Are Volks DDs known to have a "non-legit" market?

This is a serious worry of mine, so please forgive me if it's not alright to ask. I'm coming into the DD collector's world from the resin doll world, and am very much wondering if "recasts" are an issue with Volks DDs? I honestly didn't even quite think of the possibility, but recently I fell in love with a face artists from China who does business through Etsy. Rather than sending your DDH to her, she claims to have all the standard DDH on-hand for commission. So you pay her for both the head and the faceup. I am not new to the realities of the Chinese manufacturing market, so I'm somewhat cautious after learning of this business model.

So I'm really wondering, is there a known issue with non-legit DDHs being produced, as there are for resin SD's?

As far i know the only recast DD are snow miku and saber, the new one whit the crown.

  On 11/25/2020 at 8:23 PM, Ageha said:

face artists from China who does business through Etsy

Do you happen to mean ShiNes?  They do incredible work!  It's actually much cheaper for everyone involved for popular faceup artists to simply keep on hand a stock of blank DD heads to paint with, and I've seen artists in Japan do this especially.  It saves you spending extra on shipping for having to send the head to the artist, and of course it saves loads of time because they can get to work right away.  It's a really great system!

What @kalisha said is correct though as far as I know, there is only a bootleg Snow Miku and Saber.  I think they're both only sold as fullsets, too, so there isn't likely to be an excess of just their heads floating around, even in China.  It's relatively easy to buy any of the standard DD heads from Volks at (most) times, plus from what I've seen, the bootleg heads are pretty obviously bootleg.  No respectable artist would want to be caught using them.

@OccultBeast There's Niyamia as well, who has been around forever. She used to auction her heads exclusively on Y!J, but frequently sells her heads on Etsy now, too. She's also China-based. I'm sure there are others, but Niyamia and ShiNes are the two who instantly come to mind. And as far as bootlegs go, I wasn't even aware bootleg DDs were a thing until just now, so.....yikes.

Blank standard heads are so cheap (under $50) and so easy to get, it makes much more sense for a face-up artist to acquire their own supply of heads and use those, rather than have a customer ship a head to them... With the way shipping is right now, shipping a head would probably cost almost as much as the head is worth.

Selling custom-painted DD heads is really common in this hobby, much moreso than you see with resin heads. I've seen several artists selling painted DDH heads on Etsy and they all seem legitimate.

However, there are some resin recasters on Etsy, so do shop with caution. If the price is too good to be true... It probably is.

  On 11/25/2020 at 11:20 PM, OccultBeast said:

Do you happen to mean ShiNes?  They do incredible work!

I can second this, if you look through my post history, my Samus doll is a custom from ShiNes.  They were super easy to work with and very communicative. I wouldn't hesitate to get another custom faceup from them.  Several people here and on other sites have doll face-ups by them, and I've never heard a negative thing.  

  On 11/25/2020 at 11:20 PM, OccultBeast said:

Do you happen to mean ShiNes?  They do incredible work!  It's actually much cheaper for everyone involved for popular faceup artists to simply keep on hand a stock of blank DD heads to paint with, and I've seen artists in Japan do this especially.  It saves you spending extra on shipping for having to send the head to the artist, and of course it saves loads of time because they can get to work right away.  It's a really great system!

What @kalisha said is correct though as far as I know, there is only a bootleg Snow Miku and Saber.  I think they're both only sold as fullsets, too, so there isn't likely to be an excess of just their heads floating around, even in China.  It's relatively easy to buy any of the standard DD heads from Volks at (most) times, plus from what I've seen, the bootleg heads are pretty obviously bootleg.  No respectable artist would want to be caught using them.

Thank you for all of this information! Yes, I was indeed looking at ShiNes! I just fell in love with her work, and she had so many great reviews on Etsy, I was just being paranoid since I'm so new to DDs. But the idea of them supplying the head is also super convenient and new, but I'm grateful for it, so thank you for quelling my fears  

  On 11/26/2020 at 12:16 AM, Cauldroness said:

Blank standard heads are so cheap (under $50) and so easy to get, it makes much more sense for a face-up artist to acquire their own supply of heads and use those, rather than have a customer ship a head to them... With the way shipping is right now, shipping a head would probably cost almost as much as the head is worth.

Selling custom-painted DD heads is really common in this hobby, much moreso than you see with resin heads. I've seen several artists selling painted DDH heads on Etsy and they all seem legitimate.

However, there are some resin recasters on Etsy, so do shop with caution. If the price is too good to be true... It probably is.

Yes, it seriously seems such a more convenient business model for the artist to already have the head. I never could imagine such a thing after 15 years of resin BJDs, but it certainly makes sense. Thank you for your help!