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

I have bought two dolls off of FB groups, and by the second purchase i had a system down.
I was actually really interested in a doll from someone, but i had a little hunch that i needed to do a bit of research. I looked the sculpt up on here and couldn't find a doll profile for any of the dolls this person had listed, which was red flag number one. Then I looked the sculpts up on Insta tags, and found the dolls there. The seller had an open profile, which is how I found out she owned recasts.
My other known boundary with buying is smoking. I don't buy from smoking homes, or anyone who says they "just don't smoke in the house". I respect smokers and have no problem with it, but I get really bad migraines from cigarette smell and can't risk anything.

 

I feel like if you hate layaway, but are trying to sell a doll that legitimately was bought/goes for a really hefty amount (most things over 650 I am like wtf if they don't want layaway) you're likely not going to get a sale (for a long time anyways) unless you add layaway. This also goes for posts that are like "i accept > 1 month layaway doll is $1200" which is respectfully kind of unreasonable in my opinion and these are the posts that sit 5ever on the marketplace that basically get grandfathered into the forum or eBay lol.

I think the best option if you are a layaway-hater is just offer a PIF (paid in full) price that's notably marked down (at least like $100 if the doll is nearing the grand range...) from a layaway price to entice people who are on the edge for buying stuff. I hardly buy on layaway anymore except for things in higher dollar ranges. BUT I've given in for items that I otherwise would not have gotten since the bait for "better price if you pay now" got me.

 

- If it's something I could easily buy from an official site, especially if it's a company or dealer who offers layaway.
- Anything over $200 that I can't do at least a short layaway on.
- I prefer sticking to US/Canada unless the seller is very reputable/a well-known faceup artist or modder or something like that.
- Blurry/stock photos that don't accurately show the product.
- Seller doesn't have a good explanation for lack of certification (keep better track of your coa people!)

Even though I browse the marketplace all the time, I only have a few dolls that are secondhand. I prefer to be able to choose the options I want myself, and I'd rather pay a bit more to get the exact doll I want on layaway from an official source than wait for the exact right head and body to show up for the right price on the market.

 

Well, the obvious thing is if the item does not interest me, I won't buy it.
Second, if it is located in a country where I know postage is insane, I have to really, really want the item to pay for the expensive shipping prices (such as Canada or Australia). Whenever possible, I try to buy within the EU. If the item offered is not clearly marked towards the original price (which you normally can research), I will avoid buying it second hand abroad. If the item is still available from the manufacturer, there is still the option to buy it new with usually a bit of a longer waittime. Exception for DollShe should I ever decide I need one.
Thirdly, I like to read a bit accross the forum the way the seller presents him- or herself. If there are obviously only sales posts, I already get a bit more careful. If there is a majority of hot discussion or negative feedback, I may back off.
Fourthly, I look very carefully at the sales post itself. If I find something is not right, I might also not bother contacting the seller. If the ad is very old (some are sitting for 3+ years), I will only contact if I really want the item. Or if the price is really good. Then I may also try to negotiate a markdown. If the seller says no, that's fine.
Bad photos (e.g. black clothes against a dark background) are also a turn off. It it is just bad angles, I will ask for better pictures. Sometimes people just start fresh, you have to give them a chance.
Such things as only Personal Payment or clearly, no international shipping, makes me skip immediately. If not splits applicable is marked, I will try to ask for the part I am interested in nevertheless. Once the seller just found somebody who was interested in the other part, so the split was no problem.
Oh, and items from a smoking household are a no for me, too.
I do not care how often the doll is preowned, as long as it is reflected by the price. I also do not care much about uneven yellowing, as this adds to the realism IMO (we are, after all, also not the same colour everywhere). I do not like very heavy faceups.
That is a lot of text, but I am really pretty flexible in certain aspects. For older dolls, there may just be no CoA, and I really do not care about boxes.

