When someone buys your doll just to resell it at a higher price...

Thats pretty sad. I've only had one doll but if someone else had her just to turn around and sell her would break my heart.

 

Sounds pretty sh*tty in my opinion. Like you said: They bought the doll and are the new owner so they can, and are allowed, to sell it but it still leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Especially when you had to part from a doll you really liked.

There's people for everything, some only wanting to make profit.

 

There are people who make tons of money by shopping in thrift stores for good items and reselling them for a higher price on eBay. I know it's easy to feel attached to these dolls, but honestly if someone immediately resold a doll I sold them, I'd feel about the same as if it were a pair of shoes. Possibly just annoyed that they got more money out of it so I clearly missed an opportunity.

If it makes you feel any better, perhaps now the doll will be sold to someone who actually appreciates it!

 

From a logical standpoint, I think it's permissible and they aren't doing any wrong. They did purchase an item and ownership rights. If they want to resell it for a higher cost immediately vs later, that's within their right.

From a personal standpoint, I would probably be very annoyed. Probably mostly at the fact that they might get more profit from the transaction than I did. But if I had been attached to the doll, I'd be upset because when I sold them the doll, I made myself slightly vulnerable to them because they now held something I cared about and sold it away so easily.

But feelings aside, if you can convince yourself that in the end it's just a doll, it's easier to get over the negative feelings. And like the above said, maybe that was just a necessary step in finding a better owner.

 

I feel the way you do about it. I think that probably everyone who loves a doll feels that way. I really like to think they will go to someone who truly cares for the doll. But there is no way we can control that - so I have sort-of gotten over it. I havd had people buy from me who just had to have a doll I had. Even they have sold them after less than 6 months.

We all collect differently.

It is just hard to watch sometimes.

 

For me, it depends on the situation. Once I'm ready to sell a doll, I really just want it gone. I have no attachment left to it. I'll list it at what I find to be a reasonable price, and don't negotiate lower than I'm willing to accept for it. I don't often keep up with what the new owner does with it, and it doesn't matter to me if they keep it, sell it, give it away---I got what I wanted out of it, it's time to move on. I can't feel cheated if the person paid what I was asking.

The only time I would be upset would be if someone tried convincing me to go much cheaper or trade for something I didn't really want because I was selling their grail or a doll they really really wanted. If I agreed just to help that person out as a friend, then they turned around and sold it for more immediately, I would be pretty upset. It's one thing to find a bargain and make some money, but it's entirely different to beg someone to lower their price, lie to get it cheaper, then sell it for more.

 

What a great question! I feel like my answer will apply to dolls, and almost anything else that I have had to sell or will sell in the future.

I don't think anyone likes selling things that they care about. Most of the time we sell things, because we need the money, not because we want things gone. Sure some people do sell things to get rid of them, but for the most part, people part ways with their belongings when they are in a financial bind. If I sold something to someone and found out that they sold it to someone else right away, I would be upset. When you sell something in a 'hobby like setting' you think that your item(s) are going to people who will cherish them. To see those people sell your item(s) almost right after getting them is pretty rough. You ask yourself why... It's really tough.

 

I would probably feel a little upset, If it was doll that I had been attached to.
Sometimes it is necessary to sell dolls and parts, but I do get taken a little back when my buyer tells me that they are going to mod it for a project or something.
It takes a bit of time to get over it.

 

That's really sad ...sorry to hear ..

 

I know I would probably be pretty annoyed. I always like the thought of selling to people who will really use and love the item in a way I didn't, and I know if they instead bought to resell I would be totally upset.
So sorry that happened.

 

Oh man that is a tough one.

First I am very sorry to hear you had to part with your doll. That can't be easy and you certainly seem to still care for what happens to her.

As for what they did I sadly have to agree there is nothing technically wrong with it. Also, as we don't know entirely why the doll was sold again so quickly, there might be other things at play.

Perhaps once your doll, who you loved dearly, arrived the new owner was not able to bond with her and decided to send her on her way. It would have been nice to try to take some more time to try to bond but maybe they just knew it wasn't a fit. Selling her for a higher price is a little annoying but they certainly can't be blamed for wanting to get a good price. If you had not been in as bad of situation (you wouldn't have sold your beloved doll anyway) you might have been able to get a better price for her as well.

Then again the new owner might have just been after a nice doll at a cheap price like you said. Again there isn't any reason why they shouldn't do this from a legal standpoint. They don't really know you or your situation and your bond with the doll, even if you put a paragraph on the listing about it. They saw an opportunity to pounce of a great deal and make some money in the process. The fact that it puts you out isn't their fault per say. Its probably not the person's intent to buy beloved dolls just to sell them off while cackling over their growing pile of cash. But it still hurts. It hurts because it feels like you have been taken advantage of as well as feeling that the doll that you love is not going to be cared for.

Its rather like someone going to a pawn shop. You might have to take a beloved locket or family pocket watch to the shop because you are desperate for money. The shop owner can buy it from you for a lower price then they plan to sell it and, if you manage to get the funds together in time, you are able to buy it back yourself at that higher price. Does this take advantage of people in need? Oh yes. Is it a nasty thing to have happen? You bet. The shop keeper doesn't see a beloved family heirloom, they see a watch that is worth x amount to them.

