Kagamine Rin & Len & New Miku outfits!*pic updated*

I have to admit, if this had been the state of Volks back when I first started being interested in DDs, I probably never would have joined the fandom.

 

I won the first VolksUSA lottery I ever participated in. And the second one. And the third one. And I remember being so desperate for Rise when she came out that I convinced two friends to enter the lotto with me because I couldn't bear to not have her -- and all three of us won!

 

My second DD -- the doll that made me fall in love with DDs, the one that really made me a true DD collector -- was a pre-order doll. Without her, I'm 100% certain I wouldn't be in the fandom today. Even with her, if it hadn't been so easy to win lotteries early on, I probably still wouldn't be the DD fan I am today. I might have just given up from the frustration and gone back to resins!

 

Now, I laugh about my ~flawless~ 0 of 13 Volks International losing streak, but I can do that because I already have 13 dolls in my collection, only 5 of which were purchased on the 2nd-hand market (and that doesn't account for the dolls that I won via lotto and later sold). All-in-all, I've gotten 10 dolls directly from Volks. The idea that someone would be able to get 10 different dolls directly from Volks these days is pretty laughable. You'd have to order EVERY doll from EVERY pre-order from the last 5 years to be guaranteed 10 dolls from directly from Volks.

 

So I really understand the high level of frustration -- for people who are trying to get in the hobby for the first time, for people who haven't been in the hobby very long and are building their collection, and for "old-timers" who remember how easy it was to get into the hobby in the first place.

 

Especially when it's a major event like their first boy doll. Their first DDS was a pre-order. Their first DDdy was a pre-order. But their first boy is going to be a lotto???

 

I kind of feel the same way. I learned about DDs many years ago, but really wanted to start collecting them three years ago. After seeing many pre-orders and lotteries pass and realizing I couldn't afford them, I decided to be patient, save money, and try to get one when the time was right. Pre-orders that I won't interested in passed and so did lotteries until I saw Rin V2 and actually had enough to enter. So I did and lost. Afterwards out of curious, I looked at aftermarket prices, and can honestly say that they're some of most disguising prices I've seen in all my years of collecting within all my hobbies. Now that I finally have my first job and can afford at least one of them, both of them are sold through lottery. This is what makes me feel like Volks doesn't want new customers. >.<;

 

I guess the point I'm trying to get to is I totally agree that it's hard to start this hobby now. Lotteries with low win rates scare new customers, especially when it involves popular characters such as len and rin.

 

EDIT - I forgot to mention that in the future, I do hope they do decide to go with pre-orders for these two. ^-^

I too was very disappointed to see they will be on the lottery and not preorder like Miku and Snow Miku

As someone who's never won a lottery, a lottery hold no interest to me. I probably won't enter for either.

 

I am pretty surprised like everyone else though, I mean, Miku has been released so often, she might as well be a standard Doll. we will never know the real reason behind their choices, could be literally any number of things.

 

I wonder if we will get a preorder this year?

 

Isn't that right. I've never won a volks lottery too that was actually for the doll and not the clothes.

I was talking with with a friend and she mentioned that its maybe because volks is stuck with so many mikus from pre orders that went unpaid that they decided not to have pre orders

 

I was wondering if this was the reason (or part of it) as well, if it was then it would make sense that they require payment up front for the preorders in person at the Dolpa and why they would be reluctant to do the same for people outside of Japan since it's hard to know what consumer protection laws they'd be up against in other countries if people wanted a refund later on.

 

 

I know not everyone is blessed with money but why not extend pre orders to international, in which you can A) pay upfront or B) pay a deposit and the remainder when theyre ready.

 

I know volks Usa has done this in previous times but not international.

 

Wouldnt it be safe to say that is one way to weed out flakey people who dont pay up when its time? Either option gets them money at least right?

 

I personally can rustle up enough $$ to have them and id love to pre order them, id even pay now and wait for them!

 

But then.... they're lottery.... :/

I will be entering for both. I really can't believe volks decided to do lottery rather than pre-order for these two. Would have made my life hella easier lol.

 

I have zero luck but maybe I can luck up with one or the other of these guys.

 

I'm Willing to bet they went with lottery because they know they'll get swamped with orders for them.

 

Set number released and if someone flakes there is always someone else chomping at the bit to buy in their place and no worrying about somebody that ordered one no longer wanting it on payday.

