Buying DD directly in Japan

I've recently discovered Dollfie Dream dolls and I'm quite new to everything involving them. I don't currently own one yet unfortunately due to high prices.

My husband and I are planning a trip to Japan next year and I was wondering if their cost was relatively cheaper over there since you're buying it directly. I figure if I ask the right questions now, I can save up by the time we leave.

Any recommendations to the particular Japanese stores where I could find these dolls and their accessories would be awesome. Is there anything I should look out for as far as a newbie like myself would otherwise miss while buying her first DD? What do I need to buy that is absolutely essential?

Buying in Japan is only a bit cheaper than buying online. You usually only save on shipping and whatever customs your country has.

 

If you go the a Volks shop, you can get blank heads and bodies, and hands and other parts. You can usually show your passport at Volks Akiba (not sure about other locations) to save on the tax.

 

If you go to a secondhand shop like Mandarake, Jungle, or any of the smaller places in Akiba or Nakano Broadway, you can get complete dolls, including limiteds. You might get lucky and get a cheap doll (usually because of some sort of damage, but it's definitely worth it if the only damage is staining in less visible places like on top of her head or on the soles of her feet--you can always get replacement parts at Volks if her feet are too bad to be cleaned). They also have older dress sets and sometimes have hands.

 

I'd personally get a secondhand complete doll, then go to Volks for hands and accessories. I'm kicking myself for not getting a chair while I was there because now I want one and the shipping is too expensive.

If you can find an LE doll new in a Volks store you would pay the Volks price not the aftermarket price. You could also join the snow Miku pre-order and get her for the Volks price next year when she ships. She's a beautiful doll, and you can always changer her wig/eyes/clothes and make a totally new character with her.

 

The drawback to Miku is the SS bust doesn't have many outfit options compared to S & M bust dolls. She appears to be a DIII so you can swap out the bust to increase her outfit options. That's any easy part to change.

 

Another option is Volks USA is hosting a Dolpa in LA on Sept 5th. We don't have a lot of details yet, but I think those usually have dolls and clothes for sale although any character dolls will probably be lottery.

 

One thing about buying anything overseas on a credit card is you will get charged an exchange rate, and it's usually worse than getting the money changed here.

I think the decision you have to make is what kind of dollfie you want to buy. If you are ok with a standard model you can get her at Volks Akiba.

w w w. dollfiedream. tokyo / en / dollfiedream / list_dd.html/

 

If you want a Character Model, you can not buy her direct at Volks but might find a secondhand at Mandarake or Jungle.

 

In both cases you can save customs and shipping cost when you buy in Japan. This can be very much money to safe! So buy as much as you can while in Japan.

 

Keep in mind that alot of stores in Japan do not have english speeking staff! I've been many times in Tokyo and it takes a little time to get used to the "language barrier". But people over there are very friendly and it's fun

Volks Akiba (and the Kyoto main branch, but I'm assuming you're only doing Tokyo) is the only one who will give you duty-free privileges, I've asked a the other ones. You do however need to bring your passport with you. Most places will at least attempt to work with you if you can only speak English, or at least apologize profusely for not being able to.

 

As for Mandarake and Jungle, they do for the most part have the same stock in-store as they would online, regardless of which location, particularly for big ticket items like this. The only thing you save is the shipping and potentially the duties, and I guess a minor reduction in conversion fee. The other thing you get is first dibs over someone who would be ordering the same item via the website. Their stock changes daily, and honestly this is probably a minor consideration, I've only heard of people losing out on their itemchanges s <5 times in total since I've been collecting DDs. Base item price-wise you won't save anything (except in the case of jungle, their 5% foreigner fee, and I only assume they won't ding you for it in-store). Again their stock changes daily, so you're going to end up either wasting a lot of your time browsing daily for a deal that may not show up or checking their websites at the minimum. This is all assuming you're going for a limited doll, other than the change about duty free as I mentioned above, theres not much difference though.

 

You also have to consider the impact on your luggage space, these arent small items, never mind the boxes. And shipping yourself at a post office is not as cheap as the shipping prices companies get.

