Dolpas & How to buy Volks Limited Dolls - FAQ

I thought this at one time too, but now I'm pretty sure it is the same site, and same stock, just with a different language on one version. Maybe you're getting it confused with the physical Japanese stores not shipping outside of Japan? Because that still is true, namely with FCS.

 

Wow, I wanna get one!

 

Is it true that items that were left over are being sold by lottery? How do I enter online for those items?

Thanks,
[email protected]

 

I found the website for Dolpa 19 Party. Does anyone know if your credit card is charged immediately for lottery items after lottery ticket is purchased? I would think they would only charge it if a person won but it appears they are charged even if you are not drawn. It looks as if they are charged as part of the lottery process before the drawing. Is that a correct assumption to make? Please reply.

Thank you!

 

Yes, your card is charged -- quoting the FAQ:

 

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I needed to know.

 

Sorry for intruding! I've read the application form for NY and LA dolpas in the USA, and it seems the vistors must have a Volks USA member card. Is it really that no one but members can enter, even if paying a fee? I live in Europe and would be delighted to take part in a US dolpa someday, but I fear it's not possible or only as a "compagnon" who cannot buy anything ^^; Should I give up already and check for Dolpa in Japan instead, maybe more lenient on the entrance possibilities?

 

As far as I know, you must be a member of Volks (though I think you could have a Japanese Volks card, if you didn't have a Volks USA one) to get into the LA Dolpa. For the NY Dolpa, you need to either have a Volks USA membership or a subscription to FDQ, though the exact necessities have changed each year. Last year, you could have either one, but to purchase the LE doll, you needed to have the FDQ subscription. If you have a question about what would be allowed, it might be a good idea to actually e-mail Volks and see what they would require. Good luck!

 

Thank you! Indeed the conditions seem not to follow each other, it's quite confusing! I'll try emailing Volks, as you said I really wish to enjoy a dolpa one day, and meet other owners

 

Yeah, i'v been trying to get my hands on a dolpa Rozen Maiden, havn't had any luck though, help?

 

your best bet is to try yahoo japan auctions, if you don't live in japan you could go through a seperate company, such as celga, or shoppingmalljapan (check out this link, very helpful http://www.ffmusic.info/yjtutorial.html) who will buy it for you then resend it to you, though the fees are quite high

 

ok, i'll try it! Thanks!

 

Once, i want some one off but so hard to got him TTT-TTT

 

They changed how you can win a doll. A fast computer is no longer needed thankfully due to their servers crashing. They do lotteries from the international site. That works great for people like me who can only get dial up.

 

I find its for the most part easy for me to get any volks doll i want as long as i have the funds needed to buy the doll. ^^

 

I heard from my volks fans friend that one must attend korea's dolpa in order to join korea volks's lottery event. T^T

 

Hello, I have the membership card but since the dolpa is postponed, I was wondering do you need a 1 Or 2 year subscription if they offer the dolls online.

 

Bumping this up to help answer new questions about Dolpas. Also wanted to add that the International site now does lotteries for their AE instead of first come first serve ^_^ EDIT: I wonder if we could make this a sticky? That be really helpful to those new to ordering from dolpas

 

If we're making this a sticky just to add some updated information...

Lately the Dolpa guides/admission has been 2000-2300 yen, which with the currently poor dollar is closer to $25

 

Ok, just a few questions to make sure:

-For the normal Dolpas in Japan, do you need only the Guide Book, right? No membership card or anything like that?

-For Hometown Dolpas, what do you need to get in? Is it just like the normal ones? I know that for the Volks Cruise and for the Owner's Fair you need the VIP membership and the invitation, are there any more events that need this (or am I mistaken about this too)?

-I have the form for the VIP membership card that came with my SD17 SF Reisner Papers and with my SD13 Okita. However, I do not live in Japan. Is it possible to make a VIP card this way? Do I need a fix address in Japan, and is it ok if it's a friends address? Or, are these forms even valid?

Thank you!

 

For Japanese Dolpas, you don't need to be a member. You only need to have the guidebook. But you MUST buy the guidebook in advance if you want to buy the limited items. Volks has many members-only events, but Dolpas aren't among them. I'm not sure if you need a Japanese address to become a VIP member, but you do need a Japanese address to receive Volks News. A friend's address is okay.