I'll try for a lottery, even though I too have had 0 luck with any wins :/

Good luck you guys

I contacted volks usa if they were going to do lottery here but nope. Only by volks international....

 

I never done this before, does anyone knows how this works/tips?

 

I just want the body (without the hands) of len. Does anyone want to split for the other things?

Welp, so much for ... logical business decisions? If they were having trouble with non-paying people with preorders, wouldn't it...just be easier to make you pay up front as part of the preorder process? Maybe they underestimate the demand for Len in particular and think they have to do a lottery because not that many people (in their mind) will want to buy him?

The whole idea of doing a lottery is completely befuddling to me since I don't come from a country where that's a standard way of dealing with limited in-demand items, though.

 

At this point I won't be entering for myself because I'd rather give someone who really wants Rin as Rin a chance (since I can always look for another head mold for the character I'm after) but largely because I personally can't feel comfortable owning and doing things (photography, customization, anything other than keeping in a glass case) with a doll which I know has a $1000+ aftermarket price.

 

I wish the very best of luck to all of you entering for either or both and I hope that there will be future non-lottery editions of Len & Rin.

Hmmm, Cauldy's tips for Volks International lotteries:

 

- Vodka

- Gin

- Rum

- Scotch

- Whiskey

- Anything else to help you drink away the pain of your loss

 

Okay, no, not really.

 

Basically, there are no tips or tricks to it, you enter the lottery during the entry period and then you wait to see if you win. Entering multiple times is against Volks' rules and can result with them banning your account. You can ask friends or family to enter on your behalf, but the name & payment method needs to be different for each entry (the delivery address can be the same). If you only win one doll, no big, because you're only entering payment info once. If you win multiple dolls, however, you can't use the same PayPal account to pay for them all -- Volks will notice, cancel all winning entries, and ban the accounts involved (so no doll for anyone!). If you don't pay for one of the dolls, Volks will ban the non-paying account.

 

Other than that, all I can do is recommend saving up for aftermarket prices, as the win rates lately have been REALLY low.

The whole idea of doing a lottery is completely befuddling to me since I don't come from a country where that's a standard way of dealing with limited in-demand items, though.

 

There's a very practical reason for the lottery for the limited dolls: server bandwidth.

 

Waaaay back when V1 Moe and Natsuki were released, Volks International, for some unfathomable reason, decided to do them as a click war despite them being limited. The server crashed. HARD. Picture the usual outfit clickwar. . .and multiply it by 10.

 

What I think most of us don't get is why they're even limited since, as Cauldy put it to me, "Vocaloids are like printing money." These two are CLEARLY preorder material.

 

Now, as for the nonpayment thing, I actually would *prefer* if you could pay half or all upfront on International like you can on Volks USA--if I hadn't gotten Miku paid in full on USA, I wouldn't have been able to pay her off, because a LOT can happen in a year or more. You can get laid off. Exchange rates can tank. A family member or pet can get gravely ill. All those things can eat doll money in a heartbeat, and no threats of blacklisting will help if something like that comes up. So only having deferred payment is kind of unrealistic on Volks' part, and if stopping the preorder practice is their solution, seems rather like shooting the goose that lays the golden egg.

Well, the wait to see Rin & Len was a long one, but Volks did not disappoint. They are really, really cute!! Depressing to think Volks is doing a lottery though I didn't realize how low the odds are of winning until I read this thread. I get some of the "it's exclusive" stuff when it comes to Volks, but does everything Volks offers have to be so hard to get? It's sad.

Hold up, excuse me I'm... not new, but I haven't had the "pleasure" of dealing with something to this magnitude before but...

 

If they're only doing lotteries over in Japan and not through Volks USA does that mean that US customers can't enter? Or can we still enter? I must know.

 

Basically, there are no tips or tricks to it, you enter the lottery during the entry period and then you wait to see if you win. Entering multiple times is against Volks' rules and can result with them banning your account. You can ask friends or family to enter on your behalf, but the name & payment method needs to be different for each entry (the delivery address can be the same). If you only win one doll, no big, because you're only entering payment info once. If you win multiple dolls, however, you can't use the same PayPal account to pay for them all -- Volks will notice, cancel all winning entries, and ban the accounts involved (so no doll for anyone!). If you don't pay for one of the dolls, Volks will ban the non-paying account.