 

Generally the only stuff you will find at Volks stores if you're visiting any old day are picked over outfits and standard items like hands and replacement parts. Not to say you CANT find anything, but just be aware its not as big of a selection as you probably think it is. Also all the stores (Akiba, Ikebukuro, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka, etc) will have different stocks left over as well. There are a few other places like Dollyteria and stuff with other choices but not tailored for DD sizes specifically

 

As for stuff that is essential that you could buy there, hands from volks stores, different bust sizes if you want that, a basic outfit or two, possibly a wig if you have an idea for a look already. Unless you are there for an instore or after event, or one of several doll events (Dolpa, iDoll, Dollshow, etc) you probably wont find anything you can't already see available online. Most of the items I have come from online buying, and very little of it from me buying items there in person, and most of what I did buy in person with the benefit of hindsight werent particularly good buys, but I had no idea at the time.

WOW! That's a lot of great information to take in, so thanks very much everyone for the helpful tips!

I'm not interested in limited editions/rare (they're far out of my price range), but I am trying to find a basic base body or even a complete doll that I can eventually exchange the parts out for something to my taste. I plan on not packing too many clothes in my suitcase so I can fit the doll in. Who needs makeup and clothes anyway when I can put Dollfie stuff in their place?! LOL j/k

A few of you mentioned particular websites which I appreciate. A newbie, like myself, needs all the tips of the trade I can get. For example: Do bodysuits really prevent staining? Do wig caps prevent staining? How long can these dolls wear their clothes before it stains? HAHA staining, staining, staining.

Base bodies can be had at any volks store most of the time, either as fullset basic ones (see volks website for the models), or just the body which you can get a blank head afterwards to paint/mod/etc yourself. Again, look at the volks site, but then you may as well just order from there instead of going through the wait and hassle :p

 

Bodysuits generally will prevent staining, but they look REALLY bad if not fully covered up, best not to use them unless you can cover them entirely. Silicone wig caps will not prevent staining, they just stop the wig from sliding off as easily (the best ones of those are the DOLK ones, but coolcat ones work fine), I have not tried pre-made cloth wig caps, but I assume they work as well as bodysuits. The few that I have were custom made by me. And really at the end of the day, does it matter? if the wig stains the head, its on parts you never see with a wig on in the first place.

 

As for how long before it stains, thats really a case by case basis, but the general rule I've found is assume blacks/dark reds/dark blues from volks (and usually most other places) will stain, but again this is not always the case. I have black socks and a few other outfits that don't stain at all from Volks. Staining outfits was generally more an older issue, it happens somewhat less frequently these days I think. You could always buy a cheap test part to stain test with if you're really paranoid. But again, you only really have to care if it falls within the dark colour ranges. I've got tons of DDs and outfits, and I've only had maybe 2 or 3 stain as a surprise; the rest were mitigated because I stain tested beforehand. There are enough people here you can ask (as well as a specific thread for it) about specific outfits' staining properties. Also there is Volks Stain removal cream, I havent had much luck with it, but other people have.

 

tl;dr, its not as big of an issue as you think it is. And bodysuits look ugly if not totally covered. I'm sure there are people here who would like to contradict this, but I'm not speaking for them. :p

I don't really like the bodysuits either, but I thought I'd ask the experts.

I've seen the Volks International website (I live in the UK) and everything looks so cool, but soooo much money. I'd be broke within 24 hours if I ordered everything I wanted and my hubs didn't have a stroke checking the bank account. It's why I want to wait until I visit Japan to see if I could get lucky enough to find something more affordable. Do you think I might get one for less than £200-£300 ($300-$445)? (just basic mind you, nothing fancy) I know I can always add custom stuff later.

I can't wait to check out the places everyone suggested! I hate that I have to wait an entire year, but that just means more time to save money and go apesh** in Japan's toy stores.

*Note to self: buy Dollfie chair*

Pretty sure the standard models aoi/yukino/maya/etc are <400$ brand new particularly with the exchange rate being as it is these days, I never had any interest in standard models, but you can check the volks website, the price is the same there as in store. Also check mandarake and jungle's websites, sometimes you can find somewhat cheaper sales.

