Will you sell your doll to me?

I've had a few people ask if they could buy my Hound (twice when just out with friends, once at a convention). The woman that asked first when I was out with friends was very polite. She was interested in him at first, asked a lot of questions, then just flat out asked if she could buy him. I had already told her how much he had been when I purchased him, and she actually made a reasonable offer. But...it was still super awkward. I just said no, and felt super uncomfortable for the rest of the day. Very protective of my boy, and I had only had a few people approach me with him in public at the time.

The girl at the con was very whiney and intrusive, she followed me around for awhile. :/

The worst experience I had was out in public, with a good friend of mine. This couple approached us and just started asking if they could hold my Hound, the girl said she had BJDs at home...but she was really in my face. I'm pretty good with confrontation, but she went way over the top and got in my space. D: My friend that I was with asked them to leave (while I somewhat scrambled to gather my things), and they did. But later they came up to us again, and the girl was practically yelling at me, saying rather insulting things because I didn't want to talk to her about selling my Hound. Ugh.

I don't understand why people think this is okay. I can understand it...maybe...if you try to be reasonable and respectful, and obviously not bossy/in your face when they say no...Still. I personally would never ask such a thing, unless the person said up front, "I'm interested in selling this doll."

 

This made me laugh because yeah I have had that happen, a LOT. I make jewelry, design and make bags and totes of various kinds and in addition to that I have a wardrobe of vintage clothes like you would not believe from collecting the stuff for many years. I make a new bag or a piece of jewelry exclusively for myself and I can't hardly walk out of my house and people don't stop me and want to buy it off me. In a way that's good. I do once in a while actually sell some stuff, but I also like to make a few special and unique things just for me and it it is something I have had a hard time with, dealing with pushy people who just won't take "no" for an answer. Some people think that if you make it it's always for sale that it's just a question of the right offer but that's not always true with me.

My latest is a Blonds inspired crystal corset, for me. I've been making them for my dolls for a while now but I finally decided I really wanted to make one for me to wear as a fancy dress thing. I'm talking about an extremely time consuming hand beading job with tons of seed beads, glass pieces, and Swarovsky crystals. This particular piece it's probably going to take me the better part of a year because I don't have a lot of time every day to work on it and I have to buy the crystals and that a bit at a time to be able to afford to do it. But I want one and I don't have 5-10K to just buy one from a design house, cough, so it's either design and make one myself or forget it. The other day a friend of my roommate comes over and she sees it on my work bench and she sees the drawing I've done of my design and she goes ape crazy. Pretty much tries to bully me into making one for her for the cost of the crystals plus $100.

She's aiming on being a professional singer and wants it as a costume. She did not want to take "no" for an answer, argued with me for almost half an hour over it. I finally excused myself rather abruptly like I was going to the bathroom, and I went out to find my roommate. I basically told her to get that annoying woman out of my house. I'm much more personal about my dolls than I am about my crafts. If that woman had done the same with one of my dolls? I'd have tossed her out myself, and not nicely...

 

Funnily enough I had one of these the other day. I got a message over Flickr enquiring about my LTF PongPong and asking lots of questions about whether I'm the original owner, if the face-up is by Fairyland etc...

The message was polite and I wasn't offended, but I was taken aback a bit because everywhere I've spoken about my PongPong it's been about how much I adore her and how long I waited for one of my own. I even went back through my photos to see if I'd been misleading anywhere about whether I was keeping the doll or not, but there was nothing there except gushing because I really love this little doll.

I messaged back upbeat explaining the doll is new to me and I am really happy with her so she's not for sale, and I even wished the enquirer luck in finding their own PongPong. I got back a nice message saying she was really interested in another LittleFee and just misunderstood somewhere thinking I was selling my doll.

I think it definitely matters how you ask. A polite enquiry deserves a polite response. If someone is really rude or aggressive though I think that deserves a firm response.

Magkelly, I'm sorry you had to put up with that. It makes me really sad when people can't admire things from afar and have to possess things themselves and not only that but bully people into giving things over to them.

