Why people sell?

I can totally understand why, especially considering that I'm trying to buy my first doll. I would think that, considering how expensive these dolls can be, if someone gets a doll in-hand and decides they don't like it as much as they thought they would, it makes sense (to me) to sell said doll in order to get money for a doll they *will* like.

That's my thinking anyway. Right now, I'm sorting through old collectibles of mine that I used to really enjoy, but am kind of "over". I'll sell whatever I don't feel especially connected to, then it's hello little resin people for me!

 

I've done this and don't see any problem with it nor do I have any issue buying from such a person. Not everyone in the hobby is a collector or an adult, for that matter. Some people in the hobby don't have steady incomes, either. A lot of people can't just keep buying without selling.

From my personal corner, I only have a certain amount of money I can spend in the hobby until 2011. That limit is $2,000. I've already spent $1,700. So I buy two dolls and some wigs/clothes/eyes/shoes with that money. But then I find a doll I want more, right? Well, it costs a lot more than the $300 I have available... So the only option I have is to sell the other dolls I don't like as much in favor of the ones I do absolutely want; It's really not that hard to understand.

I don't want more than 2-3 dolls nor can I afford more than that. Being an 18-year-old with no job and no allowance of any sort. I don't want to be a collector, I am not a collector; I am an enthusiast. To have a lot of dolls is not my goal in this hobby, my goal is to have two adorable little twin girls who fit the characters I have in mind for them, who I will spoil rotten then love and keep forever. The first time around, that failed. Hopefully I can be more successful with the new twins I have in mind.

Sometimes things don't go as planned. For example, the mold looks different in person than it did on the website. Or you buy an SD and later decide you like Yo-SDs better. There are a million reasons why purchases don't work out and there's nothing wrong with that. In a lot of cases, people still actually love their dolls but something has come up and they must sell them. They use the excuse of not bonding so they don't have to tell the whole sob story about how they're getting evicted and their car broke down and their dog is sick, etc. Most users find such posts to be a turn off anyways, so why not make it short and sweet? "I don't want this doll anymore, I'm selling it. PM me if you want to buy it."

 

I know in my experience, and a few of my friends who collect dolls, that sometimes its hard to bond with a doll. From a collectors point of view you may not understand. Being a collector, to me, doesn't put a piece of yourself into the doll. One may just collect for the aesthetic, but some others the dolls are much more. A physical representation of a piece of themselves.

I've gone through a number of dolls who I've 'liked' but I've not kept because i didn't feel their presence in my home was necessary. Then theres the ones i have, i want to re-shell Daphne but i'm having a hard time because i have gone through alot to get her, and to make her what she is. Same with my Lola. But the others i just didn't connect the same way as i did with those two.

As far as the money goes, thats not why i like dolls.
I've never understood people who flaunt their dolls as limited editions, probably the same way they can't understand why i don't care about their one of a kind doll.

I've put myself into making my dolls what they are. If it doesn't go the way i -feel- it should, then it's going to be a uphill battle to try and -bond- with that doll. Why fight it when you can find a different doll that may suite your interests.

 

Agree- with everything! The only thing I want to add is that from a "collector" point of view- not EVERY doll is a limited edition. I have sold 'basics' in order to obtain something limited.

 

In 2005 my cat got very sick and the vet bills were over 5K. I sold 50% of my doll collection. I was miserable, but I was happy I had that option. You don't always know the story behind why someone has to sell right away.

