Dollshe Discussion - Part Eleven

It sounds like they are worried about the impending world war, as am I!

 

@roserising - Oh my gosh wow! What a cool collection!

@SteamWitch - Naww, sleepy Killian's going to look so cute!

@Heceta - Wow. Ok that's hilarious!

Here's a silly little something with Desmond. I took this photo at the last doll meet. Got a few strange looks from passers-by as I took photos of him almost naked and lying in a flowerbed.

WP_20170325_17_40_56_Rich by Liz, on Flickr

 

Welp! Looks like asking about my shipping estimation on their Q&A worked, because rather than get a reply, I just got a shipping notice this morning, lol!!

 

"any act of God" is a legal/insurance term which essentially means any catastrophic event leading to loss that could have in no way been predicted - i.e. earthquake, tsunami, or the postal carrier, while holding your doll, gets struck by lighting it seems the PTB in the legal and insurance spheres have a very low opinion of God
Absurd things that are not acts of God - like the kid who broke into a shed (on school property) stole a ladder, used the ladder to climb onto the school's roof, walked all the way to the opposite end of the interconnected school buildings and then fell through the skylight he was trying to kick in - are nightmares to litigate (guess what case I've been working on all week ah well, all the overtime will probably go to dolls)

 

LoL, seems they can make them okay but is the shipping department is the hangup? Perhaps they have to pull someone from the doll making into boxing and shipping?

 

Great questions @helene! I'm not at liberty to disclose all the fine details, but I'll see if I can answer you as best as I can.

To be perfectly honest, the "draw that makes people want to be Dollshe's dealers" is a totally different animal from the draw that makes people want to be dealers in general. Dealers, be they of BJD companies or of anything, get a cut of what they sell, and that's basically the incentive. The specific nature of this "cut" differs from company to company, business to business, field to field, you get the idea. In most cases, it's a flat percentage of the sales, but in some cases, it could be material compensation, bonuses, or some combination/variation of all of those. I can't speak for other Dollshe dealers, but for my group, the biggest incentive isn't any of that, but rather, the love of Dollshe's work. I know that sounds cliche, but going back to the first sentence of this paragraph, suffice to say, the profit margin is pretty minimal because, for instance, Dollshe doesn't give its dealers any deals on shipping, which to my knowledge, is not the case for most other doll companies and their dealers. In general, represented companies give its dealers free shipping, which really helps offset the costs the dealer pays out of pocket a lot, especially since there are other fees that the dealers cover themselves. In my opinion, the biggest reward for being a Dollshe dealer definitely isn't the monetary aspect. The members of my group really truly love Dollshe and want to contribute to keeping it around as well as bettering its business practices, so that ideal is really the biggest driving force for us at least. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not speaking ill of Dollshe by any means, but without an immaterial cause inspiring us, the monetary compensation isn't worth the amount of work we put in, especially since we're based in the US and each unit of currency doesn't go as far in the US as they would in parts of Asia.

For your second question, in essence, and this is speaking in general terms, it's the cut that the dealers get that give them an advantage over non-dealers that buy to resell. Legally speaking in the BJD world, there isn't any discrepancy between the two, dealers and non-dealers can sell a product just the same, it's just that a non-dealer stands to lose money in the process, which is true of the dealer as well, but there's more of a cushion for the dealer.

If by "special priorities" you mean if the dealer's orders get cast first, Dollshe hasn't stated definitively one way or another. Practically speaking, casting a bunch of dolls in the same resin is more efficient than doing a bunch of different ones, so Dollshe might do a dealer's batch first if that batch contains a large number of dolls in the same resin colors. Dealer orders might get finished first simply because efficiency has a statistically higher probability of occurring with them than with a bunch of individual orders that trickle in. However, because Dollshe doesn't wait to have a certain amount of the same color ordered before they begin casting, it's hard to predict how they'd schedule the workflow.

This next part is solely based on my observations, but I believe that Dollshe responds to dealer questions and inquiries faster than normal customer questions, although this difference is probably not that huge. One thing that's definitely a difference between dealers and non-dealers is that dealers are made aware of upcoming sales, releases and events earlier than the general public is (usually by 1-3 days) so that we can prepare. For quality concerns, we are responsible for the inspection of all products that are ordered through us and Dollshe is accountable for any issues that we might find.

I hope that this addresses your questions suitably.

 

Lucky You. I asked them about my order everywhere I could ask. But didnt get reply in 10 days. So I got really annoyed today and opened PayPal claim. I m done with Dollshe.

 

Can you give me some info on her please. Thx u so much

 

Well said and great info .

