Dollshe Discussion - Part Fifteen

@Iron_Dog I seem to be in the thick of floating heads. I bought 3 bodies for 9 heads! I'll mod necks if need be. But I plan on playing with all of them.

 

@Mahgiep Yikes! I don't think I could do that. My completionist mindset would be twitching heavily with that many floating heads all at once.

The sale price, even if it's only for a set number of dolls is seven kinds of insane. He'd knocking off pretty much $1000. Would that price even cover materials & labour to make a doll?

 

@SteamWitch Your boys are GORGEOUS

 

Aren't the EN and SA heads for Adonis new? oh boy, that's a long wait if the molds aren't made. I was looking for a body for spare heads.
someone STOP ME!

 

It's totally insane, what is going on?

I kind of wish that Diana were a full set on sale though. I'm a little tempted even though it isn't a full set, but also I'm not ordering from dollshe anymore!! Arg.

 

Thank you! He has been sorely neglected.

I can't even comprehend buying from Dollshe anymore. It's gone way past the Twilight Zone; the Dollshe Continuum has really gone off the rails and I'm not even tempted.

 

Gotta say that such a steep mark down makes me slightly nervous. Why would he do that? I know everybody says that Dollshe has always delivered, which is true... until it's not. I'm trying to keep a positive outlook but as the months roll by with nothing, it does get harder.

 

I gotta say I agree. I was literally just wondering why Dollshe keeps doing this because it doesn't financially make sense at all...

 

I guess it makes sense if you keep the $$ for years. paying off that Ferrari. It seems like I've never paid 'full price' for a Dollshe except when it was Tensiya.

 

I guess I would jump that train if they had the sale for a doll whose all molds they have ready (or Diana at least), but not this time. I'm starting to feel like this is too good to be true, too. And must really annoy those who just paid that price for a -50% discount basic package.

 

@vauhtikatti I am one of those people! But I would rather people who actually wanted all the extra stuff to get it.

 

I'm a wee bit salty 'cause I've bought my Adonis during the summer 2018 full package sale, paid off my layaway like a year ago, and still haven't gotten said doll, while it's been the second time this doll has been discounted ^^" (first the 50% off discontinuation sale, then this)
It's gotten to the point where I could cancel my order ($750 + $63 for the Pose+ option), even pay a 25% cancellation penalty, buy it again with the discounted price $370), and I would still earn money xD (but then I'd need to wait 2 or 3 years more I guess...)

 

Im not convinced of adding anything to my cart if its by Dollshe. I really really reaaaaally want a David 28m in copper oriental but I wont lie and say I feel a bit jealous when I see orders that are both newer than mine, and a full package discount price get ready and sent out before my full priced and older order. Bless my dealer, she gives me updates when she is able to, but when I am told it will be a couple of months by Dollshe, I dont believe it. Im very tempted to get David though, because Ive tried this dealer many times and have always been happy, I wouldnt even consider it otherwise.

I think that discount is insane. I thought it was 370 off of 1350, not 370 in total for a fullset. It does not make sense to me, and makes me wonder if he's cutting corners to produce it with a profit margin? As a whole, these sales have done a disservice to him, I feel like because he is having so many sales and full packages, no one will be buying a full priced doll again.

I wish he would improve his production time instead of sale discounts, because waiting on Natalie and Tom still, Im not sure I ever want to go order from him again as beautiful as they are. Im sure with a better production time and transparency like bringing back the Q&A board, people will be buying full priced dolls. Its the lack of it, and I believe its only the seduction of the unbelievably cheap dolls that make people buy at this point, imho.

 

@Havra - Oh, you're right! Sorry. I've been reather sleep deprived this week. I forgot that Khan came on a different body. Anyway...I'm not sure if they still come with the nubs, but the sculpting in the resin would still be there.

@Iron_Dog - *hastily shoves three boxes of heads under the bed*

 

I was talking with 2 of my friends who are also doll collectors and we were all of the "When is enough, enough?" as far as waiting for a product that's been paid for. One of our other friends waited 2 years before she got her Dollshe boy. I honestly don't know if I want to wait that long. I have a very specific look in mind for the character of the doll I'm waiting on but if push came to shove, I'd be willing to adjust that (with irritated grumbling) and go with a completely different doll. I can totally understand why some people have sold on a doll almost immediately after getting it because of all the frustration connected with getting it from Dollshe.

I've emailed Dollshe twice about updates and both times been told to have patience and it would be done "soon". Then I get an email saying that they cast my doll in the wrong size (original order was 44cm, upsized order is 55cm). They said they'd changed personnel and it wasn't noted in my order by the person who left. Soooooo, nobody checked why there was an extra payment made on the order, which was paid in full, and it took 14 months to complete an order for moulds that already existed (as opposed to the doll I'm supposed to be getting)? Dollshe, what the hell are you doing?

