Would you buy a doll without a COA?

I have bought dolls without COA in the past and never had issues selling dolls without COAs. As long as you tell buyers upfront and don't surprise them with it later, the buyers who need to have COA would steer clear in the first place and that's just fine.
The reason I don't worry a lot about COA specifically is, sometimes there are other items you could provide to prove the doll's authenticity. But as the value of the doll you're selling/buying increases, so does the chance that all the extras could have been faked. I have even seen faked COAs Also, I have received COAs direct from studios, that are totally blank or inaccurate to what I purchased. So effectively useless when it comes to resale.
I still want to have something, definitely need the head plates if the doll ever came with them. Other items that are helpful are box, any promotional papers, full or partial fullsets, receipts from a dealer. Everything can be faked though and some items like full sets could be purchased second hand. But if you have some of them, and good history in the hobby, I'm more likely to trust that you obtained this doll legitly. I don't buy dolls that have nothing like this. And I always inspect them closely.
That said, if I was buying a very expensive and rare doll, I would have to have everything and have no doubts about if they're real, in order to go through with the purchase There is just too much incentive to make a really convincing fake when a certain amount of money is involved.

A COA does not encourage me to pay more but if there's two dolls in the same condition, for the same price, one has COA and one doesn't, yeah I would still pick the one with COA. It's good to have.

 

Unfortunately, some companies don't even have COAs to start with...

I really, really prefer to buy secondhand dolls with COA for peace of mind, but I guess if it isn't known to have fakes made of it, it's probably pretty safe? So it really depends for me I guess.

Having some sort of authenticator, or combination (company box/carrier, original faceup, receipts from dealer) is probably as good or better than just a slip of paper though. Like Novalyna said, there have been fake COAs before I would rather have a lot of proof that the doll is legit

 

For me, it depends on the age of the doll.

While most dolls nowadays come with CoAs of some sort and headplates, a lot of older dolls did not come with CoAs or headplates. Some have a marker's mark carved or written somewhere inside the head, but there are also older heads that don't even have markings of any sort anywhere... (Me looking at some of my early dolls from Leeke...) For these dolls, it's more important to do more research about them.

 

It really depends. If there's some other way to authenticate the doll, like headplates or box, then I very well might. Also if the doll is verifiably older than COAs were at that company. I very much prefer to have the COA, but I do have a few dolls without.

 

As long as there are other ways to verify authenticity, I don't mind - I have dolls with and without. Company boxes, headplates, markings, clean and neat casting inside heads etc are all helpful as well. I have an old DZ fixer-upper that probably never had a certificate, same goes for a practice head I turned into a full doll. I do realise it's harder to sell or re-sell without dolly documentation these days but with proper research and communication with the seller, I don't find it super challenging to dodge the bad deals. I don't think having CoA should ever raise the doll's price either, but I've often seen sellers discount their prices in the lack of one.

If there were 2 second-hand dolls, same condition, for the same price, with & without a CoA, I would probably pick the one with in case I want to sell it again. If it's a forever doll that I'd never get rid of ever (nobody can plan that though), and it comes with other identifiers, I would care a bit less. If the pure presence of a CoA drove the price up, and the doll was not in a condition worth the price, I would probably look elsewhere.

 

A lot of companies didn’t used to have COAs with their dolls. Fairyland was one of them. They only started including them when the recast problem started getting out of hand. So if the doll is old enough, then it’s very possible that a COA was never included. And event heads don’t have them to start with either. I’ve bought dolls from people that didn’t have COAs. I just use my brains and avoid places that might sell recasts, like Facebook sell groups that do not firmly state that recasts aren’t allowed. I’d just avoid buying from someone who has no feedback or who frequents recast-friendly or neutral groups, because no sense taking chances.

 

I agree with @cobaltconduct – as long as there is some proof of authenticity, I don't need a CoA.
Most of my dolls are second-hand, and only one or two have CoAs, but they were all bought from Dollyteria, who do vet their products closely as they're a doll-centric business, or from people who were able to provide proof of purchase.

