Buying Used Dollfie Dreams?

I've been drooling over Dollfie Dreams for years, but the price of buying new is way out of my budget, and when recently getting into Mandarake for 1/6 scale dolls, I saw they had a section for Dollfie Dreams. Seems like things are relatively inexpensive, around 28,000 Yen for a DDdy body. I wondered if buying used was a reasonable choice for budget, or if I should just save up to buy new?

 

Also, I've seen a lot of heads that are shiny, like this one: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1145946138&ref=flist&lang=en. What causes this? Is it fixable? She's such a good price that I don't want to pass her up, but I'm also very uninformed when it comes to Dollfie Dreams, so I have no idea if this is a sealant problem, age problem, or something that's super strange.

Used too much or sprayed too close sealant spray that or they used a different finish spray beside matte or flat finish. Fixable but you have to repaint.

16 minutes ago, Meguchi said:

Used too much or sprayed too close sealant spray that or they used a different finish spray beside matte or flat finish. Fixable but you have to repaint.

Okay, thank you! Do you think thats a good deal for her head? And complete newbie question, but what sealant would you reccomend?

buying used is totally okay but be sure to always check the description of the item. I bought mine used from mandarake but it was a case of not updating the listing or not looking at the item well enough by mandarake. My doll did end up at my home with a few marks on the face (shine) which i believe is fixable if i clean her depending on what it is or just msc spray her. Ive also bought used outfits from there and the description was always spot on, no surprises. I would say buy a used doll if the description is very detailed and if its not stating anything about the doll itself (marks etc) then try to avoid it. Otherwise go for it! some used dollfies that ive seen have been in great condition but since its used it will sell for less. 

Just now, Rumi said:

buying used is totally okay but be sure to always check the description of the item. I bought mine used from mandarake but it was a case of not updating the listing or not looking at the item well enough by mandarake. My doll did end up at my home with a few marks on the face (shine) which i believe is fixable if i clean her depending on what it is or just msc spray her. Ive also bought used outfits from there and the description was always spot on, no surprises. I would say buy a used doll if the description is very detailed and if its not stating anything about the doll itself (marks etc) then try to avoid it. Otherwise go for it! some used dollfies that ive seen have been in great condition but since its used it will sell for less. 

Thank you so much!!! With shipping costs how they are currently, it's a bit scary to imagine how much it would cost for it coming from Mandarake, since 2 small dolls I got were 30 for shipping to the US! I'll keep an eye out though, I really appreciate your input!

5 minutes ago, AveragePigeon said:

Thank you so much!!! With shipping costs how they are currently, it's a bit scary to imagine how much it would cost for it coming from Mandarake, since 2 small dolls I got were 30 for shipping to the US! I'll keep an eye out though, I really appreciate your input!

I had to pay 50 bucks for my dollfie dream fullset doll with EMS. It should cost less for you if you only want a body and head ^^. As for a good price for a head...this really depends. First if its a sought after doll (saber lily, sasara, rise) their heads will sell for 50 000 yen or more. But if you want a custom head its usually 30 000 and below! Good quality custom heads are gonna be a bit more expensive (200-300 bucks). You can check the marketplace here where ive seen some amazing custom heads for 150-200 bucks. As for sealant everyone ive met uses mr super clear matte. Ive used it and it works well~~ The shine on that head you linked is a bit scary personally so i wouldnt risk it but im not so informed on that part.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Rumi

6 minutes ago, Rumi said:

I had to pay 50 bucks for my dollfie dream fullset doll with EMS. It should cost less for you if you only want a body and head ^^. As for a good price for a head...this really depends. First if its a sought after doll (saber lily, sasara, rise) their heads will sell for 50 000 yen or more. But if you want a custom head its usually 30 000 and below! Good quality custom heads are gonna be a bit more expensive (200-300 bucks). You can check the marketplace here where ive seen some amazing custom heads for 150-200 bucks. As for sealant everyone ive met uses mr super clear matte. Ive used it and it works well~~ The shine on that head you linked is a bit scary personally so i wouldnt risk it but im not so informed on that part.

Ok, that's good to know! I'm just looking for a DDH-06 head and a DD F3 body, so nothing too rare! I don't have access to the marketplace here yet because I'm still very new to the site, but I'll have to check it out when I have access! Thank you so much!!