 

i totally agree with you! i think there are enough company pics and owner pics to see how the doll looks. and even if the doll looks SLIGHTLY different in real, why does that mean ppl suddenly dont like their doll anymore? i mean stuff looks always a bit different in real than on a picture, thats something ppl need to expect. and as long as the doll is still pretty thats totally fine with me. i dunno really what bonding is either. i mean, of course i love my dolls and im attached to them. but as long as they are pretty thats enough for me, theres no reason for them to be anything else o.o i find that "if i didnt bond with my doll within a month, i will sell it"-logic kinda stupid. usually ppl get less than what they paid for the doll if they sell it. so they continually keep throwing money away. well if thats what makes them happy <_< i once talked to a girl who wanted to sell her doll because she had teeth that didnt show on the company pics. and that kinda made me think "wtf"...to me, a doll CANT look THAT different in real that it would be reason for me to sell it. i know most ppl will hate me for this and probably think i dont deserve a doll because i dont bond with it, but i love my dolls even though i dont treat them as family-members

 

I have done this before and either I realize I no longer want the character the doll was intended to be or I need the money for other reasons. Most of the dolls I have bought have been Soom Mds and those take anywhere from 3-7 months to ship from my experience, so by the time I get the doll in hand there is a chance that I have changed my mind or something has come up. Other times I realize I dont like the sculpt and I would prefer something else.. Either way being able to sell the dolls and regain all or most of what I paid has been a real blessing and it makes it a little easier for me to hit the buy button
I noticed alot too, when you buy dolls where the company doesnt show the blank face that I run the rist of not liking them, like "oh, theyre really frowning and have upturned eyes" maybe im just weird like that though :/

 

First off, some owners buy dolls before finding Den of Angels and may have never seen an owner picture of a doll before. So they may have bought a doll purely on company marketing photos, which often are misleading. And in some cases, the dolls don't just look 'slightly' different, but completely different. Do a search for the Debate thread on company marketing photos that are purposely misleading; I saw 12 people who said the doll they received looked nothing like the doll on the website and showed example pictures for people to see. When you get a doll in the mail that looks almost nothing like the doll on the site because it was so heavily edited, that can make you not like a doll anymore. Even if it's not that drastic, having a down-played pointy nose or something can seriously ruin the doll for someone who thought the nose looked more 'cute little button-y'.

And regarding people reselling dolls often and 'throwing away money' - They're throwing away more money if they just have this doll sitting in it's box/on a shelf rotting they don't want. If you really don't want something anymore, even if you take a lose, it's worth it to get something out of it. And in a lot of cases you'll still suddenly have a good couple hundred dollars back in your bank and the experience to have learned from.

 

For some people, they have to have a sense of connection with the doll to keep it, or what they thought the doll looked like on the company photos turn out to be completely different from the vision in their head once they see it in person (person to doll? hah).
Also I'm sure someone already mention financial problems may come up unexpectedly and they need the money fast.
I haven't done this (just got my first head recently and I see no future in me selling him *knockonwood) but I have no problem with buying from people who are selling. If anything it's a great opportunity to get a limited doll one might've missed out on the ordering period before or lacked the funds at the time.
Also when I buy I prefer to NOT have a novel/life story about why someone's selling a doll unless it's a listing of damage or mods.

 

A picture may be a thousand words but sometimes there is no way to truly know something til you hold it in your hand.

I liked a doll. I saw her at a meetup. And realised that the photos actually made her look better. Company photos can sometimes be a scam. The dolls look better in pictures than they do IRL, some companies not all, and clearly not most. It's just an example.

Some people may have thought they liked girl dolls but may have mostly collected boy dolls, got a girl, and just didn't seem to bring her out all that often. This is a good example of "bonding" with a doll. It's a doll you tend to leave and not touch. I think sometimes when ppl notice this then they decide it's time to sell.

Then other times people order dolls and realise they don't like the size of the doll. Or they sell the doll b/c some unexpected financial hardship suddenly comes up.

I think the possibilities are endless. Yeah sometimes i wonder too why someone is selling a doll after a week or so after getting one. I personally think that's too soon to give up on a doll unless it is something you have to give up b/c you need the $$$.

 

@Mello "i totally agree with you! i think there are enough company pics and owner pics to see how the doll looks. and even if the doll looks SLIGHTLY different in real, why does that mean ppl suddenly dont like their doll anymore? i mean stuff looks always a bit different in real than on a picture, thats something ppl need to expect. and as long as the doll is still pretty thats totally fine with me."