 

I am in Kyoto now and just finished up Sunday and Monday at Sato. There are currently 2 memberships. One is free and gives points based on cash sales. The other is the premium supporting membership. It cost a token fee of less than 10 per year. It is true that you can not receive the Volks news out side of Japan according to Sato employees.(But we will see as I put down a US address on mine.) The primary reason to get a premium membership are the points based on credit card purchases. Volks takes American Credit cards as well as most of the worlds credit cards. I have already revived over $50.00 in points benefits and have another $30.00 waiting for my next purchase. It was well worth the $10.00 paid regardless of getting the $3.00 Volks news or not. You do have to pay it up every year or the next time you come to Japan to keep it current. Many Japanese company's have these loyalty point programs. I use them in LA, Chicago and NYC when ever I am there. I only wish the store in LA offered it. While the Volks membership card is better looking in LA, I would prefer to get rewarded for loyalty to the company.

Bobby

 

Going to re-ask this question. Do you need to have some type of membership/subscription or membership card in order to do the online lottery in the USA for any of the Dolpa items?

 

Cloudedmind: You don't need anything for the USA lottery except a credit card

 

Is VolkUSA lottery for US residents only??

 

Thanks! Does that also include debit cards, like Visa or Mastercard?

And shoujo, hope this answers your question:

 

Yes, debit cards work to for the VolksUSA lottery.

Just be aware that I'm pretty sure Volks puts some sort of hold on the funds needed for the doll until the lottery is done and I seem to remember some people who used debit cards having problems because of this. I'd look in some of the past Dolpa threads to see discussion on it. I don't use a debit card so can't speak from personal experience.

 

Those ought to be the ordinary Super Dollfie documents for sending in damaged dolls. They tend to have schematic drawings of dolls for the owner to indicate the place where the damage occurred, together with a space for the owner to describe the damage, and an adress for for where the doll is to be returned. These are not valid outside Japan.

The method of getting a Volks VIP membership is described by Bobster a few posts above, I have quoted the specific information....

 

When I received my card, the application had the card attached to it. If the application had the card with it, one might be able to send the application in from outside of Japan. Volks may or may not accept it. They most likely won't send you anything back to out side of Japan even if they accept your application and activate the card for you. I would keep it as a part of the original papers that came with your SD. It is well worth going to Kyoto and getting the card in person. If you go in the Winter like I did, it is surprisingly very low in cost even now.

Volks said, I would not get the Volks news in the US and I have not. But they did accept a US address on the card application and in the computer. They did give me a free Volks news at the store to compensate for not being able to send one in the mail.

Bobby

 

I was just in Japan 2 weeks ago and they would not let me sign up for one since I didn't have a Japanese address... (I asked in Harajuku, Shinjuku, Akihabara and Ikebukuro )

 

I am sorry to hear that. I have been to each of those stores and did not have any issues at them using the card, once I had it. Next time you go, use the address for your hotel. Your room is your suite or apartment number. If you have Japanese friends, ask if you can use their address. If you use the hotels address, don't use the hotel name. To really make this work, you need to have the name in Kanji as it would be used by the Japanese. After your post, I will be carrying several addresses with me for just such an issue.

Bobby

 

I've had membership using a friend's address in Japan since 2004 though I will probably just let my membership expire come Summer 2011. I had no problem writing the address in English. I don't expect to be shopping enough to make it worth it and there are plenty of free point cards as well as one that don't need to be renewed each year. Once you have membership you are free to use your card at any store and no one will ask any questions since there are plenty of foreigners who live in Japan, particularly in Tokyo.

The fee is around 1200 yen, which with the current poor dollar to yen is closer to $14 to $15 than under $10.

The membership is also technically called "VS" not "VIP." "VIP" membership is specifically the membership one gets for applying and being accepted to have a Volks Credit Card. If I remember its issued by JCB and has a Volks picture on it. It's sort of like an Amazon Visa/MC. Usually Volks has special events in Japan open to those with VIP or VS membership. Getting VIP membership as a foreigner in Japan is REALLY hard because Japanese banks do not like to issue credit cards to foreigners.

 

Thanks rkold. Perhaps I'll just use my mom's CC then and pay her the funds. The last thing I need is for my card/funds to be possibly frozen for several days.

 

I really do wonder if the form Abel found with the SD17 Reisner and the SD13 Okita paperwork was a membership application form, though. Perhaps Abel will describe the form closer for us?

 

When I got my Limited, it had a form for the little engraved plates that are on the walls of the stair cases at Sato with it. I filled it out and gave it to them directly. Possibly that is what Abel has. The applications for the Volks point card I got were on the counter by the register in the FCS room.

Bobby

 

That does sound much more likely, Bobster...

 

I bought the Volks magazine, and have a Volks Membership Card. However, I can't seem to figure out exactly when these "parties" take place. When I visited VolksUSA in Torrance, they mentioned that they had had their yearly event in New York this year. How exactly can we find out when these events will take place, and how can we attend them?

