The prices of seccond hand dolls. Are they getting ot of hand?

I see your points, but I disagree that a faceup by a popular artist adds value. Usually, faceups by artists are very specific. It may be gorgeous, but if it doesn't fit my character, a gorgeous faceup that cost $200 originally isn't worth anything more than a very amateur faceup by a newbie to me. As far as quality, I also think there are owners that do their own faceups but don't accept commissions that are as good as popular artists. So I think the value of the faceup really depends on if the buyer thinks it's worth extra or not.

I also am not sure seam removal should be worth more. Some companies do include free seam removal as a standard thing. I understand that some people WILL pay extra for it, but others don't care either way.

The rest mostly makes sense. Extra parts cost extra, rare colors cost more.

But really, in the end, it all comes down to what somebody is willing to pay. You could have a OOAK LE super hard to get exclusive, but if nobody wants it, it's not worth what you paid for it. On the other hand, you could have a very basic, standard, blank $150 doll, but if somebody offered $900 for it, I doubt many people would object! :P

 

Yeah, I think sometimes they are out of hand lately.
I've seen some dolls I was looking at, basic dolls in basic colors, no face-up, doesn't come with clothes/eyes/wigs, and people asking $100+ over what it is new. oO
Or on the other hand, I've seen heavily damaged dolls (basics), like super yellowed, with sharpie stains and pet nibbles, going for retail or slightly over retail.

I understand if it's a limited that's hard to get or something, but yeah, prices seem to be a bit high lately.

 

the only problem I have is a seller using the point that it is 'limited' but has NONE of the elements that distinguish it from a basic blank of the same doll... it's the same mold no details only older in terms of production date.... that does not make it special. When a seller is asking the price of the limited (as it came with all the extras) but does not have any of the extra's and you can buy the doll now as a basic... no... that is just nuts...

 

I think if the seller wants a high price and you want the doll, then you pay the high price……. It is what it is! It may be a doll someone waited almost 12 months for. Maybe a face-up extra goes for 95, but add shipping there, some wait ~ up to 3 months, and shipping back… If you pay more because you like it, just think, you didn't have to wait!! It all boils down to a person can price a doll for as much as they choose and a person that thinks it is to high can find another doll to buy. That's my friendly opinion.

 

I think it depends upon the doll and what's been done to it, also what the doll actually costs on the manufacturer's website. If someone is selling an extremely artistically modded doll with a really professional face up and wants to make a few $$$ over MRP I'm not going to begrudge them their upping their price beyond the factory price a little. The work put into the doll and the face up quality are directly proportional to the value of the doll IMHO. A high end face up is a high end face up, and it might be worth more to some if not to me, I can see that. If a doll is extremely limited and highly coveted I pretty much expect it to cost a lot more.

What I don't like seeing is a very widely available non limited doll that is older, yellowed, has an amateur face up, is damaged or modded in some way that really takes away from the value of the doll being sold for more than they go for retail. I'm not about to pay someone a premium for that kind of a face up/mod work. Nor am I going to pay that for a doll that's yellowed or gotten damaged in some way. Or even for a new doll sans face up or with a company one. Not when I can go get one myself from the factory, wait a month or two and get a brand new doll for that or even less. Yes, waiting sucks, but so does paying a completely crazy price for a doll just to get it sans a wait. I just can't see wanting a doll that bad under those circumstances.

The other thing that gets me peeved is seeing dolls that you know the person got on sale, that they've posted about getting, marked up to full retail even while the sale is still going on, plus added shipping plus Pay Pal fees. People asking a fair price for something is not something I usually will squawk over. Even people making a small profit on a hot rare doll, that's usually okay by me, but asking for full retail on something widely available, then adding the original shipping plus payment fees that's just ripping people off and I will not support that. Particularly when it comes to the cheap dolls. Of course I'm just going to buy that doll direct and save myself the extra $$$ and hassle. Who wouldn't?

