What do you think about layaway fee?

I'm sorry to disagree, I think its kind of a smart thing for a company to do,
since they start making your doll (read use expensive materials) while you pay off your layaway, they need to be sure the person will finish their payments to make sure they do not end up with a unsold doll, And a loss

so yeah..... ramble off

 

In the rest of the business world, anything like a layaway rarely comes without any extra fees. It's an optional service provided by the company that has a certain amount of extra hassle. The company doesn't NEED to provide people with a layaway plan at all. They can just say "pay in full or go home", and I highly doubt that would cause any significant impact on their business because people will find a way to pay in full - by charging it on a credit card or selling other dolls or doing something. (As an example, Volks and Luts are doing mighty fine, and neither offer any kind of layaway on a regular basis)

Besides, if you don't want to pay the layaway fee, why not just do your own "layaway" into your bank account, and pay the company in full when you get all the money? No fees, flexible payment schedule. I guess it's a little tougher if it's a limited but from the sounds of it, it's not.

And it really bothers me when people start the "Well the other companies..." song. Some of "the other companies" don't even offer any layaway at all, so? Layaway is a privilege, and a business decision made by that company. There are several companies who have now changed their policy to incorporate a layaway fee - which they have every right to do. As far as I know it's usually around 5%, so nothing drastic.

 

Agree with both opinions above...it's company policy...i think, in internet 'worldwide' world, they've been doing business with some people who cancelled their order in the middle (while production has already ran)...on the other side, they have lost the potential of selling the doll to other customer (may be because the inventory is 'booked', the customers hve already gone to other company)..May be the fee is kind of their protection of this kind of situation...
We have to 'sit' and see from their point of view, though...

by the way, i just knew it there's a layaway fee...all i knew, in iplehouse as example, if we pass 3 months of layaway term, they will charge us certain percentage...

I calculate if i must pay all at once than charged a fee: of course, if the fee, the total will be more expensive but i can live each month because the layaway per month is lower.

You can save your money first then pay it all at once...I don't suit with this way...So, i take the risk of layaway...

sometimes, i feel, it's lucky already to have layaway...

A company even 'starts' a layaway with minimum 200USD (>.>)''''...okkkk...their msd price isn't too far from it...so, it's almost th same as 1 MSD price...sometimes, I thought, why would I do layaway, then? 200USD? ok, i'll just save my money and pay it all at once (^o^)...
But, I guess, they just want a guarantee, they won't loose the money when producing the doll under layaway order...
quoting from Elaisa:

...Other company may be charging fee to prevent this situation...

I can't tell whether fee is abusive or not...i think, it's more "abusive", when i have to pay first non-refundable payment 200USD...(^_^)''''...again, it's company priviledge to apply the policy and it's my priviledge to shop from them or not...
I'm pretty easily to be turned off when the layaway program isn't attractive to me...If i have to save the money i'll make sure it's for either: Volks, Unoa, or narae (^o^)...but so far, I still don't want to purchase either...I'm still attracted to purchase one with layaway program...


There's always a way to purchase your doll, not only by layaway if there's a will...if this layaway is the most suitable way, then take the 'fee risk'...if you don't want to, save your money each month...

 

Layaway fees are standard in business. I don't see why doll-companies should be any different. 'Not fair' is not an argument; they're not a charity organization, they're a shop.

Lelite had a good suggestion. Save until you have enough money to pay your doll. In my opinion it's better to do this anyway, because you're in full control of your financial expenses.

 

Just save the money up elsewhere if you don't like the fee. Simple as.

 

I think any doll company that accepts layways is offering a great benefit, and as long as the fee is reasonable, I'm fine with it.

I had a doll paid by paypal on layaway. Since paypal does a flat fee + a percentage, I took a much bigger loss in paypal fees than I had calculated.

 

I think it's fair on the company, I'm sure there are lots of people who have defaulted on a layaway after a doll has started being made which gives the company a loss.

If private sellers charge layaway fees, however, I'd be less likely to buy from them I think. With companies, I can see how the fees would help recoup any losses from physically making a doll (which is an expensive process), but resellers are selling on a doll they already have. I respect and believe in a seller's right to consider all layaway payments final and non-refundable, but if someone defaults on a marketplace layaway, it's not as if seller's have a partially cast doll to try and sell.