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Dollshe needs to fulfill the orders that are currently outstanding before offering more sales/order periods. It's the only way he has a hope in hell of clearing the backlog he's obviously working under.

 

18 months waiting for a Classic Arsene over here...

 

@Quiet and Insane Perfectly all right and thanks for the clarification.

@Doko that is terrible. Have you tried contacting them?

 

@Iron_Dog I definitely agree with you about needing to fulfill older orders before making more crazy sales. I only ordered my Rey Lewis in march and understood that I may have to wait a year but waiting for more than 2 years is just crazy. What really annoys me is that some people who have ordered after me have already gotten their dolls, Dollshe should be focusing on the people who have been waiting forever!

 

@Havra
Yes. Got the usual "we will cast next week and ship the week after that"-reply.

 

Which translates as: "We have no idea when we'll get around to your order but hope this answer will keep you from bugging us for several more months."

 

Having waited almost eighteen months for my boy, I had a really hard time getting past my annoyance enough to love him. I will never buy directly from Dollshe again - it's secondhand market all the way. But right now, I feel a little sad for the company, because I'm afraid it may be going under...and if nothing else, Dollshe makes incredibly fabulous dolls. I work in finances, and all of these sales, especially the current $1K off the original price, just scream out to me that he's absolutely desperate for immediate capital. If he had gotten off his high horse (or maybe it was just a greedy/cheap horse) and hired a couple of extra employees a few years ago when business really boomed and he started to fall behind in production, everything would have smoothed out - but now I doubt that he can even afford to pay additional help. I hope I'm wrong, but everything seems to point in the direction of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'; his new money is being used to pay off old expenses, and that's a terrible train to be riding, because expenses continue to accumulate.

Honestly, right now I would rather be one of the people who paid full price for a doll and are into their second year of waiting than someone who just purchased a doll at an insane discount. He may fool me and pull through for many years to come - and I truly hope that he does - but at the moment, I feel pretty doomy and gloomy for the future of this company.

 

Same here. All the signs are telling me. I just bought a secondhand Arsene at full price.

 

What I know about running a business could fill a tea cup but even I am feeling a little twitchy about the constant sales Dollshe is putting on and this newest one in particular. Slashing $1,000 off the price of an item that is normally $1,370 is very concerning to me. It screams of desperation for cash as @celga said.

To be 100% honest, I'm poking around at other possible sculpts to be the character that the doll I ordered is supposed to be. My faith that I'll actually get this boy is eroding at a steady rate.

 

Good gracious. I just took a look at the sale. Classic Diana for $290? Rosa or Fashion Diana for $170? Does anyone even have a Fashion Diana yet? The prices are tempting, but I do fear it may be too good to be true. The "Dollshe always delivers, eventually" assurance starts looking questionable when people have been waiting over two years for a doll.

 

I'm kind of poking my nose in here with no skin in the game (I don't even own Dollshe secondhand), but as @celga said there are whole business models based off of funding other people with new people's money. And they work until they don't. Not saying that's what he's doing. But I've been stalking this thread for ages and I just worry for people.

 

Transparency with why it's taking so long to get dolls out the door would go a long way to lessening people's concerns about getting what they've paid for. I get that life happens and unexpected situations crop up and you do the best that you can. But, when you're told again and again to be patient and you'll get what you paid for "soon" but months and months pass with nothing, not even updates, it becomes frustrating.

I ordered at the end of April 2018 and upgraded to the 55cm at the beginning of June 2018. I emailed Dollshe at the end of December 2018 and they said they were getting a new machine and that in a few months they'd be able to send out my doll. I emailed in mid-March 2019 to ask about when I could expect my doll and was told again that they bought a new machine and were working on getting it set up and my doll would be done "soon". Mid-September 2019 Dollshe emailed me to say they made the wrong size of doll and did I want that instead along with a refund for the extra I paid for the 55cm boy. And now we're into the second week of October and....

 

@Iron_Dog At this point, I would send them an email telling them how much you love their splendid, beautiful dolls, but that you have already waited seventeen months while all other doll companies have shipped your orders within three to four months, that you belong to a large bjd community that has started to post warnings regarding Dollshe wait times, and that you're very upset and seriously concerned about whether you will ever receive your doll. That's what I finally resorted to, and I received my guy less than a month later. Compliment effusively but scold at the same time. I don't know for certain that there was any correlation, but it's worth a try.

 

@celga That's an excellent suggestion. My only problem is that the doll I'm waiting on is the new 55cm size and from what I've gleaned in the emails with Dollshe, they aren't finished making the master sculpt to make the moulds *sigh*.

