UK BJD Shoppers

ah yes that's a problem for you too ipledreamer

thanks for the good wishes kurogane - if only we didn't have customs fees on dolls too, there might be some hope

Mister M I'm glad you appreciate the mad crazy approach LOL - if only I could stop being so sensible *sigh* half a bottle of gin would no doubt help but I don't drink any more so no reckless squandering of money taking place here!

So today I've been battling to persuade myself to buy the doll chateau body I want from jeeryama on ebay.com, as she has a 15% discount sale ending soon, plus another $15 discount for every $200 you spend - it's a good offer! But the body which would have cost (with delivery) a 'very reasonable' £300 less than 6 months ago is now around £375 - and I just CAN'T get over that extra £75 Not with the threat of customs fees too - the icing on the cake! I'm sure this must be killing trade stone dead.

 

in continental Europe they always seem to get the full whack of customs fees - but here in the UK it varies a huge amount and doesn't seem to be strictly monitored or adhered to. If you buy anything costing more than £15 (it used to be £40 a few years ago - those were the good old days!) it is liable to VAT. If it comes from either Japan or USA you can be sure of getting the full charge due, plus the post office's handling fee, which was £13 last time I got charged a couple of years ago - it may have increased now though, or even gone down. So annoying if you only buy something low cost from America, like a wig - if it's more than £15 total including postage, you'd pay 20% VAT on that, which is just £3 - BUT you also have to pay the post office handling fee too!

If you buy something totaling with delivery more than.... £135 I think it is? you have pay customs & excise duty as well as VAT. Duty varies depending on what you import (just google it if you need to know - there's a big list of categories on gov.uk) I think it's 5% on dolls (used to be anyway). But more often than not, Chinese companies don't declare the value correctly on the parcel, so you won't pay the full amount, and sometimes there's no charge at all, even for a big doll! It's a bit random, so you never know what you'll be hit with till you get the 'ransom note' in the post, telling you your doll is being held captive and will only be delivered after you've paid the ransom! I always pay online and arrange delivery, but you can go to the sorting office and collect if you like. It's best to save up the ransom while you're waiting for the doll to be made though - plenty of time usually. Then if you get undercharged you can buy some doll clothes or something with the money

 

oh no it's happening apple have hiked their prices up 20% overnight due to devaluation of £ - an entry level macbook is now £200 more than it was last night!

so having ALMOST checked out the dolls I want several times today - maybe I should just do it, incase they cost even more tomorrow?

ETA - found this chart - when I bought my doll heads on the 6th of October, they were £1 cheaper than if I'd bought them on the 7th (2% more) and they would now be nearly £3 more than when I bought them. So this chart is worth checking if you want to buy something in dollars. Divide 1 by the number on the vertical axis (today it's 1.21) then multiply the result by the price in dollars - but bear in mind paypal rates differ slightly and there's a currency conversion fee which is sometimes passed on by the seller (Alices do this)
British Pound | 1957-2016 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News

 

yes that's what I do - impatient And no I don't want to buy any Apple products LOL - waste of good dolly money but the Telegraph found it newsworthy, and it demonstrates just how much prices are changing overnight at the moment in the UK. I think now Apple have done this the pound will carry on going down in value

Having looked at that chart again I can see that if I'd bought the Doll Chateau body I want on the 6th of October, it would have been £14 cheaper than it is today. So if you're buying something cheap like a wig or a practice head, the price rise won't be significant, but if it's an expensive doll, it will be quite a bit more. Glad I'm not a Dollzone dealer any more LOL

 

thanks HoneyRyder And only 5 months waiting? I waited 7 months for my last Dollzone doll Not the dealer's fault though - I ordered direct from DZ as I was the dealer LOL - I think Dollzone and Doll Chateau (sister companies) are becoming victim of their own success - they're just so popular there's a massive backlog of orders for them to plough through constantly - But for the price they really are lovely quality, unusual, characterful dolls - I think they're well worth the wait

 

no just for a year - till I ran out of money (you have to order monthly with them). It was impossible to compete with Angelesque as people prefer to stick with what they know - tis human nature! And unless you place a really big order, you pay so much in postage and customs fees on one or 2 dolls, it would sometimes have been cheaper for me to buy the doll from Angelesque LOL - I always made a loss. It was fun though - I enjoyed setting up the website and everything. Dollzone staff are lovely to deal with too

 

I guess it's good for someone somewhere then! The good news for us in the UK being a slight increase in the value of the £ today - might not last though, and to put it in perspective it's an £18 difference in price on a doll costing $600 today, compared to a couple of weeks ago - which is a new wig I guess, if nothing else

meanwhile I've decided to stick to tinies for now - or mirodoll for larger dolls - and only buy in-stock dolls from dealers or dolls which are typically less than a month to dispatch. I don't think I could cope with waiting 7 months for a doll, only to find I paid £80 more than it's current value

 

and now the US elections are over, the $ is strengthening against the £ again It can only get worse *sigh*