Why people sell?

hmmm the way i see it as someone
who has kept dolls for years
has sold over enough dolls for the same time
i just enjoy photographing the doll fixing it or painting and sewing and letting it go. for me its honestly not the i dont like the scuplt i dont like the face more so. what can i do with this one or that one. i use to own 9 dolls totalling about over 3000 that really wasnt including all the doll parts and things i had for them.
the way i see it is i enjoyed them to their fullest i didnt feel the need to keep nor did i see myself spending the money as i made just as much painting and sewing for them my doll money was in fact just that doll money. and yes i had lights on a home food in my stomache friends and family. lol
so maybe it just the feeling of having a doll. or a feeling of taking photos and admiring it and loving it. doesnt really mean someone totally hates it or it didnt equal up. that and other things might come in play for someone.
in the end i think it all has to do person to person mines in the enjoyment of taking photographs and tending to as many dolls as i personally can thats my enjoyment ^^

 

Extactly.

For me, the main reason for selling a new doll is if it just dosen't impress me as much as it did in the photos, or if it's too big (limited space in my house). I'd much rather pass it along quickly to someone else who wants the same doll, before it has a chance to become damaged/yellowed or forgotten in storage.

For example, I was saving for one of the Soom MDs, until I saw the doll in person and realized exactly how big they were; they're lovely, but I really didn't have the space for that one! @_@

Alternately; I wasn't terribly interested in some dolls until I saw them in person. It goes both ways.

 

When it comes to pictures...there really is only so much they can do XD Having a doll irl really is a make or break situation. You'll either click with it or you won't.

There was this shiwoo that my friend was thinking about selling for quite a while. I had seen dozens pictures of him and I always thought he was cute, but was hesitant to get him for almost a year and a half. But I finally got to hold him in my hands one day and it was LOVE LOVE LOVE. I own him now (birthday present to me~) and I don't think would have bought him if I had never met him irl!

Okay...so this is kinda backwards from the "why to sell?" theme but I thought it was relevant to the whole "doll you see vs. doll you hold" phenomena. >_>

 

I remember the first doll I ever DESPERATELY wanted - I was 7 and it was over 100.00 (it was sort of an american girls type doll before they had american girls dolls - I'm that old LOL) I threw a tantrum because my mom wouldn't buy her for me, and then proceeded try cry for about 2 hours about it. About 6 months later, I got the exact doll for christmas... And I think I played with her for an hour total. I just didn't like her the way I had when I first saw her.
Then, when I was about 9, I saw a barbie-sized doll in a magazine that I thought was just SO beautiful! I couldn't stop looking at her picture, so I saved my allowance for MONTHS for her (she was 50.00, a Gone With The Wind doll, which I'd never seen) and my mom finally ordered her for me. I waited and waited and waited, and when she arrived, she was NOTHING like her picture and I remember getting SO MAD at how UGLY she was!

In both these cases, had they been BJDs and it had been now, I could have sold them and gotten something I really loved. Back then, we didn't have the internet... Hell, we didn't even have a computer.
My point is: Pictures can be deceiving, and even first impressions can be misleading. Even if you save forever (or so it seems) and order that doll you just adore, when it arrives it might not be everything you expect. Instead of just sucking it up, we have the option to sell it to someone who really will love it.

Oh and amelonbread: your icon is WIN!

 

You must not be a doll owner for a long to ask these kind of questions. Or you had been lucky and been loving all dolls you bought so far. Wait, I just read that you have 1.

Mind you, we cannot return the dolls we buy. We do not get to see them until we have paid for it. Once that is done, you are basically stuck with your purchase. Sometimes we keep things for awhile and then realize it's not really for us. Sometimes at first glance we immediately know it's not what we want.

Heck, people sometimes even return clothes they have tried on AT　ＴＨＥ　ＳＴＯＲＥ where it looked fine to the at them time, but later once they get home they realize they made the wrong choice. What other reasons do you really need for explanation?

Some people call it bonding because these dolls to them are more than just a doll. There's also an emotional connection. So if they do not 'feel' it, they don't keep the doll. It has nothing to do with being a collector, or not.

 

Mm, I basically agree with what Izam just said.

