What BJD company business model do you think works best?

I understand the appeal of the limited release model—that prestige, notoriety, one of a kind nature—but it's not for me. I find myself often frustrated with limited releases, especially if it is something that would work really well for a specific OC, as it often occurs during inconveniencing moments. Tight on cash, already have another on order, etc. It's especially peeves me if it's a limited release that will be a one-time thing. I don't like an over competitive market for placing orders, nor do I care for the exorbitant secondhand market prices.

I personally prefer a hybrid of the basic and rotating models. Iplehouse is practically the perfect example of this. They have their limited fullset releases (and also keep basic versions of the sculpt around for somebody preferring the blank doll), an a la carte section where orders can be customized, and the basic full dolls. They keep the ordering period to the first part of each month to prevent order overwhelm, and also have an auction section for dolls with defects. There's also a consistent schedule for the rotating options (darker resins, certain lines), so people know when to expect an ordering window to open up for the doll/resin color they want. About the only con for them is that you can't order heads or bodies separately.

Granado does something similar to Iple, but tends to do more periodic releases with their head sculpts (the bodies seem to be available during regular ordering periods for the most part).

When it comes to smaller artists, I give them a bit more leeway with limiteds—as long as it's not a one-time offer deal. Taking periodic orders for a specific doll, keeping it to limited quantities, and doing periodic releases in the future is my much preferred method in regard to artist limited releases.

In general, I love the basic model, as I tend to focus more on obtaining blank heads/bodies for specific OCs of mine. I like to do all the creative work myself, and rarely get interested in limited fullsets. In this regard, a few notable faves are Impldoll, Resinsoul, Telesthesia/Dragondoll (and plenty of others).

As for Dollshe....his business model should be a cautionary tale for any aspiring bjd artist: do not, by any means, follow it. It will only result in a trainwreck of catastrophic proportions.

 

Basic model all the way! That's just way less stress and all. I don't care if they are common, not as sought-after or stuff. I just want to be able to buy them without too much stress.

If I have to stress too much over this hobby I would rather not buy.

 

Honestly, limited models are often too limited for me to manage as a customer. I keep running into issues of saving up for one pre-announced doll and then several limited dolls all drop at the same time, and it's just frustrating. If limiteds were more often done with secondary rereleases more often, maybe that would help, but right now it means there's just no promise of ever seeing a doll again once it's out of stock.

Like a number of others here, I prefer basic and rotating. Although, basic sadly does limit the creativity of the company, since they have to be something that a majority of customers like and will like for awhile.

Rotating is probably my favorite way companies do things, since a lot of time they'll announce more than one rotation of preorders at once, so I know if I can't snag this time, there's another one coming up as well. It also allows the company time to focus on shipping, so things seem to move with more efficiency. I also like that rotating allows creators time to focus on doll creation, so there's a lot of creativity that I see with this model. This style seems to work pretty well for new creators as it can be scaled up or down a little more easily than the other models.

Obviously I'm not a doll artist selling dolls, so I can't say what is best for the company, but there's likely a reason a lot of the older, bigger companies do limited and basic mostly, as much as that saddens me as a customer sometimes.