Should Second-Hand Buyers pay back YOUR shipping?

People play this game with LE licensed Dollfie Dreams every day. It's repugnant. And the thing is that the dudes on Figure.FM who are actively chasing after LE DDs and paying tons of money for them are encouraging it. I am hoping that Moe, Natsuki and Alna become stock character dolls ala Aoi and Yukino because right now they are being speculated on like LE dolls. I have noticed that Moe and Natsuki in particular are spokescharacters for the 7th Anniversary of Dollfie Dream.

 

These are expensive dolls that we're paying a lot of money for shipping. The original buyer should know how much has to be laid down for shipping. I think it's a cost that should not be refundable. Asking someone else to pay your shipping, plus their own, for a second hand doll that should most likely not be listed at full price in the first place is absurd. Personally, I would not buy an expensive doll from the marketplace, it's not my cup of tea and I think it is very unfair, so I suppose this whole discussion does not apply to me, but if people buy it, they buy it. That's their choice, but I feel sorry that their seller is overcharging them.

Of course I go browsing on the marketplace and find a doll being sold, who is already on his fifth owner, several year olds, covered in scratches, and the the seller is expecting over a hundred dollars more than the price on the original website, where this exact doll is still being sold. What.

 

Just IMHO:
have paid a bit extra for a 2nd hand doll, don't have a problem with the original shipping price added in. (percieving it as part of the bonus of "buy it now" and "don't have to wait 3 months for delivery." or even a little bit more if there's a really nice non-default (independent artist) face up.

now of course if the doll is a few years old, has scratches, scuffs or yellowing that should be taken into account as well. As well as if any of the original paperwork (not all companies include a CoA or other paperwork) or the original box isn't included.

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)


taking advantage of newbies/addicts by bumping pricing up a couple hundred dollars, is kinda mean, and I wouldn't do that, or expect it to be a common behavior.

 

I think it completely depends on the BUYER. A seller has a right to charge anything they want. If you want to sell your sold out LE Volks for $50, you can. If you want to list your ResinSoul Mei at $5k, go for it....probably won't find a buyer at the price, but you can list at any price you want to.

Would -I- pay the extra? Probably not. If I can buy the doll/outfit/accessory brand new for less than the used one, why WOULD I get the used one? Sure, time might be a factor, but there's no guarantee the seller will be faster than the company. I've bought dolls and accessories from companies that got here faster than certain sellers off the MP. Even if a seller states they'll ship quickly, it doesn't always mean they will.

There are a few cases where I -might- be willing to pay the extra shipping fee, and that would be in the case of a dream doll that I either could no longer buy or maybe the company was having issues or waiting times are very long. For example, I ordered my 5star Tumnus in November and he's STILL not here....If I could have paid an extra $40 and had him here 3 months ago, would I? Hell yes! But would I pay an extra $5-10 on a $15 piece of clothing? No. Not worth it. I don't need any piece of clothing bad enough to pay close to double its worth.

 

I think it's kind of silly. I mean if they're asking for market value + shipping from the company, I might as well buy directly from the company and get a brand new whatever it is rather than a second hand one.

 

I'm going to start with - it would be nice to recoup the money from shipping - shipping, especially from over seas, is expensive.

That said - even though sellers have the right to set their own prices - I actually think it's pretty tacky to try to figure your shipping cost into the resale price your item. Shipping is a service that the purchaser pays for, so I wouldn't want to buy something second-hand and technically be charged twice for the same service when I only get the benefit of the service one time.

 

The only thing that I don't like is when someone's owned a doll for 3+ years (and may or may not have customized it) and still expects to get exactly what they paid for it.

Regarding the actual topic, I would charge for what I paid for it, and maybe a little more if it was a doll that was in high demand. Not going to lie. Because I would hate to lose out on the money that I spent purchasing it in the first place.