 

And yes, buy the volks furniture there if you can get away with it, the shipping is murder. Its why I just gave up and made my own furniture instead, even if the volks ones are really nice.

If I had the spare cash to afford the special models I would do it. They have beautiful limited editions, but the prices are so astronomical that there's no way in good conscience I'd be willing to spend thousands of dollars on 1 doll. No offense to people who do spend that much. More power to them. I just wish I had their money.

I'm still reeling from looking at the outfit prices on Mandarake! For such little clothes and shoes, they cost more than I pay for a good pair of jeans and a top! I hope those aren't the prices I would pay if I was physically in their store. I see shoes for £6 ($9) and I'm thinking "Ok, that's not so bad", but then I see 1 complete outfit ensemble and it's £107 ($160)! At this rate I'll be dressing my bargain bin doll with old bits of newspaper and string.

What have I gotten myself into? Damn my impeccable good taste!

Well, you can save up for the preorders or the lotteries and get it for MSRP (usually no more than like 65-70k). As for mandarake, you have to remember, most of their prices are them going into a yahoo japan auction history search and picking something around what it most recently (or not even recently, just the highest) sold at. That said, most outfits secondhand will be 8000-15000yen before any fees and whatnot no matter where you look, thats just the nature of the hobby.

 

As for the 9$ shoes, you sorta get what you pay for, I'd be wary of going that cheap on shoes, since they are either the wrong scale (you want stuff marked DD/SD13 or 1/3 scale) or damaged. Exception being Taobao (see the relevant threads in the forum about that), but a lot of their stuff tends to be subpar quality too.

 

If you think a standard model DD is a 'bargin bin', wouldnt it just be better to save up for the one you actually want (or a lottery limited one) instead of buying one just so you have a DD? I don't mean to dissuade you or anything, but it sounds like you're just settling for your second choice sort of unhappily. Apologies if that isnt the case, but theres no point spending this kind of money on something you aren't going to be totally happy with.

You can find cheaper to moderately priced items in Mandarake & Closet Child's Ikebukuro location as these are second hand stores. In the Akihabara Mandarake the clothing bin is near the cashier on the 1st floor ( If my memory isn't going, that floor should be their doll & cosplay floor ) Some of the items in the bin might be mislabeled, I bought a cheap set that said it was for SD/DD and it fit more like a MSD/MDD size ( some shirts will fit DD S&M size busts, if it's a skirt it will also fit but it will be rather short )

 

The Closet Child in Ikebukuro is on the 3rd floor and their doll items are at the back of the store, the front half is lolita clothing~ The different items are all sorted by doll size ( although a few items also might be mixed up, be sure to check the labels! )

 

Volks clothing tends to stick to their retail price and higher, while smaller brands/ handmade items are sometimes cheaper. I wasn't able to browse either location for very long-- but there were several items less than 5000yen that looked nice. ^^ You can always buy doll clothes online/ secondhand as an alternative. Dollfie Dreams will fit SD size clothes, it will be a bit loose in the waist but it's an alternative to focusing on DD only clothes?

 

For shoes... Sometimes you'll find really nice shoes at a bargain price. Sometimes you won't. Most of the doll shoes I've seen in webstores online tend to be $20-30+ which is why I tend to buy shoes second hand or from taobao... Although I have bought a few nice & more unique looking shoes for around $30 there too;;;; Alice's Collections has a nice selection of shoes from taobao on their site, and it removes the hassle of browsing taobao itself ^^

 

As for owning a limited girl, if you don't mind staining/removing stains there usually are a few girls who are discounted because of stains... Some of the much older limited girls are also on the lower end of the price range as well ^^ ( examples: Estelle & Feena these are both on the older DDII body I believe and have some staining, but otherwise they look fine imo )

 

 

u wu;; sorry about the wall of text, I hope this helped you a bit;;

I believe Coolcats lists some of their anti-stain clothing as good for 7 days without stain. The millage will probably vary based on the color and material you place over it, and the amount of extra dye it contains. They also have a pretty big selection of anti-stain clothing that is more than just full body suits. For example you can find clothing that just covers the upper thighs, torso and shoulders.

