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Would you use a BJD rental service?

Jul 11, 2012

    1. This might seem like an odd question (and pointless since it'll never happen), but it's something I've been thinking about for a while and I'm curious about what others think. If hypothetical questions aren't allowed here, please delete the thread.

      If there was a legitimate website that allowed you to rent used dolls/eyes/wigs/clothes/backdrops/anything-else-BJD-related from any company, would you use it? If so, what would you rent?

      What price would you be willing to pay? (We're going to assume that you pay a fee for each item you rent, not a set monthly fee.)

      *Let's assume the company would let you buy the item if you like it, but the price would be the same as for a new item, so they'd still make money.

      Here are my thoughts:

      I can think of a lot of reasons why someone might want to do this. For example:
      1) Face-up practice/building a face-up portfolio
      2) Needing items (such as clothing/props/backdrops) that will only be used for one photoshoot
      3) Resin matching - sometimes it's hard to get comparisons for less popular companies
      4) Trying out different hair/wig/outfit combos without investing a lot of money
      5) Seeing how a doll you're interested in will look in person
      6) Seeing how a doll would fit in with your current group
      7) Pattern making for those interested in making clothes for a size doll they don't own

      There are also reasons why I think this would be a bad idea:
      1) Shipping costs might be too high to make the service worth it, unless a lot of items are shipped together.
      2) It might be cheaper to buy the item and resell it later rather than renting it
      3) Blank heads could be permanently damaged by someone learning to do face-ups
      4) Renting limiteds would not be possible
      5) Mod practice would not be possible
       
      #1 FrigidDamsel, Jul 11, 2012
    2. A unique idea, I'll give you that. It could certainly be helpful for those new to the hobby who don't know of anyone with dolls in their area. And the resin matching... but I don't see how this could be practical...
       
      #2 Ethra_VII, Jul 11, 2012
    3. Hee hee... I came across someone else talking about how they wish they had a bjd rental service.
      One thing it would be very very expensive to have one. Someone might break the doll or it might get lost in shipping. Will read your post again when I am more awake 11.20pm here bedtime

      Also I find most bjd people want to save every last penny toward the doll and will just research and beg others for photos, or surf like mad like me via flickr and here. I think doll meet up kinda fill this nitch a bit. Though there is no real feeling of being about to do what you like with the doll (owner watching and all that).


      :)
       
      #3 TreeLore, Jul 11, 2012
    4. I love owning things too much for a rental service to make sense for me in regards to things like dolls, eyes, or wigs, and probably even clothing. However, I kind of love the idea of backdrop rentals. XD How fun would it be to get to use a setting for a photo shoot and then send it packing?
       
      #4 Malaryush, Jul 11, 2012
    5. I think the topic has been brought up concerning dolls, and I think doing it for actual dolls would be a bad business idea. Dolls yellow over time, too, so you're not going to get a doll or part that matches. I also wouldn't allow face ups at all, and have them come already done. Like you said, first-time face ups can be great, or they can be terrible. People will not know to seal before they color.

      I can see the appeal of renting clothes/wigs/eyes, and other items. If you have an idea in mind, but can't justify the cost of buying an expensive outfit that you might use once or twice, this might be a good idea. Or if you aren't sure about a pair of eyes, and no one has a picture of that same doll with that color/brand... I could see renting those working out. I can also see the fitting in/resin matching/in-person thing being a good thing; it can save you from a lot of disappointment.

      Another thing you'd need to factor in is what items fit what doll. Unless you spell out that a brand of doll is going to be too big for a dress, expect someone to possibly rip the outfit because their doll is too big. Expect someone to possibly stretch a wig because they were determined for it to fit their doll.

      I also agree that I think that a lot of owners want a doll that is 'their doll'. Renting is good if you want to test the waters with a few things, but people are still going to want a doll they don't have to make payments on for the duration of their ownership.
       
      #5 writerm, Jul 11, 2012
    6. I think shipping would be expensive, but I also think you couldn't trust people enough to loan your stuff out, sad to say. But don't think I don't dream of it! I have wound up with SO many wigs and eyes I can't use because they don't fit my dolls. I've bought a lot of stuff on ebay that was either not clearly marked, didn't look as pictured, or out of simply not knowing better. I have an entire drawer full of extra stuff I can't and won't ever use. Easy enough to sell it, I guess, but I'll never get back what I paid. I paid $30 for some of those wigs. They were marked for 1/3 dolls, but the doll I bought them for apparently has an exceptionally small head. He was only my second doll and I didn't realize it at the time. If I'd been able to try on those wigs before deciding what I would like to buy, life would have been much easier and less costly!
       