Why does anyone sell anything they already bought then? What's the point of eBay? Any second-hand store? Consignment shops? This can be applied to anything. Even if it's just to collect - I'd think you'd (and I use this "you" in a general sense) be collecting because you genuinely liked the item, and if you didn't like it and sold it - I highly doubt it would merit someone deriding you as "stupid" for not wanting to keep an item you didn't like.

We spend a ridiculous amount of money on our dolls - and it's our money. So what we do with what we spent our money on, is our own business.

You bond with some dolls. You don't with others. Maybe you do like one doll, but with your budget, you can't afford to keep it, if you'd like another. Maybe it doesn't fulfill your expectations. Maybe you get tired of the sculpt, or your tastes evolve. This is the way of any collection. Collecting isn't just about collecting things - it's about gathering items that have genuine meaning to you. If you don't like what you've bought - that is totally your decision to sell it. There will probably be someone who wants it more, and wouldn't it be better for the doll to be in a home where it will actually be appreciated, instead of in a place where it would be considered a waste of money?

 

There are plenty of reasons someone might decide to sell...

I've always understood 'not bonding' as being a flowery way of saying a doll arrived and it either didn't work out for what you planned or that you just didn't like it when it arrived, which happens, since sometimes a doll can look different once it's in your hands. I've had that happen myself, Cass for example, I still love the soom pictures of her but once I had her I just didn't like her at all, needless to say she hit the market place pretty promptly.

Someone's financial situation can also change which might require selling a doll or two to cover other costs, I've not been unlucky enough to have this happen yet myself but as sad as I would be to see them go if I had to sell a doll to cover other bills I certainly would. I'd rather be able to eat then have a pretty doll to look at.

Another reason could be that someone needs to make room for another doll or they want the money to buy one they want more, this is my usual reason for selling, I try to keep my collection below a certain number because of space considerations so if a new doll comes out that I want I weigh up if there's one I like less and if so I'll sell. I've also sold to raise the funds for another doll... I think all of the above are pretty understandable and obvious reasons to be honest.

 

Speaking as someone who has never sold a BJD, but has sold on a few fashion dolls (very few of the very many)...

...not everyone is a collector. I am, personally, but when it comes down to it, there are a lot more factors involved than 'adding another one on to the pile' or trying to turn something around for maximum profit. Profit really hasn't entered in to any of the fashion dolls I sold. One in particular, a very small convention edition Tyler (I think there were maybe 20 of her? She was a table prize from the 2nd Paris convention.) I know I could have gotten a small fortune for, but sold her on to get money for a trip, because she did nothing but sit in her box, only opened to glance at once, in all the time I owned her. What good was she doing me? Zip. Zilch. Nada. The money, on the other hand, was all the spending money I had for a trip overseas. (And again, it wasn't much.) Way more useful to me -- and I'm sure whoever owns her now, many years later, appreciates her far more than I did.

Why did I get it in the first place? Well, when you have the chance to get one of twenty of something on the spot, expect to like it a lot, and can? Me, I tend to. Turns out I liked the basic edition of the doll they did for everyone at the convention more than that one when I really looked at it for a while. I still have that one.

Given the same circumstances, and a BJD? I'd make the same decisions without batting an eyelash.

The least expensive of my dolls was still over $500. If I hated her when she showed up, you can bet your buns I would have sold her -- same goes for the ones over $1k. If I spend that much money and don't like what I see, I am certainly going to want to recoup that loss in some form, be it by trading the doll or selling it on.

Most of my dolls are limiteds, so seeing owner pics before buying is absolutely not an option in almost every case. Since prices do tend to rise, I'd rather pay retail when it's available knowing I can probably get my money back if I choose to resell than possibly pay an inflated -- sometimes highly inflated -- price on the same item later on the secondary market. Again, this is a matter NOT needlessly wasting money, and I suspect there are quite a few people who feel the same.

No, I don't feel nervous about buying from someone who has done this. That would mean not wanting to buy anything secondhand, period. I haven't bought a BJD this way, but have bought sold out fashion dolls this way without any concern at all. (Once I work through the list of BJDs I can order new and direct that I want, some time next century, this may happen... )

 

There's many reasons people sell dolls. Not being able to bond is a big reason. I think most of the people in this hobby use the dolls as personal characters, and sometimes it just doesn't feel right.
I myself had a stunning doll I had been craving for for years, but once I got her, she turned out to be too big for me to handle, and she wasn't the character she was supposed to be.
I hated how she just sat there and got no love and I figured someone else might be way happier with her than I was.
I've done this with quite a few dolls. They didn't suit me, and so I sold them. I'm not really a collector where "moar is bettur", I want to use these dolls in stories (unwritten lol) and photo's, and if something about them bugs me, I can't bond with them.
So no matter how stunning or perfect a doll is, I need to have a click with them, and I thik the majority of people in this hobby have the same problem.

