What BJD company business model do you think works best?

As a consumer, I much prefer the basic one. I don’t always have money when orders are open, and waiting a year or longer to hopefully catch it in time is frustrating and makes me lose interest in the doll. It also just adds to wait times since I’m waiting on both an order period and production. I want to order what I want, when I want!

though as a company, I can see having limited dolls or ordering periods as being much easier on the employees, especially if it’s just one or two people working. It would allow more time to create interesting dolls, but also limit the work load and allow them to finish one batch at a time instead of constantly being over run with orders and falling behind.

 

Definitely the basic option as a consumer. When I decide the buy something, I just want to have the option to get it right then and there. Though I understand why some companies have more limited options, I just find them frustrating lol. This is especially true for companies that give short notice or short pre-order windows, as I may not have the money.

From a business perspective, I agree that the rotating pre-order model seems to work pretty well. Limiting work loads and getting the product out in a reasonable time.

 

I am with CloakedSchemer and mirrorcle_world. I much prefer the basic model. I want to order what I want, when I want from the companies that I like. I am a big fan of Alice's Collections; it is easy peasy to order from Alice.

The limited model does nothing but annoy me. It does not pressure me to buy. It causes me to look and say, "I will just wait for that to come to the secondary market!" And then I stalk the marketplace for that item.

 

I'm kinda on the side of preferring limited sculpts model. sure there are a handful of downsides, but I really enjoy how creative the dolls can be and how interesting shifting body types can be because of it (like how dream valley has a variety of monsters that they sometimes rerealease, or doll chateau just getting really weird with it from time to time)

plus I feel like with the limited model, it gives more room for sculpt trends to shift, rather than just sticking to certain set features that are more safe features.

 

Hahaha, so I didn't expect to have an opinion but I think my list of dolls answered for me. I definitely prefer basic. I'm the least competitive person in the world so having to "win" or fight for something like that just doesn't appeal in the slightest.

I think I lucked out in the end, since I really love the sculpts as well as their business models.

 

I actually usually prefer the limited model but only for small artists who post progress work and the like. They’ll usually have several posts months ahead of the planned release so I have time to decide if I want the doll or not and save up accordingly. That said, I’m not really for the random limited drop model for the same reasons listed above. It’s annoying when a doll comes out at an inconvenient time.

As for basic dolls, I do love them but I tend to prioritize buying ltes more. So even though I do plan on getting a few, I almost never actually do. It’s definitely the nicest for the consumer, I just don’t usually end up taking advantage of it

All in all, I agree that the rotating pre-orders similar to what iple and switch do are probably the best happy middle

 

I personally like a mix between the 'primarily limited' and 'basic' model. It's definitely exciting seeing new and innovated sculpts, but its also nice to have items that can be reliably bought.

 

Basic and rotating preorder sound like nice business models. Basic, as mentioned by others, is great because you can obtain the doll sculpt you really want, and it isn't as stressful as having a limited time at once and then missing out if you didn't make it. Issue is the artists/companies might become overworked.
Rotating preorder is great because it creates variety, but also you can account for when something is coming, and the stress of only one limited time is eliminated. Plus, it hopefully creates less stress of workload for the artists/companies, and allows them to not only work on one sculpt, which might become boring. Less repetitive tasks.

 

Personally I really like what Dollzone and Dream Valley do - primarily basic, with a few limited sculpts that have the option to be rereleased. I don’t think their options are boring at all. Honestly I think what you do with your doll is more important than how rare the sculpt is. But having difficulty with money myself, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to order anything from companies like Soom.

 

I vastly prefer Basic, maybe with the occasional limited or special release. the other kinds drive me nuts and I often do not order from them specifically because it could be years before they release what I want, so I often don't even bother to do more than admire their dolls from afar. I see WHY rotating preorder needs to be a thing for many shops, because well, these are tough to make!

 

The rotating preorder model makes sense, since it limits how much the company is asked to make at a time, and allows customers ongoing opportunities to buy the dolls. Basic dolls that are always available with occasional limiteds, like Dream Valley and Dollzone do, has the benefit of putting less time pressure on the consumer/buyer while also allowing for more creative sculpts or pet dolls that may have a more limited appeal. I can see why companies like Soom mostly do limiteds with the time pressure that can geeit more to buy them, but it can be frustrating to those who don't have the money at the time, and maybe disappointing for the company if a doll is unpopular.

And don't have a business model like Dollshe! The wait times are making it clear there's problems with theirs.

 

Basic is the best, as long as companies that do it don't have trouble keeping up with their orders. Iplehouse does great with this, as do quite a few others.

If I were going to do a BJD company, though, I think I'd combine elements of the Basic and the Rotating Preorder scheme. I wouldn't rotate what sculpts I offered--- I'd make any sculpt I'd released available every time orders were open, more like the Basic idea-- but I would open orders at regular periodic intervals on a first-come, first-served basis for ONLY as many orders as I knew I could finish in that period. As soon as I had that many orders, they would be closed until the next period. This wouldn't be an attempt to make anything limited or create hype or pressure to buy quickly or compete with other buyers-- it would be to make sure that all buyers had their dolls before any new orders were taken and no backlog was ever created, to keep everyone's wait times down. I would make sure that the ordering periods were as frequent as I could make them, and make them very regular, so that potential buyers could plan for them and would know when the next one would be coming up if they happened to miss one.

