What would you do if...you bought a doll that had been stolen?

Being a victim of a stolen doll (thankfully now recovered) I can speak for the gratitude victims feel when they get 'that' message saying your lost baby has been found. Everyday my Bory was gone I was reminded of the crime and it was only when he was back with me that I could finally heal and move on.

So for everyone that said they would contact the victim, THANK YOU! That message is more than just about returning property.

Having said that I would contact the owner and return the doll. I paid for shipping and gave a reward to the wonderful people that found Bory and contacted me. So I would expect that the victim in this scenario do the same, at least as far as shipping goes. This is where my reality departs from the scenario since the member and good Samaritan didn't purchase him. I would also contact the police in the seller's state and report the seller for selling stolen property worth X amount. And then try to get my money back from the seller via court.

Blaming the victim sounds crass not harsh. Not all stolen dolls are the result of poor foresight. My doll was stolen through a commissioned artist who at the time had perfect feedback, was a frequent member of DOA, attended meetups and responded immediately to her artist thread and pms. She sounds perfect right? I did everything right in researching a member I was about to entrust my doll to and I still got scammed. She ended up being a flake who, when things got backed up, decided to just drop off the map and ignore her responsibilities.

Also worth mentioning, blaming someone for being the victim of theft is just adding another level of hurt to an already battered spirit.

 

I'd contact the seller/original owner to get my money back and punish the thief/to get the doll back to its owner. I hope that it's possible that way.
If the owner didn't like the doll back (which would be great), could I just give him/her the money I got back from the thief + the money the owner wants and pay for the doll that way? ?_?

 

Like everyone has said, I'd for sure contact the original owner. From there I would proceed on a case by case basis, decided by what was best for the both of us. Involve the police? Perhaps. Would there be payment involved? Maybe.
Looking at it from the flipside, I'm not sure I'd be 100% ok with having my dolly back, knowing that the other person (who had unknowingly purchased a stolen doll) was out money and a doll as well even if the doll was mine to begin with. Both parties are victims of circumstance and the situation has to be handled as such.

 

Of course I would say something to the original owner! I couldn't possible live with a doll I new was stolen. There's absolutely no way I could not feel guilty even though I bought the doll none the wiser.
As soon as I found out I'd need to say something. Its hard to say what I'd do about the money situation but I'd definitely help the victim out until the thief agreed to give my money back and then I would happily return the doll to its rightful owner

Gosh, there must be the worst feeling ever have your own doll stolen from you. :/

 

Although it would break my heart and my wallet, a ball jointed doll can mean a lot to someone and I would regretfully return it to the original owner while trying to contact the person I bought it from and inform the police about it.

I would hope that someone would do the same for me and mine. I would be absolutely crushed if Gabriel was stolen from me. I would literally cry not because of the price I paid for him but because of the personal value he has to me.

 

Now I might be mistaken, but i always thought the worst feeling ever was the dead of a child or parent.

 

Yes, of course. But... How can I explain this, the dead of a child or a parent or even the dead of any human being in this world is with no doubt the worst feeling ever but that's something everybody knows, it's something you're born with - it's only natural that you'll grief over a person that was close to you.
When I pointed out having your own doll stolen from you was the worst feeling ever I was referring to the BJD hobby only. I'm not the world's cruelest person who puts a doll loss over a the loss of a human being. When I wrote it down I never thought my words would be misunderstood and I apologize if I offended anyone with what I said. It truly wasn't my intention.

 

I probably would be shocked that I bought something that was stolen but I would contact the original owner and make arrangements to send the doll back then I would contact the moderators and tell them the situation at hand. I don't have marketplace access yet ant I'm not sure if I want to start buying from the market place yet when I do get permission. Though I am new to the hobby, I am leery of certain things. I haven't been to any doll meets yet and I haven't taken my dolls outside anywhere. Maybe that's me being paranoid, but I have had things stolen from me before and it's no fun at all.