 

i've never sold dolls, only clothes...

i bought often second-hand
the first time the previous owner told me that she really loved her (it was her first) but she wasn't doing anything with her and didn't even want to buy her new clothes
and also she wanted to buy another doll and she needed to find money...

its sad if you love a doll but you don't know what to do with it, especially if the years keep passing by (she's from 2004)

for my narsha i'm actually her third owner
the first one is a person that ofted sell her dolls, i think she said she wasn't happy with the size.. she found out she didn't like tinies apparently
the second owner was selling out all his mini dolls because he wanted to buy an hound
poor thing, was always a matter of size for her...

my woosoo was very new, i think she said it was with her for a week or so
in fact when i got her she still smelled of sealant, meaning it really was new
actually, i can't remember why she wanted to sell her ^^'' maybe she wasn't bonding


for now i don't really want to sell
maybe i could try with my tiniest tiny (my brownie) because i'm feeling she's really too small for me, i can't even crochet for her its so difficult...
but brownies don't cost much and its probably not worth it ^^''

 

In the more than four years I've been into dolls now, I've sold 3 dolls..the first I did bond with, but I felt the mold didn't do it for the character and I wanted to upgrade him. The doll I bought to upgrade him with was also sold because I couldn't bond with him and I missed the old doll. So, that was just bad judgement on my part! The third doll I was very happy with at first, but over time she couldn't keep my interest and I thought she looked too young and sweet for what I wanted. I also disliked how her body posed, so she just sat there. I feel that a doll should bring me joy, because that's why I get them. If I'm not having fun with the doll and I don't feel like that's going to change anytime soon, I sell it. I mean..yes, I could force myself to play with the doll and buy and make things for it and hope that magically that click will come, but I have little free time and I'd rather spend it playing with the dolls I do like. So I sell dolls that I don't bond with, their new owners are happy with them and I'm happy because I get to buy something I like better ^_^ Parts of the money of two of those dolls I sold went towards the Zaoll Muse and Luv I have now, and I like them a lot more. I do regret selling the other one, but such is life.

 

well for the most part i don't think i have to justify my doll selling (or buying) to anyoone, but for the purposes of the conversation ... the way i see it the dolls i have are there for my pleasure - if my pleasure decreases what's the point of keeping them? as expensive paper-weights? i rarely turn over dolls quickly - though it does happen occasionally when a sculpt is misrepresented (in the case of a CH limited Jr. Sarang the only photos of her were company photos since nobody else on DOA had her and they didn't take photos of her from any angle that would make her look wall-eyed ... and she was VERY wall-eyed! so i sold her the day after i got her after taking proper photos showing both her good and bad side, so to speak), or if a doll just for whatever reason dissappoints me past the point that i think she won't grow on me or it's not a "fixable" issue (like the first Dollndoll dark elf leaf body which was HIDEOUSLY unposeable - which wouldn't matter to some people but did matter to me).

for me doll ownership is very fluid. Though there are maybe 3 dolls that i'm very attached to - to the point that i WILL NOT sell them under almost any circumstances - the rest are outlets for my creativity and that can ebb and flow. Sometimes i play with them a lot, sometimes less. Sometimes a doll inspires me to do things with it, sometimes that inspiration drains away. I try and give them time to see how they will do but i'm a decision maker and if i come to the decision that a doll needs to go it gets listed, i don't worry and ruminate and angst about selling it like some sort of dollfie "Hamlet". to sell or not to sell? that is the question. weather tis nobler in the mind to deal with wonky knees, walleyes and pitted resin .... and something about slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ... well you get the point ...

 

I think the bottom line is that if you are spending hundreds on a doll, you better darn well like it. Sometimes dolls look different, pose lousy, of just have something 'off' about them that was impossible to tell from photos. Other times, your tastes change, and so you lose interest in that particular style of doll. Sometimes you buy something on impulse and you decide, I just don't like this doll enough and the $400 back in my pocket is worth more than keeping the doll to me. The latter two reasons happened to me. My first doll looked good at first, but I was new to the hobby, and later on I realized there were much better looking dolls. I also purchased a Cheshire on semi-impulse and later decided I'd rather get the $ back for him than keep him since I didn't see myself using him enough.