I personally would not resell a doll so quickly. Every doll that comes into my house is home for good as far as I am concerned. Though I feel your pain deeply and would be hurt if this happened to me, I have to grudgingly admit that the person is within their rights. Would I sell to this person a second time? Certainly not. It maybe their right to sell their new doll but it is also my right to remember and keep what is important to me from falling into the hands of someone who does not see it the same way.

The silver lining in this (as some people have pointed out) is that the doll will now probably end up with someone who will love them very much. Sadly this owner didn't find her when you were selling her or they would have gotten a better price for the doll and you would have had a less traumatic experience during what was already a difficult time. But hopefully your girl will end up back here on DoA, filling the threads with pictures of her happy new home.

 

Yeah, ditto what she said. It'll /eventually/ reach someone who will appreciate it. I would so stalk their auction. XD this does kinda make me not want to bother selling things discount to people I haven't talked to personally though. Argh, be the change you want to see in the world. Be the nice guy...

 

It would annoy me a little, to be honest... But not for any "My dolly deserves better!" sort-of reason. To me, dolls are just objects. They don't get to have opinions.

No, what irks me is the way people seem determined to hustle each other given any opportunity. The whole all-about-the-benjamins bit just gets OLD. Maybe I'm showing some kind of privilege here by finding the buyer's mercenary tendencies annoying... I don't have to market-hustle to make a living so maybe I have no right to judge... but I'm not going to deny that I do.

 

You know, if I find out that someone sold a pair of SHOES I gave them to make a profit I'd get annoyed. I've always disliked the swarms of people who throng garage sales before they even open, trying to con little old ladies & unknowing people out of valuable stuff. I've witnessed it first hand, and in fact a friend of mine & I used to make it a point to go to these sales and tell people what stuff actually was worth. Annoyed some dealers no end.
Now if I sold one of my dolls and the buyer turned around & put it up at a higher price I do think my reaction would be 'good luck buddy' cause my pricing would try to take into account the market. Has the original poster's doll been resold? Or just put up for sale? Cause THAT makes a difference I think!

 

It is the buyer's prerogative to do whatever they want, so I don't pry into what the buyer does with it. If I found they sold it for higher I would consider it a lesson learned to myself or otherwise not even sweat it (if I wanted to sell it for higher money I would have been more patient about it).

I personally have not intentionally bought a BJD online just to try to flip it for money because it takes too much time, effort and risk. I have committed to buying BJDs then changed my mind, or split off the parts that I want to keep.

 

I had an acquaintance for a while who monetized everything. She was always so desperate for money it was sad. She just could not see anything in her life as something that was not for sale and even her so called friends she was into using them all the time to make money. I never did really succeed in making a real friend out of her. When she wanted to pick my brains she'd call me. But if I just wanted to chat or have lunch or something she was always too busy marketing whatever.

She outright lied to me I found out several times about things just to get my sympathy and to continue to keep me around so she could get stuff out of me I didn't want that she could sell. We used to swap a lot of doll stuff and I knew a lot more than she did about it so I gave her a lot free advice for quite a while. She would give me a few small dolls or piece of clothing once in a while. More often she would swap me for stuff, but she got a lot more out of me in terms of my knowledge than I ever got out of her. I didn't care. I was trying to be a friend.

The end for me came one when I called her up because someone in my park wanted to do a doll themed birthday party and needed to buy some stuff. This woman was prepared to spend several hundred dollars on toys as party favors for the kids. So I called this woman I knew up and I said "How are you?" and I started to chat for a few seconds about normal stuff. She could not have cut me off faster or more rudely if she had tried. I hadn't gotten to the point of my call yet. She just assumed I wanted to call and chat for 10 minutes like I sometimes did about doll stuff. She couldn't be bothered because she didn't need anything out of me at that moment apparently. So she just cut me off and pretty much hung up on me. She had not gotten much by way of new stuff out of me for a while so I guess she figured that as source of stuff to sell I wasn't being as useful of late so why be polite to me.

I was like "Okay." and I called another buddy of mine who also sold out at the flea markets and asked her if she wanted the business. She said "Yes, please!" and after she and the woman from my park worked it all out she bought me lunch to say "Thanks!" She ended up making like $500 from that party. To this day this woman and I are doll buddies and actual friends, albeit casual ones. We go out for lunch every now and again. We swap stuff. We have actual fun.

The first woman she works at the same flea market and she gets word at some point that I've helped woman #2 make a bunch of money and she gets pissed that it wasn't her. I haven't heard from her in easily 3 months at this point but she calls up and demands to know why I didn't call about that party. I promptly told her that I had, but that she was too busy to event talk to me for 10 mins and had basically hung up on me. She asked me rather crossly "Well, why didn't you call me back then and tell what it was you actually called about?" She fully expected me to to chase her and make her take the info for some business when she rudely cut me off. I was both flabbergasted and amused at her sheer audacity.