      #6 Fin Raziel, Jul 11, 2012
    7. Well, I'm not sure about the doll rental part. But for everything else (wigs, eyes, clothes, shoes, furniture, props, etc.) I think it's a pretty neat idea.

      Some plus points I definitely would look forward to in a Rental Shop:
      - It has to be local, to avoid all shipping hassle. It can be a sort of Community Chest, where members put in clothes and stuff for other's rental. If it's an actual "Community Chest" it should definitely be present during meets. ^_^

      - It can be membership-based. I think individual pricing of items would be too much trouble, both for the rental owner and the client. For that it could be membership-based, with a small monthly membership fee, based on the tiers of items you are allowed to borrow anytime you need them.

      My perspective of this idea is centered heavily on the community concept, so others may have a different approach. But all in all I think it has potential!

      ~And now I think I'll suggest this to our local BJD community. :D
       
      #7 yldenfrei, Jul 11, 2012
    8. The biggest problem I see with the rental idea is simply that lots of people just don't bother returning things. It doesn't seem like it would be worth going w/a collection agency for something like clothing rentals. I don't think renting dolls is a good idea at all. Just my opinion. Sorry.
       
      #8 RoniBro, Jul 11, 2012
    9. The only practical use I see for such a service would be similar to the waybmost people rent cars; in that it's usually only a one time use for certain special occassions for a short period of time, like a vacation out of state/country or a particular event, or something happened to the owned car so they borrow a rental until the old one is fixed sort of deal.

      In relation to dollies, this would mean I only see this service being used by an event organizer that for whatever reason needs a few dolls or doll furniture for a display. It makes little sense for a single person to rent a doll just to have a doll, imo, when they'd likely find that it'd be cheaper to just buy a cheap doll for that purpose.

      So no, I would not use a service like this since it doesn't really make much sense to me. :sweat
       
      #9 Ezekely, Jul 11, 2012
    10. The thing with running a rental service is that you would have to stay on top of all the old dolls, new dolls, clothing styles, wigs, eyes. What a huge nightmare of investement for whomever tried to do such a thing. There are hundreds of doll body types and a thousand head types and even more wig and eye types. Think of what you'd have to have on offer for someone to pay a membership fee. *_*

      Unlike most cars that depreciate the second they hit the street, some dolls increase in value, so you stop renting those out? How could you cover the expense of purchasing new dolls and replacing old dolls or dolls lost in the mail. You's have to charge a heafty rental fee and kept a person's credit card number on hold in case they broke the doll or decided to keep it. At that point, a person paying a high rental fee would probably rather save that money up for their own doll or wig or what-have-you.

      I guess all I get out of the idea is a financial and logistical nightmare. :sweat
       
      #10 idrisfynn, Jul 11, 2012
    11. Okay, so there are a lot of realistic reasons with this wouldn't be a practical company to have, but that doesn't really answer the question of if anyone would use it if by some miracle some crazy person won the lotto, got a crazy insurance coverage, and bought one of every doll/eye/outfit/wig available for rental. I mean, you can rent a laptop, so why not a doll?

      Would I use such a service? Yes!!! Depending on the cost, I would actually probably rent dolls. I've always wished there was a way to get resin samples, and it would be nice to handle a doll in person before committing to buy it. Maybe it wouldn't look right with the dolls I have... Maybe the body wouldn't fit the floating head ... Maybe I wouldn't like the poseability, or other little things. Or maybe I have a dollon order but don't want to wait the 2-3months to get her in before I can start making clothes for her and want to have something ready when she gets home. If those dolls came with background information, such as make year, it would also give a person a good idea of what to expect in the way of resin mellowing or yellowing. Eyes never look the same in person as they do on a website, so I would definitely rent those. Wigs....? they get messed up too easily, so I wouldn't expect them to look very good after a lot of handling and shipping back and forth.
       
