Tinies- too often budgeted as "inexpensive"?

It's all a matter of personal taste to me. I have all sizes, from a big Dollshe and soon, a big EID guy, to tiny Secretdoll baby fairies. Inch for inch, though, my baby fairies are the most expensive dolls I own. I love miniature things: dolls, dollhouses, etc. I could probably have bought a bunch of big dolls for the money I have spent on tiny dolls, but I like them and am happy to have them. I think people should buy whatever size they like and not worry about what anyone else thinks.

Edit: Just as an example, my Dollshe Bermann, bought new from Tensiya was about $43.00 per inch, but a Secretdoll baby fairy is about $75.00 per inch, not counting shipping from Korea.

 

I completely understand where you're coming with this. After I bought my MSD girl, I started to view things in term of her price (around $300 all said and done). If I saw something that was less than $300 I would think, wow that's cheap! I have to smack myself back to reality occasionally. Like thinking that $30 for some doll shoes is a great deal when I don't spend more than $20 on my own shoes. On the other hand, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my very own puki in the next couple of weeks...

In summary, it's about how much is worth it to you.

 

I admit originally I thought Tinies were win-win in terms of money. I loved them and they were comparatively 'inexpensive', so I bought my Puki for my first doll. From what I've experienced, tinies plus their accessories, clothing can add up to just as much if not a bit more than if you bought a larger doll + wig eyes + clothing. Mostly because often times tiny things are 'cheaper', there are more little things that go with them (Re-Ment/1:12 scale anything) and you 'need' it for your tiny. Don't even get me started on making houses for these guys

I think that any doll takes budgeting especially if you want to be able to play with it and have fun. And especially if you want to buy things for it. I don't budget my doll as inexpensive. She's probably the most expensive thing I have to/want to 'upkeep'. Budgeting tinies as 'inexpensive' is not a good thing, if you undermine how much you think you'll spend on them, you'll end up spending 10x more.

 

Out of all my dolls, I spend the most money on JUST THE DOLL (no wigs, clothes, eyes, etc.) of my Yo-SD. :/ So no, I don't budget the tinies as inexpensive. Most of them are right up there in the $300+ range.

 

A tiny is on my wish list and I almost bought one on several occasions in the last couple weeks, but they always seemed too expensive. I ended up buying an SD girl instead (impulse buy on ebay!) as with the price similar to what I would have to pay for a tiny she seemed a better value... But I guess with tinies you pay extra for the "cute" factor. I will eventually get one when the price is right

 

I have a problem with budgeting certain tinies as "impulse buys" -I don't save up for them, because I usually have enough money in my "toy" budget to buy them, rather than set aside X amount of money to buy one in Y weeks. I do that based on numbers, though, so a LittleFee takes mucho willpower to resist, whereas I have money set aside for "the next Soom tiny that I OMG need to have," despite the fact that they are the same size.
I can do this because I don't have a car, therefore I don't need to spend money on insurance or gas. However, that means that I plan ahead anything I don't want to have to carry home from the post office, like a MSD, because that requires stalking my mailman (who doesn't know how to work a doorbell.)
So certain tinies are very dangerous.

 

It actually strikes me as very strange that dolls are priced so steeply by size sometimes - I look at the relative prices of a 60cm, 43cm and 28cm doll and think, surely the smaller ones can't save that much on production costs just by being smaller? The amount of work that goes into them can't be that dissimilar.

On the wider point, though - our Brownies and Isabella were totally impulse buys, because they were "so cheap". I don't regret them at all, they're completely adorable, but actually in a household that has to budget carefully (I'm on a "training" wage, my wife is a full time student, heaven knows how long we'll be wageless after we move to Australia) it's still a big hit of money. And I think it's true that the relative prices of some other dolls make it seemed like they were practically freebies, when they certainly were not.

 

It doesn't make a difference whether you're talking about a $100 Tiny doll, a $100 pair of Dollflower eyes, or a $100 Heisejinyao uniform set... These are all a fraction of the cost of an SD doll, so of course they're all just as inexpensive as each other.

Also, whether or not anything is "budgeted as inexpensive" depends on your own personal budget. This will be different for everybody. $100 might be a huge chunk of somebody's budget, but it may be mere pennies to somebody else's budget. The item itself has nothing to do with it.

Whether or not each person thinks any item is a good value for its price, that's also different for everybody.

So, I am not at all sure what your debate topic actually is. Is it "why are tinies & their clothes so expensive?" ... or is it "why do people consider tinies to be cheap?" ... or is it just venting about the cost of everything? Or is it something else? What exactly are we getting at here?

 

It is all relative, really.

A $150 dollar doll in relation to a $450 dollar doll, aye, is inexpensive.

However, a $10 bunch of bananas is RIDICULOUS in comparison to the usual $2 bunch of bananas.

It all depends on the item, and what we're used to. I pay $2 a box for Pocky, I know some people pay a dollar for it. But to me, $2 is the usual so while it seems a hefty sum for biscuit sticks, it also is what I am used to, so I will pay it.

Relativity is fun.

 

I think it's funny how when we justify the price, we talk about how much work goes in to sculpting the doll, and how each one is individually cast, but when we complain about the price, we nit pick over the amount of resin. Especially when a tiny takes the exact same amount of work, if not more, to sculpt and cast.