 

Staria volksUSA will announce when they will be having a dolpa on their site. and they will tell you the dates when they will be selling the entry ticket to attend.

i think volks has a site for their dolpas, the site is all in japanese tho...
http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/event/dolpa_portal/index.html

 

If you're talking about events in Japan the best way to plan a trip to Japan to specifically attend a Dolpa (and Japanese Dolpas are VERY different from events in the US. They both have their pluses and minuses, but the two events really should not be completely conflated, despite sharing the same "Dolpa" moniker.) is to check Tokyo Big Sight's website. They list upcoming events 6 months in advance (vs. Volks which has been known to give less than a month's notice to Dolpas on their English website.) There is nearly always a Tokyo Winter Dolpa (Held as early as November, but usually in December) and a Tokyo Golden Week Dolpa (End of April to beginning of May aka when Golden Week occurs. ) There is usually a Dolpa in Kyoto towards the end of March to coincide with Tenshi no Sato's Anniversary. Dolpas in Osaka or Nagoya are less predictable. I've noticed they tend to be in August and tend to alternate with one another. Osaka Dolpas are held in Intex and I'm not sure where Nagoya ones are held. Chiba once had one, but that was many years ago.

Generally if you want to attend a Japanese Dolpa, the Tokyo ones or the Kyoto one are the most consistent and easiest to plan for.

 

Haha, attending a Japanese Dolpa is definitely out of the question for me. Even though I'd love to visit Japan someday, currently it's not financially the best decision. I'm definitely leaning more towards the California, US Dolpa, since it's local and easier to plan for.

I'm assuming the best method is to check the VolksUSA blog and website on a daily basis, in order to get the dates/times for the Dolpa parties in California then?

 

There hasn't been a "Dolpa" in CA for a few years now. ^^;; Volks has offered (I want to say 2x) special classes in LA. In the past most of the events have been in November, since that is the anniversary of when the VolksUSA store was opened. No idea if they are planning something this year, the best way to know is to watch the News/Discussion thread here on DoA since the second something is announced in the US it shows up there. I'm thinking there is not going to be a CA event this year since it's already the 14th of November.

Generally, there is a "Dolpa" in NY every summer. It's usually in July or June.

Again both the NY and CA events are very different from a Japanese Dolpa so depending on what exactly your interests in attending a Dolpa are, you might enjoy a US event more or be disappointed.

 

Interesting. Not sure what the gal at the VolksUSA Showroom mentioned to me, though. She said something about there being convention type events twice a year in the US, one in Los Angeles. She must have been talking about something else (possibly those special classes?), and not necessarily a Dolpa. I honestly would just like to attend a local event for either Volks Dolls or BJDs in general. Definitely wouldn't be able to afford a trip to New York, either, haha.

Since I haven't been to any type of doll-related events, anything for me would probably peak my interest.

Thanks so much for all the information, I really appreciate it.

 

In the past, there were some "Dolpas" held in LA, but I don't think there has been one in 2 years. I admit I've not paid super close attention to LA events since I live on the East coast and if I am paying to fly somewhere, I prefer to just go to Japan. There was a class offered last year in LA. It involved a special painting class as well as I believe a lottery for free gifts, but again it was in November so since nothing has been announced for LA yet I am thinking there is unlikely to be an event in LA this year, though something could end up taking place.

If your main goal is just to meet other owners and to see BJDs in person, I would recommend looking in the meet ups threads to see if there are any LA area meet ups planned and go to one of those.

Or if you wanted to travel to San Diego, there is this event in December:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?392941-San-Diego-s-2nd-BJD-Con!-December-4th-2010

Good luck!

 

Just got back from Tokyo Dolpa 26, our first Dolpa in Japan and thought I'd share some info not found here or in outer places in English apparently.

Naturally there are event descriptions at Japanese VOLKS website, but they are all in Japanese. Staff at the Dolpa assured us that these Japanese-only pages are also translated to English and put on the web somewhere, but alas, nobody knows any addresses and it's impossible to find so for all I know the translations might not exist as well. Google translate helps a tiny bit here.
There were about 2 English speaking staff members that were really helpful once you can get a hold of them, though apparently they don't know a lot about Dolpa mechanics, so their info might not be totally correct unless you see they are consulting with people that are in charge of whatever it is you are interested in.

The ticket to the Dolpa - the guide book also contains a wealth of information that is all in Japanese unfortunately. Google translate does not work here at all too.
One of the very important bits is schedule, there you will know when is the cut-off time to get your limited-item tickets (as was already mentioned, the numbers are given at random so apparently there is little point in coming very early to get in line, just before the ticket distribution deadline is good enough).
We missed the deadline by 5 minutes due to inability to understand the schedule (was 9am, with 10am being the start of admission).