A lot of people purchase BJDs that have a certain appealing look to them. Everyone's tastes are different - I find some dolls unattractive while others think they are beautiful, and vice versa. Sometimes, you get a doll in hand and realize its not as appealing to your tastes as you thought it would be. At that point its pretty hard to "bond" with the doll because you keep looking at it with a bit of distaste, and it makes complete sense to sell it and try again.

If you are collecting for reasons like "this one has hooves and I thought that was cool" or "I just wanted a complete set of these" etc... then the details may not be as important to you, but most people do purchase dolls for more specific reasons. There are a lot of dolls I LOVE the look of, but would never consider purchasing because they don't suit the reasons I buy these dolls, and I would never be happy with them.

 

I can't afford to have all the dolls I want all at once, so sometimes if I see a limited or a second hand doll I adore then another that hasn't been played with/photographed much will go to pay for the new one. I don't really 'bond' with my dolls (as they are dolls not people to me) but there are some I would avoid selling right now.

 

I agree with what a lot of people have already said...it's expensive, so why keep it if it isn't to your liking...the fact that a LOT of people in this hobby aren't necessarily collectors, but use BJD as a creative outlet, or the embodiment of characters etc. and don't share a collectors mindset.

There is a lot to be said about the try before you buy element as well. Not just how a doll looks, but how it moves. I've never had much of a problem telling what a sculpt would look like sans company face-up, but how the jointing will move/pose? That's a different story! I've gotten a couple of dolls that while they were every bit as beautiful as the company pics said they would be, were so difficult to move/pose, or so poorly engineered, that it took a bit of the enjoyment out of it for me. It's sometihng no company pic can tell you and that you can only really gauge when holding/moving them for the first time.

 

Why people sell?
I don't know why the other collectors sell, but I know why I sell and it mostly is due to the lack on money and my endless will to own dolls that hit me on the head from the computer screen ^^
I don't think being a collector means you must be stuck with dolls you buy, anyway, but it depends on your personal view.

My personal view is that I am looking to own only dolls that I totally love in person. There are certain kind of dolls that I adored in photos but, having them in person, I disliked so much than I sold them. I had no "bond" with them, if we wish to use the therm that is so loved by doll collectors (I would translate it with "I don't like it").
I was forced to sell some dolls that I loved too, to buy new ones, just cause I don't have endless money and I am always eager to see new sculpts and new forms.
I think I would keep them all, I just need to be millionaire :P

 

why do you guys feel offended? i merely stated my own opinion. i wasnt talking about anyone specific. funny how ppl can feel so easily offended, but thats what i expected ^^

 

Totally agree with everything you have stated above Izam

Why we sell these dolls is within our own right for it is our own money and we don't need to state a reason
to sell our property just to make other people feel better about buying, unless it's broken or has flaws that need to be stated.
Maybe you'll understand this better once you own more than one doll or have been into this hobby much longer plus I think
most reasons have already been said haha.

Sabriell

 

I think part of the reason why the first few replys especially were like this is because this was originally posted this in the debate area...which tends to get rather...heated.

 

Some people canrelatively fast (one they have it ther in person, rather than form photos etc.) if they're going to settle to liking a doll. Some (like me) try keeping them for longer in the hopes that initial reaction was off, somehow, and they will "bond" witht he doll given time.

I've also had dolls a while before realizing that they really aren't for me (little things I was prepared to overlook in that "new-doll" excitement turn out to irritate me more and more the longer I have them, for example), or I realize that, appart from changing their clothes every so often, I don't actually do anything with them.... and that's just a waste of money spent on them and space they take up that could be given over to a doll that I do bond with and play with.

Having said that, several years after buying the doll that made me realize white-skin is not right for me, I still have her.

I find it hard to part with dolls once I have them and unless a sale falls into my lap, I'm terrible about actually getting around to selling... in this case, the doll became an experiment piece, has now been dyed royal blue ,and is in the process of rejoining my resin family (as soon as I can get a faceup to show up on such a vivid blue skintone).

Teddy