Dollshe Discussion - Part Seventeen

He's scrambling to (ineffectively) cover his problems like a cat trying to cover up poop on a marble floor. The problems with delivery of dolls dates waaaaay back. My (cancelled) order for the 55cm doll was made at the first pre-order back in the spring of 2018. I very distinctly remember this as the doll was my gift to me after I was finally made the Trustee of my brother's estate in March of 2018 (he passed in November 2017). At the time he promised a 6 month delivery. After almost 18 months of lies and constantly broken promises, I asked for and got a refund (minus HIS PayPal fees which still makes me salty to this day). To the best of my knowledge the 55cm doll has never been made in all that time but he has continued to accept "pre-orders" for it.

Delivery and refund issues is a looooong standing thing for Dollshe, not the result of someone else and purchasing from Dollshe is now basically a money scam in my opinion.

 

What is his new IG?

 

Mr. Dollshe's new instagram account is @sculptor_dk
Mr. Dollshe's old instagram account is @whoami_10110100

The new company he is making "new" sculpts for is called Club CoCo BJD.
Going by what he has already posted on his new insta account, it looks like a rebranded Dollshe line.

 

So he's working on new sculpts for this new company while ignoring the outstanding orders he has with his old company. Lovely.

 

And note that comments on his new Instagram account are "limited..."

 

I hope lots of people fill his ‘new site’ with comments about his non-existent ethics.
Comments being “limited” - that’s a cheat, isn’t it? What a rat….
Does anyone else see this being similar to a Ponzi scheme?

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Itinially the comments were open to everyone, there are some of the earlier comments still posted. When people started calling out Mr. Dollshe for not fufillming orders that are almost 5 years old, he tried to muzzle people by deleting the "not so positive" comments. When that wasn't effective, Mr. Dollshe enabled the limited comment option, which make it possible only for the 74 people who Mr. Dollshe follows can comment on his posts in his new @sculptor_dk. He thinks this is a way to control the narrative, but the internet never forgets.

 

I don't know if it'll shake out this way but it's possible that people will show their disapproval with their wallets for this new company featuring him. The doll community relies a LOT on word of mouth and there's enough people who've been taken by him with regards to unfulfilled orders literally years old. Word will not take long to get around in general that he's got a new gig and despite the beauty of his sculpts, as @Dollibird said, the Internet never forgets and neither do collectors.

 

So I'm not following this as closely as I want to be just because I've been too busy to read through all of it, so forgive me if this was asked already (and I hope it's okay to ask here), but does anyone know what will happen to the existing companies that use his resin/casting service? Are they at risk of shutting down or needing to find somewhere else to go?

 

@Littlebirdzoom I know that Dollstown were using his casting service, but they recently switched to a different casting service instead.

 

Oh is that confirmed? I know there was talk, but I wasn't sure the switch had been done yet

 

@sahoma A dear friend of mine recently ordered from Dollstown and the company told her that they had switched to a different casting service

 

When did they do that? I just panic ordered one of their in stock bodies and I hope it's the exact same shades as the Dollshe resin.

 

Please note that Dollshe is having a stock sale. If you see your order listed, please contact Dollshe and Dollstown.
Click here for the link.

What is interesting about this is that Dollstown is now accepting PayPal payments on behalf of Mr. Dollshe since he sullied his own PayPal account. What's alarming is that Mr. Dollshe is also accepting wire transfers, which offers no buyer protection. I hope no one sends him any wire transfers.

 

No buyer protection is dangerous I hope people don’t do it. It seems way to risky at least to me.

 

I saw this, that's so concerning.
Dollstown supposedly changed casters, but still accepting money for his latest grift? So if people don't get these stock dolls,, guess who will take the blame.

 

The gall of the man is breathtaking in the worst way possible.

 

I wonder if Dollstown is even aware that Mr. D is using their Paypal? Is it possible that he somehow has access to that account (without their knowledge) because of his past business relationship with them (ie as a casting service)? And if so, will they end up taking "the fall" when Mr. D inevitably does a disappearing act with the funds and no dolls are forthcoming to customers?

If Dollstown has actually given permission to Dollshe to use their account for his payments, they're certainly living dangerously.

