Fake Volks SD Dolls being sold on Etsy - images used copied - are these images YOURS?

A link to the seller/items would be helpful. With the information you've currently provided, there's no way for us to tell which seller you're talking about, or identify possible stolen images.

 

I know which artist did the face-up for the SWD School A titled as "Miyu3"
It is Milk san from "shall we doll"
Here's the journal entry from her own blog with photos of this doll. Though the photo used on Etsy could very likely be a rip off from the actual owner of the doll.
Milk san's style is very unique, I'm 100% sure it is the same doll.

 

The dolls look almost..... Drawn.

 

It looks so fake. Would it really be a rip off though? She'd have to send you SOMETHING if you bought it, maybe she has bought them and didnt have a camera to take pictures of them so she used the original pictures off the websites she got them?

 

Well, if that were the case, the etsy seller is still lying, as they say that they custom made these dolls.

 

She says you choose the doll you like and she'll do the face-up in either light or dark. It sounds as if she's planning to send rip-off dolls and do the face-up in a style similar to the ones shown. I'm guessing she's either very confident of her skills or the person buying is going to be purchasing an absolutely crappy doll which is nothing like the one shown.

 

You can't buy a blank Michele head for $300, let alone an entire doll with a y!j customizer faceup. This is a clearly a scammer.

 

It would also be against etsy's TOS as they only allow handmade items, craft supplies, and vintage.

 

Has anyone reported these items to etsy? If not, I believe everyone should, to alert etsy to the illegal activity. I would caution anyone from buying from this seller as the dolls are quite plainly bootlegs and you will not recieve the dolls pictured, most likely you will receive a toxic, badly re-cast doll if you receive anything at all. I would also hope it goes without saying that all bootleg dolls are banned on Den of Angels.

The seller claims;

 

Well, if the seller hasn't been reported, yet, she has been now. This stuff makes me sick.

 

What's wrong with these kind of people. I just don't understand it. SICK.

 

OMG thank you for posting this! I had them bookmarked, I had no idea! I would hate to buy an illegal doll!

Wow, you really gotta be careful where you shop.

 

Uh - I think I've seen these on Ebay too........

 

These people......
Plus I've seen a lot of grainy photos but you could tell that these were taken from someones site; because the photoshopped name is very smooth on top of it.

 

You're able to see who's faved her/him.
Maybe someone should contact 'them' to see if they know anything?

Also this may be a longshot but places like Flckr and Photobucket allow
you to search for someone's Public gallery and a lot of people display their dolls...

 

The Chinese scammers invasion of Etsy is well under way the last 12 months... it's so depressing, I went to Etsy to get away from all the dishonesty on Ebay. In my experience (of seeing someone selling MY WORK and claiming it was theirs) Etsy are pretty good at policing and make people remove items that can be proven to be rip off, so keep on at them.

She has this website too: http://www.imagesandlyrics.com/
No pics of the dolls but you can email her to buy

 

It's odd, this woman is all over the internet promoting her paintings, so she seems to be legit from that point of view but no mention of her sculpting and casting her own BJD dolls until they suddenly appear fully formed and styled, very recently on her facebook page. Why doesn't someone just politely Convo her on etsy and ask about the Milk San image, and Jessica is right, selling dolls "manufactured" by someone else is definitely against etsy rules, no gray areas

 

Is it possible that the scammer is using the name of a real artist to cover up their tracks?

 

I reported her.

 

I was thinking that, but if you search for the artist, everywhere else they seem to be on the net has them as well.

 

This is so awful!
In Taobao there are some "Fake doll stores" with fake molds of Volks (specially School-A) and others....
I'm so ashamed!!

 

Wow unbelievable, thanks for sharing this with us, it seems as if it is getting more and more dangerous to buy dolls on places like ebay and esty. I don't think I'll be buying any dolls unless they're directly from a company... Or here on the marketplace I hope this problem gets resolved soon, its so disturbing that scammers are trying to take advantage of people like this.

 

What a waste of a nice website.

I saw something on ebay recently of IOS Sezz sold at full doll price (as some of us may know IOS only sells Sezz as a head and their 70cm body doesn't match the resin of their "interchangeable" heads). The pictures on the sales page were all taken from the IOS website; no owner pics. I was waiting for somebody else to spot this and post about it here on DoA but so far either nobody else has talked about it or I just haven't seen the thread about it. Or actually maybe it's legit? Anyway, I can't find it on ebay anymore.

Edited to add: Oh, wait I found the seller: http://myworld.ebay.com/immortalityofsoul/ The sales pages of the dolls are not there anymore. Is that the ebay page of the company or not?