 

I was promised a discount would be applied to my order and was instructed to order but then cancel at paypal stage. I have now waited 3 days for the amended invoice and haven't had an answer to my Q&A. Not sure what to do now

 

This is her flickr: matahata
Here is her DoA profile: /members/matahata.59963/
This is the price list she quoted me last August, I don't know if it's still the same:
About the cost inc.eyelashes:
50$ for tiny and yo-sd
70$ for others
80$ for portrait/minimee

 

It sounds like you've followed all the correct steps, I think Dollshe's just overwhelmed with the volume of inquiries. Give it a few more days, and if they still haven't responded, try e-mailing them using this address: [email protected]

 

Thank you. I just would hate for them to cancel my order. I feel fated never to get my Amanda

 

I finished the faceup on sleepy Kilian and it matches pretty well but not quite right.
Finally notice the reason, his OE head has thin brown eyelashes and I put thick black on his SA. I'm seriously thinking of removing both sets.

 

Don't give up! I'm sure they'd rather sell you your Amanda rather than not, so just keep at it!

 

@BJDivas thank you so much for enlighting me regarding Dollshe and your own management. Hearing how much effort and personal sacrifices go into just keeping a business afloat makes me appreciate the things I acquire from them, specifically in relation to your own business and Dollshe. I hope you both will stick around for many many more decades!

Btw, your byline about aiming to fill the accessories need of the BJD community highlights a thought I recently have been entertaining. I love them Dollshe kids but finding casual type clothing for their size is difficult. The line of clothes that are currently being offered by Dollshe and Freedom Teller is super nice and I understand the appeal of business suits and formal dresses, etc, but I personally would love to own more fashionable street type fashion, stuff you see on everyday kids and current fashion in malls as opposed to the same style from about a decade ago. When I'm out shopping, there are proportionately more shops selling casual type clothing in my malls than formal stuff so I wonder if this is saying something about the real world market demand.

A couple of years ago I approached Ninestyle and asked if they would be interested to produce stuff specifically for the Venitu (5th Motif) body, I was willing to lend them one of my own for them to cut patterns from, but they were not interested citing that the population owning that size is too small for them to produce a dedicated line. Fair enough, it's probably not cost effective for one producer to do this, but then I was thinking, what if it doesn't have to come from 1 maker?

What if there is just one stop shop, catering only to specific Dollshe dolls but the stock in it come from different makers, each free to trade under their own brand name, maybe even do a set number of release for a particular season? That way, the workload is shared and there isn't a whole lot of pressure on one particular party to keep producing a particular item but the shop would have a good chance of securing a niche but loyal customer base because there isn't anything quite like it now.

I started approaching some of my local talents, offering to lend out some of my dolls as models, but unfortunately I got sucked into a building construction project this year so I never went further with the idea. But Morgana from Peppermint Circus made a couple of items under my design request using my doll as pattern model, for example :

A hoodie:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/5d18471cbbb9f67890fc9cd478b599e5/tumblr_o2ghdjcbTO1r0u57co1_1280.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/7d59de925ed90ff87bc4f6fbb212fea7/tumblr_o49zviYCIl1r0u57co4_500.jpg

I believe they all sold out.

 

Thank you for the kind words, as well as for sharing your fascinating and insightful experiences! You've definitely hit the nail on the head regarding the available fashion styles for Dollshe dolls, it's a similar situation to Minifees and super cutesy fashions.

Your idea is a very interesting one, and I'd like to talk with you more about it, but I don't want to spam everyone else in the thread, plus I worry about this sort of discussion possibly breaking any rules. May I PM you to continue this conversation?

 

and i've ordered my Rosen 35s! I'm under no illusions about the wait times, believe me. Though I would be thrilled if he showed up in time for my birthday at the end of September. I ordered Pure/Oriental resin, which i actually prefer over the Fresh for photographing, so at least it won't have the added delay of the tans.

Now that I'm trying to actually look around and see what I can buy for this guy to wear, I also really wish there were more casual stuff available. Or stuff like Apuntob/Pipsquesk Chapeau/La Vestiaire de Jeanne, kind of artsy, voluminous casual in neutrals and nice linen/wool/knits. I've got a Dollstown 18 girl and now the DSAM35, and they will both need custom, specific wardrobes, because classy modern suits are nice but all wrong for my group. I hope I'll be up to the challenge, i'm very rusty at pattern making thanks to my day job eating my life for like 5 years there

 

i guess my thing is that a lot of us make patters/clothes/are knowledgable in sewing skills.... But it's time consuming effort, and i have chronic health issues, and other hobbies, and real life responsibilities so I have to budget my time. I can make them things, and I will, and I do enjoy it in some ways. I like the uniqueness of it. But it would be nice if there were buyable options out there with a wider variety of styles. Because I do honestly like it better when my 'doll hobby time' doesn't end up exclusively being 'sewing time.'