 

As many doll molds that are counterfeit these days, there are still so many that have not been. My relationship with whether or not a CoA is important has to do directly with how necessary I feel it is to have additional proof that what I'm buying is legitimate. I have bought a lot of dolls where it just isn't an issue, and in the case of widely counterfeit dolls, like Fairyland, having no previous experience with them, I feel like there would be nothing that could convince me to buy one second hand. Never say never but this is the specific reason I have universally turned them down in trade offers. I mention my relationship with that because I think it's all very company specific in the end.
CoAs seem like an easy fix, but there are too many reasons they are not a reliable crutch for every doll. That being said, yes I always want to have the CoA if it exists, but no, it's not a universal deal breaker for me secondhand. It doesn't factor into price for me.

 

I think it depends on the doll. I really prefer to have the CoA, it just makes me feel a lot more comfortable with the purchase, but if there is definitive proof the doll is legit and I desperately want the doll I would consider it. Obviously if a doll is older or doesn't come with a CoA then that changes it a lot. I just feel that a persons ability to keep track of a CoA correlates with how well they took care of the doll.

 

I bought most of my dolls new. One of my Ringdolls came without a COA. So he doesn't even have one. There are second hand dolls that obviously just don't have one. I bought a second hand fairyland head, also without coa because it often stays with bodies. But this face up was by a good artist and on the inside of the head you can see authenticity too. I'm not worried but you should just check thoroughly.

 

As long as they're honest about it. Most if not all of the sculpts that I like have never been counterfeited, so I don't worry much about it.

 

I have a lot of dolls with no CoA. Most are hybrids of parts that never had CoAs, some are old and either never had one or it was lost by a previous owner. I've been in the hobby so long, that CoAs were barely even a thing when I joined, and fakes were unheard of. I think maybe because of that, it's just not that big of a deal to me. As long as I'm buying it from a reputable seller, on a reputable market (I buy secondhand almost exclusively here and avoid places like Facebook entirely) and I know enough about the doll to feel secure. I prefer to have the CoA (and box) if possible, but it's not a dealbreaker without. A doll can be copied, but so can a CoA. The paper itself just isn't a guarantee of legitimacy for me.

 

I have many heads that came without coa and 1 body bought straight from company without coa , the thing is that there are things like the engraving of name of sculpt by hand and company on the inside that can't be copied by casting or there would be redone over a blur version of them if done by someone copying , I would be more woried for dolls /sculpts that is known to be copied excesivelly that others which are not as much . If the doll in question was a soom/iplehouse/fairyland/volks/luts I would be more hesitant than with less known companies.

 

I would buy a doll without a CoA and will still panic if I buy a doll with a CoA. It depends on how much I'm willing to trust the seller. Long time DoA members get a lot more trust than some rando on eBay.

Other than the fact most things I want are long discontinued, I would prefer to just buy new and save myself the stress. I panicked way too hard on a doll with every item she should have come with including CoA because I couldn't trust the seller.

 

For full dolls or heads only if there is another form of authentication / proof of purchase. For bodies I typically don't care, as most people who are willing to split head and body typically keep the CoA with the head.

 

For resin dolls, I wouldn't feel comfortable buying a doll without a COA. I never want to buy a recast, even by mistake. As for vinyl dolls like Dollfie Dream, I'm perfectly fine just buying a head or body. Usually when I buy secondhand dd head, it's usually painted and sometimes can be connected to an artist so I'm oddly more comfortable with that.

 

I am scared to buy any doll second hand. Even if they have COAs. I am so worried that the COA is fake and the doll isn't authentic.

So I don't think I will ever buy one that doesn't have a COA.

 

Would and have.

I like Old School dolls, and many of them never had CoAs in the first place. Others may have come with one, but way-back-when they weren't considered such important things, and so may not have been kept.

On the plus side, though, a lot of those same Old School sculpts aren't popular enough for recasters to bother with, so they've never been copied. That makes them a pretty safe bet even without solid documentation, boxes and the like.