Tell me your cool 2nd-hand bjd stories!

Second hand BJD stories are the best, it's amazing how sometimes the perfect doll for you will find it's way home.

As is pretty obvious from a look at my doll profiles, I love VOLKS F-01 (especially Megu) so when they finally released a SwD one I knew I wanted her but missed out on the original release. I was a bit upset about it but just figured I'd be able to get one some other time. A while after I'd stopped actively trying to hunt her down as her fullset prices were crazy but a friend of mine happened to come across a SwD Megu head being sold only with the eyes, snagged it and sent it to me as a surprise gift. Once she came in I realized I didn't want her on the DearSD body and head swapping her onto my DearSD Megu body confirmed it. Fast forward nearly a year to the day that her head arrived someone on DoA messaged me about splitting an SDGr Yu Morisawa (she wanted to put the head on a DearSD body and thus had no need for the SDGr one). I jumped at the chance and I absolutely love this girl on that body. The story continues with her as I was having trouble finding the perfect red wig when (another year later) another DoA member jumped to the rescue and this girl is absolutely perfect now. Slowly but surely she came together thanks to the awesome people in this community

Now for Ian.
A friend of mine was browsing Y!A when she saw a crazy, low-priced auction for a VOLKS Ian fullset with only 2 days left and no bids. I had never really paid too much attention to Ian as she's so rare and hardly ever comes up on the market but something about this one spoke to me and I bid on her. Due to work issues I missed the end of the auction and thus was outbid at the last minute for a mere 2000円...and after that the hunt for Ian was on!
She came home just this month thanks to a lovely DoA member who not only reached out to my original WTB but reached out to me again nearly a year later (after things settled down for me).
I'm a least the third owner of this Ian (would love to know more about her travels) and am so glad that out of the only 300 of her ever made that one found her forever home with me.

 

That's such perfect timing, I love hearing about these kinds of stories!

 

My Notdoll Lucy ! I bought her from a lady on a forum in 2012, and since we were going to the same doll salon, I got her directly in person and was able to chat with her, she was lovely !
She had included extra wigs and eyes, and has knitted very cute clothes for her, I was overjoyed
Besides, that doll was my first tiny and I fell in love with that smol bean

 

I am at least the 4th owner of my Volks Shinshiya, same head sculpt as Misia and F-12. I know that she is a Shinshiya though because, despite how many hands she’s passed through, she still had her default eyes, her fairy ears, and her original wig when I got her. This combination of eyes and wigs only came from the fully strung doll version of Shinshiya. I also know that she did not come from a kit because she had her eyes hot glued in and her default face-up. There were so many potential variants of her that it’s cool to me to be able to find out exactly which one she was!

There’s another doll I’m receiving later today, and I love her background. The seller seems to have only ever had two dolls and sold both of them this year. I was very much drawn towards her Soulkid Crispin in part because I love the sculpt, but also how she had been styled — her outfit, wig, etc was all included. I am definitely not the sort who tends to be drawn towards full sets so it’s unusual for me to feel this way about a doll. I told the seller about how much I loved the way she had been styled and how I intended to keep her style like this, and it turns out she always felt she had gotten this doll perfect as she’d been customizing her. It feels really special to be keeping her this way. Most of my second hand dolls deviate away from their prior histories quite a lot, but this one is an exception

 

Most of my dolls have been second hand, but some definitely have had more of a "story" than the others!

My first "fixer upper" project was a DZ Shoyo. I saw a badly stained and awkwardly posed naked doll on my local second hand sales portal for €50, immediately remembered the once-popular sculpt from when I had been longing for BJDs as a teen and typed the fastest message I've ever typed to the seller. A few days later a parcel filled with crumpled plastic and fabric bags (and the doll of course) came to my house! Everything smelled like mildew and I still to this day have no idea what kind of paint her head is covered with, and where the bright pink stain came from, but after a lot of cleaning and painting, she turned out so cute! She's now hybrided on a different, also uhhhh interestingly made... body? and certainly one of the favourites of my gang. You can see some of her previous state here.

