What makes you NOT buy an item on the secondhand marketplace?

There are many reasons not to buy something secondhand, but some reasons depend on how badly I want the item. I'm willing to look past price or condition if the item is really rare or I want it right now. But these are things that make me click the back button immediately:

The seller charges Paypal fees or asks for personal payments. Nope. Not only is that against Paypal's terms of service in my country, but it's just really rude in general. Paypal is providing the seller with a service, making it easy for the seller to sell their items online. Why I should pay your fees when you are the one making money here? Besides, if everybody ripped off Paypal in this way and they never made money, it would go out of business and we'd have no Paypal. That... would suck. Just incorporate the fees into your selling price.

The sales thread is full of typos or terrible spelling. (Unless I can tell that English isn't their first language- spelling and grammatical errors are fine in that case.) I know this makes me sound like a snob but I am just turned off by this. It makes me think the seller either put no time into writing up their thread, or like I'm dealing with a child. I bought a pair of eyes from a seller with terrible spelling one time only, and when the eyes arrived they were not the size they were listed as, AND the seller had already spent the money so they refused to give me a refund and take the eyes back. I've gone with my gut after that. -__-

The sales items are photographed on a filthy carpet. Listen. It's okay to take photos of your items on the floor, because some items are so large it's hard to get a decent photo of them otherwise. But for the love of god, can the floor be clean? I can't even count how many dolls I've seen laying on a carpet that looks like it hasn't been vacuumed in 6 months. Why would I want to buy that??

 

Item comes from a smoking home. Cigarette smoke is an instant migraine trigger for me, so no matter how much I might want the item, that's a deal breaker. I've purchased a few things online from sellers who didn't include this little detail, and the box openings were really awful.

On the flip side: I'm grateful to every seller who does inform us that the doll/clothes/whatever come from a smoking home. Keeps me from falling in love with something I can't have.

 

I never knew smoking could saturate everything so badly. My mom is a smoker and so as I was growing up the smell kinda saturated my environment and I got used to it. Now after years away from it, smelling it at all is something awful. So yeah, non-smoking environment for sure.

There can be a lot of reasons combined that I'll shy away from a sale/seller. Over-priced. Bad photos and lack of photos. Feedback is pretty important since I'm new to the DoA marketplace so I'm really grateful for those threads.

 

Well for one is it a doll I actually like? If so, the price is the biggest factor. I do my own faceups so a faceup is worthless to me and will be wiped. I'm confident in my ability to repair and restore a doll so damage wont keep me from buying it if the price is appropriate. There is zero chance I will pay the same amount or more than what the actual company is selling the doll for brand new unless the company wait time is like a year. I will also prioritize a doll in my country over one overseas due to shipping costs and time. Then of course if the seller has little to no feedback or bad feedback then I will skip them.

 

I totally agree, the smell gets stuck and it ruins everything. I don't even have the patience to deal with cleaning it, I ask for a refund on account of an incomplete disclosure.

 

I'm usually willing to pay a higher price than the item originally sold at if it's discontinued. That said, charging MORE than the company for an item that is still available from said company is a big no way for me. My biggest reason for shopping on the second hand market is to find things I CAN'T get somewhere else.

No matter how old and rare, if a doll is damaged or badly modded (or modded at all) it's a no.

I'm perfectly willing to buy a yellowed doll, but if you can't use a magic eraser to take off dirt and wig stains, I question how much care you gave the doll, which makes me question your price.

Crappy photos are a real turn off. Gotta see the goods!

For full dolls, I usually need layaway. I have a good income, but I can't budget to save my life and seldom have $650 just laying around.

I'm not picky, really, but there are some things that irk me.

 

Heh, as for me, I am not going to buy doll if seller do not accept paypal, because I think paypal will give me
guarantee that my money is safe, also I am worried about legitimacy.

Other things are absolutely normal to me, I will pay big price if I like the doll I want to buy)

 

I was surprised to see most of the voting choices included a price consideration, but glad to see the comments are more broad.

Condition is the biggest factor for me. If it's in less than good condition, and you appropriately list is cheaper, I still don't want it. I spend a lot of dolls and have no personal interest in refurbishing, so I seek out items with only minimal wear.

That said, people that do refurbish and repurpose parts are amazing folk! No qualms with you guys, just ain't my talent.

 

I won't buy from the marketplace if I feel the price is too high or the seller requires me to pay for the Paypal fees/requests money be sent to friend instead of for purchased goods.

 

My "other" is that the item is badly photographed.

You see clothes listed not on a doll, or on a doll with other clothes obscuring the details. If I'm buying trousers, for example, I want to see where the waistband falls on the doll so I can judge if they're too low-slung or not. Showing a picture of them not on a doll, or with a shirt worn un-tucked over them is not going to give me that information. If I'm shopping online, I want to be able to narrow down the options as I'm doing it, not after exchanging emails with the seller asking for more details that should have been there in the first place.

If it's a dress or skirt, I want to see where the hem falls (at the knee, below the knee, above the knee etc). Is it to much to expect a picture of the dress on a doll straight-on from the front (not from slightly above so the legs are partly obscured by the skirts and it gives no idea what the level of the hem is)...?