 

I think a layaway fee for defaulting on a layaway, particularly for dolls, is perfectly fine and a good deterrent to abusing the privilege of paying off the doll in installments. I'm not happy to pay extra for being able to do that, but it's not an abusive practice. After all, every company charges to be able to "put off" paying in full -- it's called interest rates.

If the fee is particularly burdensome, that's when trying to save up to pay all at once is useful, to my mind.

 

If you do not like Layaway fees then make your own layaway. Put the amount of money you would be paying to the doll company in a separate account or just an envelope. It is silly to think a company would let you buy something for nothing. Even if you buy items from a store they charge you layaway fees. If you charged the doll on a credit card you would be paying interest on the amount until you paid it off. It is the same thing. They are a business not a charity. I dont mean to sound harsh I do not like paying fees either but I do not think they are wrong.
Everything, I wrote I think has already been expressed. I like how Karlyl worded it.

 

Most regular business do charges layaway fees. We have places like 'rent to own' and what not and you will see that even if they do not charge layaway fees the items is way over priced.

Sure the monthly payments may be small but overall you end up paying more then what the item is worth retail if you were to buy it at once.

it takes more time and effort to runa layaway for business since they have to keep you on a database then send you reminder letters if you are late.

They may see it as a hassle.

Some places do not charge a fee so if you feel strongly about it maybe you can see if there are dolls you may like with another company? Then in the meantime you can save up for the other doll so you dont have to pay the fees.

 

I second everybody else. Layaway fees are a smart idea for 99% of the businesses out there. The only one I can think of who probably wouldn't have to charge fees is Soom, since their extra MDs get snatched up pretty quickly.

 

"Abusive" is a strange term to use for a very common business practice which meets ethical standards. The company isn't trying to swindle layaway customers out of money, but to cover their asses if someone pulls out of a layaway, as every transaction costs money in the form of paperwork and man hours. An extended transaction costs more time to upkeep, and therefore money.
Furthermore, these companies aren't huge corporations that can swallow a few flake transactions, they are often run by a handful of people, thus need the security of a layaway fee.
If you don't want to pay extra for the layaway service, you can opt to save your money, or shop somewhere else.

 

I completely agree with Lelite. Layaway is a generous service offered by the companies, and they're not required to do any such favour like this to the customers. It's nice when they do, but they need some sort of guarantee that they'll get paid in full at some point or another.

 

Why shouldn't the company charge a layaway fee? They're basically doing you a favor by letting you pay over time for a doll. It's something nice that they do, hardly "abusive". I'd note that "abusive" is a pretty strong word and from the way the first post is written, maybe English is not the poster's first language, so maybe they didn't mean it as strongly as it sounded. But the bottom line is there's nothing wrong with companies charging a reasonable layaway fee.

Stores often charge a fee for things like store credit or layaway, because it's a hassle for them to check on everybody's payment and readjust for the occasional "flakes". It creates additional costs for them to deal with, so they charge a fee to cover their costs. Furthermore, they're not likely to set the fee any higher than they absolutely have to in order to cover their costs, because they want people to use the layaway and buy dolls.

If this doll in your wishlist is so important then why can't you just save up the money for him over time in your bank account, and then when all saved send to the company in one amount? That would be just like doing a fee-free layaway only instead of paying the money to the company, you're just paying it to yourself. The only time that doesn't work is when it's a limited doll and you have to do the layaway within the 30-day order period or whatever, but it doesn't sound like that is the case.

 

I'm ok with companies charging an extra fee to offer the layaway service. After all it does involve extra time and money to administer the service when compared to a straightforward cash sale.

As others have suggested perhaps a savings plan would be better for you?

 

I agree with the other posters here that companies offering layaway are doing people a big favour and should be free to attach any conditions they like to the delivery of said favour: they're not twisting buyers' arms and forcing them to take the layaway option, so levying a small charge in case of flakes or refusing refunds in cases where the buyer wants to pull out halfway through the layaway (as Kiyakotari described things here) is perfectly valid.

On a personal level I've had a number of people ask to do layaways on things I've been selling in the Marketplace and then backed out again suddenly - while it only cost me time and annoyance, in the case of a company which might already have started to make the doll at that point they should definitely have some money from the buyer in the form of a layaway fee to recompense them in case that sort of thing happens... and I wouldn't blame private sellers on DoA for doing exactly the same thing either, to be honest Flakes are everywhere, unfortunately, and buy from companies as much as they do from individual sellers.