Should Comapnies offer resin sample chips?

I'd rather they offer them for free. I would hope the company had an idea that some people bought a head from one place, and a body from another. To me, offering a one inch square for free wouldn't be bad. Ideally, they offer a view of their resin colors via the website, but colors from real life may not look the same on a computer, or printed.

 

Well, I would have preferred resin chips. I'm hoping my RS Mu will be more lilac than grey, really. I plan on getting something in each of their special resin colors simply because I'm a nut for odd things and demon/mythical folk. I can see that the purple skin is a bit different from grey for the comparisons, but my computer shows me a nice, light shade of purple and not a purple-grey lilac sort of color that I'm told it really is.

 

I'm pretty sure they know that people do that. But that doesn't mean they'll feel obligated to help someone out in that capacity, as it has to do with another company's doll parts as well -- their main concern is selling people their own dolls. If a company were to offer a resin comparison I would consider it a nice gesture, but it's not something I would ever expect them to do -- it's outside of their scope.

Even if they did offer free chips, there's still shipping involved, and shipping even small items from overseas is expensive -- multiply that by more than one company if you're trying to find a match, and you could potentially end up spending quite a bit on something that might not even be accurate considering how much batches can vary.

 

I agree with the comments already posted that I don't see much gain for a company in offering resin swatches. If it's a company that only sells heads or fantasy/option parts, they probably already list which resins they match. If they sell full dolls, most companies probably prefer for customers to just buy their whole doll, though I've seen a few bodies for sale that list resin matches as well. I imagine that they'd also get a lot of people ordering resin swatches and never actually buying a doll, which would just be a lot of hassle for the company with likely little additional profit. And, of course, complaints when a resin swatch bought X months ago doesn't match a head or body bought from a different batch, either because the batch colour varies or the swatch is old enough to have yellowed. A lot of online businesses rely on customers being able to choose a colour they like based only on photos- clothing, furniture, phone covers, art prints, whatever. It's not really any different with a doll, you choose the shade you think you will like best, and look around for owner photos if you can. I don't think they would offer any particular usefulness in terms of material testing either... you can always test things on the headcap and a one inch square resin chip doesn't offer much surface area anyway.

I don't have any personal issue with hybrids, but if a company or artist doesn't want their dolls hybridized I don't see why we can't respect that wish at least enough to document resin matches on our own as a community (as we already do). I always find it rude that people would ask doll companies what other skin tones their heads or bodies match, or would expect them to cater to this idea. If an artist supports hybridization (or necessitates it by only producing heads or parts), they will likely list their resin matches without having to be asked.

 

It sounds like a great idea, but for me, a notoriously broke student, it might not be in my budget. Even though they wouldn't cost much, buying the chips and shipping them would rack up some costs I could better use for other doll purposes. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just a cheapskate.

 

personally I don't think its necessary for them to actually mail samples, however I do hate when doll companies offer multiple skin types and don't show you a picture of what those colors look like

 

I actually sent in a request to Luts if they might be able to send me a sample of their resin, in a small slab or something, so I can test out pastels and other materials on it before using on my doll. So maybe not necessarily for resin COLORS, because that is something that can vary, but for various outher reasons~

 

I think that it would be a great idea. You can never truely tell the color till its in your hands. I don't think chips would really be that helpful to bootleggers because if they are already going though the trouble of ripping off a doll they most likely would have that same doll or nearly the same to referance from. We also should be willing to pay for the samples to cover shipping and materials. But simple reseach is the best policy and easiest way IMO.

 

I haven't read this whole thread as of yet but wouldn't most people have to pay ridiculously expensive shipping for these tiny chips? :P And wouldn't it kind of be a hassle for companies to cast tons of little tiny chips just so people could compare?...

That's just my opinion...

Edit: I am mentioning the price thing for people who live in countries far away, like the concern of buying a neck donut from Luts that costs a few bucks but ends up being over $40 because of shipping, you know?
and I agree with the post above me by blueboy XD

 

Sorry to bump up an old thread, but I was thinking about the exact same thing. For people like me, I would love to know whether dikadoll normal yellow or normal pink will fit iplehouse, if at all. very useful for creating hybrids and test the resin quality. But of course, it will be rather troublesome unless it is enclosed in an envelope due to the ridiculous shipping fees.

 

I've noticed people saying companies would lose money from allowing hybridizing but really, they aren't. I see it not as "Your head/body isn't good enough, so I'm going to spend less with you" but as "I have this head/body that needs to be complete, and if your resin matches, I'll buy from YOU, not X company"

There are some companies that I want just part from, but would never ever want a full doll. Like Angel Street. I love the bodies and have used one for a hybrid, but I don't want the heads. If the body had not matched my Crobi head, AS never would have gotten ANY of my money. Same with FDoll. I want the body for a floating head, but I don't like FDoll heads at all. If the body didn't match, I'd get one elsewhere instead of buying their full doll. Isn't it better to sell a body or head than nothing at all?

While I don't think the resin chips would be cost effective, I don't think helping with hybrids would hurt a company.

 

I would definitely love sample chips. Especially since some companies (Soom, for example) sometimes have multiple varieties of a skin tone (like 'tan') which don't match. I remember there was a lot of confusion when people were trying to work out whether Chalco's Brown Tan would match Afi's Brown Tan (it didn't), and whether Coquina's bronze skin would match either (it didn't). And Soom have since released two more tan/black skin tones (Tawny, a slightly lighter variant of Bronze, and Dark Brown, a darker black skin tone rather than a tan). And I might actually be forgetting another tan/black skin tone! And samples would have also made it easier to tell the difference between Soom's blues (at least two variants), purples (at least three variants), pink (at least three if you include 'normal' skin as a pink) and white of all things.

Sample chips would also help us get around a major problem with skin tone hybrids, which is that it's almost impossible to judge skin tones through online photos. You have to hope someone has the pieces to make the exact hybrid you're considering, and that they're willing to take multiple photos in different lightings, if you want a 'true' idea of what the hybrid will look like. Sample chips would let us avoid all that hassle completely.

 

It'd certainly be useful.