 

They also have a few body suits that aren't anti-stain, but just patterned body stockings. They note that they aren't protective in the one section that has them, but not on the individual items.

 

What I had read about getting LE dolls in store is that they may have leftovers from people who fell through on their purchase commitments, but you have to ask for them. Granted I have never tried, so I can't swear that this is true. In Japan those might sell too fast to be a realistic option.

 

Snow Miku pre-order is $535 USD or 504 Euro's at the current exchange rate. That's not including shipping or any tax that Volks may apply. (I've heard they tax out of country purchases as if they were in country, but again I can't swear to that.) That seems to be around the normal price for most of the character dolls, but some dolls like Kos-Mos and Saber Lily were around $1000 USD new.

 

I would say that the box size will vary. The box that Kos-Mos and Lily came in would be too big to fit in a large suitcase. They are also too nice to abandon in Japan. My DDS boxes might fit in a big suitcase, but I would personally recommend carry-on as long as they don't come with toy weapons. Those might cause you problems with airport security. Some places do not allow any toy weapons on a plane and Lily's swords could pass as daggers even though they are plastic. Put any weapons in your checked bags wrapped carefully in clothing and carry the doll in its box on in a duffel.

 

Alternatively you can sew a sleeve for the doll using quilt material. Sort of like a doll sleeping bag. Then maybe wrap a white towel around her for additional protection, and put her in a carry on along with her clothing which should come in it's own plastic bags. Maybe bring some big zip lock bags to put all the little bags in.

 

https://aquilla429.wordpress.com/how-to-guides-for-dollfiebjd-care/how-to-make-a-doll-travel-blanket/

 

The doll boxes like this you should then be able to collapse flat and put in your suitcase assuming you want to keep them.

 

http://awtlblog.vitsco.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/CRW_4271.jpg

@ Mohoro, sorry, I used the term "Bargain Bin" doll loosely as my price range would be considered cheap compared to other people who spend far more than I would. I'm not too bothered with a mashup of different things here and there, if I can afford it. Concerning the shoe prices, it's good to know what would be flimsy quality so thank you for warning me. I'm just blown away with the prices of these tiny items when the real life size thing for human beings is cheaper in comparison.

Thank you everyone for the tips! This helps me a lot in deciding what to purchase and where to find things. The new pre-order doll does look super cute. I wonder what those taxes and shipping fees would end up being too.

I might just learn to sew my own doll clothes and make my own wigs just to save some pennies after looking at the average cost of this hobby. I just can't resist these dolls though! I have to have one.

Some of the Volks made books have sewing patterns for doll clothing, and I did find a clothing pattern book for a maid outfit for a Dollfie Dream on Amazon.

 

I think the Volks books only come in Japanese. Even the ones sold through Volks USA. If you learn how to use sewing patterns you probably don't need english language, but you may need to be able to figure out the numbering used in measurements.

 

If you are in the US you could order Miku through Volks USA but they require a $50 deposit I think. You have until mid 2016 to get the money to pay her off though. (I have heard mixed things about Volks USA Doll Preorders, but never tried so again take that with a grain of salt.)

 

You can get wigs from vendors like Licht 2.5d and For My Doll for $20 - $40 USD. Some of them are quite nice too.

 

You can also check the marketplace here for split orders. Basically someone enters the lottery for a doll and if they win they split the doll up and sell the various pieces separately to people who reserve them ahead of the lottery. That's an option if you just want the head on a particular doll and not the other stuff that comes with it.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Sewing-Dollfie-Dream-Edition/dp/4798605735

 

http://www.dollfiedream.tokyo/en/dollfiedream/books.html/

Edited March 13, 2015 by Guest

@ Mohoro, sorry, I used the term "Bargain Bin" doll loosely as my price range would be considered cheap compared to other people who spend far more than I would. I'm not too bothered with a mashup of different things here and there, if I can afford it. Concerning the shoe prices, it's good to know what would be flimsy quality so thank you for warning me. I'm just blown away with the prices of these tiny items when the real life size thing for human beings is cheaper in comparison.