FYI, if I see an ad where the seller only takes Pay Pal, demands the buyer pays their fees and basically insists that their original shipping be paid in that the doll is listed with shipping obviously included in their price I will pass it by every, single time. I may be new to BJD's but I can still do a google search, still look up what similar dolls here have gone for and you can bet I will look before I do PM someone and even attempt a purchase. I don't mind the only Pay Pal thing, though it's a bit inconvenient for me because my bank apparently has a problem with them, but people being asked to pay fees for a certain payment method when they are given no options otherwise I do mind. I just don't think it is very fair. If people are going to demand only Pay Pal I think they should pay their own fees.

I've met a few good people, had a few good transactions since I joined here and on my other doll boards. I've had a good time but I've also seen a fair number of people just trying to take advantage of new people, I think with pricing et all. I've had people offer me so called "deals" and really they were just trying to lure me into paying outrageous prices for something I could easily get on my own for far less. I have the advantage in that I am not that naive. I run a business offline, have run businesses for other people for a long time. I know a price gouging scenario when I see one and while I am never rude to anyone I won't go there. I feel bad though for people who don't have my work experience who are new and who have no idea of what certain dolls should cost because I honestly think that you have to be very careful in the markets not to let your enthusiasm get away from you lest you fall for something like this.

All I can say is yes, it's legal to charge whatever someone wants for a doll and I guess ultimately they have a right to. But be smart. Do your homework before you buy. It could save you a lot of $$$$ and aggravation if you do...

 

If they want to ask $900 for their Feeple 65, then it's their right to ask it. However, the educated buyer will know that they can get a new one for less and the seller probably won't get anyone to buy it.

Sometimes I feel like some people think that their once treasured possessions are "worth more" than they actually are. They are in for a reality check when the item sits on the market place for a LOONG time. :/

 

Dolls are only worth what people are willing to pay. If someone is really asking too much, it's going to sit there a long time.

If someone doesn't have enough sense to go buy the current standard at retail for less than the damaged secondhand standard up for sale, that's their problem. It's not worth ranting about it or trying to dictate terms of sale to other people. If you don't like their terms, don't buy from them.

As for limiteds/out of production/discontinued, you can usually find a bargain if you want long enough, but sometimes it's better to buy while you can if you won't see another one any time soon. I paid something of a premium on a particular doll recently. She's rare, I wanted her badly, and I can afford it, so I bought her instead of waiting around to see if a cheaper one shows up later. You know what? I'll be totally happy when she arrives. That's the point of the hobby, is it not?

 

The only problem I have with overcharging is on limited items. I once saw a doll that I'd missed out on go for 250 over the original price, and it was a 20cm doll. No way could I pay 500 for that, especially when it was a couple years old and had probably yellowed. The seller said that shipping to Russia is outrageous, hence the extra charge, but anytime I sell a doll, I lose what I put into shipping. Let me explain:

I buy a DC Bella for 300 and am charged 20 for shipping. Assuming I sell her as I bought her, I sell her for 300 and charge shipping accordingly. If shipping is less than 20, I lose out, but that's okay. It's fair. I wouldn't sell her for 320 because that's charging more than what I paid, and for nothing. I can't feel right about doing that to someone, however minor it is.

 

Well I cant really say if I think its right or wrong. Its a free world, people can do what they want, if they make extra money from a doll yay for them, however I do think its wrong to try and sell a non-limited doll for higher than it costs from the company. at the end of the day, newer is better. I'm 1 of theses crazy people who keep thier dolls in the box when I'm not 'playing' with them. Yellowing is something I'm very finicky about. So when I do sell a doll and I say it isn't yellowed, it rarly has, especially if its something I've not used. Honestly I do take the prices up for limited dolls, as in my mind, they are worth more as you cant buy them new anymore. And I dont feel bad as I'm not forcing people to pay that. As people have said, if it's too high it wont sell, only person loosing out is me xD
As for faceups, I can understand bumping the price for a stunning faceup, but if its not what you wanted for the character its going to get removed anyway... But I think charging what you paid for it is fair...
As for asking for paypal fees to be paid on top of the price you are asking, thats not fair, just put the paypal fees included in the price you are asking...
And even though I know we'd all like to make the money back for shipping and customs fees from when you got the doll originally, I think its unfair to push that ontop the secondhand buyer... If I sold my sammi I'd have to add £101 to her original secondhand price just to make my money back, but that isn't fair and just isn't going to happen xD

 

I once paid more for a secondhand doll because I knew the company it came from had a waitingtime of almost a year.

