Why are most Dollfie Dreams more expensive than resin BJDs?

Dollfie dreams are mainly licenced characters. This means that there are fees to obtain rights to make anything related to the characters if they are making for profit. This is why they usually cannot shell too many rin numbers sometimes, as licencing is expensive when it involves corporates. Not only that, but DDs also are fullsets including clothes, and those clothes, being character based can have intricate details.

You should also note Volks make them, and they are known to be pricey. keeping also the fact they are not made outside of Japan where material costs are also not cheap.

In short, licencing and clothing detail is the reason they are costly.

 

Usually because they are sold as limitied editions. Its the supply/demand curve that pushes their prices through the roof ^.^

 

Also, might I add, Dollfie Dreams are not more expensive than fullset character Volks resins. They are usually less, and in some cases, like the new Yukinojo on a Gou body, a lot less.

 

Volks items are usually more expensive than other companies. If compare DD with their BJDs, DDs are actually cheaper than their resin dolls if bought directly from them. DDs are only expensive if bought in the secondary market. They are produced in limited number while there are usually higher demand, thus leading them to increase in price.

 

Jeanne is right. If you buy a Dollfie Dream from parts, the base body is about $240 and the head is $40. That's a lot cheaper than most resin SDs. The bummer is that you only have a few heads to choose from, and there are not default faceups. Or you could get one of the two default sets for somewhere between $400-$500, I can't remember. And the limited fullsets are usually about $600 (unless they come with extras like armor or instruments, in which case they are more). That's actually a lower-range price for a fullset SD.

However, if you try to get a Dollfie Dream fullset secondhand? Forget it. Expect to pay at least twice the initial cost, due to low supply and high demand. It can be really frustrating.

 

On the second hand market: A few of the DD models such as all of the Fate series girls really and White Album go for a lot on the market. They're older so a lot more rare, people tend to exploit this. However, they can be cheaper if you get a newermodel such as Sakuya then she'll be closer to her original price (obviously more because people want to make a profit). As well as this, the less popular girls tend to go for a little less, Mari from Eva averages around $650 now.

Brand new from Volks: It's Volks...They're going to cost a lot more anyway. But some of them come with more than just the basic doll, eyes, clothes etc. The Saber's for instance come with swords and armour. Bumping up production costs a lot, so they are priced higher initially. Saber Lily in particular because of the sheer amount of things she comes with. Her retail price was close to 100,000 yen ($2500+ now on the second market). Maybe over including postage and tax. But Volks do sell standard models at less than 50,000 yen so they're not all super expensive. Also, you can build a doll from parts which will cost less, however you do have to buy clothes and probably commission a faceup so it would probably balance out in the end.

Another factor is the body of the doll. DD and MDD with the version II -or I in the case of MDD- body will generally sell for less because of the newer versions of the bodies that have been released recently. People generally place older items at lower value, unless it's like vintage or antique.

Hope that helped.