What to answer when people ask about the cost of your doll...?

I'm generally pretty honest about most things, so when people ask, I tell them honestly. I'm hesitant to tell my dad about things like this purely because I have to deal with him on a fairly regular basis and because he is related to me, he feels justified in telling me how I should be spending my money. Everyone else, I don't really care, they can think what they want. Everyone has hobbies and while they might think it's stupid to spend so much on a doll, we are all entitled to spend our money on whatever we choose, whether it's dolls or cars or clothes or games or whatever else. If it makes us happy, they should be happy for us. Of course, you don't have to tell anyone what you spend on your dolls if you don't want to or if it makes you uncomfortable, it's no one's business how you spend your money.

 

I once was posing a doll in a park and a fisherman came over and was eyeballing it. He was very impressed with the articulation and the tiny props, and was really wowed when I said that I had painted the doll's face and made all the props. He though I could probably sell it for $50! He wasn't being an ass, he was giving me a compliment, and I took it as such. A middle aged guy thinking a doll is cool enough that someone might want to pay $50 for it is a pretty big one, too IMO.

So it depends. And that's usually my answer "It depends." I tell them a basic small doll without a wig or painted face goes for around $35 (like off topic Hujoo). Depending on the size, the material, and how elaborate the doll is with clothes, accessories, and individually hand painted/sculpted detail, it can get up to over $1000. If people want me to be more specific, I give them the company name and tell them to go look at their website.

It's pretty much the same conversation I have when someone starts getting googley eyed at my fountain pens. You can get a decent one that will last you a life time for under $20... or you can get a Montblanc!

 

My first BJD was delivered yesterday afternoon and of course, I posted pictures on instagram.
I started receiving messages about the cost of her. Since my instagram profile wasn't BJD related before, it seemed odd for people to ask this.
Although it isn't their business, I tell them the approximate price (just like you did).
My friends at school think they are creepy so I keep the price to myself.
I even had to hide the price from my family because they would've choked due to the fact that they know nothing about BJDs.

 

I may or may not tell them. What I'm thinking is "More than what you paid to customize your truck, but less than the dental work you need."

 

Well I'm kinda new to this hobby myself and I my family is pretty conservative so if asked by my in-laws or family I respond that I won her in a give-away so they won't hassle me about spending money, since I have been hassled for getting a 15$ haircut by these people before so I have learned early that nothing ever costs what it costs, it's always less. With other people I luckily haven't encountered that question yet. I'm terrified of confrontation so I don't know how well I would do with people judging me about it. I think if they weren't doll people I would just lie and say she was cheaper than she was unless they are showing actual interest. I'm pretty up-front about how much she's worth though so I don't know how I would answer if some random person came up and asked me about it. I think I would most likely decline to answer as it is none of their concern how much she cost specifically. However if they wanted a general idea out of interest about BJDs I think I would then offer them some information about pricing but not get into specifics about how much I spent on her.

 

First it's a bit rude people to ask how much your doll cost but if the question occurs you let them know reasonably how much you paid for it. For me it's It's the same way many people spend ridiculous amounts of money on purses or high-end shoes or clothing it's all relative to the person's hobby. My previous husband would spend hundreds of dollars on model airplanes and wouldn't even flinch at the price.

 

So I was at an anime convention a couple of weeks ago, dressed to the nines in lolita and carrying around my SD. We were almost a matched pair, it was kind of nice, but yannow, between lolita & a BJD it was not a cheap getup. My friends and I are sitting in the line for main events, chatting about this and that, when suddenly the kid (though, honestly, I use kid but he was probably in his twenties) pipes up with the ever welcome 'how much did you spend on that doll?'

It was a little strange, but I answered honestly (if vaguely) - 300ish. The kid, which I should have expected, acted like this was the most ridiculous thing EVER in the world, and when we pointed out that honestly, that's on the cheaper side for BJDs, his response was 'he'd never spent more than $12 on a doll.' Just absolutely rude. Frankly, if I hadn't hadd my staff badge visible, I probably would have gone off on him, it was just that rude and out of the blue. But like... I understand it can seem strange to some people to spend that much, but some people actually don't mind spending money on hobbies.