 

I guess they're probably more expensive for the size because of the work that goes into smaller detail combined with a lack of mass manufacturing for a hobby of this size. You'll actually find that a lot of people who sew for cosplay won't sew for dolls because of the smaller scale difficulty. If you can sew it yourself, even better!

 

And no worries, I just didnt want you to buy something you might not like, doesnt really matter the price if you like it :p

I've also found some reasonably priced accessories on Etsy.

Thanks for sharing the link to the doll patterns. I would love to try my hand at sewing them one day.

 

Side Note: I already make my own custom bows and ribbons for my daughter, so I'm going to try and scale it down for a Dollfie using magnets to attach to the hair. I'll take pictures once I've finished one that looks half decent. Granted I don't have a Dollfie head or wig to test this on, but everyone's gotta start somewhere, am I right?

Counting down the days until I own one. *SIGH*

One advantage I can see to sewing your own is you can use materials that have a low likelihood of staining and also pre-wash the fabrics a few times to remove excess dyes.

 

I don't own many hair accessories, but the ones I have all have a mini version of a hairpin on them. Some of the larger doll shops or hobby shops online might carry those, and I doubt they are expensive. They're almost like paper clips in a way. I could be wrong and they might be so specialized they are priced higher than you would expect something like that to be priced.

Is the lack of stock on Volk's online shop indicative of lack of stock in store too? Planning a few days in Tokyo next month & have been eyeing a Miko standard DDdy, but she's been "Will Be Restocked" for quite a awhile.

I would create a new thread for your question so you can get more answers that way.

Sorry I wouldn't know the answer to that, but that's a great one to ask as I'm going to Japan next year and that would suck so bad if the lack of inventory online reflects what they have instore as well.

I've been eyeing a standard doll called Candy for awhile and it's been in "Will be restocked" status for ages! I sent an email to Volks asking when they'll be restocking it, but I saw a tiny sentence that says it could take up to a month for them to respond to messages and if they don't answer, to send the message to them again. That's terrible business practice in my opinion, but I guess their product is in so high of demand that they don't think they need to be accountable to the masses.

Space is at an incredible premium in Japan, so they don't manufacture a surplus of goods and hope to sell them while the surplus sits in a warehouse for a year. They manufacture under demand and hold lotteries for the available goods.

 

Basically it's a country of 130 million people and 73% of the landmass is mountains that have a tendency to be geologically active. That remaining 27% - which is also pretty active geologically - is where all the people live and most of the agriculture takes place. The Tokyo metro area is home to almost 40 million people and is less than half the size of the New York metro area which is home to 20 million people.

 

I don't know how Volks inventory model works, but I would guess that if there was enough demand for it to sell out on the web it's going to be pretty hit and miss for a store to have it. They may have it though.

They had memorial editions of Candy and Mirai at the Dolpa, at least.

I would hope that they would try to keep their brick & mortar store regularly stocked of non-limited items. I'm sure just having a physical storefront there is incredibly expensive too for it to be just a showroom/doll customizing spot. Since Japan isn't my final destination should I buy a DD I was think of flattening the box & mailing the DD dissembled in a smaller box back home, but the standard DD box is too long to fit wholly in a carry-on. If you're taking bigger check-in luggage it would probably fit.

I should have said this before. While I have only been to Tokyo once I loved staying in Japan. Enjoy your stay there. The food is great, but I would recommend learning some Japanese etiquette before you go. Courtesy is very important there.

 

If you are going to mail the doll send it in it's own box. They are really well packaged, and that's probably the surest way to get it back home in perfect condition. If you haven't, watch some of the box openings on youtube, and you will see why. Of course that's for LE Dolls, and I have no idea how the non LE ones are boxed. Japanese packaging does tend to be legendary though.

 

I have heard that at Dolpa Volks has shipping services, but no idea if they do that in store or if they provide service external to Japan.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Guest