 

I am going to answer this as someone who actually had a doll stolen from her.

If I bought a doll that I later realized was stolen property, I would do all I can to find and contact the original owner. However, because I did pay for the doll, I would certainly try and recover my funds, hopefully with the help of the original owner, from the person who sold the doll to me. For example, I would file a PayPal claim and ask the original owner to submit a statement along with any pictures for evidence. If I bought the doll through Ebay, I would submit a similar claim. If none of those routes would yield a refund, I'd contact the police and file a report with them. Ultimately, regardless of whether I get a refund or not, I would return the doll to the rightful owner. Regardless of how much I paid, I would not feel right keeping a doll that I knew was stolen - I would not be able to enjoy her, so it would be money wasted either way.

On the flip side, if someone ever contacts me about unknowingly having bought the doll that was stolen from me, I would do all I can to help the person recover the funds paid to the seller. If the buyer would be gracious and generous enough to return my doll to me, I would compensate him/her in some way, if our joint appeals don't yield a refund from the seller, because I certainly wouldn't expect the buyer to be out his/her money AND the doll.

EDITED to add: It was mentioned earlier in the thread that the owner could be in some way to blame for a doll being stolen due to not being vigilant enough, etc. etc. Not all property is stolen due to negligence on the owner's part - to assume that is being rather judgmental. My doll was stolen from my mother's house while she had friends staying over - was she to blame for not watching every room and closet in the house 24/7 while one of the people we consider to be a friend stole my doll? Some people have very low moral and ethical standards - it's a fact of life. If you are lucky, you will find this out before becoming friendly with such people. If the person in question is a good actor/actress, you may not find out until its too late.

 

I would, in the following order:

1. Cry.

2. Try to find the original owner, and return the doll to them.

3. Find who sold me the doll and find out where they got it.

a. If they bought it in turn from someone else, explain what happened and commiserate.

b. If they stole the doll, I won't kill them, but I'll definitely give them something to think about while they're in traction for the next six months.

 

Wow this is a very tough situation. Contacting the police to conduct an investigation would probably be the number one thing to do first. Then maybe contact the owner...but when you paid a hefty amount for a doll...it would be hard to come to terms with the original owner @ @;

 

I would definatelly contact the previous owner and probably we would get this awfull situation to the right point. In my case - thats why i always buy from trusted wws and sellers.. from places where you must care about your feedback.. so in such case getting money would be a lot easier.

It is hard to imagine what would be in case of money.. i dont have much money.. and if i buy stolen doll.. for example for 1000$ or 500$.. - it is great question of honour.. if you know you will never return that money.. and you bought your first and the last doll.. its easy to write here.. it is awfull to get into that situation.. so better chose trusted places and sleep well. just thinking loudly.

 

I would first attempt to get a refund or something and help finding the owner from maybe the police?
I would return the doll as soon as I could and report the seller.
I wouldn't keep the doll. That's just downright wrong.
(But I would hope I could get a refund....)

 

I would be so upset. Partly because, with my conscience, there's no way I could keep the doll that I loved and paid money for, and partially because of how bad I would feel for the owner.

I would probably talk to my parents first, since I'm still a minor and I don't know how well I would do in the legal system all by my lonesome... Then I would contact the original owner somehow and get them to help me catch the thief. There's probably a lot of crap you'd have to go through to get justice, but I'd hope I could have my money back, the original owner could have their doll back, and the thief would be in jail, or at least in huge trouble with the law. :P

I definitely know what you mean... it's so hard to think about what you would do in such a difficult situation when you've never experienced it. All the better to be super careful with your dollies to avoid this awfulness as much as possible.

 

Tough question.

First thing I would do would most propably be a terrible temper tandrum, and after few days (aka. when I have calmed down) I would contact the previous owner and make 100% sure that they really IS the original owner (my trust in says would be pretty low at this point) IF/When the doll is really stolen I would be in contact with the original owner and plan out a way to get the doll returned to them if possible (maybe ask for half a shipping price etc.) then go after the one who sold the doll to me in first place. I'd most propably go to police with the situation too and try my all to get the money for the doll back. But even if I'm out of that money my conscious would not allow me to keep a stolen doll.

