When is it time to part with a doll?

When do you decide its time to part with one of your dolls? How do you determine its value?

I am finding myself questioning keeping a couple of mine. I bought extras because I wanted to keep nice ones on display at home, while having a couple sacrificial ones for conventions. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be going to conventions any time soon.

Looked at Mandarake, eBay, MFC, and the Marketplace here and was seeing a wide range of prices. Not sure how to price mine when the range is so extreme. I don't need the money, but I also would want fair value. The money would come in handy... for new dolls.

I am purposefully not mentioning which dolls I want to sell as this is not meant to be a sales or exploratory post for specific items. I just want to see how others have dealt with this before.

I've sold one doll in the past to someone here.

She was obtained via Dream Choice, and I couldn't bond with her. Because she was effectively new, and it was a pretty quick decision, I could sell her almost break even.

For a character doll, I'd price fairly based off its condition and what you're seeing on Mandarake as a starting point, taking into account that the USD -> JPY exchange rate is extra favorable, so it's a buyer's market right now for better or worse.

Anecdotally speaking, things are selling a wee bit slower than they were a few years ago, so if you want a nibble, you may have to price a bit lower than you'd like.

Edited Saturday at 09:14 AM by chef_mai

I can’t remember where I read it, it might have even been here somewhere but I once saw the advice to pack up a doll and store it away for an extended amount of time (months or even a year), and see whether the absence actually bothers you - Do you miss the doll or does if feel better with it gone? Take the doll out again, did you miss them and feel happy to see them again, or just indifferent? It can be a good way to ‘test’ whether you’re ready to part with a doll if you’re having trouble deciding. I once thought I’d never sell a single doll, but now I’ve sold off 4 of my DDs and used that method each time to determine that it was the correct decision for me.

In my case, I had to sell in order to free up both space and money because I’m at the point where I can no longer afford either for new dolls.

Determining the value is always tricky. I had a look through all the usual selling spots - yahoo auctions, mandarake, merucari in both jp and English, Dollyteria, myfigurecollection, DOA and on here too, in order to see what kind of prices those dolls have sold for in the past and kind of average it out or go a little lower. I would take eBay out of those equations completely because the prices on there are always outrageous. It’s always important to remember that just because you can see a doll for sale for a certain price, it doesn’t mean that it ever actually WILL sell for that price so looking for sold out listings tends to be much more helpful as it shows you what people are willing to pay. It’s important to take the dates into account too - there are dolls that gain value over time, but others the price may go down.

Edited Saturday at 10:33 AM by Monty

I’ve sold my entire collection and started over multiple times lol. I think for me, if I haven’t really touched or been excited to take pics of a doll or dolls for a year, it’s time to sell for me. For the same reason, to swap them out for new dolls.  Sometimes entirely new companies. 

I recognize I'm a little atypical in this regard, but once I start entertaining the idea of selling a doll, I tend to become overwhelmed with the need to get them out of my house ASAP. Very rarely do I waffle about selling a doll once the notion has gotten into my head. This also tends to overlap with a sort of pining about the dolls I would repurpose those funds for, since I tend to keep my doll money devoted to my dolls as opposed to spending it on anything else.

As far as pricing goes, I tend to use Dollyteria, the forums, and Mandarake as my guides for pricing. They tend to be the most solid resources for picking a price point and gauging collective interest in various sculpts. Then I add a little bit to the price because I find I sell faster if I offer free domestic shipping and discounted international shipping. If there's damage or missing pieces, I'll cut the price down a little bit from there. That tends to end up with me at a price point that people feel is fair and incentivizes quick sales. If I don't sell within, say, a week or two, I start cutting the price down. You don't have to do this, but again, I get very into a "get this out of my house" mindset that I prioritize over potential profits and such.

As everyone is saying. It's all up to you.  If you need space, cash or feel like the doll no longer fits in your collection anymore- then that's a good enough reason.

Although the market is slower now- if it's a character doll, it may be a bit easier.

I recently had to sell one of my dolls,  I thought I'd have an extremely hard time due to my asking price etc, but I got a buyer within days (Though I did offer a decent layaway time). For pricing, I used prices I'd seen them go for in the expected places ( Facebook listings are also a very good way to gauge imo).

 

This particular doll, I'm not too upset I have to sell them. But there is a part of me that's excited to see if I can hunt one down again later.

 

It's tough to decide when to part with a doll as I can't immediately tell whether I need to just put them away for a while or I actually just don't want them anymore. I would put them away and decide later. I price mines on the original value, condition, and how much I want it out of my collection.

I think it's easier to part with a vinyl doll in most cases as there are only so many head sculpts and companies, so it's easier to recreate the doll or get another one similar to it. In the case of resin though, it's much harder as there are a lot of old, unknown or very obscure releases, so it's much harder to get those back if I decide to sell them. Figures are much easier to sell as a result since I can get the same thing if I want it back later on.