Michi's current body is also an interesting specimen! It came as a full doll, with Dollmore Judith Tara head, and it had weird feet. They HAD been the heeled feet the Judith bodies come from but were... sanded smaller? I still don't understand why or what happened to them, I just ordered some new parts from Dollmore (and found out their new NS is ham pink... Not a match for sure) and decided that so be it. The legs were also swapped when strung together with the thinnest elastic I have seen, I think I only bought it because I was so puzzled by the state of it to be honest. A year or so later, I saw another Judith body pop up second hand, with the same weird foot mod, with the same underwear and body blushing mine came with??? but I didn't dare to ask the questions I had about it so it is all still a mystery

Midoriko, my Volks SDC Kaede also had a more elaborate arrival. I first saw it on a second hand listing locally (Kleinanzeigen for the ones who know) but wasn't really into Volks at that point so I never gave it a second look. Some time later I stumbled upon SDCs and fell in love and really wanted to find a Kaede but the listing was, of course, no longer online. I found the same doll for sale on the MP here but it had been up for forever without any action, and I got no reply from the seller. After a while I gave up waiting and found a very stained SDC Arashi head on Y!J that I thought could sub in for a Kaede, and having a doll is better than no doll (right? ). Months pass, and half a year or so later the original seller messages me that the Kaede is still there! Of course she came home to me! I'm so lucky to have her! I've sold the Arashi recently but I wouldn't have had Acorn nor Nonoo (I bought them together) if I hadn't had to wait for Midoriko - maybe also a nice way for things to roll out!

 

This boy has to be my most interesting secondhand find: this was his Y!J sale image, crammed in a Volks SD10/13 box (for a 57cm doll when he's about 70cm) I bid on the poor thing and got him for ¥10100.

When I got him home, kind forum members helped me identify him as an RS Doll New Evan, specifically a Dolk collab New Evan Girl Version. He nearly has his entire fullset, except for the tights!

 

One of my secondhand heads, a Doll in Mind Galahad, was purchased from a user on tumblr (this was a while ago lol, when the platform was still relatively active for BJDs). He came with eyes and a wig. Well, much later when looking for company pics, I stumbled across pics of a doll with a familiar wig and pair of eyes. I had found the page about the character this doll used to be. It was funny to see how he used to be styled, and how his character used to be basically the complete opposite of the one I'd given him. Was also a little weird to see that someone had clearly cared about him previously, but for whatever reason, had chosen to let him go. Makes me wonder if people who've bought my dolls have found the posts I've made about them.

My two grail dolls also have fun stories, but not the same kind. More like serendipitous events. I've told this first one on the forum before somewhere. Back in 2011, I was about to buy my first doll. It wasn't the doll I'd wanted to be my first, but the company I'd wanted to buy from (Angel Region) had gone out of business years ago, and the doll I'd wanted (Ren) was no longer sold. So I "settled" for Doll Zone Raphael. But on a whim, just before I made my order, I checked ebay for Angel Region Ren. Not only was there one for auction, but he wasn't very expensive yet. I had never used ebay before, and I had little hope that he'd stay within my price range, but I bid anyway. About a day later, I won. He wasn't in the best of shape, but I had (and have) no regrets. (DZ Raphael ended up being my second doll.)

My other grail was Sweet Gale Cyril, a rare sculpt (this was before the human version was released) from an artist that was highly sought after at the time. When I posted mine, there were like, two or three other active WTB threads for him. Again, I didn't have high hopes. But for whatever reason, someone selling theirs clicked on my thread and offered him to me, and within a couple days of me posting. I took it as fate, and now I have both the dolls I was pining after.

 

I own a Volk's Maiden's Promise Emma fullset that I got extremely cheaply off Mandarake. like I cant remember the exact price anymore but it was somewhere in the ball park of 100 bucks with shipping.

The reason that She was so cheap is because she was so cigarette/smoke stained that This is what her WHITE OUTFIT looked like


Once I got her home I went on the immediate offensive and oxycleaned the shit out of both her and her clothing. I took a couple dunks but eventually she was clean and odor free again

 

I bought this pair of Dollfie Dream Choice MDD customs from a FB Group, but not at the same time and not from the same seller.