If it's a doll, then un-posed naked shots of the doll from front sides and back so it shows the details of the body as well as the face


Teddy

 

I almost said this. I even typed it up, then deleted it, thinking maybe I sounded unreasonably judgmental. It's none of my business how someone keeps their home if I don't live there, but it does bother me when they don't bother to sell a clean doll. You don't need to clean your whole house to list an item for sale, you don't have to fully unstring and wipe the entire doll, but you could clear off a table and give the doll a fast magic eraser or soapy washcloth bath before taking photos. Paying hundreds of dollars for something covered in dark smudges, dirt and sticky spots is really upsetting.

 

Also I went to check the doll sales form and it says right underneath the place where you link pictures "Full dolls must be shown nude. Heads must be shown without wigs."

So people who aren't doing this are actually filling out their sales forms incorrectly.

 

I have a big hangup about dolls having parts that aren't quite the same color. I can see yellowing in a naked photograph and if it's uneven I consider it to be major damage. Even yellowing is expected on an older doll as long as it's disclosed but a farmer's tan is an instant nope, especially on a limited. If the doll is a hybrid/ older head on newer body or whatever, and the resin isn't a 100% match, you'd better be willing to split or I'm giving it a pass.

If a doll has a really heavy or amateur faceup that's a big nope, mainly because I think it might not be properly sealed or stained under there.

I'll pass on a doll priced higher due to a custom faceup because I'm likely going to have the doll repainted the way I want. I might make an exception for a factory faceup in good condition if I appreciate how the company originally presented the doll.

Wigs need to be photographed on a doll, or at least a link to the original company sales page so I can see what it actually looks like. I'm not going to buy it with only 1 photo of it sitting on a table like some sort of silky tribble.

 

That is a very good point!

Teddy

 

Mostly the price. I always make sure the condition on the real pic before decide to PM the seller

 

If the price isn't fair for what is being sold, I won't buy. If the going rate for a doll is twice as much as when it was first released because it is a limited edition and comes with everything, that doesn't bother me. But if there is a poorly modded doll that the seller is asking close to the same price they paid when it is readily available I'd rather wait the 3+ months for a new one. Requesting the seller to pay Paypal fees is also a huge turn-off for me, and I'll likely pass on the item. It just seems really petty, and it's a violation of PP's policies. I am seconding poor photography (including having the item/doll laying in a dirty room where there is visible trash and/or animal hair). It juts looks extremely unprofessional.

 

Communication is probably the biggest factor in my purchasing decision.
Clearly I won't purchase something that is marked too high and is in poor condition, no matter who did the faceup, and no matter how badly I want it. :P lol

But communication is the most important. As a seller or a buyer, you need to have a clear line of communication with the person you're wanting to make a sale with. I would rather someone tell me that they can only reply once every 24 hours, than not hear from them for day, or even if it is days, please say something. ^__^

I once put a doll on layway with a person here on the market place, and half way during the layaway, she told me that a family emergency came up and that would require her to be out of town for about 3 weeks. And in a sign of good faith, we both agreed that I would give her the last of the layaway when she would able to ship the doll.

In that 3 weeks, she messaged me twice to give me brief updates. She gave me that peace of mind and comfort of keeping in touch by just saying things like "I haven't forgotten about you." or "things are getting better on my end, I will message you when I get home."

And even though the process took longer than either of us expected, I didn't feel any kind of buyer's remorse, or have any ill feelings towards her, and she didn't feel the pressure of me pestering her in a time of great stress in her life. Sometimes, tings get in the way, and often people will understand if there's solid communication from both ends.
I have a lot of respect for people who go that extra mile to reach out. It really helps establish a great sense of community and in some ways, keeps the fraud transactions from happening.

 

I guess my biggest ones are crappy pictures that don't detail the item (because of course I want to know what I'm buying), lack of layaway for full dolls, or only 1-2 month layaway on a $400+ item. I don't have that kind of money, sadly - it's even worse when the item has been listed for a year already with no takers. Another is laughable prices for the item/quality ($20+shipping for unknown stringy wig!). PP fees is a personal pet peeve of mine because it's against TOS and makes the seller look pretty lame, but so many people do it I try my best to ignore it if they're selling something I really want though. It's really awful form though. Bleh.

 

I am super pedantic about buying second hand dolls.
I have only ever done a swap and although i was happy with it he needed a dam good clean x.x I like to to keep my dolls well looked after but i fear that if i were to buy a doll that person may not of taken the same care and there maybe things that were never mentioned in the sale.

Being a bit of a perfectionist to, unless i need this doll because my life depends on it, i wouldn't buy any yellowed dolls and would be reluctant to buy broken ones. Price is also a big factor. SO many dolls are over priced s: people trying to sell them for more than what they paid which is in my opinion an instant turn off. Even if the doll is no longer in production i find it makes me frown.
Every doll i've sold i have always sold it for less. If its a 2nd hand doll in my eyes its devalued even if its been looked after.

In saying all this i think it really comes down to how big my desire is for the doll

 

I myself personally simply can't stand the dirty dolls. I mean it's not a metaphor, some people are indeed selling the dolls in the very poor and (may I say so) disgusting condition - though it's probably possible to clean them, but I just feel strongly negative about such dolls, even if I do like and do want the sculpt etc. I myself wouldn't purchase such dirty doll.