Why people sell?

I got my Makoto (elfdoll Mir) from a buyer who said she "couldn't bond" (i fell in love the moment I saw him, and fall in love every time I look at him) and "He's not getting along with my girls."

THe second comment seems really odd to me, because every time I take him anywhere, there are girls/women all saying how gorgeous he is. When I take him to a doll meet, he's always ending up posing with other people's girls and flirting like crazy. (We joke that prior owner's girls were all FIGHTING over him... )

So much of the doll's personality it the owner's expectation, but I'm surprised by how big a softy my "tough guy" turned out to be. But the more I develop a concept of his personality, I LIKE the surprises... I LOVE the idea of the tough guy who turns to mush at the smile of a cute girl.


re: trying on clothes at the store, and then seeing them at home and returning them...
SOME stores (i can't swear to this in court or anything) seem to have magical mirrors in the changing rooms... I look wonderful in everything.

Then I go home, put on the outfit and look like a houseboat or a freighter, rather than a slim 17 year old. (I'm 47 so yeah, reality gap!)

THe trendier the store, the more likely I am to feel fooled by the mirrors in the fitting rooms... Target & Kohls, not so much...

 

I find it can be very difficult to tell how a doll actually looks even from owner photos, and it's downright impossible in official photos. Of the four dolls I bought without seeing owner photos, I've sold three because the way they looked in real life was not the way I had hoped they would look. Two of those dolls also just didn't look good with the other dolls I owned -- they looked out of proportion next to my existing collection. All of these decisions were made within two weeks of getting the doll. I pretty much knew immediately they weren't for me when I took them out of the box, but gave them a week or two anyway to see if they grew on me, and they didn't.

I'd have no hesitation buying a doll from someone who'd bought it only to discover that sculpt wasn't for them. When you're spending $300+ on a luxury item that you can resell and recoup most if not all of the cost, why on earth would you keep it if you discovered it wasn't quite what you wanted? Buying dolls from someone who got them and then immediately decided they didn't like them as much as they thought can be a good way to save on shipping and/or cut down the wait. It can also be a good way to acquire limiteds -- the only reason I bought the three aforementioned dolls was that they were limited, so I didn't have the option of waiting for owner photos unless I wanted to risk inflated aftermarket prices, and all three were sold for pretty near to what I paid.

 

Some people are just compulsive. Or maybe it wasn't as they envisioned. Some people may have plans for the dolls they buy, but when they finally see it in person, they find that they just can't make the doll fit the vision. At least in this hobby, if you can't find a use for the doll, you can get money back by selling the doll to someone who will love it.

 

Well, I once thought like you do. Then I bought a doll and had exactly this issue. I kept it for maybe 8 months and I got zero joy from having it around. Yes, her face was just as beautiful as the site pictures and all the owner pictures I looked at. But I hated her jointing system. She was an awful poser and she could not stand at all. Her feet looked lumpy and square when compared to my Mini fee ShuShu and it drove me nuts. I also discovered that for some mysterious reason her resin was difficult to paint! It was like her resin lacked tooth and I could not apply the pastels evenly. All this added up to me deciding to part with her and use the money to buy another doll I am much happier with.

I don't think that pictures can tell the whole story. For me the big problem was the little details AND the way it felt to work with her. I would not call that "failed bonding" either. Like you I don't see them as family members For me it was just not the type of doll I was looking for so why not sell it to someone who will love it more than me?

 

I have a couple dolls on sale now, for similarly vague reasons. The bottom line is that I don't like them as much as the dolls I'm NOT selling, and, like others have said, I see no reason to keep a $500 doll that isn't just perfect for me. The thing that has disappointed me the most is stuff you don't see in photos: joint movement abilities/disabilities and scale. I bought several heads that are lovely sculpts, but are either too large or too small.

One of the dolls I have for sale was an impulse buy--the price was too good to pass up, super sale and a freebie item I wanted. I always planned that if I didn't just love the doll, I'd sell her. And... I didn't just love her (again: someone else will love her, there's nothing WRONG with her, she's just got eyes a bit too big, nose a bit too pointy, bust a bit too cartoony, and leg movement not the way I like it), so she's for sale.

