the head and the chances of finding a second hand DoD body is harder than the heads it seems. The rest of the dolls I have now, save for one, are all dolls that are either discontinued, on their way to being discontinued (luts kid delf nana) or event heads, and I'm so on the fence about letting them go now

 

I feel the same way about the Dream of Doll Camine I sold. He was in perfect condition and his face up was sooo good. Selling him was probably the stupidest thing I ever did in this hobby. At the time, I was just more interested in getting the old CP Delfs (and, to be fair, I am very happy I got the Delfs I wanted!) I still feel hopeful I will find another Camine in good condition one day.