 

Lately I've had a couple run ins with finding listings that include sculpts I'm currently interested in........ but factors like a more expensive body type than I'm interested in, a fancy faceup, etc, make the listing simply out of my price range obviously this is no fault of the sellers at all haha they can't help that it's what they have and are selling. But yeah my heart breaks like dang so close because it's the sculpt I want but it's only out of my price range because of factors like higher priced body options and blushing and faceups etc. So back to lurking I must go waiting for a more basic listing to come along

 

Oh, one thing I just noticed:
Heads for sale that are just heads, that will be virtually impossible to find a color matching body. Especially when the head has a lovely faceup, so blushing the head to make an eh match with a body better isn't an option. Like... I love that head! But.... I don't want more floating heads! And with that resin, there's no way I could find a matching body : (

 

The one thing that I don’t get is the “I won’t ship internationally” option, because in the end it’s the buyer who pays the shipping fees, so the seller only has to fill out a customs declaration.
I also pass up sales because the seller refuses to split. I understand it can be more difficult to find buyers for parts but I won’t pay a large amount of money for stuff I will never use.

 

I was looking for a non-bjd doll on the second hand market. She's a bit uncommon, but still in production. The only person I could find selling one was charging more than the price for the new doll, AND she was missing her original wig, so she wasn't even a complete set!

Just... Argh! Seriously!? :/

I can understand if something is rare and no longer available. But this was not the case.

 

All of the options above have been reasons I haven't bought something! Usually it's actually multiple at a time.

But I've also refused to buy things when the seller acts shady when I inquire... I don't really care how much good feedback someone has, if they give me bad vibes I'm out. Once I asked someone about a small detail of the head they were selling and they refused to answer, to the point where I seriously questioned if they ever had the head in the first place. It was a really simple question that would be incredibly easy to answer- I couldn't come up with a good reason not to answer, and they didn't provide one.

It was a decent price, but that weird untrustworthy behavior cost them a sale.

 

Most of those! I am usually looking for good deals on 2nd hand market if not looking for something discontinued, because I can always order a new product from company for company prices, I don't want to go 2nd hand for retail price. My biggest why is linked to some companies whose retail prices have come down a lot from what they were years back but that haven't exactly discontinued so many dolls, so basically you can get the same dolls as 5 years ago but cheaper. Still there are people on the 2nd hand market trying to get back what they paid for the old doll that is now most likely mellowed and has some stains/wear. I would buy such a doll for a great deal cheaper, but not for company price.

PayPal fees are a turn off for me, too. It gives me a pressurizing feeling that the seller is quilt tripping me into paying via F&F, which I will not do. At least DoA marketplace pushes sellers to list their fees on the template, so that is a plus. On Instagram I have come across a seller who started requiring $20 fees on top of a 550 dollar doll when we already had a deal and I was already asking for their PayPal. If someone insists on adding the fees at that point, I will just think, congrats to you on ruining a half grand sale for 20 bucks, and good luck with someone else. I have worked with sales myself and to me it is very inconsiderate to start requesting more money when you have already made a sale, if you really care about selling the item. I would be more comfortable buying a little more expensive doll without the mention of fees, the same way I end up buying the more pricey product with free shipping on it. Psychology. It matters.

 

The thing that bothers me is the lack of research I’ve found some people to do. While some heads or bodies are harder to find, charging an insane amount for them seems a bit off to me. Like, unless they’re a single release with so few dolls made I’m not sure what the validity of charging an insane amount is.

 

Seller demanding the buyer pay F&F. No thank you.

Insane markups on dolls that aren't worth that much. However, I understand markups if there are extras included (clothes, wigs, eyes, extra resin parts, etc.) and the extras aren't just a $5 shirt or something.

No layaway option, or temporary hold option. Not everyone can drop a bunch of money on something too expensive in a day, especially not anymore in this economy.

A lack of pictures? No pictures at all?? I've seen a handful of people not providing photos of what they're selling, you have to DM them for the pics. Which is just... kinda sketchy imo?? Am I the only one who sees this as sketchy?

Also, no photos without clothes. I want to know if it's a body I'd like... that's the make or break deal for me.

 

I get pretty intimidated when it comes to shipping from another country in general, really! I don't exactly know why, I think it's a combination of the increased shipping costs and usually longer wait times. For an actual doll I don't mind as much, but for clothes or eyes I'd prefer something a little closer by.

And when it comes to handmade outfits or wigs I always get a little worried if they don't list the materials and just have photos. Like, the wig looks nice, sure, but I don't know what it's made of and could ruin it while trying to style it. It's something that's been in my head ever since I saw someone mention being sent a hardcap wig that latex based glue was used for without that being disclosed, and they had a latex allergy. I think about it a lot and just want to know what kind of materials the item is made from!