 

Nope. People are generally curious about them but I've never even had anybody ask what they are. I think it's partly because people often comment how 'young' I look, thus they just shuffle me off into the 'teenager with a doll' category even though I don't actually belong there. I did once hear a lady say 'Look how big that doll is! I've seen those before. I didn't know they could be that size. I think I want one that size' about my 70cm, but she didn't actually approach me.

Although, I have had it a few times with other things. I wear a lot of unique clothing (nothing special really, just from some obscure places) and quite a few people ask where I get things from. I don't mind that But I'd be pretty upset if someone started to randomly harass me to sell one of my dolls.

 

I hate when people do this, especially if it's someone who doesn't know anything about the dolls who makes a ridiculously low offer. I think that was the point at which I stopped fudging to nosy people about how much this or that doll cost me (in both doll and supplies -- wig, eyes, etc.).

I did once get a huge offer for an art doll I own but it still came out of no-where when I'd given no indications of wanting to sell her. It was just: "Hi, I just inherited a bunch of money, let me give you $$$$$ for her since you never share photos of her. You aren't taking good care of her." Wait, what? I've had other unsolicited offers for her, but that was really rude. That doll has too many stalkers with deep pockets who don't 'no' for an answer so I've been taking down all her photos for a bit.

I've had the handbag thing happen too, but I used to collect vintage handbags from a particular designer so I used the less-perfect ones for everyday. The volume of offers finally convinced me to sell the collection.

 

I've not had that with a doll but have had the clothes thing happen to me with one of my favourite items of clothing, lol. Suffice to say, my jacket is still hanging in MY wardrobe, lol. I think if it came to a doll I'd be polite but firm and point the person in the direction of a relevant website.
Love,
Lee

 

I've had a few people contact me very rarely about selling anime figures that weren't listed as for sale before and I always just politely decline if I don't want to sell the item in question. It's very, very rare for me and I'm pretty sure it only happened when I was selling a large number of other figures so maybe the individual thought I was selling everything? I'm not sure.
As for my dolls, unless I listed the doll for sale no one has ever inquired if I would sell them, I guess I've been lucky!
But some of these stories here are outlandish! If someone asked if I would sell an item I would say no. If they kept it up I'm pretty sure I would just tell them to bug off (maybe a little less politely ). I can't imagine someone hounding me for an item that I clearly stated was not for sale. And it's one thing for people to be so brash over the internet with the anonymity involved but in person? I would be ticked off for sure.

At Magkelly, I can't believe that woman! The amount of work that goes into hand beading is astounding and to offer something like $100? I can't believe the audacity of people! It'll take you a year of work and she wants to offer you a whole $100. I can imagine what kind of performer she's going to be!

 

I only have my one doll right now and I don't take her out in public with me, for fear of something happening to her, so I've never experienced this myself.
This is much more surprising to me than it probably should be and some of these stories are just appalling.
I can see starting up a polite conversation and then working up to asking but why do these people expect to get anything if they're being so pushy?

I'm not going to let this deter me from taking my dolls out later but I'm glad I stumbled on this.
It's good to know just how some people might react so I can make sure my dolls aren't within grabbing range.

 

It happened to me but not in person. I had someone in DA sending me a message saying 'I want to buy this doll. How much do you want for it.' :/ I also had a couple of people asking me to make them one.

 

I have had people come up and ask what they are and how much do they cost or where to get one. I just take that as a compliment and tell them a bit about bjds. Many people out there have never heard of a bjd let alone how much they cost, so when we go out it's a good chance to let others who are interested learn a bit and maybe even get into collecting bjds themselves

 

I've never had anyone ask to buy one of my dolls, but as the ones I have are largely not limited sculpts, if it did come up I would politely tell the person what the sculpt was, where to purchase it, and an approximate price, and if they pressed to buy the one I had, I would politely tell them that, as I would have to order a replacement and spend time customizing that one, I am not interested in selling that particular doll, and again, it can be purchased from (company). I certainly wouldn't sell any of them; if I had an interest in selling, I would likely have the doll listed here, not out with me in public.