 

Having just recently sold my LTF Shiwoo; I can definitely say that he was a bit of impluse of mine. When I got my LTF Shiwoo, his mold was just released as there was no way to tell. No owner pics, just company flash pics. A lot of the limited or new dolls are like that, and those actually the ones that show up on the market just after they are released. I can't completely blame someone for buying a doll and then seeing what the mold actually looks like. Sometimes it's a bit implusive, but with limits you sort of have to be. Although my Shiwoo wasn't limited, the timing was during the Juri event, so I had like barely a month to decided. I took a gamble, and it didn't pay off. It happens.

As for the bonding thing, I didn't completely understand it until I had a doll that I didn't bond with. When I bought my Megi, I adored him right from the beginning. I didn't with my Shiwoo. I thought maybe it was the face, the hair, the eyes, the clothes. I changed them all. I had him for an entire year trying to find his character. I thought well maybe it's because the first doll is my first doll and therefore special. Then I bought my Volks Myu. That was even more of an impulse, because I had the money and she was good price. Even with all the muck and damage and age she had, I fell in love with her 6 seconds I had her out of the box. I wasn't even sure the mold would work, but then I saw her, and knew it would. At that point, I realized that I didn't bond with my Shiwoo and probably wouldn't. It wasn't just the size issue, or clothes, but I still felt like I was playing with an action figure over doll. *shrugs*

So yes, sometimes you don't bond, and sometimes the mold doesn't work no matter how much you've seen the photos, and sometimes the doll just isn't for you.

 

I don't understand how people can buy a doll, find out that they don't like it and keep it when there is someone out there who would be happy to have that doll.

I went through a Pullip phase when I first got into the doll collecting hobby, I bought a whole bunch of them only to find out that I didn't like playing with them at all. I began to neglect them and pretty soon they were stuffed into a box in the back of my closet.
Frankly, I'd rather see people selling their dolls then letting them collect dust.

 

Agreed! Shame and waste of the works of art so many of them are.
I think the buying and selling actually is good for the hobby. It keeps it flowing and exciting! The original poster herself even says she has been "living" in the MP part of the forum ever since getting access

I personally consider it normal to wax and wane in tastes and preferences. To me it is the most logical part of this VERY COSTLY hobby to let go of some of the old, or some of the "misses" to welcome in the "hits" and the new.
Stagnation serves nothing in any area of life, IMHO

 

Like pretty much everyone has said, sometimes it's hard to really know what a doll looks like in person. Company photos are touched up, and usually only taken from the best angles. There may not be a good variety of owner pictures available, and not all of them may look nice due in part to what the owner had done with the doll. I personally like to see two things when I'm searching for dolls. Completely blank sculpts, and a picture with a human in it for better size reference. Because no matter how many times I pull out my measuring tape and figure out exactly how tall a doll is, I'm always surprised by just how big it is when I see it in person.
But I usually find it very hard to find such pictures.

I also agree with the sentiment that keeping an expensive doll you don't like, is more wasteful than not selling it.


And People can be a lot flakier than buying a doll and realizing it was a mistake. People frequently buy things like dogs, which are far more expensive than these dolls, and then turn around and realize they don't like having to take care of it all the time, and usually they just give it away, taking the purchase as a complete loss.
The doll is at least just a thing, and when it comes down to it, the owner can do whatever they want with it.

 

I have sold a couple of dolls & bought second hand ones, I think selling a doll is a pefectly resonable practice. There is a lot to learn in this hobby & buying/selling/trading the sculpts/sizes which appeal the most is part of that learning.
When I first joined this hobby I got a couple of MSD's... Then realised I much preferred SD's as they are more adult-like & I could style them more to my personal tastes. So off went the MSD's to new homes! I have also sold a few SD's who have come to me & not "fit in" with my crew, sometimes a sculpt just doesn't work out as you had hoped for a character or place in your family. If someone else will appreciate them more then surely it is a good thing to rehome said doll.
However that said, I have a few dolls, my anthro's, who sit mostly untouched unless we have a story to make, but I wouldn't dream of selling them

Aslong as you aren't fussy about second hand products buying from the MP can serve to get hold of some missed opportunities! Much like video game stores XD

 

I normally don't sell because with me, I seem to stay in love with the dolls I've bought over the years. Having said that, though, I did recently sell off part of my other doll collection, the ones I knew weren't so much my favorites, so that I could fund a new purchase. It's a rather excessive collection of over 20 dolls, so at that point, they kind of get lost in the crowd. So now I'm down to more like 15, and it's better. Also, I sold the ones people want and aren't necessarily the prettiest dolls, just rare, and I kept the pretty ones that I enjoy dressing and brushing their hair. However, going through those dolls to select some to sell was gut wrenching. Then again it got me playing more with the others In the end it felt good. But I have a selection of dolls all the way back to my childhood, and I don't want to sell them off, as I still love pulling them out and dressing them in clothing my grandmother made for them.