If they look similar it's because they have the same head sculpt. I decided they're long lost sisters, separated at birth and now reunited.

I'm lucky to have both, because there was insane interest in them (the sellers posted beautiful photos). Ironically both were on offer from sellers in my own country. That helped me secure them and I also didn't need a layaway.

Both were in pretty good condition. Hana (purple hair) still smells of her old home. I find that kind of interesting.

 

I have two!

Celandine was a very, very lucky situation- I'd wanted a DES since I was about 14 and finally decided to look for one in November of 2023. I expected the wait to take years, potentially...and ten days after I started searching, she popped up on Instagram for sale! Apparently there had been a buyer, but they backed out, so her listing went back up. I couldn't believe my luck.

Lily was a sculpt I first admired in early 2021, but I was in a bad place mentally with the pandemic and wanted to avoid another new doll purchase, since I'd compulsively bought several during 2020 just to feel excited about something (and sold them on not long after). So I waited, and the doll stopped being made, and that was seemingly that. Until one came up secondhand earlier this year, only about an hour's drive away from me! I was able to meet up with the seller in person, get my doll, and make a new friend. And I should add that Mystic Dolls, being a solo artist who isn't terribly well-known, doesn't have things come up secondhand very often at all. Let alone exactly the sculpt I wanted, in my immediate area.

(Something similar happened around the same time with a doll from an even less popular BJD artist whose work shows up once in a blue moon secondhand, but she's OT for having painted eyes. Same scenario but with a doll that was even less likely to be in my part of the world.)

 

Follow up to my story a couple of posts above.

I took 2nd hand Hana to Dolly Day in Barcelona. She met her makers (i.e. Volks). They took this photo for their socials. They absolutely loved her, and we got some paperwork autographed.

It's funny that she still smells of her old home, but now she has some incredible stories to tell the other dolls.

 

I have a secondhand doll story from a seller's perspective.

I almost never sells dolls. I'm more of a wall than a revolving door collector. However, my first two dolls had been in storage for years. I hadn't played with them in so long, I wanted to send them to a home where they'd get the attention they deserved. As characters, the two dolls are very close sisters, so I didn't want to separate them if possible.

As this is very much a buyer's market, I checked the WTB posts in the Marketplace to see if anyone would be interested. I eventualy found a buyer who was interested in taking both of the AND keeping them as sisters! during the buying/selling/shipping process she'd message me often, sharing her customizing and characterization ideas, and overall showing great enthusiasm for the girls. I'm glad they're in good hands.

 

I think my favorite thing about the 2nd hand market is just how generous people in this hobby can be. Every time I've put up a WTB thread for even my most tentative of pipe dream dolls or doll parts, inevitably someone has reached out with exactly what I was looking for in a condition I found acceptable and a price I could afford. I am so very fortunate to own every last one of my grail dolls, plus several other "absolutely never going to happen" dolls, because of the wonderful people in this community.

 

I only have two secondhand dolls, but here goes!

My Latidoll Yellow was from a local seller who no longer vibed with her tinies. I paid cash for her, then when I got home, I opened her box.

She had no wig (which I knew ahead of time and was OK with), and her clothes were Barbie clothes that had been altered to fit. So I made her a blue lolita dress (I used DGRequiem's pattern, because I knew it would look cute) and bought her a cotton-candy pink wig. Her name is now Candy and she makes me smile.

The other doll is a bit of an odd hybrid. At a local doll meetup, I was looking through things a friend had to sell, and saw the 2017 Luts Summer Event head just sitting there, and I fell in love. I then went on the BJD Discord asking around for 1/3 bodies, and one person said, "I don't remember the manufacturer, but I have an old body that size. If you want, I can send it disassembled to save on shipping charges." And I said yes, both to the doll and to having it arrive unstrung.

I didn't have a proper restringing tool.

It took me 2 whole hours to restring that boy (a Spiritdoll Proud body, as it turns out) but I'm quite happy with him. The neck looks a wee bit long with the Super Delf head on it, but I think it looks all right with clothes on, and the colors are a near match.