I said "Well, if you're going to cut people off and only talk to them when they can make money for you you can't expect them to be your friend and to want to help you." She hemmed and hawed and tried to excuse her rudeness but I was finally done with it, and her. I told her I wasn't going to be there to be her font of dolly information anymore. That I didn't want to swap with her anymore. That I was done. She says "Fine" and hangs up but the next weekend I'm talking to Doll Lady #2 and I find out that she said some of the most vile stuff about me. Lied point blank, played the victim, for anyone who would listen out there. Doll Lady #2 got wind and she went confronted her as I understand it she did a good job of defending me and telling her off. But that's the kind of person the first woman was.

So long as as she was making money off you she was nice to you. Once that stopped you were her worst enemy and she would lie like crazy just make herself sound like a victim so everyone would sympathize. She did that with me and this other lady out there, told me a bunch of lies about this woman was trying to run her out of business. None of it was true and in fact I got the word straight from someone in the office there that SHE had caused a lot of trouble for that woman who was actually there first and had done nothing to her except sell used dolls there as well.

Getting back to the point of the thread at one point I gave her a really nice fashion doll because she had admired her so much and didn't have a doll of that type in her own personal collection. This was not a cheap doll. She knew that this doll was a gift and I told her "Please don't sell this. Please just keep it and enjoy it." The very next week I am on Ebay and I'm checking out her listings and guess what there is my doll, the one she supposedly coveted so bad up for sale. That did not make me feel good about her. It was at that point that I started seeing her as a bit too mercenary and it wasn't too much longer before I stopped swapping with her much and all this drama with the party and that occurred.

I find it very hard to sell dolls. Always have. But if I do and someone legitimately doesn't like it upon receipt I will take the doll back. Or they can re-sell it as they wish. I am fully aware that some people buy dolls just to flip them. I have done it a few times myself. It's a way of making some money to buy dolls I do want, but those are not BJD's. BJD's they're so different to me. They are invested with so much personal value that unless they are totally blank and new to me that I would find it very hard I think to just watch someone flip a doll that I had worked very hard on. They would have a perfect right to. Once the doll is out of my possession it's not really my doll anymore and they are entitled to change it or sell it as they like. They bought it. Making more $$$ out of it than I did might smart but that's retail and that's how it works. Obviously if they can they're a better sales person than I am, whatever.

I watched this woman flip a doll I really loved and that I gave her as a gesture of friendship. I will never do it again. I will never give a doll to someone unless I know they will keep it, love it and take care of it. Buying a doll is one thing. Promptly giving away a gift a doll that she supposedly admired and deeply wanted? That was totally another. The first I can deal with. Not bonding happens. Flipping happens, but someone immediately selling a gift that's a lot harder for me. I have to be fair though.I've bought BJD dolls only to totally change them up. I'm sure for a lot of former owners that's hard to see. That's the reality of BJD's though. People change them all the time and they change their minds a lot too. I mean look in the market. You can see many dolls on there that were formerly introduced to us via owner posts where the owner raved about them upon first glance. Six months later same doll is put up for sale.

"I need the money. We're not bonding as well as I'd hoped. Concept is just not working out on this doll and I need to re-shell. There's this other doll that I just want more." Don't we hear this all the time? BJD folks they can be awfully fickle, laugh. So while it may make me squirm a bit I can't call out the flippers. It just would not be fair...

 

My opinion is that it's a pretty piece of art and not a pet or a child. It doesn't care if the person who buys it sells it, has tea parties with it and refers to it as Mrs Nesbit, or smashes it into dust. I've sold dolls before and I have no idea what happened to them and while it might be interesting to see what a new owner did with the same doll, it's not important. These dolls are very lifelike so we can't help but anthropomorphize them to a certain degree but just remember that it's not real and it wont care. I would just advise not to sell things you assign a high sentimental value to and trust a stranger to hold it as sacred as you would. For example, someone sells their grandmother's wedding ring hoping that it will be cherished but it is just melted down for the gold.

 

I would prefer a doll to go to someone who loves him or her. But once we sell it is totally out our control. And as said, if resold, the doll still may end up with someone who appreciates him or her. I hope.

Sometimes we have to do it, resell after a purchase, and if that is ever the case I contact the person I got the doll from and say I love her and that is why I got her, but the car broke down, or whatever, and explain why I have to go ahead and rehome someone.

And it is up to us when sellers to decide the fair prices for what we sell. If folks are immediately selling at higher prices then the first sales price was probably too low or the person reselling is asking way too much and the doll may or may not sell at that price.

 

People buying things to resell to make a profit is pretty common, but flipping a doll that someone has put a lot of time and love into is not cool. Sorry if that sounds awkward, but that's the phrasing that came to mind.

I sold half a dozen off-topic dolls I liked a lot to have money to buy two BJDs who I adore. The only BJD I've sold was a sleeping faceplate that came with a fullset doll I ordered from the company. It wasn't something I was going to use, so I really don't care what the buyer did with it. I want to avoid selling the ones who I've put time and love into.