^Actually it does make a HUGE difference for some people if the doll is different from the promotional pictures. I used to really love Dream of Doll's aesthetic when I first saw their promo pictures. When I became a member of DoA and saw owner pictures, I did not like DoD dolls at all [I don't mean to pick on them, their style just wasn't for me]. Luckily I did not BUY a DoD, but if I did, I would have sold it. If you don't like the doll, you don't like it. :/ Shouldn't force yourself to love something that didn't meet your expectations. It's a blessing if a doll company releases blank pictures of their molds, but many popular companies do not release blank photos. Even if you are a member of DoA, some companies are not well known that you can even see owner photos. So no, sometimes there aren't enough good clear photos to make a clear decision.


"i dunno really what bonding is either. i mean, of course i love my dolls and im attached to them. but as long as they are pretty thats enough for me, theres no reason for them to be anything else o.o i find that "if i didnt bond with my doll within a month, i will sell it"-logic kinda stupid. usually ppl get less than what they paid for the doll if they sell it. so they continually keep throwing money away. well if thats what makes them happy"

Actually when you stop to think about it, if I buy "X" doll for $500, and when it arrives I completely hate it; It's MORE of a waste to let an expensive doll just sit there untouched, rather than me, selling the doll slightly discounted and recover maybe $420 and try for a different mold again. I've had dolls that I'll admit were very gorgeous molds, but the didn't fit with my collection. Just because a doll is very pretty and that might work for YOU, that doesn't mean it will work for everyone else. People buy dolls for different reasons, not just because we think it's pretty.

"<_< i once talked to a girl who wanted to sell her doll because she had teeth that didnt show on the company pics. and that kinda made me think "wtf"...to me, a doll CANT look THAT different in real that it would be reason for me to sell it. i know most ppl will hate me for this and probably think i dont deserve a doll because i dont bond with it, but i love my dolls even though i dont treat them as family-members "

So what? She doesn't like teeth. I hate really pointy "anime looking" noses. If company photos are blurry, or photoshopped to hell and back and mask these features [we all know companies that have done this], I don't blame anyone for being disappointed with getting something they weren't expecting. I don't believe you DON'T deserve a doll because you don't treat them like family/real people/etc etc. Welcome to the club, I don't either. However I think it is pretty ignorant to assume that a person's logic is "stupid" for selling a doll just because they will lose a little money [which is their money to spend btw] in comparison to the waste of having a $500 sit around. Or that we should all just be merry and happy that a doll is "pretty" and that should be enough. If I spend $500, I damn well am going to spend it on something I LOVE. If for whatever reason the doll just doesn't work out for me, I'm not going to hang onto it, simple as that.

 

Even with owner pictures (which are often impossible when it comes to limiteds since the dolls don't ship until the order period is long over or the edition has sold out), it really is hard to tell sometimes what a doll will be like in person- there was a particular doll that I really liked from photos, including owner photos I'd seen on DoA. Someone happened to have that doll at a meetup I went to and... in person it did nothing for me and I realized I really didn't like the proportions of its face somehow, even though I'd liked it in photos. I've also had a couple of dolls that I never paid much mind to on DoA that made a huge impression on me when I saw them in person at meetups. No matter how many photos you look at, it's hard to accurately depict a 3 dimensional object in a 2 dimensional medium. There can also be other factors that are hard to pick up on in photos- like the texture of the resin or posing quirks, uneven eyewells that make eye placement difficult, yellowing or discoloration issues, etc. Some of these things are easy to find out about on DoA, others less so (especially if the doll in question is a new release or simply unpopular with no or few owners on DoA).

But really, there are all sorts of reasons. Some people decide they don't like a certain size only after having one in their posession, some people buy a boy/girl/anthro/whatever only to find they don't enjoy that sex or type of doll much, some people may simply look at their dolls and decide they have too many, or may have a one-in-one-out policy. I don't think it's wrong or strange unless they're scalping (buying limiteds with the sole intent of reselling them for a much higher price) or have a constant sream of dolls in and out (which might be due to a shopping addiction or simply putting little thought into doll purchases).