I know a lot of people's tastes change, even on the forums, they flip flop on who they want and if they'll like that doll after they get it, etc... I just never was like that. If I like a doll, if I like a car, if I like a necklace or anything, I like it forever. Which probably explains why I wear the same clothes for the past 50 years...(semi JK) drive the same car... etc... LOL. I'm just not like most people I guess...

 

For some of us it isn't that simple. I'm one of those types that can get an emotional attachment to things very easily. I'm not saying it's the best method out there and sometimes I really wish I didn't. But I have an Angell Studio Gus in white skin at home that I bought a couple years ago that quite frankly, his sculpt does nothing for me. Sure, I think he's pretty cute and I do really like posing him (he's got a super lovely body sculpt), but I know if I'd never gotten him I wouldn't exactly be pining for him now. However, unlike the past doll/floating heads that I have sold on, with this Gus I spent alot of work on him, modifying him, getting him a pricey face-up, overall just customizing him. He's got alot of personal emotion invested in him even though he won't ever work out for what I wanted. So now he spends most of his time in a drawer out of sight, I don't even list him in my sig anymore (though he is in my profile), but even so I'm still not ready to sell him on. Call it selfish of me or stupid, but when I put so much time, money and effort into something, I'm going to keep it around even if it's not entirely what I want, until I'm 200% certain I'm ready to let it go. Right now I'm only at 98%.

 

I didn't end up keeping the second doll I bought. He was really cute, but I more bought him because I wanted a yo-size boy to go with my girl, and he was the one I liked best of the ones I could afford When he arrived, he was lovely but I didn't really like his face-up, and thought about getting it re-done, but then I thought... maybe I'll just start over with a blank doll. I also didn't think he matched my girl 100%, and then I started thinking about getting an MSD boy instead... and thats what I've done! My MSD boy is in progress but I have a better feeling about him already, and he is a sculpt I have always loved I bought his head on the marketplace from someone who was cutting down their collection - so no, I have no problem buying a doll from someone who didn't want/like it

 

I'm currently selling my second BJD (adopted June 2009) because we didn't bond totally, and I just don't play with him anymore. I want to find a family who will pay more attention to him. He deserves more than I am giving him It breaks my heart, though.

 

I sell my dolls when I loose interest in the mould, the character that I have created for that mould, or when I just cant see myself owning a specific size or sculpt. Just like right now, I have four dolls in the marketplace. The MSD's are ones that have been sitting around catching dust and the SD is one that Ive lost interest in.

 

I sold a doll because the sculpt wasn't what I wanted for the character. Then I sold a puki because she was too small for the character I had in mind. Recently I sold a body because it was modded and it just wasn't working out. I also needed money. So for short, I sell when the doll isn't right.

 

I've sold dolls before because I didn't see the point in having something worth so much money sitting around while I wasn't getting any enjoyment from it. ^^;

I think sometimes you see a doll online and think you love it, but it might look very different in person and your feelings change. It could just be the faceup, even, that you just can't bond with, and therefore lose the love for the doll (this has happened to me. xD)

I have also had dolls that I've owned for a year or two, and after getting new dolls, the older ones don't seem to fit in anymore, or I just lose the love for them, so they move on. I've sold many dolls, and right now I'm down to only two, but I can see my collection growing again - and I can also see the two dolls I do have not sticking around forever. xD

 

Most times I sell due to the doll wasn't what I was hoping for. To big, not as shown in pics or other. Recently it's been more because I am broke and have bills to pay. I try to keep long enough to know if I want to buy it later when I have bucks, but mainly just trying to keep out of trouble and understand better what I really want in my group.

 

I packed up fair few of my dolls and spare heads today with the intention of selling them... including both an EID Akando and a Soom Afi that I've had for less than a month. Why did I do that? To be honest, it's because I'm just not completely in love with them. They're perfectly nice dolls... but they're not for me. Sometimes you have to see and handle a doll in person to know that.

 

i am thinking about selling my second doll (sd16 Iris) now. that's totally due to i need money to buy the new doll i really want , and they are expensive so people will thinking about sell the one they are not very fond in to . well that's my reason .