 

She actually does have pictures of the dolls on her website; there are 8 of them. Go to storefront then BJD-Miyu series. I am not too familiar with Volk's molds so I don't know the names but I recognize every doll. She is definitely making it sound like they are her dolls, but she does say this - ""Miyu Dolls" embellished by your favorite artist Miriam Melans" which does make it seem like she is just painting them... but it is all very fishy. I really wonder what you get when you buy one of these dolls.... Her website kind of reminds me of a website someone brought up a while ago questioning its legitimacy; I forget what it was called. I doubt they are related in any way but it was also a full flash site with the same color-scheme.

 

It is quite possible she may be attempting to market herself as a customizer, and going about the wrong way.

 

She still can't offer to sell you a doll she didn't make on ETSY, it has to be "handmade by you", vintage or supplies... If she is offering a face-up service she should say so and not use pictures of another face-up artists work

 

Can I just ask, has anyone tried contacting her directly? She may be a legitimate artist who has just done something stupid. I am tempted to convo her on Etsy and just let her know why what she is doing appears very wrong and see what she says, she may not be aware that what she is doing is wrong...

 

Oh my, that would be awful for the poor girl! Especially if she is just a painter trying to make it.

I mean, if she's never heard of BJD, and the opportunity came up to sell the dolls painted up for some extra cash, I can see why she would snap it up.

 

I really don't think this is much of a misunderstanding. You don't use other people's pictures and then claim to sell entire dolls as your dolls when you are just offering faceups. She lists body measurements and that dolls come with eyes. She's not offering faceup services. She's selling WHOLE DOLLS. And no, she does not have the original Y!J repaints as it has let me add 10 Michele ripoffs to the cart and will let me check out with them.

Just another bootleg scammer.

 

I agree with Kim, it look too fishy to be legit. The dolls' are no longer listed on Etsy anymore, I don't know if she took them down or if Etsy did.

 

Whenever an artist, sculptor, designer, etc., describes their works as "original ....." a red flag should go up. Original artwork, never needs " " because an original work stands on its own. The " " I've seen used before when another's artwork, sculpture, etc., is being used to create fakes. And all fakes must be revealed and removed. Fakes hurt all of us.

As of the date of my post here, the bjd ads on the gals' Etsy website had been removed, yet the bjd photo still remains.

Yes, I saw this gal's painted Volks' bjd on eBay and noted there were no bids. Not surprising this item hasn't been relisted as the painted version of this Volk's bjd was ugly.

Thank you for spotting a fake! We'll continue to be watchful of fakes and scam "artists."

 

I wrote to her earlier suggesting she should take them down if she is a reputable artist who has maybe gotten into something dodgy without realizing. They were up there at the time, but if Etsy itself has removed them she needs to be watched incase she tries to relist.

I did quite a bit of checking up on her as a painter and she seems legit, I figured it would be better to give her the benefit of the doubt and let her remove the dolls rather than damage her rep as an artist. People do daft things... I just imagined this scenario where maybe she knows nothing about BJDs and got approached by someone who was offering the chance to be a US dealer, sometimes people get carried away and don't realise that what looks too good to be true often is!

 

I went to the link and she only has pendents for sale. I didnt see the dolls before she removed then. If she knew what she was doing she will do it again. If it was an honest mistake well, then I am sure she learned her lesson.

 

The dolls are gone now...off etsy at least all that she has up now are artistic pendants. Still peeves me to no end that people do this stuff to get some cash... It seems if it's not one thing about rip off dolls it's another >:P

 

*whoosh* And now the pictures are even gone from her website too. What a weird thing! Clearly an inexperienced scammer - had no idea of the kind of vigilance she'd be up against. Doll people will take you apart and serve you raw.

Honestly makes me wonder, what does go on in people's heads sometimes....

 

The thing that gets me though, is shouldn't you be banned from a site for trying to 'scam' people.
Why do are just asked to remove the pics? It's quite clear that she's a scammer!
Couldn't someone just be a victim of hers twice at this rate?

 

She's selling some more dolls on ebay under the name "imagesandlyrics."

This is a 4 sisters head (pretty sure):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_500wt_1156

Unsure what this mold is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_500wt_1156

 

I think so. The jaw shape throws me off since most of the pictures are taken at a different angle but the nose, the idention under the nose, eye folds, and mouth shape do remind me of the F-34.

 

Or SD13 Okita Souji to maybe?

 

Has anyone contacted Ebay? Are they doing any kind of investigation into this?