Finally, smoking homes. This ties in with the previous as I have an allergy to cigarette smoke, and the one time I didn't check to see if they smoked I really regretted it. Couldn't touch the doll for a good while, till I got him cleaned off and aired out.

 

To be honest my main annoyance is sellers not saying what country they are in or what currency their items are listed in.

 

The two main things for me not to buy a second hand doll is if the price has been marked way up. If I can still get the original blank doll for say $300 there is no way I am going to buy a ten year old version of this doll with a chipped face up from face-up-masters-R-us and clothing I would never put on a doll for $500. It just wont happen.

Lack of proof is another thing. It doesn't matter if I believe you or not, what really matters to me is are you sending the paperwork with the doll? If a person is only sending me a copy of the paperwork with a doll, I have to wonder how many other people also got sent a copy of the paperwork. If it's because the paperwork was lost all together, I can understand that happens, but I still will not buy the doll. I cannot prove the dolls legitimacy without it, and that is very important to me.

On the other side. Depending on the doll, I don't think that a small chip or a very yellow doll would not stop me from purchasing it, I might see it as a project that I could fix up. Parts missing or a broken hands are a no go, unless I could easily replace the hands, but joint chips aren't really a problem.

 

Let's see, as far as what will turn me off on a purchase, it's not anything odd.

Paying the PayPal fees. This is such a little thing, but it is a pet peeve of mine and it drives me nuts! You can literally just add them to your overall cost, there is no good reason to list them separately. It will not kill you to add say, $5 to your listing price. There is no reason to needless complicate things and have your buyer calculate more than the item cost + shipping.

Otherwise? I don't pay for extras like faceup and clothing. Small markup on an item I really want? Fine. Otherwise no, my doll preference is usually wildly different that it's not worth it for me to pay for extras.

Last one is whenever I see damaged dolls and I don't feel they are priced appropriately. If I have to put a significant amount of time into the doll then I'm not paying new prices. I love fixing up and cleaning dolls, but I'm not going to pay a premium to do it when I could just start from a new one for a project

 

For me it's a weighing of price vs availability, for the most part. For example, I recently bought a doll off the marketplace and technically the price difference between that secondhand doll and a pre-order from the company wasn't that big. But the doll was fairly new, in great condition, and within my country, so I could get it in days. I could have paid a bit more for a brand new one made fresh, but then I'd have to wait for it, and it wouldn't be all that different.

On the other hand, if I'm after something that's no longer available from the company, I'm probably willing to buy it at a somewhat higher price.

Of course, if I have doubts about an item's legitimacy (lack of COA, seller will not provide proof of ownership, etc.) I'll trust my gut and avoid it. And if they ask for PP fees, that's just a pet peeve of mine. Maybe it's petty but I've passed over items I actually wanted and that are no longer available just for that reason lol. Like, why not just put it into the item's price? If it matters that much to you, factor it in. "But isn't that the same thing?" It's the principle, man. The principle!

 

On Instagram I can't stand "Dm Me FoR pRiCeS!"
Goodness gracious that's such a waste of time.

 

OH yes, this! If it is not a doll I really cannot find elsewhere, I almost never bother to contact the seller when someone combines a priceless (no pun) sales post with "serious buyers only". Well, I don't know if I am serious yet, depends if you ask for 300 or 800 dollars? The "just dm me for more info" people would make a sale much faster if buying from them was easy and there would be no need to ask a dozen questions. A deal made easy is a lot bigger factor in sales than the price of the product, so why make things difficult? Why hide the price unless it has something shady in it, and why list an item for sale if you haven't decided on the price yet? Will the price depend on who's asking? Are you afraid of setting a firm price because in the end you will never get more than what you ask for, and you just want to see how much people would pay?

Yes, some people are genuinely unaware of the current value of their older dolls for example, and just don't want to make a bad deal, but still, I'm not in for that guess game. I love doing business on Instagram because it is so easy, but I also hate doing business on Instagram because it can get too easy.

 

If a seller takes a long time to reply to my initial message, I'm not going to buy from them.

Broken picture links, asking for PayPal fees and taking months to provide shipping quotes will also guarantee that I'll go elsewhere!