As for wire transfers, I shudder at the thought. There's no recourse should things go south (which they undoubtably will).

For that matter, is Dollshe selling dolls from orders that folks have paid for (many years ago), and are still waiting for? Or do these so-called "in stock" sale dolls even exist? And even if they do - they fall under the new ban (which I'm very glad to see. Thank you, Mods!).

I just hope that everyone finally stops doing business with Dollshe.

 

I very seriously doubt that Dollshe has access to Dollstown's Paypal account. They are completely separate businesses. I think they truly have maintained a good relationship, and from Dollstown's perspective they have no reason to distrust Dollshe and are just doing him a favor. I don't think anyone will cast blame on Dollstown either, should their Dollshe orders go wrong. What could happen, though, are a lot of Paypal claims and chargebacks when the Dollshe orders have problems, which would jeopardize Dollstown's Paypal account.

Without knowing exactly where the two companies are located, I kind of wonder if Dollstown is helping Dollshe in other ways. Offering to accept payments on their behalf is a really huge favor! Maybe they're aware of Dollshe's severe problems and are attempting to help him get back on track behind the scenes. Who knows.

 

wow. Maybe Dollstown customers should let them know the risk they are taking by doing that.

Because if I saw another company that I have bought resins from doing business with Dollshe like that, I would sure send them a PM warning them. At least they would be aware.

Because when this goes down badly, which it most probably will, Dollstown will be left with the mess and Dollshe laughing himself to the bank for fooling people once again.

I hope people do not fall for this. Seriously. Don't give him a penny. Cut your losses.

 

It's not like it's a secret about the trouble/issues Dollshe has had for years now. Dollstown has to have heard about at least some of the things plaguing Dollshe (of his own making I might add). A simple google search of "problems with Dollshe" pops up several Reddit pages as well as multiple threads here as the first 2 results. They can't not know.

Even if their dealings with Dollshe have been/are still good, as a business I'd be extremely wary of linking something as important as my payment service (PP) to a company (Dollshe) that has had that same service freeze/close/whatever their accounts because of problems/complaints/refunds in such a large scale. If things were to go south (and I think we all believe it will), it's Dollstown that would suffer as the refunds would go through their account (and good luck to them on getting the money out of Dollshe), PP would flag that and possibly suspend their account. They might even be violating PP's ToS by accepting payments for Dollshe (I don't about that and may be talking out of my hat on the issue).

TL;DR I wouldn't do this "favour" for Dollshe if I was Dollstown despite still having a good relationship with him. There's too much risk involved and no reward.

 

Dollstown and Dollshe have had a long relationship, since at least 2008, when Dollstown started selling their renewed sculpts that year. Dollshe had announced the discontinuation of his old sculpts in January 2008, because he was going to design a new line-up. Meantime, he did casting for Dollstown, and when he started taking orders a year or so later for his new sculpts, the Dollstown site was where you placed Dollshe orders for a few years. Turnaround time for Dollstown then and for several years following was pretty good; a month to two months at most, and speedier when Dollstown stopped doing face-ups and sanding in early 2011. I don't know how much the pandemic and post-pandemic can be blamed for current Dollstown delivery slow-downs, and how much can be blamed on Dollshe; all I know is my November 2021 order took 7 months (Elf body and two heads). I wasn't really surprised, but it certainly was a change from the late 2000s/20-teens.

Long story short, I hope Dollstown doesn't get burned by continuing to do any business with Dollshe.

 

I saw something in the last day or two about there being a pre-order for Venitu and... Goowha? heads by the original artist and they made it extremely clear that Dollshe would have absolutely nothing to do with the production (I believe the original sculptor retained the rights to their work?) and were going to be using a different caster with a very good reputation.

 

It is interesting how Dollstown is willing to risk their business reputation with PayPal by accepting payment on behalf of Dollshe Craft. To most of us it seems like such a risky move with no benefits. Even if the public doesn't blame Dollstown, for this going bad, PayPal will still hold them liable if excessive charge backs start coming in.

 

Out of curiosity, did anyone get a doll cast by Dollshe that had a very strong smell to it? I got a Honey Skin Goowha in one of the deeper tones that had/ has a very strong smell. I boxed him up and put him away as I worried that the smell might not be something good to be around.