 

That is a fake Okita Souji 1st. This seller actually sold 1 of this so called MIYU doll (I checked her feedback.) But could be a fake sale.

Is she buying LDs and selling them on e-bay?

What in the world.........

 

I believe if enough folks go to the listings and "report" them they will certainly take a look at the seller. The report button is under "other item info".

 

She has 2 dolls for sale now and one is the same doll that she already sold previously for $300. She got good feedback from the buyer. The listing doesn't say that it's just there as an "example" so it appears that she's selling the same doll again.

Here is the current auction -- Look at the picture

Here is the ended auction -- Be sure to look at the picture in the center!!

It's the same -- here is a link directly to the 2 pictures:

doll that's already sold for $300
doll that's for sale now

Wonder how many times she can sell this doll? It's a good business model if she can keep it going

 

At the bottom of this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/BJD-Ball-Jointe...731?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256246eabb
she updated it yesterday with:

Well then, is it a recast?

btw, I did report it yesterday. I don't like doing that but this is just bs.

 

I don't know if this means anything but the body on the sold doll looks to be a Bobobie male doll. I'd recognize those ugly hands anywhere. Just thought I'd make a note of it. I wonder what the buyers are actually getting.

 

This is really scary.

 

Has anyone contacted Volks about it yet? and if it is a BBB body they should be made aware too.
It's sad that one was sold already.

edit: I just sent an email to VolksUSA to inform them.

 

Go to the listing and click "report item" under other item info
then click "potential trademark infringement"
then under it choose "Other replica or counterfeit items"

say what you like in the information field, but I said this was a re-cast, and against ebay's policy.

 

I emailed the seller to ask what kind of doll it was in the auction that looked like a 4 sisters sculpt. No reply, but when I just tried to reload the auction page, it said item had been removed and was no longer available.

It's interesting considering how easy it is for buyers to lodge complaints, and get refunds through paypal that she'd try something like this.

 

As the first auction was pulled, I reported the second one just now. They already admitted to it not being legit item so I hope something is done about this.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/BJD-Ball-Jointed-Doll-Miyu-series-Miyu-/160562604731?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256246eabb#ht_500wt_922

Does Ebay care at all?

 

18 bids with just 1 photo. There is a tinch of sadness in the doll's face. She looks like a re-cast, her eyes does not look refined enough to be Volks. Her eyes are colored too dark to notice quality of workmanship on the sculpt. A physical examination is needed to determine if she's an original. But since the seller says she's not a Volks, we should take it at that. Buyers should request to see naked photos of the doll back, side and front without wig. I have a strong feeling this seller is using Volks name to draw attention to her work. At least, it is true, she is getting all our attention.

Tatu: Ebay does not care, it never did. It's a buyer beware market place.

 

I emailed her this:
These dolls are copies of Volks dolls made in China. You are selling an illeagal bootleg. Your name is all over the internet as a legit painter so why are you ruining your name trying to sell something illeagal? Wherever you got this doll from it's a bootleg. Please do your research before you continue to buy and sell these copies. You're hurting the artists that sculpt these dolls...

And this was the response I got:
I appreciate your concern & interest in what I post on Ebay msugirl2009. I am a legal artist & have been for 26 yrs. When I bought my first Dollmore doll, as all other collertors, I fell inlove with them. I did my "research" & found like with anything else there are other companies that have it cheaper. When I bought some for my own collection that were cheaper but were from China, I was satisfied with my purchase and have been. I did however reach out to them 2 days ago about them possibly making bootlegs of these dolls and they denied that. I know they are made in China, which I am fine with, I know they are cheaper than any "Brand" name because they have no brand, & lastly I know that I can buy & resell anything that is mine.

I would greatly appreciate you stop harrassing me on EBAY or anywhere else. Stop using profanity when directing a comment or question to me or my office.
You are directly your anger at the wrong person. If you have any further concerns, feel free to reach out to the manufacturer directly. Here is their website: http://www.home.51.com/qinghua6988

Thank you & I hope not to hear from you again.


This is disgusting. She refuses to agknowledge the truth and would rather continue to rip people off. Of course the company is going to tell you that they are not bootlegs. I don't know how this is "harassing" and where I used profanity. More people NEED to report this to Ebay. I am going to the Volks store this saturday and I will provide information to them in person while I am there.

 

Wow.....I'm shocked, but them I'm not. She apparently knows the dolls - regardless of her claim otherwise - is a knock off. She doesn't care because quite frankly, she gets them cheaper that way.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.