 

AGREED so much on the DOD thing (I did the same too to a Volks doll ), I feel for one of DOD's dolls looking at just the company pictures but then I came here and saw some owner pictures and promptly changed my mind.

 

Exactly! To me the question is not "why buy such an expensive doll only to turn around and sell it a month or so later"
but "why buy such an expensive doll and keep it if doesn't seem perfect to you?"
This hobby is very detail oriented and those small details can make a huge difference if they are not what you expected.
One in particular (my 1st I ever sold) that even though I had the perfect wig/eyes/etc for him, was so anxious for him to arrive, once he was home and all together I didn't feel like I needed him. He didn't look as cool and awesome and fit in w/ my other dolls as I thought he would from the pics and I knew very quickly that he wasn't for me.

Sometimes too people just grow out of liking a certain doll or a certain kind of doll (my most common scenario) and feel it's time to move on.
I can own and love a doll for years and then one day I just feel that certain things bother me or something else would be more suiting for my collection or I need to downsize my collection and that doll is the one making it feel too big. Or whatever, that I just don't need him or her anymore. I don't feel bad about it.

I enjoy this thread
to all the dolls i've loved before ...
I go back to read through it sometimes when I think about dolls I've sold.
A lot of people give their reasons. It reminds my of my reasons for selling the ones I've sold too.

 

This. A thousand times this.


I buy and sell all the time. I currently own 15 dolls, and have sold at least that many, probably more. The reason is simple: I am impulsive, and I am also picky. The two don't always get along.

As such, I've found out there are a lot of dolls out there that I LOVE, and that are perfect to look at, but that, when I own the same sculpt for myself, aren't for me. Euclase is one of those dolls. I love everyone's pictures of him. But then I bought him for myself, and he just didn't work for me. His nose was too thin. His lips were too thick. I didn't feel the magic when I looked at him that I felt whenever I look at a photo of him. I sold him, and still love to look at pictures of everyone else's. I don't see the flaws in the photos that I saw every time I looked at my own. So it's very possible to be completely in love with a sculpt, but have it not be for you.

If I see a doll and I have spare funds, I buy the doll. If I change my mind three days later (and I have changed my mind before the doll has even gotten to me) I sell the doll. If I open the box and realize there is something about the sculpt I hadn't anticipated (the "teeth" example mentioned above is one of them, it is such a personal pet peeve of mine), I sell the doll. I am the type of person who can tell instantly whether something is going to work for me or not. I don't have to "give it time." If the doll doesn't work straight out of the box, it's gone. Period.

At the end of the day my dolls aren't children or family members or living things or sentient beings. They are things. Expensive things, but things nonetheless. And things that usually have a resell value on par with their purchase price (shipping excluded). If I buy a doll and get it home and it isn't perfect for me, I'm going to sell it. To me, the bigger waste is getting something home that you don't love, and having it sit around collecting dust out of guilt.

I guess this is going to make me sound flkaey and shallow to a lot of people, but I don't really care. Through my buying and selling practices, I have found the dolls that work best for me, and that I love dearly. A tthe end of the day, that's all that matters.

 

I actually find the answer might also be as simple as the fact that most people can't see their dolls in person, to touch and hold, before they buy. Buying online has a high turnover simply because with the beautiful professional photography on most doll sites you might not really know what you're getting until it arrives.

Kinda the worst element of the hobby imho--but then it gives newbies like us opportunities to purchase many awesome dolls on the marketplace

 

Exactly *because* it's expensive! Why have a $$$ doll that you aren't 100% over-the-moon for? I can't afford to just toss it back in its box and say "Oh well, better luck next time!"

Raven

 

This is why using the Feedback Forum is so important! You should always see what other people have had to say about buying from someone you're considering doing business with. If, after reading page after page of glowing feedback from happy new doll owners, you still feel like it's a scam, then it's probably best for all involved that you don't go through with the transaction.