What was the biggest mistake you ever made in the hobby?

Biggest mistake (in hindsight) was bidding on a non L.E doll on ebay in my noob years.
The seller had moved him from the marketplace here to there for whatever reason. I did get him, but at a high price.
And this doll was also an impulse buy. I kinda disliked the sculpt when he finally arrived... so yeah not the greatest move ever.

 

I bought a 'practice head' not realising that it was a recast as opposed to a damaged legit head. >_< It fortunately wasn't too expensive but I still cringe to think that I was so stupid.

 

making a trade with someone that had no feedback and knowone knew whom she was...getting a bad body..also sending an item before a trade was finalized...never got a trade back.NEVER AGEIN

 

My biggest mistake was ordering Sato FCS instead of going after Luna in the Volks lottery when she was released. I've regretted that decision for years.

 

Thinking I could just "gently remove" an eyelash. It ended up ruining the face up and I had to send it back out to be redone - so I paid twice.

 

Don't even ask lol...

second biggest mistake was selling a doll on layaway and not making the down payment non refundable.

 

There's an easier way - just balance your doll on the back deck railing, step back to take a photo and watch her do a header off the second-floor deck into a six-foot-deep pile of snow. Amazingly, the only damage when I dug her out was that she no longer had eyelashes.

 

Gotta say my biggest mistake is my MSD dolls, too. I don't feel like making clothes for them cause they're a bit too small. I enjoy making clothes, taking pictures, and playing with my SDs more...

 

Lol @ LadyMadrigal

I would say my biggest mistake was my first doll purchase.... see this thread for info.

In hindsight obviously I should have asked more questions before purchasing....but I was a 100% fresh noob (still am!) and really had no idea that such a thing could happen.

My other biggest mistake was not doing an unbox video for my FeePle 65 Chloe. The back half of the head came broken. (I did take photos.) Also I didn't contact Fairyland about it right away (it was Christmastime and I was busy.) So now I'm stuck with a broken head piece that I need to repair, and if I ever want to sell her, she is damaged. Lesson learned.

 

I've made a couple of mistakes, they aren't super major and are really just more annoying than anything else, I guess in a way I'm interpreting "mistake" to basically mean "if-you-were-to-start-again-what-would-you-do-differently" as well as generally messing up.

I feel like maybe I shouldn't have bought my second doll before I finished up my first one, I have no money to finish them off and had I just got one at a time I'd have one completed doll rather than two incomplete dolls Dx you live and you learn though, no more dolls for me until these two are finished and when I'm buying the third I'll try to make sure I can actually get the doll finished within a reasonable time frame. My two sat around naked and bald for a whole year and Bryn (formally known as Cato, not sure if that name is sticking either though) still hasn't got anything that is actually right for his character. I didn't think about the possibility of winding up unemployed when I bought them >_< At the very least I should've waited until I had my Dollshe boy in my hands so I could better imagine how they'd look together.

Then neither of my two turned out to be who I thought they'd be so now I have two dolls that aren't connected to one another who have characters with no real stories and that isn't what I had anticipated. Not sure if it's the fact that they have no stories or what but something still feels off. This is because I didn't do enough planning before I got them, I think. I did a ton of research on the dolls and such (although I found that I don't like the size difference in person was okay in owner photos though), but the story they were supposed to belong to I ended up dropping because I just wasn't inspired by it or gelling with it at all and the characters went with it, my girl kept her name but got a totally different personality and I love her to bits (on the fence whether I'll ever buy her friends since there's no real story, we shall see), but while my Dollshe Bernard holds a special place in my heart and I adore the doll I still feel like something is off with his character, so that sucks. I'd also say that a contributing factor to this is that I had to move somewhat quickly on both of my dolls, had there been no time constraints this mightn't have happened.

TL;DR
1. I didn't organise my funds properly and jumped into the second doll too quickly, leaving me with two incomplete dolls over two years after their arrival.
2. I didn't think through my doll's stories and characters enough and now I have two dolls with no stories and no connection to one another one with a character I like and the other one I'm somewhat lost with.

 

Biggest, hugest, most idiotic mistake? Not buying the Shinsengumi Bermann from Tensiya in 2005 while I had the chance.