But it seems everything gets compared by price. You can say "I could buy a tiny, or I could buy an MSD for the same price" but you could also say, "The MSD that costs as much as a tiny is FAR cheaper than the majority of other MSD available."
I for one compare the tiny I plan to buy to the cost of a video game. I'll drop $80 on a video game every other month like it's nothing, in spite of thinking the price is ridiculous. I can certainly save up for a $200 doll, but I will save for it instead of dropping the money all at once, even though I could afford to, and I'll research it and look at pictures and make sure I'm sure I want it. Like I would for any doll. It's not cheap. But I do think it's cheaper by comparison.

 

At first, I thought I'd never buy a Tiny because they were quite expensive and just so... TINY! But, it's true, I did start to think of them as RELATIVELY inexpensive after buying a number of large-sized dolls! It's crazy, because they were still hundreds of dollars. The first tinies I bought were the colored Bambicrony elves--and I bought TWO... with expensive faceups... so they were easily as much as a large doll!!!

But I still kept thinking of them as an easier purchase! AGH!!!

I think the big price tags of some of the big dolls (and I started with BJDs when the prices were on the high-side) has really messed with my thinking!!!!!!!

 

I'm also in the group of people who think that tinies are expensive but worth it^^

I wasn't a fan of tinies before mainly because of their price. I always thought that they were too small for the price since they almost cost the same as a MSD doll. But now I have 4 tinies. Two adorable pukis who I don't think are less worthy because of their size, I enjoy them as much as I enjoy the bigger ones, and they cost me around $300 each (the limited set, that is^^). I also have 2 MD tinies from Soom, they were more expensive than my MSD dolls. I also don't think that one doll is better than the other because of the price. My most inexpensive doll is my most favorite. Everything is just a matter of taste.

And as they say: the smaller they are, the harder it is! that's why I don't see it weird that most MSD or tiny clothes are almost the same price as SD clothes.

 

I don't think tinies are less expensive than larger dolls. My LTF Ante cost me much more than my two MSD girls and while she was a full set, I couldn't bring home my first tiny bare and nude. She was only about $100 less than the SD I want which is saying something about that. Then if you think about limiteds and all the outfits, not to mention hunting down things for them to use ie accesories and props, it all adds up in the end. I can find 1/4 and 1/3 items much easier than I can find 1/6 things for my little girl.

 

I definitely have limits as to how much I'll spend on a given size of bjd... I won't spend over $200 on a non-Volks tiny, I won't spend over $400 on a non-Volks Mini. The larger sizes I may allow a lot more for depending on brand/artistry/rarity.

So I've missed out on some dolls that don't fit within these price guidelines, for better or worse.

I tend to prefer small size dolls anyway, but am very limited in what I buy because most small-size dolls/tinies are too "cutesy" for me, and the other end of this spectrum are tinies who can be mistaken for barbies. I don't do either of those extremes so I guess there's not a lot out there for me!

I want to say that it's a matter of taste, and that I buy what I like, but I've liked dolls that I simply won't buy because I feel they're too expensive for their size.

I don't know if that's what you meant with regards to this topic, but that's how it works for me! XD

Raven

 

I have a tiny and two semi-tinies and, believe me when I say this, but these suckers were expensive. I could have easily bought a couple of SDs with the total sum I spent on these kiddos. But they are completely worth it in my book. The level of detail that went into them is amazing and sometimes I still catch myself admiring them when I'm suppose to be at work, lol!

 

Some are expensive, some aren't. You can find tinys for well under $100 now, and tinys in the $500+ range. I have both ends of the spectrum in Troop Tiny, and plenty in-between. It's not about the money...it's about what calls to me. And for me, tiny voices seem to call a lot louder than the others. To each his own.

Honestly, I'm waiting on my first SD in almost three years...and she was about $50 less than the next tiny on my wantlist.

 

dolls are expensive wether it be tinies or the larger ones. if you think about it porportionally tinies are expensive in their own way. but as long as you love them you'll end up paying for them in the end haha. some people just like the tinies not because they're inexpensive but just because they're cute.

 

i have an SD, two MSDs and two tinies of various cost... my most expensive doll is about $600, my cheapest is $75. My most beloved doll is my $75 BBB tiny because she's freaking adorable, and I'm just glad she didn't cost me the earth.

regarding cheap tinies, I recommend being a student trawling the market place to put things in perspective. There are six, seven and even eight hundred dollar dolls in all three catagories D: tinies aren't THAT cheap, especially when they're coveted, limited or discontinued. My Littlefee/Honey tears is worth more than my SDs are...

 

I do agree that tinies are lumped in the inexpensive range, but they're usually more expensive or just as expensive. Alos, Tinies are worse because I find that their items are even harder to come by. I had a tiny and getting anything for him was a pain *but* he was actually more expensive than both my MSDs. *shrugs* I guess the price looks cheaper from the beginning but when you actually think about it 25 cm doll = 350--> 55 cm = 600 Yeah, the tiny is more expensive, it's not even half the size of the larger doll.

 

I actually think they ARE expensive. I only own 58+ dolls, so when I saw one in person (it was a puki-something, sorry, not familiar with them), the first thing that came to my mind was "with a leg from Morten I could make a tiny!" (Morten's a 74 cm doll). However I loved the puki to bits. So then I came home and looked for how much they were, and much to my surprise they were around $180, I think. And then I compared it to Morten who was around $800, which isn't cheap at all either (however he weights friggin' 2+ kilos). I thought pukis were really expensive and the thought about getting one of them never crossed my mind again. I would like to know why they're tagged with that price, it's obvious it's not the amount of resin, maybe they're harder to craft?