Shipping isn't free. Even when you purchase items from the store brand new, your purchase in order to make the store's selling of that product profitable to them, means they have to mark it up. Heck buying the dolls direct from the websites. . . don't you think what we pay is covering the cost of materials and such?

On the second hand market, I feel that we try not to lose out much. I'm sorry, but running my last split from a company the shipping charge was $93 had that been entirely my doll, yes, I would tack that $93 onto her selling price if I resold her. We don't know why the seller is selling the doll, most assume "because they don't love it and they're greedy jerks", but honestly we really don't know.

Then again, it's also one thing if you need the money and a completely different thing if you don't and are just having "bonding issues". Because, that determines how much of a loss you're willing to take for your doll. Someone who doesn't need the money may be willing to go lower and even lose out on that shipping money or be willing to pass up low-ballers, where as someone more needy may only be willing to go but so low or will take what they can get.

So in the end it depends, and at the end of the day the market decides on how much that doll will move for. If you're selling it for $$$$, and it gets snapped up or it just sits there, depends on supply and demand.

 

It often makes me laugh when I see people try to do this. So you're selling your fairly mid-range, fairly common doll with a fairly average faceup for HOW MUCH?! Please people, do some research! Total misapprehension about the doll's value makes me less likely to want to buy from that person. If they have a doll I really want and they're charging way too much for it, I'll put an offer in at what I think is fair. If they refuse, then they can have fun watching their doll float around on the MP for months and months.

I agree with what others are saying: expecting others to pay your shipping is tacky. It's very tacky. You made a mistake and impulse-bought, or you need to free up some funds for another doll, or whatever, but that's your problem! And I agree that sellers have a right to set their own prices, but buyers have a right to go "yeah right!".

 

I don't expect to recoup the shipping charges to myself, since I figure that's the price I have to pay for my mistake if I don't like it. If it's limited and you were the first owner, you have the potential get back much more than your shipping costs. Like Somnambulist mentioned, it's supply and demand that determines if you can get back your shipping costs or not. On a Resinsoul, probably not. On a Soom or Volks LE, you probably can.

 

This never even occured to me until someone offered to pay for my shipping costs recently. It's not something I'd ask for.

 

I think it's totally fine to charge a second-hand buyer the full price of an item plus all of your shipping costs if the item is brand new and unopened (i.e. doll never physically removed from its decorative box or outfit/item never removed from plastic packaging). I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to recoup shipping costs on an item that you recently purchased, and I do see it as a convenience cost to the potential second-hand buyer. What I may also do in this situation is charge the full price plus my own shipping costs and offer to pay for shipping to the secondhand buyer. In the case when an item or doll is old, opened,or used heavily, I don't think it makes sense to charge your original shipping costs or the original cost of the item.

 

I kind of have mixed feelings about it. On one side, if the item is really brandnew, it kind of makes sense to charge shippingcosts, but on the other side. If a doll is somewhat older, the seller made the choice of getting it, and a buyer shouldn't be paying for the seller's choice. Even if the doll only has been in his box or whatever.

Plus, lot of people charge extra for clothes and a 'ooak' face-up, which I always remove, so why also charge for the shippingcosts? Or maybe later even customs-costs? No one would actually want to by something second-handed if the price is just as much or even more as getting a doll brandnew. (Not in the case of limiteds though)

 

Sellers have the right to set whatever price they want and take into account whatever they wish in that price. However, if I notice that a doll is significantly more than I think it should be regarding its worth and shipping to me, then I won't buy it and will generally avoid that seller. To each their own.

 

If I were selling a doll, the only thing I would add to the price is the cost of shipping it to the second-hand buyer. It's called second-hand for a reason, and you shouldn't expect to get all of your money back unless you own a sought after LE. Even then... I think it's kind of tacky to charge a buyer for the shipping you paid when you bought the doll... but there's nothing that forbids it...so if the seller wants to, it's their choice.

Just, if someone plans to do that, I'd suggest not saying anything, lest they lose potential buyers...