Dollshe has a history of starting something with great gusto and then some other pretty shiny idea comes along and he jumps to doing that while the first thing is left to languish. In my opinion, the way the original sale for the 55cm was presented, it seemed as if the protype was already done and only required some minor refining to get it ready for casting. It appears now that it was just a concept he had after getting feedback from people about creating a new size of doll. If I'd known it was just a concept I probably wouldn't have plunked my hard earned cash down for it.

And yes, as to getting other dolls brand new in the time since I ordered, I got a Granado 53cm boy, which was a crowdfund doll in a brand new size for them, in about 4 or 5 months after I paid for him. I literally ordered my Granado boy 10 minutes after I made the Dollshe order. I've also gotten a special order SD Vito Berial in about 3 or 4 months after ordering him earlier this year. I literally placed an order this morning for a custom colour Impl boy and I'm 99.99% sure I'll get him before I get anything from Dollshe. I have a DV body on order and I know they're working with a backlog right now and don't expect to see him before January 2020. I believe I'll see that body before I see my Dollshe boy.

To say I feel frustrated and disheartened with Dollshe is understated.

 

Holy crud, that is disturbing. Offering dolls for sale before they've even finished the prototype spells desperation to me. No other companies do this! Dollshe produces wonderful sculpts - when they produce them. Personally I believe it is a failing company, and if I had paid them at this point, I'd file a claim. BUT...I'm no shaman. Maybe everyone will get their dolls as promised.. As for me, I'd back out and wave goodbye.

 

It isn't the first time Dollshe has offered sculpts for sale before he's even done the sculpting. I think the Tom Cruise and Natalie Portman sculpts were also a victim of this style of sales but others here involved in that would know better than me.

In my opinion, if you want to judge whether or not there's interest for X sculpt/size, do what Granado has done and have a crowdfund for the doll in question. If you get a pre-determined number of orders for it, then go great guns to produce those orders. If not, refund the deposit people paid and move on to the next project.

The only thing I find slightly positive in a weird way is that if you cancel, Dollshe has thus far been good about refunding your money. Especially since this is looooong past what PayPal will consider for making a claim for non-delivery of a product. I'm going to hang in there a bit longer but I don't think I can stick out a 2-year wait for something I paid for all that time ago. I'm patient but I have limits.

 

Oh my, i'm really dismayed by these news of questionable business practices. It is a shame, because as everyone says the dolls are just so beautiful. I really hope that Dollshe can find a way of repairing their relationship to customers, even if the chances are not likely.

 

@golo To be fair, there isn't anything concrete to say Dollshe is doing anything questionable business-wise.

The exact reasons for such a deeply discounted sale right now are unknown. But it does lead one to look a little suspiciously at Dollshe because the sale price is 75% off the regular price, which is very surprising. Add in the last few sales which were 50% off the regular price and you begin to wonder what the heck is going on that the dolls are constantly being discounted so much, so often. Or maybe I'm just a suspicious person. YMMV.

 

I dunno. I love my dollshe but I can say, I'd be REALLY disappointed if I had paid more AND waited the 13 months I did for him. He was strung so horrifically loose with elastic that was thinner than in my DC MSD, but it's really the engineering that's disappointed me, the legs/hips don't work at all for me

 

@Iron_Dog Actually, the last few 50% off sales were only for "basic configuration" (head+ body) not full Package.

 

@Rheannan Even so, just the fact that there has been sale after sale after sale at 50% off when he's already working on a huge backlog for dolls that he already has moulds for is troubling. He's continuing to accept orders for more dolls when he can't even fulfill the orders he has in a timely manner.

We all expect to wait a bit to receive our dolls because they are made at the time of ordering. A 3 or 4 month wait is more or less industry standard, really. The wait times for Dollshe are insane. It's my opinion that he would be able to recoup a lot of good will with customers if he'd stop accepting new orders and work to get the orders he already has that have been paid for out the door. I'd like to think that us as collectors would be understanding if he were to suspend further sales until he cleared the gigantic backlog he's got.

 

That also brings up another problem with selling and buying secondhand, how can you expect to get even $500 for a doll you paid $800 for; if he is slashing prices like this. It's maddening.

 

As a buyer, I'm into the reduced prices. But I can certainly see how frustrating it would be to be basically undercut by the manufacturer. The only thing going for people selling on their Dollshe is that the deadly long wait time is next to nothing. That's a HUGE plus where Dollshe is concerned.

 

Haha! I'm a prime example! I ordered two dolls on sale, then paid full price to get a secondhand one in 5 days!

 

Oof I've only been waiting 8 months for my Saint and was surprised that he wasn't ready yet (since he's a popular older sculpt and in just plain oriental), but I just want to give everyone hugs since you all have been waiting waaaaaay longer! Though now my anxiety is telling me that he might never arrive.