 

Oh boy, I have one.
My Nebo was actually the second I’d ever seen for sale, the first fell through and I was CRUSHED. Then, suddenly, I found one for sale on facebook. He arrived on my sweet 16th birthday.
However this is where it gets weird.
I recently saw the same person who owned the nebo who fell through the first time selling a Cuartosdolls hecate! I contacted them, but AGAIN, I was too late. Fortunately hecate isn’t a grail of mine, but I was still sad. Then, less than a week later, another Cuartosdolls nebo comes up for sale! And I got her! Now I’m finally getting the “fancy color” resin nebo I’ve always still chased after.
The doll community is small enough and nebos are rare enough that I like to look around to see if I can find them and their previous life some. Shock of all shockers, the nebo I’m getting was previously “friends” with another white and blue nebo, the same colors as my current one!

It’s a small world out there, full of funny coincidences. Maybe this person who constantly keeps slipping under my radar is my little luck charm.

 

Actually, I forgot. There is a third secondhand BJD. I was at a local meetup in March and a friend was selling a Tiny20 Delf Gelda. She looked so precious I didn't even care about the difficulty of making clothes for her; I just bought her right then and there.

 

I have two nice ones.

1. The doll that got me into the hobby was Lati Shaina. This was way, way back, when few companies offered international shipping, payment methods where often risky and inconvenient and even when the options were there, people just wasn't used to order things from across the world online. So it was kind of a big deal.
I knew I wanted her from the moment I saw her and I had to save up for a long time to be able to get her. In that time I stalked the Lati home page and there were several other dolls I really liked, from the same sculptor. Especially the Cara sculpt, by the same sculptor.
Things were delayed and complicated further because lati did't offer all their doll lines all the time, so I had to wait until the next time orders for the Blue line opened.
When the time to order finally came I had a moment of second guessing if I should go with Shaina or Cara, as I had grown to like both of them a lot in the years it took to get to this point. In the end I went with Shaina, since she was the first one that I fell in love with. (It was the right choice, she is my favorite to this day).

Fast forward another year or so. By that time the Swedish BJD community had grown quite a bit. There was a nice forum and a good second hand market. One day a Cara head popped up at a very reasonable price, I immediately contacted the seller the moment I saw it. The sale went through and it turned out that the seller lived in the very same town that I did, so we met up and I got my head in person. No shipping cost and no wait time!
So in the end I got them both, they are now cousins in my doll world and they hang out a lot.

2. The second is similar and much more recent. The local forum is long dead, but quite a few swedish collectors hang out on here now.
I was browsing the marketplace and saw a Withdoll Emma listed, again at a very reasonable price. This is a doll that has been on my "I'll get that some day-list" for years. Then I realized I recognized the user name and it turned out to be a seller that lived not at all far from me. The transaction went through lightning fast and I had the doll in my hands just a few days after deciding to get her. I couldn't be happier!

While none of these dolls were rare (well, the Lati Cara is now, but she was still being made back then) experiences like these are a good reminder that no doll is truly out of reach. It may take some patience and a bit of luck, but we can have nice things!

 

Have you ever sold a doll and then deeply regretted it? I did this once (for a Luts Kid Delf Summer event head from 2010.) I loved the sculpt, found one for sale in the second-hand market, and did what I felt was a very nice faceup on it…but then I couldn’t come up with a character for her. So I put her up for sale, faceup and all, and she pretty much sold within hours (this was back in the day when that sort of thing still happened.) Of course I then came up with a new character she would have been perfect for…hindsight being 20/20. I could have kicked myself because no other doll seemed to fit that character as well, and her face constantly haunted my thoughts.

Then suddenly, a couple of months later, she appeared again in the marketplace! According to the seller she had purchased the head to repaint for her own purposes, but felt the current faceup was too lovely to change and couldn’t bring herself to wipe it. So I was able to get my doll back with her faceup still perfectly intact, turn her into that character…and I still absolutely adore her to this day.