6 hours ago, AveragePigeon said:

Also, I've seen a lot of heads that are shiny, like this one:

Personally my main concern with this head in particular would be the discolouration.  There's no way to tell if the yellowing is the vinyl or just the sealant, without removing it.  I want to believe it's the sealant, as the headcap is a different colour, but it seems even all around, even where most people wouldn't normally spray sealant (like on the back of the head), so it's still a risk.  That's also the other risk of buying used: you can't guarantee a near-perfect colour match, as you likely won't know how old both the head and body are.  You probably won't have much issue, but with a head like that, I think you'd definitely notice the yellowing if put on a non-yellowed body.

If the yellowing is just due to the sealant yellowing (and being more noticeable thanks to it being applied so thick), you could remedy the problem by removing it- but you would have to remove the faceup in the process.  Which is not a problem really, unless you wanted to keep the faceup!  So if you would prefer to buy a head with a faceup you like, I would recommend avoiding heads with such a noticable colour difference between the face and the headcap.

As for shipping, I purchased my DD Hatsune Miku from Mandarake in March and just checked; I paid about $120 to have her shipped via DHL (which we all know currently isn't really an option, as they're running about $300-400 now), but she still came out under her original retail price even with that hefty fee, so you can definitely find a great deal if you're willing to wait and look!  The reason mine was so cheap was thanks to the eye putty having melted in her head.  Took me about an hour to fully remove all of it from her eyes and head, but absolutely worth scoring her for under $600!  As Rumi said, just read the description and look at the photos carefully, they try to document all issues clearly, so you can know what you're getting.  You'll probably score a great deal this way if you just have a little patience and wait for the right DD to come along for you!

5 minutes ago, OccultBeast said:

Personally my main concern with this head in particular would be the discolouration.  There's no way to tell if the yellowing is the vinyl or just the sealant, without removing it.  I want to believe it's the sealant, as the headcap is a different colour, but it seems even all around, even where most people wouldn't normally spray sealant (like on the back of the head), so it's still a risk.  That's also the other risk of buying used: you can't guarantee a near-perfect colour match, as you likely won't know how old both the head and body are.  You probably won't have much issue, but with a head like that, I think you'd definitely notice the yellowing if put on a non-yellowed body.

If the yellowing is just due to the sealant yellowing (and being more noticeable thanks to it being applied so thick), you could remedy the problem by removing it- but you would have to remove the faceup in the process.  Which is not a problem really, unless you wanted to keep the faceup!  So if you would prefer to buy a head with a faceup you like, I would recommend avoiding heads with such a noticable colour difference between the face and the headcap.

As for shipping, I purchased my DD Hatsune Miku from Mandarake in March and just checked; I paid about $120 to have her shipped via DHL (which we all know currently isn't really an option, as they're running about $300-400 now), but she still came out under her original retail price even with that hefty fee, so you can definitely find a great deal if you're willing to wait and look!  The reason mine was so cheap was thanks to the eye putty having melted in her head.  Took me about an hour to fully remove all of it from her eyes and head, but absolutely worth scoring her for under $600!  As Rumi said, just read the description and look at the photos carefully, they try to document all issues clearly, so you can know what you're getting.  You'll probably score a great deal this way if you just have a little patience and wait for the right DD to come along for you!

Thank you!! I found the body I wanted for about 26,000 Y or so, but to hear that the shipping is that insane (if you're saying shipping now is 300 to 400 dollars) makes me tempted to order new. That's really good to know, as I love to rescue dolls, although vinyls are very new for me! I appreciate all that advice!

Just now, AveragePigeon said:

Thank you!! I found the body I wanted for about 26,000 Y or so, but to hear that the shipping is that insane (if you're saying shipping now is 300 to 400 dollars) makes me tempted to order new. That's really good to know, as I love to rescue dolls, although vinyls are very new for me! I appreciate all that advice!

DHL isn't technically a consumer-level shipping company, they're usually more freight-based shipping as I understand it, and so when EMS started getting backed up thanks to the pandemic and a lack of commercial flights to load mail onto/countries being blocked for mail entry, DHL saw an increase in volume and I assume increased pricing accordingly.  DHL was incredibly fast, as I had her in about three days after shipping, but it's definitely a hefty price to pay right now and one that I also wouldn't be able to justify.