 

I can't say anyone's ever asked to buy any of mine ^^" (they must not be pretty enough ;P) but I have had a lot of people - new people who come to my flat or my mum's friends - just ask me lots of questions. They're usually really shocked at the amount they cost at first, then they sort of look at them and think "Actually, no, £200 sounds about right" xD

One of the heads I have now was owned by a friend of mine and I remember when she first got it, I said to her "If you ever want to sell it, GIVE ME FIRST DIBS" because it's one of my grails and luckily for me she ended up selling... so I guess I've been the one saying stuff like that <.<"

 

I've had a few people on deviantArt note me and ask if they could buy certain dolls of mine from me. Some have been polite so I wasn't offended and responded back politely, others were downright rude or demanding that I'd sell the doll to them so I was rude back. Just depends on how I am asked. I went out with a friend and a group of people were asking us about our dolls and one girl was like "Well I do have 300.00, is that enough to take her off your hands?" and I just laughed and walked away. Sometimes, I guess people can't help it.

To people not in this hobby or just starting it...they don't really understand how you can bond so deeply to a doll so they don't comprehend that it is rude or offensive to ask to purchase yours. They just know they like it. They don't know how much work, effort or time it took to get the doll to look the way it looks. So I tend to not get too offended by it. I take it more as a compliment that they really like something I have.

 

No, actually, no one ever asked me this, but i had people asking how much it costs in general. And they were also asking of where exactly can they buy those dolls. I've always sent them to our local bjd-community, there's plenty of information, so i can hope tha they will read at least something and be aware of what you can and what you cannot do to bjd's in case of them to stay in a good condition andnot to be broken or anything.

 

I have not had that happen yet though once someone mailed my family a letter saying they liked our house and wanted to buy it off us which my dad just threw out.

 

Part of me is wary of bringing my dolls in public because of this. I get all flustered when strangers give me attention and because of this, I generally dislike explaining things. . _.;;;
But I'll have to get over that if I wanna take them out for pictures I suppose. I don't know how I'd feel about someone asking to have them though. Offering to buy them (politely) or asking about them is fine, I guess. But asking to just have them? I think that's kind of rude, no matter what it is, doll or not.
If someone asked me "how much to buy it from you", I'd probably tell them that my doll is priceless.

 

People ALWAYS ASK to buy my dolls like I'll just say, Oh yeah sureeee

 

The last time I took my boy out in public was to a convention, maybe two or three years ago... I did talk to some other doll owners who asked "what sculpt is he", and "how long did it take him to get here", but... Hmm, I don't think anyone outside the hobby asked me anything about the doll. Some friends I met up with there complimented him, but that was about it, really. I've always been kind of afraid to take him out in public for this reason!
Although I'm planning on getting a tiny or a YoSD soon and maybe I'll be able to carry that around with me. I'm actually really curious now to see what people in my little town think

Actually now that I think of it, if I have my boy lying around the house when mum has a friend over, sometimes her friends will be all "wow where did you get that?", and I'll just explain it to them... But really, once I mention the price, people seem to quiet up

 

Can you imagine trying to sleep, and your favorite dolly is no longer there? I once lost a large strawberry shortcake my mom gave me, (I was 35). And you better believe I cried for two day straight, and was very depressed after, even though my mom replaced the doll, it still wasnt the same...I get attached easily..

 

I often get asked about this actually, because I'm known for not keeping my dolls for long. XD

I don't mind because most of the enquirers are very polite and ask in the line of:
"I adore this doll so could you please let me know if you decide to let them go? Thanks!"
"I hope I'm not offending you, but if you are letting this doll go, could you please let me know?"

To be honest, I'm pretty flattered that people like my dolls enough to enquire about them.
I always agreed to let them know but don't really bother to contact them if I do sell my dolls because it's a hassle rummaging thru so many messages

I don't quite remember if I ever received any overbearing and rude messages, probably not since they didn't leave any impression on me.
I would probably be taken aback and not respond/respond back firmly that they're not for sale.