 

Other than that, all I can do is recommend saving up for aftermarket prices, as the win rates lately have been REALLY low.

 

So if I had asked a couple friends to enter for me, say they all have different contact information and billing information and emails... and one of them wins, but I use MY Paypal account to pay for it and not the one from the email they signed up with is that an issue? Or do you have to pay through Paypal with the email you signed up with? I was thinking about asking my fiance and one of my friends to enter for me and they all have different addresses, but I'd have to pay through my own paypal and it wouldn't match their sign up email..

US customers can enter the International lottery, but we compete with the rest of the world for the few dolls available. VolksUSA used to have a separate lotto for North America, but they don't anymore, so the lotto through the International site is the only option.

 

Re: Friends & Family Entries -- You should be able to pay with any PayPal account; the problem is when you use the same PayPal account to pay for multiple wins. I don't know how paranoid Volks is with accounts; I have no idea what happens if, say, Account A wins one lotto and you use your PayPal to pay, and then six months later, Account B wins one lotto and you use the same PayPal to pay. But if Account A wins Rin, and Account B wins Rin, and you use the same PayPal to pay for both Account A and Account B, Volks ~may~ notice and, if they do, will cancel the wins and ban both accounts.

US customers can enter the International lottery, but we compete with the rest of the world for the few dolls available. VolksUSA used to have a separate lotto for North America, but they don't anymore, so the lotto through the International site is the only option.

 

Re: Friends & Family Entries -- You should be able to pay with any PayPal account; the problem is when you use the same PayPal account to pay for multiple wins. I don't know how paranoid Volks is with accounts; I have no idea what happens if, say, Account A wins one lotto and you use your PayPal to pay, and then six months later, Account B wins one lotto and you use the same PayPal to pay. But if Account A wins Rin, and Account B wins Rin, and you use the same PayPal to pay for both Account A and Account B, Volks ~may~ notice and, if they do, will cancel the wins and ban both accounts.

 

OH international, I could have just read more carefully. So yes, against the rest of the world. Wonderful. >_<

 

That's cool. I'm glad that probably won't be an issue. So maybe I'll have more than a minuscule chance, but upgraded to a tiny chance xD

 

*sigh* Why heart, why do you have to want these things?

Theres already a rin and len on yahoo japan auctions T^T

I leave the forum for a few days and come back to this bomb... There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. I was so incredibly excited for this and so were quite a few of my IRL friends and naturally we assumed these two would be pre-order based but no. Apparently not.

 

I'm still going to try myself and see who else I can get in on it to help. If I somehow get extremely lucky and end up with multiples, first extra pair would go to a friend who dearly loves those two characters, but after that It'll just be what I paid plus shipping to anyone else. Assuming that somehow even happens, which I doubt. With how abysmal volks lotteries have become you'd almost have better luck winning the actual lottery...

 

If I strike out I'll just have to get into bidding wars at 5:00 A.M. Again...

Ok, I'm going to make multiple accounts with the help of friends and family members, I have 20+ in mind, Volks wanted it this way and I will do what I can . None of them are into dolls but they will give me their email addresses to create the accounts, imagine being against the whole world!!! I sincerely have no hope in being one of the super lucky winners against thousands of people BUT I will try!!! if I were to win more than one, I have people in mind whom I have decided to get in contact with in case that happenes and in case they don't win.

 

This is war!!

I feel like as soon as it was announced that Len and Rin were lottery for the rest of the world, that this thread instantly became a hunger-games-like situation. It kinda sucks.....

I feel like as soon as it was announced that Len and Rin were lottery for the rest of the world, that this thread instantly became a hunger-games-like situation. It kinda sucks.....

Ikr, everyone's so desperate for those beauties. Why Volks, why...

I feel like as soon as it was announced that Len and Rin were lottery for the rest of the world, that this thread instantly became a hunger-games-like situation. It kinda sucks.....

 

I hope I didn't scare you with my comment =D I was partly joking (but still, my friends and family will help me out). What sucks is that they are a lottery and that scalpers are already putting up dolls on sale u_u

I just wish that Volks didn't add insult to injury by not only having them a lottery, but people in japan can preorder them...

It's only people who are going to the Dolpa, right? That's a limited number.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/252443529983

 

They're already up on eBay as a pre order. I thought they were going to be lottery entries?

They probably sell the Japan event preorder.