I believe EMS is still going pretty average, though!  You can look around in other threads (I feel like I saw recent arrivals for Mochi-Ashi MDD) and probably be able to find out more accurate and current EMS pricing.  Definitely ask around and look around on your own, so you can figure out the best deal!

Just now, OccultBeast said:

DHL isn't technically a consumer-level shipping company, they're usually more freight-based shipping as I understand it, and so when EMS started getting backed up thanks to the pandemic and a lack of commercial flights to load mail onto/countries being blocked for mail entry, DHL saw an increase in volume and I assume increased pricing accordingly.  DHL was incredibly fast, as I had her in about three days after shipping, but it's definitely a hefty price to pay right now and one that I also wouldn't be able to justify.

I believe EMS is still going pretty average, though!  You can look around in other threads (I feel like I saw recent arrivals for Mochi-Ashi MDD) and probably be able to find out more accurate and current EMS pricing.  Definitely ask around and look around on your own, so you can figure out the best deal!

I agree, but EMS doesn't deliver to the US right now, so unfortunately, DHL is all I have, or at least it was as of a week ago when I purchased from there. I hope the prices go down with DHL, but in the mean time, I'll save up! I really appreciate the advice! Does Yahoo Japan normally have good deals? I've heard about them but am not sure if it's a good place to get cheap DDs. Thanks!!!

2 minutes ago, AveragePigeon said:

I agree, but EMS doesn't deliver to the US right now, so unfortunately, DHL is all I have, or at least it was as of a week ago when I purchased from there. I hope the prices go down with DHL, but in the mean time, I'll save up! I really appreciate the advice! Does Yahoo Japan normally have good deals? I've heard about them but am not sure if it's a good place to get cheap DDs. Thanks!!!

Ah yeah, I wasn't sure if EMS was still unavailable or not, as I haven't done much buying recently.  Hopefully it opens back up and/or DHL prices go down again soon. 🙏

I don't have any experience with Y!J, so hopefully someone else will be able to come along and give some insight for you!

Just now, OccultBeast said:

Ah yeah, I wasn't sure if EMS was still unavailable or not, as I haven't done much buying recently.  Hopefully it opens back up and/or DHL prices go down again soon. 🙏

I don't have any experience with Y!J, so hopefully someone else will be able to come along and give some insight for you!

Thank you so much! DHL is quick, but I'd rather it be slow and cheap, although I'm not one bit patient. I'm seeing some on Y!J, but they're upwards of 100,000 ¥, so not too much I can do, especially since i don't want a special one! I appreciate your help a lot!!

No worries!  I'm still very new into vinyl dolls myself, but have many years in BJD collecting, so I know how nice it is to get some helpful information when starting out.  This board has been a huge help to me as well!

I believe it's said that Dollfie Dreams find their owners, not the other way around, and I feel like this is very true!  The right girl will find you when she's meant to, don't worry! ♥

On 8/19/2020 at 4:23 AM, AveragePigeon said:

I've been drooling over Dollfie Dreams for years, but the price of buying new is way out of my budget, and when recently getting into Mandarake for 1/6 scale dolls, I saw they had a section for Dollfie Dreams. Seems like things are relatively inexpensive, around 28,000 Yen for a DDdy body. I wondered if buying used was a reasonable choice for budget, or if I should just save up to buy new?

 

Also, I've seen a lot of heads that are shiny, like this one: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1145946138&ref=flist&lang=en. What causes this? Is it fixable? She's such a good price that I don't want to pass her up, but I'm also very uninformed when it comes to Dollfie Dreams, so I have no idea if this is a sealant problem, age problem, or something that's super strange.

Just in case you had decided you wanted this head I thought I'd mention that it's white skin. White skin was discontinued a while ago and is now hard to find. It also yellows more and isn't easy to treat stains. The F3 body never came in white either, so unless you have a lead for an older body they colour won't match. Volks only has a couple of colours but they are quite different so make sure you get matching head and body 😊

2 hours ago, Katiazza said:

Just in case you had decided you wanted this head I thought I'd mention that it's white skin. White skin was discontinued a while ago and is now hard to find. It also yellows more and isn't easy to treat stains. The F3 body never came in white either, so unless you have a lead for an older body they colour won't match. Volks only has a couple of colours but they are quite different so make sure you get matching head and body 😊

Okay, thank you so so much!! I've decided against the head, but that's really helpful to know!