 

My biggest mistake was buying a doll I wasn't totally in love with. It was my first doll, and I bought her because she was affordable and I was impatient to get into the hobby. She's an RS Mei and she IS an adorable doll, but I got her in white skin because it was in stock at DDE. I think I would love her more if she were natural skin tone. Now that I have more dolls, I have realized I don't like the white skin. I keep changing my mind about keeping her or not.

 

For a long time I felt like I made a mistake in entering a giveaway for my Dollstown Mari. She's a seven year old body but is the same height as my two other dolls who are 25 and 20 respectively.

I put her away for a long while. Just pulled her out the other day with a last ditch idea since no one was buying her and I ended up loving her more. So there's a happy ending ;v;

 

I can't really think of any mistakes that I've made in this hobby, I do a lot of research before I buy something so things have always fit and been exactly what I thought it would be or better.
I guess not buying certain outfits or asking sellers if they'd be willing to split something that I really wanted and have not seen come up for sale again would be my mistake.
Oh and not checking seller feedback when buying things from the marketplace, nothing has ever gone wrong thankfully but it's only after I order that I think to check the feedback threads ^^;

 

One thing I am learning is "if it doesn't fit a doll, don't buy it" stylistically. Sometimes I see an outfit and buy it because I like it or it's cheaper price wise--and then realize I hate it on the dolls I have. XD I also once got a body in pink skin and realized the head was closer to yellow. It turned out all right though because I was going to have his face up redone and the person also could resin match! (One of my newer girls has a slight resin mismatch on a Miro body with a Luts head, but the face up is too beautiful to take off, and it's a reason I got her. I may have some body blushing done on her just because it's a fantastic body, which could also help diminish the difference.)

 

My biggest mistake? Buying MSC UV-cut gloss. I sprayed my whole doll in it, thinking it was matte. NEWP.

Went to my first doll meet ever, totally ashamed, toting around a RS Yao who looked like someone lubed her up. Someone was restringing her for me and lifted the doll in the air and shouted, "WHY IS THIS DOLL GREASY?" So embarrassing. The lesson here is to read what's on the can before you buy it. The gloss is great for hooves and swords and things but not for a whole doll.

 

Any open credit card and too much enthusiasm ...
BUT, that said, I love what I have!

 

I bought a pair of elf ears for my MSD F-13 and, while trying to insert them into her ear holes, broke one of the stems while it was inside her head. I had no way to get the stem out, so I just stuck the ear on with a dot of white glue. Luckily I have no plans to change her ears or sell her, but I still can't believe I was so stupid.

I have also made two impulse purchases, both tinies, that I rarely do anything with, and yet I can't seem to pull the trigger and sell them. Darn them for being so cute.

 

- Leaving a doll in a room containing a toddler and a pot of acrylic paint Xx Thank goodness he didn't at the time have a faceup and that acrylic paint comes off resin!
- Actually listening to some of the bull that some other doll owners were saying. One group of doll owners I used to meet up with had a couple of members who liked telling people what others should do with their own dolls, and if it wasn't to their tastes, they would try and drive that doll owner out unless the doll conformed to their ideas. It caused me to dislike one of my own dolls to such the point of selling him (I have him back now, though now a sleeping eye version of the same head instead of open eye) and drove me away from the hobby for a time. Back to it now and not letting others dictate what I do with my own dolls.
- Letting an in-country dealer bully me out of something I wanted for my doll, and now they refuse to reply to me. They owe me a lot of money and a wig + outfit for my doll, but after three years they still refuse to give me a reply. I am unsure on how to work that one out though ><

 

Looking back? Getting my first doll in WS instead of pink skin. He has turned into a lovely creamy white now, so he is pretty and all that, but suppose I were to order him again, I'd choose pink... Even very pale-skinned people don't look creamy white, and though I have ordered more WS dolls after him, it is perfect for them but not for him. I wouldn't sell and reshell him because of it though. He was my very first doll and he is what he is; he won't ever leave me .

I have become more careful with doll sizes, too, as I have learnt I am really bad at estimating just how small or how large a doll will turn out to be. I have a small MSD I oughtn't to have bought because he turned ou to be far too small for his character. I have reshelled him as an SD, but somehow I can't let go of the MSD. I have been struggling with him ever since. Sometimes I think I ought to sell him, but I am very bad at giving up on dolls.