 

@Thymeseer I have only been waiting 7 months for my Rey Lewis but I have noticed that there was been a few people who ordered after me already receiving their dolls, which is totally unfair to the people who have waiting a year or more for their dolls.

 

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the way Dollshe fulfills orders. It's like orders are picked out of a hat as far as deciding on which one will be made next regardless of when the order was placed.

 

I've placed an order for a full package Bermann in the mini classic size, the 55 one, as soon as they started taking preorders for him.
However I've ended up to ask for a refund and I've got it a couple of months ago.

Honestly I love Dollshe dolls and I already own two of them so I know how beautiful they are, but I really had enough of waiting and being lied to.

The last time that I wrote them to ask for any news about my order, they told me that they would have fullfilled all the new 55 orders, from the first pre-order, by october this year starting from august... yeah.
I'm mostly upset because they've never told that they're having problem casting the dolls, they just tell that everything it's fine and that we're going to get our dolls soon.

 

@EchoUndine I totally understand you cancelling your order for the 55cm. I'm in the same dismal boat and I'm honestly considering cancelling my order as well. Haven't done it yet because hope springs eternal and I really do want my Saint in espresso ebony but I am approaching the point where I'm tired of waiting and being fluffed off about just when I'll be getting what I paid for. I do own another Dollshe and think they're wonderful but at what point does being jerked around by your wallet become enough?

By October of this year for the first pre-order of 55cm? Uh huh. Well, it's mid-October right now and..... *cue crickets & tumble weeds*. I'll wait a little longer before throwing in the towel. I'm probably nuts for doing so. But I haven't quite reached the point where my frustration is larger than my want for the doll. It's close....

 

good luck cancelling. I tried through bjdivas, but dollshe just made another promise - that was broken in a week. I suggested Amanda with the new heads be cast with the old one. new ones sent when they're made. or give me my money.
I have neither doll nor $$$.

 

Oh no! This is not good news since I bought my dolls through BJDivas and thought my order could be cancelled and refunded. Do you have any recourse?

 

Well that's troubling. I bought direct from Dollshe so maybe that's not so difficult to cancel?

 

I was tempted to cancel my last two orders ( an Arsene and Adonis ), but as I also ordered through BJDivas it looks like I will just have to message them instead.

 

Rainn, my sa hound is getting some new clothes as part of the Sewing Project Bohemian. I can't wait to get the other parts done. I need to find out where I hid the sandals or make him some shoes. Fortunately the saddle stand didn't mess up the look too bad.
Harem pants done by SteamWitch, on Flickr

 

Omg!!! Your david is gorgeous!!! I love the way you photograph him!

 

@SteamWitch - I love the material you've chosen for his pants, they look great!

 

Thanks @Quiet and Insane, I love purposing great fabrics.

 

I ordered a Fashion Arsene in March of this year and got him in June, but I've also been waiting a year for a single fashion Aramis head...so there's really no logic as to who gets what and when, methinks...

 

Well, I messaged BJDivas and the answer I got was... interesting.
But the jist of it was we have no idea when the dolls would be ready and sorry that they couldn't be of more assistance.
I knew there was a possibility of waiting for a year but I didn't know about the people waiting over 2 years until recently which I find unforgivable on Dollshe for doing that to their customers.

 

I was looking through Dollshe's current sales on their site and saw this message in the listing for Grant Phillippe:
Maybe their recent sales have something to do with this?

 

The "fakes" are all over eBay and Aliexpress, danger! Danger! Don't fall for those, I know the wait is long and hard, but I love my legit Dollshe's with a passion!

 

I don't really see the correlation. Aside from the fact that you actually can buy him, why would they put most of their dolls on ridiculous sales because Grant Pillippe has been recast? Lowering the prices (especially down $1K) just begs recasters to purchase at a bargain and start working on the molds...

 

I think many companies are reviewing their policies regarding limited editions. It is better to find a way to make a new release available than to tempt people to choose recasts.

 

But recast dolls are junk, and original company dolls are labors of love that take a lot of work. Selling a $1300 doll for $300 means a loss of revenue (especially when they're producing dolls a year or more after the money's been spent), which can't support a business in the end.

A legitimate company simply cannot compete for the customers who value cheap over quality.

 

I don't agree with Dollshe's cut rate sales. I have a feeling they are trying to get quick money but it will probably hurt them in the long run.

I was thinking that few companies limit a sculpt any more. It is a face up or skin color or full package that is limited.

 

@nancy_schroeder_ca I definitely agree with you that it sounds that they want/need the quick money.

I also think they need to suspend sales for a month or two to catch up on all their orders or at least get their production times under control.
I can dream, right?