What was the highest price you ever paid for a doll?

If you do it, will you always look at the head from then on with a sour feeling in your stomach about how much you shelled out? will you be reminded of a feeling of having been had and having been fleeced too much ?

Then what if this would sour you on the head entirely eventually -- and you 'd want to sell it again... and couldn't get even half of what you paid for it yourself?

How long will the face make you very happy, knowing that you shelled out for it likely way, way too much...

What if your tastes change in a year and you will start liking a whole different style of doll?

I personally would wait a week or two, or three, or four, and consider all my feelings carefully. Likely no one else would buy it at that price so you could likely safely take a good while to really consider if this is what you should do.

 

That was $2000 I think.Just because It is limited and has a wonderful makeup...so the second-hand price was really high.

 

Current highest price I've paid for a blank doll is ~$800 ... and even that hurt to hand over. I think 2.5k is a little absurd for just a head, plus with the associated costs of getting a body/clothes/faceup etc. the doll would inevitably end up aeound 3k ... even if you did pay it, would you ever feel comfortable even taking it out of the box when it was worth that much? rip

 

My doll costs $800 with the costumes. He is not limited, and the sculpt isn't popular. He came blank and nude. But I am a happy one doll person. I am not plan to buy another doll, untill I find a girl I really like.

 

I have my own limits: no more than 1 000 $; but there is usual ad spends on ad staffs for dolls...

 

no one should ever charge that huge amount for a head. i know exactly which dolls you mean they are from distant memory. the dolls are very limited and people make use out of this unfortanaly. i think 2000 for a full doll would be okay. the highest amount i have ever spend was 850 dollars for an sd boy.

 

The most I've paid straight-up for a doll was about $820. That's not counting the order to swap out his head, the additional parts I wanted for him, or anything related to aesthetic work for him, that's just the blank, nude doll with its original parts. My average limit is around $400-ish and I prefer to stick closer to $300-ish (very realistic when most of your dolls are minis and smaller), so he was an exceptional case that I don't regret one bit.

 

The most I ever paid for a full doll was $1500 dollars (Volks SwD Lucas), to give you an idea. My own financial situation doesn't really effect how much I'm willing to spend, since it's always possible to save up. I'm lucky that I really enjoy saving and that I'm good at it, which sure comes in handy with the tiny income I'm used to. What does matter to me is how much I like the sculpt, how often it comes up on the marketplace, and what it sells for on average.

For instance, I've wanted a Volks Williams since 2007. He usually sold for about $2500/$3000, but he came up quite frequently, so I took a chance and waited for a good deal. I got one. It just took me a few years.
Total opposite is my Kanon Lui. I've been searching for him since I started in this hobby 15 years ago and I've only found him in the marketplace ONCE. The person who sold hers was the only one I knew who owned a Lui. For this sculpt, my absolute grail and ridiculously rare, I would've considered any offer a reasonable one (regardless if I would be able to afford him at that time or not ).

 

My second doll was around $210, I just got him, and that's the most expensive one I've gotten. He was secondhand, though, and the cost of him from the official store is about $320+ with shipping and the wig he came with.

I just bought $45 worth of clothes for him, though, and plan on spending a decent amount on a new face-up to fit the horror mori boy aesthetic that I'm going for. ^^;

 

For my 40th birthday I got a FCS SDGr boy from Japan thanks to a shopping agent and I paid $1400+ for him, first and last time I will ever pay that much for a resin doll ever again, that is nothing to a couple of years ago when I got a full body silicone baby with a drink and wet system, that set me back $1900+, won't do that again either!!

 

I purchased a full set doll chateau Vincent recently and what I paid for him (around $650) is probably the most I’d ever be comfortable spending and even then that’s a lot! All my other dolls were $300 or less second hand

 

The most I've spent was about $400ish for my Loongsoul Qing. I just purchased him via layaway almost a month ago. However, still need to buy him clothes.

 

I think like $350 for Zara (Soom Rosette Fir). But I mostly collect antique dolls, so that’s not actually the most I’ve spent on any doll, ever. Usually I get them damaged and fix them, so it’s more affordable, but last year I saved up for months before a convention and bought a really rare doll for like $2,200.

Which is to say, if a single modern BJD head cost the same as an all-original Victorian doll...I’d have some reservations, personally.

 

Maybe it's really shocking for other people when hearing about $2500 for just a BJD's head, but it's not my case.
I don't know about the head you intend to buy so I can't give you the best advice, but in the case of Volks, it's sometimes so expensive.
For example:
* The head of Volks SD17B Williams Romantic Glance Ver. could be as high as 300000~330000 JPY, or about 2780~3060 USD (and I believe you can't buy the fullset of him with a price below 400000 JPY at this time)
* The head of Volks SD13 Suigintou is around 2500~2800 USD though I didn't see her floating around the market recently
* In case of Volks SD Shinku, I can't give you the price of the head only as I saw her be sold in fullset only, but I estimate the price should be 4000 USD as the fullset usually around 4500~5000 USD
It's not the highest price for a BJD I saw so far, so I think the price of BJD might rely on the rarity, the willing of seller, and the willing of buyer.
2500 USD is a high price or not, it depends on what you intend to buy...

 

I think my most expensive doll is maybe $600-700. I hybrid a lot of my dolls and watch the secondhand market a lot, so I've been lucky. That, and all of my grails have been sculpts that were rare, but not necessarily expensive (~$250/head) or sought out.

I'd be willing to pay $1200-1500 for a limited fullset, but I don't think I could justify much higher to myself. In my experience in the hobby, most limited dolls seem to have re-releases, or eventually depreciate in value for the most part. I'm just lucky I never fell for any of the Volks Rozen Maiden girls!

 

$800 give or take but it was the motif venitu and I will never spend that much money again. My average range is 500-600 but they have been fullsets and grails. 2500 for just the head seems too high.

 

I wouldn't be able to spend $2.5k on a head alone. That's way too much, even for a grail doll The most I've ever paid is $1.5 for my Tensiya Bermann back in 2006, and while I'd love to own an Original Tanned Bermann, I wouldn't pay over $2k for him either...

 

I’m new to all of this, so I’ll just follow the thread to learn. But from the little I’ve learned so far, $2,500 for the head alone seems too high.

 

The highest I ever paid for a doll was 900$ excluding shipping/customs for my DearSD Coco. I've never regretted paying that much for her since this has been the only time I've seen this specific doll pop up on the aftermarket. I'm well aware that she was originally sold for 65000 Yen by the company but buying her in the aftermarket is the only way for me to own her since Volks doesn't even sell the DearSD girls online. You have to go so far as to attend one of their physical events to be able to win the lottery just so you can buy this doll.

But she came with her full set outfit + eyes + wig + shoes, she has a professional face up by Volks and no one had ever taken her out of the box before me, it was like opening a completely new doll. She's everything I hoped her to be and since the 14 months that I've got her, she's remained my most favorite doll by far. So I'm very happy that I took the plunge and paid so much money for her.

I don't really feel like I can add anything to this discussion that hasn't already been said, tbh. But personally, I couldn't enjoy a single head that would cost a lot of money, I'd be too afraid to even touch it. And I'm quite sure that I'd always look at it and feel remorse for overspending sooo much just for a blank head^^

 

The highest I've paid so far is 780 something for a new doll straight from the company. One is blank and one is Fullset and I either saved up for a long time or did layaway. Even 1000 might be too rich for my blood.
Should my own treasured grail come up second hand I think I'd be willing to pay 800 for him and that was about his retail price.