I do have other Honey Skin dolls that have no smell at all.

 

I've only the one doll bought direct from Dollshe but didn't notice any smell. However, that was several years ago (2017?). Unrelated to Dollshe, the DV 3-arm body I bought still has the new resin smell lingering and I bought that in 2019. However, all my dolls live in their boxes so that could be why there is still a scent when I open his box (i.e. it's trapped in the box until I open said box).

 

I purchased a honey skin Venitu directly from Dollshe many years ago. It initially had a very strong smell, but it went away eventually after taking it out of the box. But I don't think it was any stronger than the smell from new dolls of other makers.

 

I did check the page out of curiosity (not because I wanted to buy anything obviously) and nearly everything is crossed?! I hope this doesn't mean he really sold all of this

 

My Goowha was bought directly from Dollshe and he was made back when Venitu was still selling dolls. Maybe I do need to set him outside for a while and see how it goes. Nothing like a stinky doll......

I never has a doll that smelled before that one and I've not had issues since. Thank you for your answers.

 

Hi Dolls!

Did anyone take a screenshot of the in stock dolls crossed out? Just a heads up, the Classic and Fashion lines were removed from the list. Humm, I wonder why?

It appears that Mr. Dollshe is mad for being banned by DoA. In his post made on November 11th, 2023, which was supposed to be about the BubblePet he goes on a tirade that he was in business way before DoA and other BJD companies.

Yes, he is one of the firsts in the modern BJDs, but it does not excuse him or give him the right to not suffer the consequences of his poor business decisions. Instead of celebrating Dollshe Craft's 20th anniversary, he is making worse for his business.

Also, Mr. Dollshe says he never reads or signed up on DoA, but this artisan profile on DoA that links to his website is most likely him, you can see it by clicking here.

For your perusal, you can read his histrionic meltown here or by going to the link here.

Quote:
"I majored in startup design.
This is BubblePet BI designed by me.
I don’t know if they will continue to make cute animal BJDs.
If the animals BJD come together, I plan to launch BubblePet as a separate brand.

First of all, we will solve the problem of late delivery and PayPal withdrawal restrictions.
And I will definitely restore my honor.

We will correct the rumors about Mori 9 and BJDivas.
The delivery delay is entirely my fault but there is so much false information out there.
I saw an article on Den of Angels saying that the BJD that DollShe Craft and I had outsourced would be expelled from the community.
Has the Den of Angels manager ever emailed me to confirm the facts?
I have never signed up for Den of Angels and have never gone in to see it.
I just saw a related post on Instagram.

I created BJD before the Den of Angel community and are the third in the world to make BJD.

DollShe Craft has been manufacturing the first 70cm BJD and double jointed BJD since 2003.
I know how to do everything from handmade to 3D modeling.
We helped several brands by providing them with the know-how to make BJDs.

The first company is Volks
The second is Luts
The third is DollShe Craft

Other than the two companies above, there is no other brand that made dolls before me.

We have been aware of all issues in the BJD world since 2002.

Brands that lie.
Those who illegally distribute the BJD I made.
Those who stole my prototype.
People who steal other people’s ideas.
People who get help and make sarcastic remarks about how good it looks.
I’m not making a BJD for you guys.
I will soon announce my official position on the website.

I sold DollShe Craft and used the proceeds from the sale to complete backlogged deliveries and issue refunds to customers who were unable to receive refunds due to PayPal restrictions.
And I tried to leave the BJD world completely.
The dolls made so far may be given to loyal employees.
I will not sell DollShe Craft to another company.

I don’t know how long I will make BJDs.
I think I will probably stop making BJDs once I become a big company.
I will stop all social media activities and enjoy complete freedom.

I am preparing funding for various businesses, including sports brand We will build a company.

Some of these businesses will grow into trillion-dollar companies within a few years.
Even if there is only a 1% chance, I will not give up, I will not be discouraged, and I will move forward steadily in order to create a company worth 1 trillion won.
My target profit for next year is 20 billion won, and I truly believe that I will definitely achieve my dream.
The world is a huge simulation and I believe that anyone can achieve their dreams if they believe and take action.