 

Thx u so so much

 

That is really good value for a faceup by Matahata. Their work is incredible. I follow them on Flickr and it makes my jaw drop on a regular basis.

 

I second that. Stunning work by Matahata every face up. Of course I think that of your work too, Max.

 

Kilian's sleepy face with the right color eyelashes turned out well. The SA faceplate is a little more yellowed that his OE but I can work with it. I'm happy. I stole the other pair of green small iris eyes from a vampire, who needed red eyes anyway.
sleepy kilian experiment 2 by SteamWitch, on Flickr

 

Baw!

 

So those of you who have Arsene, any advice on where to buy clothes, since we're on the subject? Would just ordering standard 70cm clothes work? Or does he suffer Venitu's problem of having too big of a booty?

 

He had a big body period. I've made him some clothing at first he was wearing SID jeans but he has a long torso and shorter legs.

 

I have a pair of EID jeans I could probably use for him, as they feel like they are too baggy for my Venitu. I think I've seen people have success with regular 70cm pants for the 5thmotif body so I might just take a chance and order some and whoever they fit best gets to wear them lol

 

@SteamWitch - Naww, sleepy Killian.

 

I've actually found that SID pants are too short for him - ordered a pair of pants through Etsy and they came up very short. EID pants need a belt to stay on. SID shirts fit better, but have the same problem when you're trying to get long sleeves - EID shirts are almost hilariously baggy but long enough in the sleeve. Seconding clothing suggestions, though, since I am struggling myself.

 

Is it for Arsene that folks are having problems? Arsene and Venitu are the next guys up for slopers, although I've done shirts for Venitu.

I'm currently finishing a series of outfits for the DSAM 32 body and getting ready for two doll conventions.

 

yes, it's for my arsene body that I need to find clothes for. I own a venitu as well, who just owns one outfit. He has EID pants, but they are too baggy for my liking. I'm assuming their bodies are very similar so they'll be able to share clothes.

 

can I ask what the DSAM 32/35s can wear? A lot of the '70cm size' options seem to be for the hound/pure type of body, and I've seen the comparisons to know that the 32/35s are taller and wider. Yet they still aren't the same shape as the big Iplehouse dolls that my doll friend has. Will any of the SID/EID things work if I tack it in back, or will i need to look for a completely different size?

 

@Doko You have to have five full dolls, and none can be waiting to ship to you, they have to be five completed orders. If it was the case of just heads I'd be getting the Gold membership (3 full dolls and 12 extra heads) but sadly is not the case

 

I have collated a list of DollShe's measurements for the DSAM 32/35, 28M, 5th Motif Venitu, Arsene, Old Hound/Rhythmos, and Pure bodies. Not surprisingly, they are meticulous, and I have found them to be accurate.

They range in weight from 3.35 lbs (old hound/Rhythmos) to 5.99 (28M). Arsene comes in at a substantial 5.114.

The back length is 17.0 for all of the models except Pure body and the Old Hound body, which have a 16.0 body length -- the difference in height is made up entirely in the leg length. DSAM 32 - 40.0 cm; Venitu and pure body - 37.0 cm; Old Hound/Rhythmos - 36.0; Arsene - 35.0 cm. Some of you have noticed, as I did in an earlier thread (possibly), that Arsene's body/leg proportion is a little bit more realistic.

The 28M has the largest waist, at 28.5 cm; Arsene is next at 24.0; Venitu at 23.0; DSAM at 21.5 cm; Pure body at 20.0 cm; Old Hound at 19.5 cm. Around 2005 when I found that the Volks SD17 trousers fit the Pure body and Old Hound/Rhythmos bodies -- but the leg length was far too short -- I started designing clothing for these guys.

28M's feet are longest, at 10.5 cm, Venitu's feet are next, at 9.9 cm (and by far the widest, at 4.0 cm); Arsene - 9.8/3.5; Old Hound/Rhythmos - 9.5/3.6; DSAM 32/35 - 9.5/3.5; and the Pure Body's feet are the smallest, at a diminutive 8.2/3.3. I've purchased DollHeart SD17 and SD13 boots for the Pure Body, and most fit quite well.

If you'd like the whole list, please send me a private message with an email address, and I'll send you my chart.

 

Wow, interesting details. Thanks @Julie M.

 

@T'Mari Thank you for the information. I thought that was the case but wanted to be sure.

 

Can't wait to get them all here so I can compare those measurements in person, so to speak. :P