In general standing in line we saw two non-asians. Also might be a couple of others on the floor. If you don't speak Japanese (or have a friend who does that comes with you), things are going to be touch and you'll miss on a lot of things. Unless you are planning to get to the dealers (of which there are hundreds, and some good ones not having any web presence at all surprisingly) from my perspective going there might not be the wisest idea unless you happen to be around anyway.

At the Dolpa aside from selling limited items there are some other activities that you might participate in.
The usual doll doctor, Tenshi-no-Sumika shop.

At our Dolpa we also had:
Collect three stamps in designated spaces. One from Tenshi-no-Sumika in Harajuku one day before Dolpa,
one at the Dolpa, on at Tenshi-no-Sumika at Akihabara the day after Dolpa and get a prize of some sort. (this is probably documented in the guidebook somewhere, but we totally missed this part for obvious reasons even though we would have been able to fulfill the requirements otherwise). The stamp space looked like three squares with the location-mascots on the back cover page:



"Location lottery" for the lack of a better word. This was held at the very end before closing. You buy a "location pin" for 320 yen and write in your country (or Japanese prefecture you live in if you are from Japan). Then at the event time they draw a paper from a box (supposedly) containing a piece of paper for all countries and Japan prefectures. Then the usual rock-paper-scissors ensues to find the lucky one between people that happened to have pin with this location written to get the prize. - no idea how common this one is. This is how the pin looks like (no country filled when you buy it):



One-off auctions - this one is pretty similar to US Dolpas - you just fill a paper and drop it into a box for a doll you want to buy. The form is located in the guidebook. If you want multiple entries, you need to buy multiple guidebooks. Be sure to be present for the drawing as there is pretty small window from when the entry is called to when they move on to another candidate.

Charity auctions - we had one like this. Some pretty desirable items were put for sale - e.g. Suigintou standard dress, also Reisner scarface and Moe (DD head on SD-GR body). The procedure is like this: you fill the form (freely available at the location) and write in there the lot number, your highest price and your contact information (make sure to add cell phone country code and write that you wish to be contacted in English). Then at a predetermined time (check the schedule) they will announce the prices picking the highest for each lot. These are so called mid-prices (we thought they were final and missed out on stuff we wanted). After the mid-prices are announced, you can fill another bid form and increase your bid above the mid-price. You can also match the current highest bid. In case there are multiple entries for the highest price from several people - the rock-paper-scissors decides the winner.

SD quiz - there was a form in the guidebook that you need to fill. It contained 8 out of 10 questions of the quiz. the last two were apparently announced at the Dolpa itself somehow? You fill the form and drip it into a designated box before a deadline. Then they sort out incorrect entires and choose winners randomly amongst all the right answers.

Stamp chance or some such - the description had something about buying a stamp card for 10.000 yen so we were not really interested. Also there was something about double-stamp. The double-stamp cards were drawn out from a box and few were granted some prizes. Then just a single stamp card was drawn from another box for a prize.

Bingo - this is like a lotto of sorts, seems to be present at a lot of Dolpas. You come to a special bingo stand with your guidebook(s) and get a bingo card for each guide book you happen to have. People were seen having tons of these bingo cards.

How bingo works. You get a card that is a 5x5 grid of numbers (if any square says "free" - that you can remove right away). The randomly chosen numbers are called and you punch holes in your card if any of the numbers match with what you have. If you have a straight line of holes (sequences of 5, also diagonals), you shout out "rich" and rush to the stage, don't delay!



As people get to the stage they get to pull a string out of a box (named Tanraigin) to see what their prize is. If for a given number there are multiple people with the results, the rock-paper-scissors game decides the order in which the selection happens:


Come the bingo time, before it another charity auction was help. First a "realtime repoto" role is auctioned off, a person winning this will be writing drawn numbers on the board. Then there was a person to rotate the lotto wheel and also read the numbers as they are pulled (not sure what the name for that is). These people get to wear the "Dolpa staff" jackets, but not sure if you get to keep the jacket or need to return it after the event. Anway they cannot play the bingo so if you are going alone, it's probably not wise to bid for these positions. Then the last item for auction was a "cheater card" (for the lack of better name), it's a special bingo card where of the 5x5 grid of numbers the 4x4 square is all punched out already, so all it takes to win is for any one of numbers still on the card to be called. In our case that was the first one to be called.
There are many prizes in bingo including the tenshies, dresses, wigs, and also postcard sets
So you need to be double-lucky - first to score the win, then to actually pull a good prize.