In the spring of 2024, we are making money through various businesses to completely solve the problem of delivery delays and PayPal refunds.

Delivery delays have become serious due to a lack of liquid funds due to PayPal withdrawal restrictions.
I’m so sorry to the customers who ordered.

The day will come when we repay the customers who have loved DollShe Craft BJD and waited silently for many years.

I’ve been through a painful time over the past six months.
Meanwhile, I worked on numerous projects.
I became stronger.
And I am getting closer to my dream.
We will definitely solve all your problems.
Please trust and wait.

Sincerely yours,
DollShe Craft CEO/Sculptor DK(Dragon KIM, DollShe Kim)"

End Quote

 

Uh huh.

 

Well that sounds all sorts of unhinged. Or maybe that's just me. Still not taking responsibility for his utterly trash business sense and seems to be treating the unfulfilled orders like it's something that just started happening in the last 6 months (and of course, is someone else's fault). No, sir, you've left orders languishing for 5 years doing gods only knows what with the money you received for said orders (it certainly wasn't making the dolls ordered).

I'd say he's proper mad that the consequences of his actions have bit him good and hard on the butt.

 

Wow, he sounds insane. Also, I'm pretty sure DoA existed as a Volks BJD Yahoo group before Dollshecraft.

 

At today's rate, 1 trillion won= $766,571,400.00US Yeah, I can see that happening. Sure. Delusion much?

 

That entire rant is so delusional... he must be so upset that he's no longer welcome on DoA. It was a long time coming, tbh.

 

I think he's upset that we, the doll community, are now very vocally warning people, especially those new to the hobby, against purchasing anything from him because of the atrocious way he treats his customers and runs his business.

 

To think the mods' announcement would be the thing that threw him off his rocker!!

I hope Dollstown makes it out of this alive. I'm not sure why they trust in this man. They can't possibly not know the situation he's created for himself, right?

 

Totally spit-balling here, but I think he believed that he could continue along as he was (and had been doing for years) and there wouldn't be anything to concern him. Sure, some people would be mad about not getting their doll/refund but whatever, right? People still want to buy Dollshe dolls so it's fine, right? Only now his terrible business practices have caught up to him and stuff is suddenly getting real.

Banned from DoA not only for Dollshe dolls but for ANY new company he makes (which I think is fair since I don't believe he'd suddenly turn into a responsible maker because its a new company). A pending lawsuit from BJDivas as a former dealer for him AND they're allowing people who placed orders directly with Dollshe to get in on that suit if they provide all the relevant info about their order. And there's all the people who are still rightfully demanding their money back since he hasn't produced what they paid for literally years ago. PP freezing/restricting his account because of so many refunds demanded/complaints.

 

What does he mean that he sold Dollshe Craft? And then goes on to say he will never sell Dollshe Craft? Translation error or just another bizarre statement that doesn't make sense?

 

@overlordu I wonder if it maybe means he sold his craft (dolls)? I also was curious about what that meant but assumed it was lost in translation.

 

That's quite a rant. Wonder what he's on? Ironic that Dollshe never acknowledges that his financial problems with his doll company and Paypal, and his loss of prestige with the BJD community (not to mention his recent ban from DoA) are ALL his own fault, and no one else's. Get a grip, Dollshe.

 

Good. I'm glad he is mad.....so are we that have been waiting for our dolls we purchased with hard earned money.

 

I read double talk on that rant. He contradicts himself.

 

Speaking of things lost in translation. In the Korean text Mr. Dollshe lists off six businesses he's trying to raise startup funds for. These got ignored by the autotranslator it seems

Here is the breadcrumb trail he left for those still seeking justice, in case he nukes the Dollshe site....
Sports brand XIXXO - not to be confused with the golfing brand, XXIO
Cosmetics brand BUBOWA
Character OCTOYA - seems to be some kind of children's mascot a la hello kitty
Handmade object noocoo - appears to be some sort of home decor/tchotchke/NFT project
Leather brand L7P(Lucky 7 Pollack)
Art toy and street fashion brand MASKAZ

Most of these don't lead to anything at the time of posting. but he's at least registered the trademark for noocoo.
He first brought up the bubblepets back in 2016 and they're still listed on the Dollshe website. I wonder how he intends to divorce it from the Dollshe brand and present it as something new

 

So he owes a lot of people refunds/dolls and has neither but he's trying to start up 6 new businesses? Plus whatever the Club Coco BJD one is (is it another new company? one he's a partner in? one where he works as a hired sculptor only?). This is just so much bad everything. it also raises the question in my mind: How much (if any) of the funds he received from orders for Dollshe dolls actually went into trying to fund the start-up of these businesses? Knowing doesn't help anyone waiting on refunds/dolls but if it could be proven he took the money for dolls and instead used it to fund these companies, that would be very, very bad for him in court.