I just feel that the best thing for both artist and customer would be to take on only a few orders at a time and always finish them before taking on a new round. That way the artist never gets too overwhelmed and the customers never end up with unreasonable and crazy waits. If the dolls were very popular, it might take a little bit of waiting for a customer to get in on an order period with that business model, but once they actually committed money to a purchase, they'd be guaranteed to get what they paid for in a reasonable and predictable time frame. And if no sculpts were limited, there wouldn't be any stress of missing out on the one you want if you don't make a specific order period.

 

As a buyer I prefer the limited model and rarely buy sculpts that are obtainable freely to the unlimited future, because usually they're so common that I would get tired of seeing them really fast. Likely more people would have a doll that looks just like mine, too.

If I were to sell BJDs... Well, that's a strong if, I actually purchased complete production and sales rights to one head recently, but I prefer the model "only for me and my close friends whom I trust". But if I ever were to become a competent sculptor myself (unlikely) or collab with one and take the responsibility for sales, I'd go for some sort of mixed form of limited and rotating preorders. Much like LLT is doing. I would take a limited set of orders through email once or twice a year for a few times before discontinuing the sculpt and moving on to new projects. I would demand feedback and social media accounts, and refuse to sell to anyone who has no past history whatsoever in the hobby, is known to have links to recasts, has flaky buyer feedback or just personally doesn't please me with their behavior. I know it wouldn't be very fair, because some prefer to keep their hobby off social media, and it basically shuts off people who are just starting their collector journey, too. But honestly, to prevent having my doll recasted or just ending up in undeserving hands, I have no idea how else to proceed. Making the doll distinguishable from knock offs is one thing, but it doesn't prevent recasting, it just prevents pro artist people from getting scammed.

 

I don’t have a strong preference on how the dolls are sold. I do like fantasy sculpts/fullsets and those tend to be more limited, so that is the most likely time I’m going to order.

 

Definitely Basic and the occasional Rotating Preorder for me.
In the toy scene the variants and chase figures philosophy can really bring down a line and flipping most of the fanbase off, so I'm not very fond of limited dolls releases because it reminds me of how stressful was to collect pieces of plastic that were supposed to make me feel good.
Lucky for me I no longer collect in such a way.
However, I'm strongly against click wars, online queues, server crashes because of traffic overload, and in general selling habits that put collectors against each other.

 

My two are from Dollzone, which primarily uses a Basic model, though they do semi often switch things up. I did have to panic buy my girl's body before they wiped the board, which wasn't great as I didn't really have the money for it and was kind of the last thing that pushed me over giving up on trying to hold onto the hobby under my dad's pressure of dislike for them. I still don't have a lot of money, so Basic means I can choose one and save up for it. Because it'll probably take me a year or more to do so.

 

I think SOOM falls in the rotating limited category. They always re-release all their limited sculpts, especial if they're very popular.

The basic one is perfect for consumers like me, young and without money I can save money without fear that the sculpt will be out of stock or fear I might not get it.

Currently I'm suffering because I want many dolls from Volks lotteries but they announced all 4 lotteries at the same time and they will be open for a short time so I had no time to save money, even if I sell stuff. It sucks but I hear in Japan this is a good business practice because people go crazy for rare or very limited things.

This limited sales practice is not for me. I see it like high fashion items. People spend a lot of money for the name only and how rare it is. Something super expensive or super limited make people think it is better quality or a better doll.

But not for me. I do have dolls I won from volks through lottery and rare dolls that were sold once and never again but my favorite doll is still my first doll, a basic doll available all year round and cheap but this doll makes me the happiest.

I do not mind that there are like one million people with the same doll as mine because I think what makes a doll unique is the owner, what the owner does with that doll. All those million dolls of the same sculpt look very different to me and are unique in their own way.

I actually find it boring when people keep their limited fullset dolls the same way. But to each their own, I'm more of an artist owner. The doll is my canvas. I don't like fullset dolls because of this. I don't like to own a doll that came to me ready and if I buy a fullset limited doll I wipe off the face up, remove the wigs, eyes, clothes and even change the gender sometimes. That is if I don't like it and 99% of the time I don't like it.

Anyways, I vote for basic. The companies are here for me and as a business owner I want to be there for my customers too. That is if I have a big doll company but if it's a one person or less than 5 people company, I think rotating pre-order is perfect.

Basic and rotating pre-order for me as a consumer and business owner.

If I was in Japan I would do like Volks because that's what Japanese people like, they want the rarest and the most limited dolls so Volks know how to do things in Japan, how to gain loyal clients. That's not for me. It gives this air of superiority, elitism I don't care for. The volks dolls I have I have them because I truly like the sculpt but I wish they were basic and available to everyone, my favorite Volks sculpt is a basic doll though (Volks Mai).

 

As a consumer, basic seems the most appealing since you don't have to wait to order what you what. However, this could result in companies becoming overwhelmed with order volumes (especially smaller companies or independent artists). I could also see this increasing wait times if the company doesn't have the staff or resources to keep up.

Rotating pre-orders are the best middle ground for both consumers and producers. Consumers don't have to worry about never being able to get the doll (like with the primarily limited model), and producers can control their workload much more efficiently. But, consumers must wait for preorders to open, and sometimes not all dolls are available at that time (like Peakswoods preorders).

Primarily limited models seems to be a much more niche market, since only a small percentage of people will actually be able to handful of people. This can be frustrating for consumers since it makes these dolls harder to obtain (although some companies will do re-releases). But, companies could build a following based around what's going to be released next, and I think it could allow for more creativity.

There's going to be pros and cons to each business model, and I think which one a company picks will largely depend on the company size, resources, and target market. Personally, I prefer the basic and rotating models.