I understand there's people who would not go out on that money and all and will not start to flame them even if I do not approve their way of thinking. However in most cases the original owner are in no way responsible for their property being stolen and at least I'd do what I would like to be done to me: have the doll returned to the person it originally belonged. It might be hard if you have bonded with the doll already but I'd do it still

 

To tell the truth, I would give it back to the owner if she still shows interest in the doll. I would imagine myself in her place...what if my kyoshi gets stolen? I would cry a lot and would be so happy to find him again. I would even offer that person to buy him back and this shows if the owner is really interested in the doll. Even if the owner offers to buy him back, I'd not accept the money because I'd kind of know the pain she's been through.

As for the person who stole it, I'd do everything in my power to report them.

 

I would contact the owner absolutely. I would want the same courtesy to me. I would report the seller of the stolen item to the police, also. It occurs to me that having a doll stolen from you is a crime. I would fight to get my money back from the seller. I would not, however, expect the original owner to pay me back as it was rightly their doll.
That is why paying with Pay Pal and your CC is a good idea because you have them backing you financially.

 

Interesting topic. I haven't read through all the replies, just some. It was enlightening.

For me this isn't a tough question. I'm not a thief. If I bought a second hand doll and then found out it was actually stolen property, I would return it. I would not expect to receive a reward. I would not be angry at the victim. I would not expect anything at all from the victim (well maybe a thank you but I suspect that I'd get that no matter what). Would a reward be nice? Sure. I'm not sure I'd accept one though. The person has already been victimized. I don't want to profit on their misfortune.

The second part of course is that I would then set about trying to, hopefully, recover my funds from the seller as well as working with the victim in order to bring charges up against the seller both for the theft and for selling stolen goods.

Yes we're talking about dolls but these aren't $20 Barbies. These dolls cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. This is absolutely a matter for the police just as it would be if it was a stolen TV.

And I want to add this. I hope that if I ever had the misfortune of having one of my dolls stolen from me that the person who bought it was honest and would do the right thing as well. I know that if it was me, I'd be brokenhearted and hopefully wouldn't run into anyone wanting to extort me in order for me to get my property back.

I've certainly been the victim of theft (not of a doll) when I was younger. A so-called friend stole quite a bit from me before I caught on and stopped inviting her to my house. There were some things I, thankfully, recovered, and others I never did. I was 14 then. I'm 34 now. I still think about those stolen things and it bothers me to this day.

So would it suck to be out money? Sure it would. But that isn't the original owner's fault nor is it their problem. Hopefully I could recover my funds. If not, there's a really hard lesson to be learned about buying things online in there. That isn't to say, don't do it, but rather use caution! Of course you may still fall victim, it happens, but just remember that the person responsible for you being out money and for you being a secondary victim is the thief. And sometimes life isn't fair and we don't get our money back. The owner isn't obligated to reward us and they might not be in any position to do so. That isn't something that should be expected. The thief on the other hand is well deserving of a good punch.

 

I would take care of the legal bits, being sure that the seller/thief is in their rightful place (jail or a big ticket they would have to pay or go to Jail), and getting my money back from them before sending the dolly back to the true owner. If they love their baby enough, they would probably offer you a reward for your awesomeness.

 

I would absolutely contact the original owner. I would like to think if the same happened to me I, too, would be contacted. I think most people in this hobby are good people and would do the same. But dolls cost a lot of money so if I couldn't get my money back from the offender I would have to offer to sell the doll back to it's original owner for what I paid. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth to ask someone to pay for something that had been stolen from them but personally, I'm not in a financial position where I can count the money as lost. Unfortunately, if someone offered me the same deal, I'd probably think they were the thief. Maybe it's a no-win situation.