 

I think it is the sellers right to decide what price they want to have for the doll - because buyers can either accept the price, make an offer or just find another seller/doll. Ofcause there are some prices that seem obscure, but then don't buy it. That is my opinion.

 

It's a free market economy, so caveat emptor. I don't think there's any morality to it. A seller can charge what they want, and if they can get that price, good for them. If they can't, eventually they will take the listing down or lower the price, and after the doll has been for sale for a very long time, they may be more open to bargaining the price. To somebody, that Chloe might be worth $900. Maybe the resin has mellowed to perfectly match another head they have. Maybe that faceup is exactly what they want, and since no two faceups are ever exactly the same, they want that specific one badly enough to pay for it. It's maybe a little mean to blame the seller for putting the price so high and not any of the blame on the buyer who didn't do their research to be in a position to bargain the price down by saying "hey, I could get a brand new one for $860, could you lower the price to match that?"

I've read almost every listing on the MP and have seen some prices that make me shock laugh at the amount. I would never buy a doll at that price, but I don't think bad of the seller for asking for that price. That would be crappy and judgmental.

 

To use your example, perhaps someone needs a Chloe for a gift or event, and there is no longer time to wait for Fairyland to make one. I know that when I was considering getting my mother a Minifee a few weeks ago, I ended up changing my mind because after looking at the waiting room for Fairyland I was not certain a new Minifee would be here by the holidays. If I had seen a Minifee I thought she might like on the Marketplace, I would have been willing to pay slightly higher than brand new price because it would be guaranteed to arrive by the time I needed it. That shortened wait time can have different values to different people, and you can't ask someone to take a loss from buying the doll simply because you don't think a nonlimited should cost more, or that faceups done by the doll owner shouldn't add value.

 

I get really frustrated by this "marketplace value" stuff. Really I'm not going to pay double the price of any doll. Available anymore or not. I also don't charge that when I resell dolls. I try to keep them affordable so that if it is someone's grail doll they have a real chance of getting it. Face ups mean nothing to me as a buyer. I almost always wipe them and repaint them. So up charging someone for a custom face up you wanted makes no sense to me. But I also would never pay $175 or even more than $100 for a faceup. Don't care who paints it. I think the higher people raise the price on something the less likely anyone is to buy and the longer it sits on the market. Usually if I decide to sell a doll I want to sell it pretty quickly. Not just list it and wait four months for someone to ask about it.

Someone told me recently that pricing the doll too low makes buyers question validity of the doll. Which I don't think is true in most cases. If I went and listed my Soom Chalco for $300 dollars for the full doll then maybe but if I list him at or slightly above company value (his original price was $690) then I don't think it's an issue of validity. Though I do have all the paperwork and anyone who buys a doll second hand should ask for a photo of the paperwork and ensure it comes with the doll.

Now some companies are good about rereleasing dolls, even limited. Everyone complains about Soom but Chalco has been rereleased five times now. So it's really just a matter of time before you'd be able to get one of them at company value. Maybe this doesn't apply to something like Volks dolls. But I wouldn't buy a volks doll at company value either simply because they are overpriced (almost twice every other company out there).

I think companies do themselves a disservice by limiting dolls and not doing rereleases on occasion for limiteds because they lose sales to the second hand market where people are being gouged for dolls that will never release again. If the company did a limited rerelease they could capture some of those sales and refunnel it into the next project.

 

The way I see it: If a buyer agrees with the asking price of a doll, then this is the current value of that particular doll.

Sellers have a right to charge whatever they. If the doll is too expensive, it probably won't sell and he has two options: either wait until someone might take the bait, or lower the asking price. At the same time, we buyers have the right to buy a doll for a price that we feel comfortable with. So, if something is too expensive, we're able to walk away and search for another listing. There is no need for price policing, I think. The market's rule of supply and demand will take care of a balance in price.