      #11 Cymorill, Jul 11, 2012
    12. I kind of feel like I already do this. lol Ivory Stardust and I swap dolls back and forth all the time, so at any given time, we have some of each other's dolls, wigs, eyes, clothes, props etc at our homes. And we often use each other's dolls to do resin matching. I've learned to mod using one of her doll's as a guinea pig before. :P (Thank you, Gunnar, for being such a good sport as I took a diamond file to your eye socket. ) I have 3 of her dolls and their stuff at my house right now, she has 5 of mine. And that will be changing again tomorrow. :P

      But as far as rental, I like the idea of rental backdrops, but that's probably all I'd want to use. Maybe a really high end outfit for a photoshoot. But ultimately, the issue would be that not all doll owners agree on proper care. I would hate to rent a wig that is frizzy or has been cut or stretched out. Or clothing that has snags or smells like smoke or is covered in cat fur. As far as resin matching, if the rental doll is stained or yellowed, or if the company has inconsistent resin color, it really won't do much good. And if I did want to keep something, I wouldn't want to pay the price of a new item for something countless people have already played with or experimented on. There's also the issue of theft. I know a guy who collected out of print books, so he'd "borrow" them from the library, then claim he lost them and pay the small fee for it, not what the book would cost to replace it. I think you'd need a contract of some sort, and the person's real name and contact info.

      In theory, I think it's a neat idea, but in practice, not very logical or useful. :)
       
      #12 CloakedSchemer, Jul 11, 2012
    13. I think that the dolls on their own wouldn't work. I've seen many times in this forum that the dolls are art. One doesn't just rent out a Picasso just so you can see how it looks hanging on the wall. So many things could happen to the doll along the way. Plus, it takes a LOT of time to make a doll from what I understand. Iplehouse dolls take 60 some business days to make. That is two months for a single doll. Think of how many dolls they would have to make (and from different companies) to keep up with the demand for them. Quality might go down in the rush to produce enough to keep up with those renting. Plus all the other dolls. With so many companies and so many choices out there, I think it would be difficult to keep everything in stock. Plus as someone already said...shipping. Shipping and customs would be a killer.

      I like the idea of a community chest better. Those with extra wigs/eyes/clothing/what not can share with others at meets so they can see what their doll would look like in them. Meets are also a good way for those people wanting a different doll to see one in person (maybe)
       
      #13 darkangel998, Jul 11, 2012
    14. As for being the person renting out, I'd never. I don't trust anyone with my dolls except two people. I also get attached to my dolls, and I'd be gutted if someone stole it, even if I had their credit card number and could charge them the cost of replacing my doll if they ran off with it.

      and kinda the same for being the renter. There's too much that could go wrong.
      I mostly have my dolls for photography, and I love the opportunity to take photos of different dolls that I wouldn't necessarily own, so the idea would be tempting, but just too worrying.
      I feel better surrounding myself with doll friends and just having dolly days :) They trust me as a friend, and I trust them.
       
      #14 Knibitz, Jul 11, 2012
    15. Thanks to those who've answered! I know the idea isn't even remotely practical for the company (unless their goal is to go bankrupt!) - I was just curious to see if people would be interested in renting. I was going under the assumption that the company is magic-based and run by bored, infinitely rich people who'd rather run a destined to fail business rather than donate to charity.

      I do think it's interesting that some people mentioned the idea of renting items from other individual owners - that was something I didn't think about. I doubt many people would rent out their dolls, though, since most have emotional attachments to them, and the potential for damage would be too great to risk. Clothing rentals among owners might work, with the stipulation that if the outfit is damaged, the renter has to pay for it. Clothes aren't too expensive to ship, and some outfits are so expensive that it might be worth it to rent rather than buy if the outfit is to be used for only one photoshoot.

      I realized that I didn't answer my own question, so here's my take on it:

      If there was a legitimate website that allowed you to rent used dolls/eyes/wigs/clothes/backdrops/anything-else-BJD-related from any company, would you use it? If so, what would you rent?
      Yes! Think about it this way - at the beginning when the company first started out, everything would be new. So, it would be like getting a new item, but having the option to return it if it doesn't work out (since there's an option to buy it if you like it). Also, whenever a company released a new item, the same item would have to be new in the rental store as well. Finally, most items would be in good condition even after the website had been around a few years because it's unlikely that a lot of people would rent the same thing when there are so many items available. The doll buying community isn't that large, and only a small percentage would want to rent.The catch is that the fee for rental would need to be less than what I would likely lose if I resold it.

