How to make a doll interesting to buy after some time ?

What about doing a fresh faceup, dress it up, and add a wig and sell as a fullset? Those sorts of sales are really attractive to me! You can always give the option of just selling the blank doll too, but a very nice portrait to freshen it up should help!

 

I'll preface with I've never been a toy collector, so shrink/new in box/still unwrapped doesn't do anything for me. In the BJD market, it's actually annoying to me if something is unopened because I can't see the condition of the item.

When I've been selling, my fastest/most interest sales are those that have:

• One clear total-package shot, usually the doll seated on/in their box with all included items clearly laid out. I'll avoid having the shipping materials on the doll or covering up sections.
• Really clear front/back photos of the whole doll, and front/profile/three-quarter shots of the head/face without a wig.
• No "facedown on a table" shots for the backside. I usually will use a stand to get backside shots but noses/ears/faceups/eyelashes are fragile and that shot will instantly turn me off of a potential listing so I do not want to take that kind of photo as a listing photo. It makes me think the doll was not handled with care by it's previous owners.
• Good detail shots of wear/damage and/or interesting details.
• Clear shots of all included option parts.
• Either one (if fullset) or no dressed/photoshoot photos. Fullset items I'll also try to unbag long enough to photograph clearly and a link to the original sale.
• Plain/pattern fabric, board, or wall as a background. I have done tons of product/listing shots with just a sheet thrown over some chairs and draped down to the floor to get the no-corner curve and popped a stand or table onto that, but there's no need to go that far. Seriously just a plain background without your home decor will help bring the focus on the doll and not on everything else. I also try to not have the other items form the sale in the background of a closeup of something.

I'm not looking for glamor shots, but I also want clear photos that don't wash out or appear that I'm not handling with care.
While doll makers are doing their thing and do fantasy shoots and all with their vision, when it comes to second hand I try to go the real-estate mindset of "let the person picture their own" and taking my personalization out of the sale images and just aim for clear pictures
With fullset/clothes items, I want to see them on the intended doll/size as well as flat. I'm looking for unintentional stains/creases/general condition.

Honestly going through other listings and seeing what looks good as a sale-shot and making notes helps a ton.



Last thing I do that isn't photo based:

I tend to personally pick a price that I can include free domestic shipping (meaning I'm covering it) and reserving the right to pick the carrier. Being in the US this works decently for me as I have a larger market to sell to than many. For international I usually just say I'll negotiate it - which for me means I'll usually check the shipping rates and charge my buyer some of it.

 

If you are comfortable, offering layaway can be enticing because it makes a doll feel more "obtainable" for someone who may not have cash on hand or not great at saving up towards things not considered a need. Of course, layaway can be a little bit of a risk so you need to weight that for yourself.

Look to see if you can find your similar doll sold somewhere and see how that went, might provide some insight on its "market value".

I looked at your insta, the listing I see mentioned looks pretty good, in terms of pictures and info, to me. . . But I sell things pretty infrequently.

 

I looked at your IG, and your photos are perfectly fine. I have issues with terrible descriptions and blurry photos, but your sales post doesn't have any of that. Your price point is also more than fair. I know some people like clothes/extras, but I personally don't, but your price is still fair even if they are included. (Some people try to price everything as a lot which includes other items, and I don't like paying for items I don't want.)

I think in your situation, it's really the type of doll and size. Even though your price is fair, the demand may just not be there. The only thing you can do is cut the price further in order to sell or wait until the right buyer comes along. Trading may also be viable if you can find a doll that you like. In my experience as someone who sells dolls with some regularity, finding the right buyer is critical if you don't want to lose too much money on the sale. However, the reality of not finding the right buyer exists, especially in this hobby with so many choices.

I've been able to sell dolls I don't want to keep by slashing the prices even further. For dolls that I don't want to take a huge loss on, I either end up keeping them or offering them as trade in the hopes of it working out.

 

@honeyedbiscuit, agreed! I wanted to mention this too but could not find right wording.

 

Your wording was great, too! I think the layaway option suggestion is excellent. I normally offer layaway as well and try to work with a buyer who wants anything I sell lol. I've been fortunate to sell like 90% of the dolls that I wanted out of the house pretty quickly, and the added flexibility attracts more buyers!

I would also list everywhere you can - Facebook groups and the BJD discord. I've still had luck selling on FB and Instagram, even after tags were massacred.

 

To add to all the great advice that has already been mentioned above: it's currently just a bad time in the second hand market and things sell extremely slowly, regardless of how perfect your listing is. And that's not your fault! But there is not much to do about it either.

I'd say the best you can do is to refresh the listings every now and then, post everywhere you can and be ready to slash the price quite substantially. It seems to me that with less popular dolls, unless you offer a significant discount from the current new-doll-price, people will rather order new with the faceups/skintones/etc they want.

 

Ah yeah, seeing the listing now @honeyedbiscuit and @MariSunshade are right. Sometimes the type of doll is just not very sought after at a time and trying to get the attention of an interested buyer is tough.

In that case, if allowed (eg offsite links) I'd be adding a short description of the sale to your signature or profile with a link so if you're participating in groups with like interests it might get spotted!

A bit of text on the instagram image that clarifies it as for sale can help, otherwise someone might just browse over the image (I know I rarely read the text unless something has directed me to it or caught my interest otherwise).

 

Ah, I only now took a peep at your listing: I would suggest also tagging the @bjdsale account (more followers than the one you've tagged now) and making a post with the first image having some text on it stating that
-you're selling
-what you're selling
-the price
-your location (many EU buyers tend to prefer buying within EU to save on taxes and shipping)

Just so you can exhaust all your options

 

There are so many fb groups for selling. I’d try posting in different ones like every week for maximum exposure.

 

If the most recent doll posted on your Instagram is the one you are trying to sell, I have a couple suggestions when it comes to the photos. First, if you have a pair of eyes that look nice with the open-eyed head, I would personally include a close up photo with eyes in. This doesn't mean you have to include the eyes in the sale (you can always make a note they are not included). Having eyes can help create that spark of life in a sculpt for some people. I would also personally include a profile shot of both heads.

My other big suggestion would be to use the photo showing the whole doll/two heads as your main photo. This makes it clear at a glance what everything that's being offered is. Closed eye-sculpts for instance can be an acquired taste, so a lot of buyers may not click further when they see the head-shot of a close-eyed doll.

Instagram is also sadly a terrible place to be selling right now. Ever since they broke the way recent posts work, it has destroyed the second-hand market on there.

 

I've generally had an ok time selling on eBay and there are certainly ways to make your listing more visible without paying - make sure you've filled at least 90% the the item specifics and put keywords like "bjd" size, sculpt, brand, skintone, in your case also "mature mini" into the title so it's easy for buyers to find. It's also useful to activate offers and send them to people who are watching your listing yourself, too. I'm not going to say it'll sell faster but eBay tends to bury listings that are not well filled out.