Question Re: Dollfie Dream Pre-orders

I... don't know how to buy a limited Dollfie Dream, after all this time in the hobby. Do I just wait until they show and place the pre-order? When do I pay? I'm completely baffled with the concept of Doll Lotteries, as well.. I know this is something basic in the hobby and I ought to be able to answer my questions with a hearty googling session, but most of what I've read left me more confused. So sorry for the trouble, and thank you so much for your time!!

The lottery is simple. Volks makes a limited number of dolls, and sells the right to buy them through a lottery. If they make 400 of a doll, and 10000 people enter the lottery 400 of them will get to buy the doll. Once you enter the lottery it’s a commitment to buy the doll if you win. If you don’t Volks terminates your ability to enter future lotteries, and can close your account. 

Pre-orders generally seem to fall into two categories.

The unlimited pre orders projects in which everyone who signs up will get the doll they ordered. You wait about  a year for the doll to be made, but usually only need a deposit. The next pre-order project should be announced in the September - October time frame. 

Limited pre-orders where only a set number of dolls will be made, and for which Volks takes orders until that number is reached. These are usually pay in full up front, and you may still wait a year for the doll to ship. 

Edited April 15, 2019 by BeyondTime

Also, there is only one Preorder Project a year (the 'unlimited preorder' BeyondTime described). It's usually a big deal! Volks even sometimes have countdowns to the reveal of the preorder dolls for the year (although they didnt last year, but its probably because, as they were 2B and 9S from Nier Automata, Square Enix had an iron grip/say on how the dolls would be shown and they seemed to really want them revealed at the Nier Automata concert...they werent even shown properly in Volks News, which was bizarre. The countdowns are exciting though so I do hope we get one this year again)

The second type of preorder (limited) has actually been much more recent and its still pretty uncommon I believe? Megurine Luka was one of them, as was Matoi. It used to be that any doll released for the Dolls Party events in Japan (there are 4 a year) would be guaranteed to be a lottery release in the online store, but recently we don't really know until the specific details for the web release go up close to the date (Usually, it's still lottery, but...) I can see you in interested in Sakura Miku for example, so that's even more murky. So far, every Vocaloid release has been easy to get. Miku and Snow Miku were Preorder Projects, Rin and Len were regular lotteries but with an extraordinarily high win-rate (and are often bought back for some special events, especially Len), Luka had a limited preorder. Sakura Miku could thus have 'vocaloid powers', or she could just be a regular lottery. We're not gonna know until the web sales start, which will be when the Doll Party After Event starts (this one is mid May). They typically dont reveal the specifics of how web sales are conducted until then.

(In case you want any further explanation: The Dolls Party/Dolpa events are the official Volks conventions in Japan and where there is an early limited presale of the dolls (and clothing) that you see in Volks News, and then everyone who cant attend these gets a chance at it when the 'After Event' starts in the Volks stores across Japan and the online webstore. They're typically 2-3 weeks after the Dolpa.)

extra: there is a third method of sale but as far as I know that's only been done once, a 'clickwar' for a doll that first came out not at a Dolpa but at an event at the Volks store in Akihabara - Nanao Yuriko. I say 'click war' but it seemed like she was actually pretty easy to get and took a few days to sell out.. This was last year, I dont know how common this will be from here on out, it was kind of an outlier)

Anyway, while preorders exist the vast majority of Dollfie Dreams and Super Dollfies are sold via lottery method. People complain about it, but I personally prefer it to a clickwar like what some other companies such as Azone do for a limited number of dolls, as it makes things a little more fair. It would be nice if all dolls were preorder, sure, but that would mean a whole lot more dolls would need to be produced, and we'd get less releases each year because of it. Plus, I dunno, it's exciting. The thrill of the win  the sadness of the loss 

(For what its worth, judging from what I've gathered from peoples posts here in my approximate 3 years in this hobby, the win rate for limited DDs has gotten much better.)

Edited April 15, 2019 by Monty

Wow, thank you both so much for such a detailed explanation, @Monty and @BeyondTime !! I really had every question I had answered, and I really appreciate it! The ordering process is... just as opaque as I thought it was, but at least now I know what to look out for! And hopefully now I will be ready when the chance comes to order Sakura Miku! (Or any other dolls that come in the future!

And yeah, I agree- anything's better than a clickwar. |D;

I really want to thank you both once again. I'm glad I decided to ask ^^

You can also get them aftermarket, but the markups can be bad. I would enter the international lottery for Miku when it opens. Just watch the Sakura Miku thread, and I am sure someone will post the details on the lottery.  

Check back often because the lottery window will only be a few days, and details may only go up a few days ahead of the event.