Things that annoy you... *Rant Thread*

Have hideous websites.

Looking right at you Gem of Doll.

Bonus points for companies that have awful unsearchable websites that look like they crawled out of the early 1990s. (Monique wigs, Denverdoll, Junkyspot, Doll Peddler, Withdoll, Dollmore)

If you're running a business, please have a professional website. I understand that they are much larger companies, but Luts, Iplehouse, and Souldoll all have relatively professional websites (Iplehouse even has a mobile version so it doesn't totally destroy your data plan trying to load their main page). Dolk Station probably farms the hell out of ad revenue with me just because they probably have the most powerful search function in the bjd world, even if it is buggy as shit.

Some smaller companies have nice websites too, Alice in Labyrinth is just using some generic e-store template but at least it looks attractive and they bother to sort their dolls into categories. Same with Spiritdoll and Dollstown, nothing fancy, but it is well-sorted and very clean.

Also, on that note, can someone please buy the Spiritdoll Lotus outfit and tell me what it actually looks like, thanks.

 

One thing I get hardly never to see: good, clear pictures of how elbow and knee joints look when bent. It is a bit of a festish of mine when I want too know beforehands how they look when in use. But almost always the bent joints are photographed in a bad angle, or a hand is in front of the joint so that you can't see what you are interested in.

Oh, and of course the blank frontal and profile pics. It would be just nice if you had not to ask by mail for that.

 

I saw someone ask Souldoll for a blank photo of a head sculpt once and the only reply to it was

"No."

 

For me,it's a big classic but shipping fees and custom fees ... those are THE evil in the EU (4.7% for customs, 20 % VAT and then 15 to 25 euro for the shipping handling fees here in France)!!!!
And when I don't know the estimated weight it also makes me crazy because I don't know how that shipping fee ended that price.

 

to be fair... companies have absolutely nothing to do with 'setting' shipping frees... They are set by mail serviece providers and the companies pick the best from what they have available... THAT bitch blongs squarely on 'mail delivery companies'. And if a 'doll company' goes with a service that seems highrer priced... you can hope they did it for the safety of getting product to customers AND at a 'reasonable' price (best price does not mean 'good service' -_- )

 

I understand but it has more to do with my obsession with luggage and packet weights inherited from my family.
And the fact about price/service balance is so true *sigh* I tend to avoid ems (wich is not bad itself) when I can because of several bad experiences with the postal service that takes the relay from them...

 

lol i see you are in France.... my (postal) condolences >< Canadian's rant and rail about how horrible Canada Post is... and quite frankly I would trade my soul for it's service if I had to live anywhere else... cuz from what i can see it has the 'least' horror stories compared to elsewhere... especially in Europe >< So I do understand a bit. how you feel cuz I sure would miss CPost if I had to move to another country.

 

Well, you cant't do much about custom fees, that is not in the power of the manufacturing companies. And right not it seems that this is even increasing and becoming more complicated. Some people just can't accept that we are all human and live on the same planet, which is unfortunately not indestructable and quite fragile. Sadly, we are drifting apart more and more instead of working on a united humanity (this may sound romantic, but I think it is vital for our survival).

Sorry for the off-topic rant, but this annoys me to beyond measure.

 

It's a thing for all hobbies that needs international shipping: if your country has a commercial contract with some others that's great and if not, well, deal with it.
I 'm sorry if my first post sounded like I was whining about the fact that manufacturers couldn't make additional fees dissapear: I was more aiming for the way postal services ask for the additional fee.

 

My one major gripe eith this hobby is sold out crap. I dont care if it's on a shop or someone's personal thread.

If it isn't for sale, restocking soon, or available for pre order put it somewhere else besides mixed in with everything else!

So many times have I clicked and gone "OMG! WANT!!!" But had no cart button or its got a big fat SOLD under the picture. Take it TF down!!

 

Oh my gosh, this. Especially the American dealers. There are so many out of box, professional website services out there like Wix and Squarespace. There's just no excuse anymore.

I also second the lack of blank photos of head sculpts. Often, that can really make or break whether I decide to buy. I want to see what the sculpt actually looks like. Especially for companies like Luts and DOD whose photos are pretty enhanced.

 

I believe one item hasn't been mentioned and that is when a doll is shipped loose in a box and has spent the entire mailing journey bouncing around inside the box! Fortuately, many seem to arrive okay, but pity to those that didn't.

We should all look at these rants and see if we can improve some of the things we may be guilty of doing ourselves.

Great post, especially if we all can learn and create some improvement in our doll collecting.

 

Weird and improbable boobs. A lot of these girls look like they were sculpted by someone who has never laid eyes on a human boob and honestly, it's a tragedy.

 

YES! but not impossible... there is a reason I call them pornstar boobs... Those to are 'sculpted'... ><

 

Man, the lack of photos of doll heads and weirdo boobies orz. Yeah.

Alright, I have one that will probably sound like whining, too. But, I'm going to go ahead and say it. I don't think I've seen anyone mention this, either.

The Westerner Tax.

The same things (mostly Chinese) companies sell on TaoBao for maybe $3 (21ish RMB), they mark up to $15-20 on their websites targeting the rest of the world. I get that they have to pay additional costs for the website and translation, so a markup of some sort is totally understandable. I'd gladly pay $5-6 for that 20 RMB item, I'd gladly pay $9 for a 40 RMB item. But why the heck are they charging the international market six times as much as their domestic market? Jeez, dude.

 

I feel this way, too. It's one thing if it's something that is clearly made with exporting it in mind, but so many of the taobao shops are clearly domestic only and don't have distributors.

 

Having so many ideas but no motivation/supplies/skills to do so, that and not many mature looking small dolls like bruh I want a normal looking person just very small, not looking like a 5 year old

 

seconding this, like uugh

I also hate the fact that soooo many dolls have incredibly flat butts.... maybe i'm strange, but sometimes it makes them look almost nonhuman lol

 

So many dolls have a head to shoulder ratio that pushes them screaming and flailing into the uncanny valley. If you're gonna make a 'realistic' doll please look at an anatomy book or at least a real person (can you tell I love mature minis)

 

Okay, here's my gripe, and no doubt it's been said before...but it baffles the hell out of me. Doll companies string a zillion dolls a year - so why do so many of my dolls arrive with a crappy stringing job?? Hey, Soul Doll, if you hadn't strung her so tight that the thigh cracked above the knee, you wouldn't have had to send me a new one! And Iple...I love you to pieces, but your posing is difficult as is - I don't want a doll that flops around like a fish straight out of the box. Find the perfect length of elastic for each body, cut it to that length every time, and stick it in every doll. I don't see how that can be such a big deal.