Company vs Custom Face-Up Prices

Once you have access to the marketplace, you'll be able to see the prices.

You can't get a 'guesstimate' on prices because they range from beginners offering free ones, to established, pricy faceup artists asking almost $200. What you should probably do is post more to gain marketplace access, and look at faceup artists that you like. Then check out their prices, and get an idea out of the ones that suit your style.

 

It also depends on how much you're willing to pay for. Like Suuchan said, very famous and established faceup artists ask for a lot more money than one who's a beginner or those who are happy with their 'medium' prices because they love painting faces

It's a lot like doll hunting really! You find an artist you like, and then see if you like the price or not XD

 

I've found that with a little shopping around you can find a face-up artist able to do a factory-level face-up for between $40-80 (sometimes a little less, then obviously there's the people charging $200...) or thereabouts. As the others said, it really depends on what you want and also bear in mind there may be a shipping cost involved too. I can recommend you a few great artists, but in the UK so shipping would bump the price up a fair bit >.< Also bear in mind that factory face-ups aren't always as good as their photographs lead you to believe, so it can be a bit hit-and-miss unfortunately. I can't really say about DZ's face-ups I'm afraid

 

Everyone had made good comments so far about this. I also want to add in here: You can always do the face up yourself! Start learning how face ups work etc under the esthetic and workshop area. You could always buy a cheap practice head for like 40$ on the marketplace once you have marketplace access and start practicing now before you get your first doll so you get good with it. I find doing your own face ups is a very fun experience and shows you another side of your bjd hobby that you can treasure. Even if you don't get into doing your own face ups, I still recommend checking the workshop page out because it will help you understand how face ups work, and things you should start thinking about for your doll that you may have never thought about (i.e. do I want crossed eyelashes or straight, gloss or glitter, lip lines vs. no lip lines, what shade of eyebrows to match my wig? etc)
Also, you could always buy your doll secondhand on the marketplace. Most of the times, they will have a default or custom face up already, and will be cheaper because there second hand (unless they are limited, of course). You can also put out a WTB for it and wait for a seller to contact you. That kinda gets rid of the anxiousness of a face up in a way.
You could also start looking at photos of any doll with faces up, and get to see the different styles, colors, technique, etc, and see what you prefer so when you are ready you know what you want. here, deviant art, flickr, are great places to look at photos. And of course, company photos can give you a general idea but I really reccomend looking up any photo you can get your hands on of your particular sculpt (i.e. type in your doll sculpt into here or other places) because a face up dramatically changes the sculpt! It helps you see what looks good, or not so good on the sculpt. I've seen some sculpts I've always never liked and then saw a face up (custom) on it that made me go "wow". Also, bjd meet ups may help you see face ups up close and person too. good luck and early congrats on your first doll, very exciting!

 

I wanted to second what Ehryn said. If I were you I would do a search for "shoyo" in the Box Opening area. Try to find some Shoyos with default (factory) face ups. Sometimes the companies do extra touch ups or special lighting to the pictures on their website. A "real life" picture in a box opening thread will give you a much better idea of what you'll get.

You can also use that as a baseline for what you do/don't want. "I like her eyebrows, but her lips are too dark." Then if you decide to commission somebody for a face up you know what to tell them.