      As for what I'd use it for: mainly newly released dolls/wigs and outfits that I want only for one photoshoot. I wouldn't rent a doll unless it was in new condition and was one that I'd planned to buy anyway. Renting dolls would be more useful to me when I first started collecting, since I'd have the chance to see different types of BJDs to get an idea of what I like. Starting out in the hobby is intimidating to a lot of people who don't have access to doll meets (or who simply don't want to go them), so a rental might feel safer to them. I'd also like to rent a pair of high quality urethane eyes. I've always wondered if any pair of eyes is worth $50+ dollars, and I have no way to see any in person without buying them myself.

      The thing I would hate most about renting is having to ship the item back!

      What price would you be willing to pay? (We're going to assume that you pay a fee for each item you rent, not a set monthly fee.)
      As I said above, the rental fee/shipping would have to be less than the amount I'd probably lose if I bought the item and then resold it. For example, if I bought a $500 doll and paid shipping for it from Korea, the total would be around $550. Since we're only considering newly released default dolls as rentals, the value of the doll would almost definitely decrease. The MP is fickle, but I'm going to assume that I could net around $450. So, I'd lose $100. I'd be willing to pay about $50 to rent it, since that's half the amount I estimated that I would lose by buying and reselling.

      The math might be a bit different for other items, but overall I'd pay around 10% of whatever the item cost in order to rent it for two weeks.
       
      #15 FrigidDamsel, Jul 12, 2012
    16. I've heard on tv that there was a toy rental service. So I am not really all that surprised by the idea of a doll rental. However, the amount of money spent to rent items or dolls could be better used towards new or preloved dolls/items. IMO.


      Though if you are doing photoshoots and desperately need certain items for a one time use, I can understand renting. Studios do that sort of thing.

      I dunno what I would pay, but I would be more inclined to buy the service as a package deal, for a set and props. Then incentives like adding clothes, wigs and eyes for free shipping. Especially if you get "spending points" like a lot of the doll companies have.
       
      #16 XpHoBiaX, Jul 13, 2012
    17. I don't think the idea of a doll rental is at all viable, but the idea of running a rental of doll accessories does make a lot of sense. Imagine, being able to rent an in-scale furnished house for your Mecha Angels or Pukis, or a motorcycle, or a realistic properly sized horse? By themselves those go for thousands of dollars. I would gladly pay $100 to rent a 5K realistic horse or a Harley for one hour. It beats buying or making all that complicated stuff just for one photoshoot.
       
      #17 Katyok, Jul 13, 2012
    18. Well... if I was maybe a professional photographer, I might rent out clothes and wigs in order to take photos. But other than that, I don't think I'd like to rent things. Even when it comes to movies, I don't really like renting things. I'd rather own something than rent it ^^" But my personality is weird.
       
      #18 HoushiChan, Jul 13, 2012
    19. It would definitely have to be a local magic-based company run by an infinitely bored, infinitely rich person who's really into financial failure & doesn't care if nothing ever gets returned. :lol: Sure, in a fantasy world, it'd be a great thing! I'd certainly love to have saved thousands of dollars over the years on big special outfits that I really only wanted to use once or twice. In our world, it'd never fly.

      Way back in the mid-Pleistocene Era, I would've also loved to have rented my prom gown.... instead of scraping together $75 that I didn't have for something that I didn't want to wear for more than 5 hours out of my life.
       
      #19 JennyNemesis, Jul 13, 2012
    20. Oh YES YES YES!!! I LOVE the part about the accesories!! I only use my dolls for photoshoots so as you can imagine I spend more on buying miniatures and accesories that only see the light of day once every blue moon than what I spend on the actual doll.... if someone would rent me a couple of chairs, a sofa, a backdrop a picnic table, food, a miniature car (maybe? hey a boy can dream!) or anything like that I'd be their top customer.
      So YES! My absolute answer would be: YES PLEASE DO IT!!!

      To cover your own behind, there could be a "deposit fee" maybe? The person borrowing the items leaves a 50 dollar deposit (for example) and now can borrow $50 worth in accessories. Once the items are returned, the deposit is released, or it can be used to borrow something else. That would prevent people from dissapearing or just wanting to keep the items without paying for them.
       
      #20 blue_starkiller, Jul 14, 2012