Table space: there are three kinds of tables on the floor. Covered in pink clothes are centrally located and you can buy one for you for 5.000 yen, yellow-covered ones are 3.000 yen and are more peripheral, even further outside are uncovered tables - these ones are free and unassigned. Also on the floor there are pink "rugs" - these are free spaces too. To buy the non-free tablespace you must get into a special line when you enter the floor space.

Bentobox: If you chose to purchase it, there is an (orange in our case) string sticking out of the box. Pull it to make the box heat up very rapidly and then wait a bit before eating. Otherwise you get to eat cold rice and meat which are not all that great. Once heated the taste is actually not so bad as we were afraid.
If you preorder it, then your bentobox is guaranteed and you can pick it up any time from the "Reserved" side of the stand, but must do so until 1:30pm (in our case, there is a sign of cutoff time on the bentobox stand). If you don't preorder then they might actually run out of the bentoboxes and usually there is expected run-off time for that on the stand as well.

Also in a guide book: A questionary form (also mentioned as lottery) where apparently they asked how did you learn about Dolpa and such - all in japanese on the questions part. It also has a comment section - so we just filled that part noting they need to have more translated material in all those forms
Drop the form into a designated white box.

Super Dollfie World Cup - if you have this activity, there are going to be some dolls on display in a designated place all with custom outfits. Some made buy VOLKS employees, some made by regular people that got accepted into the race. Pick two that you like the most and write their numbers on a form from the guide book, also fill the rest of the form (name, vs card number, address and so on) and drop the form into designated boxes around the competition area. The winners are announced on next dolpa.

 

Dolpa stuff Cont'd:

Additionally it turned out if you have a VS card (and you pay the 1050 annual fee), you get to receive free VOLKS news magazine issues to your registered address if it is in Japan (must be your address, if you tell it's your friend's address, they won't accept it). The pre-dolpa issue usually has something. In our case there was some sort of questionnaire that people were filling and getting free picture calendars in return.
VOLKS USA carries these magazines with big delays, so if you want to have a piece of this action, and you don't receive these magazines by other means, you can buy them at VOLKS showrooms say a day before dolpa (originally we were told you can have a free one when you show your VS card, but then that was retracted).

Hope this helps somebody in the future.

 

Volks is notorious for having a lack of English on their website or in their guidebooks for non-Japanese speaking visitors to a Dolpa. I actually think there is a lot more English now and at least there are staff members who can help. Some of the early Dolpas I went to, you were completely on your own.

To be honest, I find this thread tends to be more biased towards attending NY/LA Dolpas and using the VolksUSA lottery/International Lottery to get dolls. There is not a lot of information in this thread about Japanese Dolpas as the person who started it had never been to one and when people are going to Japan for one they tend to ask questions in the individual Dolpa thread. I should really take time to make a wiki if someone has not yet, but the information does tend to be spread out.

I know in various Dolpa threads I've told people when asking about attending Dolpas in Japan that they MUST get there before 9:00 to participate in the LE lottery. I've not posted much in any of the recent ones because I am sort of over Volks and I now have a toddler so have a lot less computer time. In general, if you live in the US, Canada or Mexico, unless the doll you want is a Dolpa only LE, you are better off going through the VolksUSA, Kerbey Lane, We Love Dolls Lottery. The price is much lower and your chances of getting a doll are MUCH higher. The main reason I know of for most foreigners to go to a Japanese Dolpa is the Dealer's Room which is substantive and has some really wonderful items only available that way.

Usually there are more Asian foreigners (from China, Singapore, Korea) than Western/Australian foreigners but I would be surprised if your group and one other group were the only ones. I do remember attending events in Japan where me and Biscuitbear were the only foreigners but that was a long time ago.

A lot of the events you described vary from Dolpa and Volks does change some things up from time to time. (such as the lines for a Dolpa.)

From what I remember you don't pay for a Stamp de Chance card. You get one if you purchase a LE at a Dolpa and you get a "chance" for every 10,000 yen spent. I might have asked or wrote about them previous on DoA (or RiaRia or Neverything might have, but if I remember they were one of those thing where it helps to be living in Japan since I think you generally need to either attend a lot of events. I know I had one once when I went to Japan several times a year and had my Volks subscription.

Volks use to be willing to send things to a friend's address with VS membership since I use to use a friend's address all the time. And honestly, if you don't say anything they won't know the better. But you must have a real Japanese mailing address as I stated upthread when I was talking about VS membership.

It's really nice someone took pictures of the bingo prize setup, I never have.