 

Haha, I was in the yahoo group when we were first commenting on Bermann eye-candy promos. But yeah, I wouldn't doubt the yahoo group was there before that. It would be interesting to check just for fun. I had never heard of Dollshecraft until Bermann came out. I remember Volks, Customhouse Ai, Alchemic Labo, & Cerebrus Project...first.

 

I guess he's gotten away with his shoddy business practises for so long that he somehow thought he could just continue doing so ... Definitely delusional...

Actually, is he only treating international customers this way (because he thinks he can get away with it)? Does anyone know if the Korean BJD community is aware of all this? I think someone posted here a while back about a post they found on a Korean forum from someone who was concerned about their Dollshe order, but that seemed be all there was about this situation? Though if I'm remembering correctly, I think the poster also mentioned that most Korean forums are members-only/region-locked, so I guess it's difficult to find out more info.

 

That list of companies would be hard for even a competent businessman to pull off without being a nepo baby.
Waiting for his next announcement of Dollshe University and red MASKAZ caps.

 

Regarding this, I was going back through the thread and found this post from February 2022:

The artist who sculpted Leo is keara.nui on Instagram, but I couldn't find any post there referring to it. Wondering if she deleted it.

Anyways, this interests me because I think selling Dollshe Craft to someone else would be a huge improvement, so it's a shame that DK either sold it and bought it back, or changed his mind about selling it, or something like that. As we all know, he's an incredible sculptor despite everything. If someone else took over the business side there would actually be hope of the company recovering If only he didn't see himself as some kind of mastermind businessman who's going to strike it rich with his genius ideas any day now, really.

As far as customers in other countries, I've wondered about that too. I've heard very little about delays for customers in Asia, and there do seem to be a fair number of DoA users who also visit foreign language social platforms. Since this has been going on for a while, you'd think those folks would mention it if Koreans were also complaining about delays. TBH it wouldn't surprise me if he prioritized Korean orders, because it's easier for them to go after him legally

 

A friend of mine speaks Korean, though not fluent... I'll ask her if her skills are still good enough that she can at least compare the English and Korean versions for differences or things that got lost in translation like the other brands or the selling thing

 

I've seen a post on Korean Twitter some time back about how they reported him to the Korean consumer agency, but nothing happened. (I don't understand Korean, so this information was learned via Google translate.)

 

Den of Angels yahoo was started by Helene, Janne, and Aimee and it was a Volks discussion group..... as I remember. The other BJD companies were later added as they met the criteria. There was even a yahoo group for the Customhouse Ai.

 

Sorry to butt in with a different topic, but does anyone here know if Miracle Doll resin colours match any Dollshe resin colours?
For example, Miracle tan, and Dollshe Copper Oriental?
Miracle NS and Dollshe Pure Oriental?

I'm asking because there's a pretty nice Miracle Doll boy body that might work with Dollshe heads, if the resin is close enough.

 

It's kind of sad in a way, because I was telling a friend about what's happened with him recently and she was shocked. She hasn't been heavy in the BJD scene since like 2012ish or so, and she was like "But he's so highly respected, he's one of the best!" She had no idea his reputation and his business had been crumpling for years.

If he had found himself getting in over his head, he should have admitted it and taken a step back from new orders until he was able to fulfill his old ones, and gotten outside help, even if it meant digging into his bottom line a little bit. Now he's completely ruined everything he had going for him in the BJD community and maybe even other opportunities he might've had. It's not even the DoA ban, but most people with a little bit of common sense won't dare do business with him or any new endeavors he's got going on. He got stupid and greedy, and is just a bad business man.