Sorry for singling you out, but I'm one of those people who happens to like this company .
I think it is a misconception that Volk's fullsets are more expensive than Soom and Iplehouse for instance. That's because if you go to Soom's or Iplehouse's website, they list their limiteds for the price of a blank doll. If you want any of the limited extras (even the face-up), they'll charge you.

An IH Claude the Addiction is listed as $650 (the blank doll), but if you want all the attributes you see in the picture (I didn't add the extra head, because Volks LE's usually don't have those), you'll suddenly get charged $1420.

Now, with Volks, customers don't get the option to leave some of the attributes out: what you see is what you get and you always pay for the face-up, outfit, shoes, accessories. I've looked it up, but the average price for an SDGr LE is $1100 and for and SD17 it's $1300.
A standard SD13 will sell for around $750, but this includes a face-up, glass eyes, a wig and a simple outfit. Considering this, their standard dolls are actually one of the more affordable dolls in the high-end market.

Also: 'overpriced' indicates that the value of a doll is less than the asking price, but I beg to differ if that's the case with Volks. People are still lining up to buy them, right? And from what I've heard, their clothes, shoes, eyes etc are of high quality. So, maybe they're too expensive for some of us, but that doesn't mean that they are 'overpriced' .

 

I agree with pretty much everything everyone stated. I have seen a few used dolls I would have considered buying. Most though were popular sculpts that were priced only ten to twenty dollars less than retail and then shipping on top of that. Those that charge paypal fees, immediately make me turn away. I would never take the chance on a used doll not being in good shape when the savings are so little to buying it new. I really think the only benefits to buying used is getting unavailable sculpts and quickness in getting them. Otherwise most arent in the price range I'd prefer. But needless to say people can choose whatever price they want. It just dependa on when they want it to actually sell.

 

Usually people int he MP asking way too much for a doll are new in the BJD hobby and come from other hobbies where "custom" means rare and expensive, so they think a special faceup by a "celebrity" artist makes it hundreds of dollars more, or other ideas like that. They list their Standard edition doll at an extravagant price, and you know what happens?

It sits there. On the MP. And no one buys it. Until the new person looks at the rest of the BJD markets and learns how things work around here. *shrug* Those people who mistakenly inflate the price of their dolls will learn by experience.

 

["you" and other pronouns are not meant to indicate any particular person but are used strictly in general]

Sellers can put any price they please on a doll.

Whenever you get annoyed at something like this, just stop and think about it. Would you want someone else to dictate the prices you must sell at???

Buyers will ALWAYS want as low a price as possible. That is it. And sellers can do that, or not. It is up to them.

Another thing, what business is it of anyone else?

There may be a ton of different reasons. It's none of anyone else's business.

If you don't want to buy at that price--then don't. THAT is the way people can and do state their opinions on the price. Anything else is just impinging on someone else's right to sell or not sell and to price however they wish--and it IS their right, not anyone else's, to decide these things.

If a person really wants to sell something, they will adjust their prices accordingly. If they don't want to sell at a lower price and can afford to wait, then they will! End of story. It's not up to those who want the prices lower. Everyone wants the prices lower. Get over it.

Look, if you're in a capitalist system, it is the market that will influence prices. Nothing is over-priced or under-priced if they are selling as the sellers want them to. Sure, you can have an opinion about that, but it doesn't mean a thing as far as how things are priced! If someone WANTS to pay a thousand bucks for a pair of shoes when you can get something similar for ten bucks, it doesn't matter if the things are over- or under-priced to your mind; the thousand buck shoes sell to someone, even if you can't afford them and think it's ridiculous. Why should the company lower their prices just because YOU think they are over-priced? They would be stupid to do so. They are not there to make your life easy, they are there to make money. Sellers are not a friend or a charity that wants to help you out. Rail at them all you want, but you only get a say by buying or not buying. And that's how it works!