The waiting game

I ordered a doll in January 2020 and I think I got her by December 2020. To be fair, it was prime pandemic time and she had to come from a Chinese company. I ordered her through Legend Doll who communicated with me easily so even though it took longer than expected, I wasn't overly worried.

 

I try to keep my wait times under 4 months, because that’s usually the limit of my patience. I think the longest I’ve ever waited was 6months for an artist head. There are delays sometimes, but generally if you look into it, you can get an idea of wait times for a company in their waiting rooms here before you order so you don’t go in blind. The despair in the Dollshe thread alone should send you running.

 

I think 6 or 8 month. It was a huge order from Custom House (we were many in that order). And for my SOOM Migma too I've waited a long time. But now, I buy most of my dolls secondhand because a +6 months waiting is nonsense for me.

 

Six months. I normally won't buy a doll if the wait time is known to be over 4-5 months, but the one I waited six for actually shipped within three months, and then shipping took another three.

I understand that these dolls are handmade and not mass produced, but I just don't think anything that takes so long that I'm outside of PayPal's six month safety net is reasonable. If Angel of Dream can make and ship a doll in under a month, there's really no reason other companies should be taking a year or more. If they're getting in too many orders to process in that time, I'd suggest doing limited orders only, whether it be limited edition dolls, or limited ordering periods. If I fall for a doll known to take longer, I'll look for it secondhand or in stock, and if that fails, just do without.

 

I waited about...8 months for my Loongsoul Black Dragon? It was certainly a long wait, but to be fair he was a fullset too. It was long but once I got him I felt he was worth it I don't like super long wait times though (who does lol) and prefer not to wait that long. Probably the max I could wait for a doll would be about a year, even though it would be so, so hard

 

4 months for a Raccoon doll with faceup and wig. Hope to emulate that with a Ringdoll fullset I ordered December last year but who knows.

 

I don't know for sure. My first took about 8 months and while that is a long time it was about what I had expected and everything came as described with no problems. She is still my favourite to this day, so everything was fine.
I'm not sure if I've waited longer than that for a doll, but to me it's less about the number of months and more about a smooth process.
Delays happen and I am prepared for that, but I do wish more companies would let us know right away when plans change. I've lost count of how many times I or a friend have had to chase a company down either on social media or by testing every e-mail we can find asociated with the company to ask and then get a "there has been a problem with X, orders are delayed by a month". Couldn't you just have contacted your customers about it as soon as you knew? Were you hoping we were all so distracted by other things that we wouldn't notice if ou didn't say anything?
Or, if it's just too much work to send all cusomers personal messages, just make a note at whatever official sales page yyou use and say "X months orders are delayed by Y time due to Z problem" so that we all can see it. And no, mentioning it in passing on you instagram does not count.
I have no patience for arrogance or for being treated as if I was stupid.

For a nice, healthy, stright forward order, though? I can wait.

 

Over a year and a half. I was mad about that one not because of the wait, but because the artist had disappeared for months and months and months.

I come from the 1:6 hobby though, where 1-2 year waits are commonplace. Everything manufactured by BCS for example seems to be a two year wait, so you end up being used to strapping in for the ride.

I am not too fussed about waits in general as a result, time passes horribly fast in adult life anyway! Those waits are over all-too-quickly…

 

I bought all of my dolls second hand and never waited more than a month. Hearing that some companies have a waiting time of over a year sounds really crazy especially with the paypal issue

 

I am just getting ready to buy my first doll and these wait times are crazy. It's very concerning.

 

15 months - Dollshe.

 

8 months Dollzone. It was my first time ordering a doll and I had heard wait times were long. I finally contacted the dealer, and she found out the doll had gotten lost in the mail. She contacted Dollzone, and they sent the replacement immediately. The dealer told me next time to contact someone after 4 months if a doll doesn't arrive, so I learned something there.

It's always good to check in with your dealer, or the company if ordering directly and the doll goes past the expected wait time.

 

I just put in my first order with Iplehouse, hoping to get a new doll for my birthday at the end of April, but I’m seeing that the wait time is around 3 months right now. I usually prefer to buy pre-owned if I can so I’m not used to waiting so long.

 

I waited two years and four months for my little DollZone Aba dragon...
The next longest were both just over a year each. (My Dream Valley Athos and DollZone Sawarieda)

 

The longest for me I believe was about 7-8 months when I was waiting on my Souldoll Kanguk. Which all things considered, wasn't too bad of a wait, as I did order him with a face-up as well. I recently ordered another Souldoll, so I'm curious to see how long he takes to ship 6 years later.

 

13 months and still counting.

 

8 months, and just for a head. Head that ended up not liking and then selling so...
Well, sometimes you have to try and fail to get to know yourself and your tastes better.

 

I think the longest that I've waited thus far has been 6 months! However, I did just recently order some BJD's from other companies and will be curious to see how long it takes for them to arrive!

 

Six months was the longest I've waited, and that was for a Bobobie Rui head ordered through Denver Doll. I'm normally a very patient person, but 6 months was my limit. All of my other dolls have come within 2 months or less. Even my Doll Leaves Steven from Alice Collections only took 3 months.
I think I was spoiled because the first doll I bought was from 5 Star Doll (11 years ago). I ordered him in July and he arrived in time for my birthday in September.