 

(This would make a good debate topic all on it's own.)

I don't see anything wrong with a seller charging extra for things like clothes or money they shelled out for mods or faceups as long as the individual value and condition of all of the items and customization are taken into account. In the case of faceups and mods - they should be well done and add to the doll's overall value. (Doesn't matter, IMO, if you plan on wiping the faceup or not... skill and time is still skill and time).

 

Essentially, the shipping price of a doll adds to their worth, so if that is included in the price it really shouldn't be any surprise.

 

When I sell a doll, I do not include the original cost of shipping I paid in the price. Some people do include that cost and it's their choice to do so, but I would not buy a doll that did include the seller's shipping costs in the price. The only doll I'd ever considering buying secondhand for a price higher than retail would be one that was either modified extensively or highly collectable and in excellent condition.

I personally figure there's a cost for the enjoyment I got out of the doll while I had it. Let's say I sell a doll at about retail and the buyer only has to pay $30 to ship it, even though I had to pay $50 to ship it from Korea or wherever. That means I pretty much only paid $20 to have and enjoy the doll for however long I had it. Not too bad.

 

I think buying a doll second-hand is actually more like buying a used car. The minute you drive off the lot, your new car starts depreciating in value; taking good care of the car and adding after-market customizations just means that it's later resale value will be higher. Nobody who sells a used car expects to get back exactly what they paid for it, even though the retailer does include things like shipping it from the factory in the final retail price.

BJD, comparably, hold their overall value a bit better, but the principle is the same. I don't think it's that horrible to expect to loose some money on a resale, especially if it's only a $20-$60 dollar shipping cost (compared to a doll that probably cost a couple hundred or more).

The idea of "supply and demand" keeps getting tossed around... I wonder how many second-hand buyers would actually be willing to pay for the seller's original shipping cost. As a buyer, it would be my choice to not pay more than the "Blue Book" value of the doll I want.

A few questions for anyone who would add their shipping cost into the second-hand price of their doll:

1. Would you do the same for an item (not necessarily doll-related, like a book) that was not very expensive to ship?
2. Or would you look only at the actual market value of the item?
3. Would you be more or less willing to compound shipping if the item had a very high resale value?
4. If the item had low resale value?
5. If your answer is different than what you would do when reselling a doll - Why?

 

This is my personal experience.

I bought a body directly from the company. When it arrived it wasn't a good color match for the head I had, so I decided to sell it on DOA and buy another one. Since it was brand new I asked the same price as I had paid. I didn't include the shipping cost because, personally, I don't think it's fair to expect a buyer to pay for my shipping.

I had a person PM me saying that they were interested in the body, but not at the price I was asking. They reminded me that they could buy the body from the company for the same price and that I should not be asking that much because the body was 'second hand'.

To tell you the truth I was a bit offended. If I had owned the body for awhile and it had been 'played with', then I wouldn't have asked the full price. I didn't feel I was being unreasonable.

My answer to her was that I did not consider the body 'second hand' since it was never used and that she was free to purchase a body from the company and put up with a long wait time and pay for overseas shipping. I also said that shipping within the US was about half of what she would pay for overseas shipping. Of course I was nice and not at all rude to her. I never heard from her again.

I have also sold dolls that I have owned for awhile and decided I didn't like they way they posed. I have discounted the price because they are 'used' and have never charged my shipping costs. So end the end I have never sold a doll or body and not lost money, but that's to be expected, in my opinion.

 

Personally I think expecting someone buying your second hand stuff to reimburse you for your original shipping costs is pretty greedy. The thing is though, they can add it to the cost and put the doll in the marketplace and it will sit there for years in the present economy. If people want to put their fingers in their ears and sing lalalalala and insist that nothing has changed, well good luck to them, but if they want to get a sale they should wise up to the fact that if you want to recoup some of the money you laid out on a purchase you no longer want, then you have to take a bit of a hit.