Questions about ordering Unoa

They have preorders every half year or so? You'll know when they do, people start talking about it long before the date comes.

They don't come assembled and you can't order them with a faceup.

 

(reposted from a locked archive thread so I can edit it when necessary)

How to Buy a Unoa

Buying a Unoa at Retail Price

Unoa pre-orders occur about every 3-5 months. Each pre-order is for different items - one time girl kits, one time boy kits, one time parts. At the time of writing this (10/2007) the most recent girl preorder was this past summer (6/2007), and those buyers received their kits in December 2007 (6 months after ordering). The Unoa girls preorder before that was in 2005. Occasionally an extra Lottery sale is added to leftover parts or kits - many try to buy, and a few buyers are chosen and only they can purchase. But some lottery sales are for Japan only and those are not offered internationally through Crescent.

All international Unoa preorders and lottery sales are handled through one Japanese buying service:
Crescent-Shop
http://www.crescent-shop.com/
Sign up for a Crescent account (free unless you bid on auctions). Use your Paypal email address if you have Paypal. After creating your account, log into it and edit your Profile - put the word Unoa in your Crescent profile's "Rare Search" box and also check the box that says you want to receive emails from Crescent. I also check that I am interested in BJDs. Then when Unoa sales are announced you will get email and a News announcement in your Crescent-Shop account. The sale instructions and link to the special Unoa ordering page at Crescent will be in one of the messages you receive. During the period of the sale (usually a week) you will be able to pre-order Unoas from that page (usually limited to max one of each kind). If it is an option parts preorder it will work similarly.

The Unoa ordering is totally separate from Crescent-Shop's usual auction and store buying services and tracking. There seem to be no added fees, and the listed price in $US is what you pay. Your payment will be requested a short time after you place your pre-order. If the sale is a pre-order, it may take up to 6 months to receive your dolls or parts. If order it is a limited lottery sale, the dolls should be shipped fairly quickly since they are already made.

Alternatives to waiting and buying at retail are discussed below.

Buying a Unoa at Resale or Auction (Yahoo!Japan, Ebay, DoA Markerplace)

The Crescent account is free if unless you want to bid on Japanese auctions (Yahoo Japan, aka Y!J) using your Crescent account, and you should not do that unless you understand all of the fees and the value of Japanese yen, and have compared Crescent's service and fees to the other Y!J buying services.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164344

The other way people get Unoa dolls is to buy secondhand dolls and unused doll kits at auction (Ebay and Y!J) and in the DoA Marketplace. The price is often double the original retail price. The summer 2007 retail price for a kit was $420 + $40 for large bust + $35 for shipping(US) = $495. But the dollar fell vs the yen after that, so the spring 2008 lottery of leftover girl kits had prices about 20 percent ($100) higher. At resale, kits and dolls often sell for $750-$1000.

You can also find Unoa resales in the DoA Marketplace.

Hybrids

Another option is a hybrid - buy a Unoa faceplate at resale or auction (usually $75-125), a Kaye headback (Marketplace $50), and a fairly compatible body ($160-275). But you can spend as much this way! See the Unoa Hybrids thread for info.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135543

Other Notes

Also - Be sure to read up on the types on Unoa - 1.0 and 1.5 are two versions of the standard slim mature mini size Unoa girls Sist and Lusis, and the boys are 1.5 only. The 2.0 type named Cream and Mocha are a different more fashion-doll size that you will also run into on Ebay, Y!J, and in the Marketplace. Unoa Light is a 12-inch tiny, and Unoa Zero is an SD-height doll.

One other note - Unoa kits do not come ready-to-string. You need to trim the sometimes-thick extra pieces of resin where the resin was poured into the mold, and the seams are unsanded. It takes a decent amount of work and patience! It's not what I would call an easy job - if that's not for you, consider buying a completed Unoa at resale.

And make sure your spam filters (if any) will pass through anything from Crescent so you don't miss any order-related emails. Sometimes a mail will come with the From name Masamichi Kuge with a crescent-shop email address (he handles the orders).

Unoa FAQ
http://www.rakurakutei.com/theloft/unoa_faq.htm
Note: If the Unoa 1.5 measurements are still in inches, they are incorrect. Instead use the measurements here:
http://www.half-finished.com/bjd-measurements.html

Comparison of 1.0 w/default bust, 1.5 w/large bust, 2.0
http://www.lindsayscorner.com/Default.aspx?tabid=169

Carolyn

 

Does anyone know what was the previous Crescent Shop price for Unoa 2.0 and Unoa Zero? Thanks

 

Unoa Zero was a Japan-only sale(s) via a Japanese magazine.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3012830&postcount=680

And Unoa 2 was sold only once before and I do not know what the price was.

Carolyn

 

unoa zero was 88,000yen and unoa 2.0 was 40,000yen...prices I mention however are retail and not crescent-shop prices...also without the fees,bank account fees,custom fees,etc...>.<;

 

I think they start around $1300 on Yahoo! Japan. The Japanese magazine is Dollybird, and there are a number of Dollybird Unoas in various sizes at auctions. I don't know if they are still have a doll for each issue.

 

They have lovely dolls, but i cant read the font.
Do they not have an english option?
Can anyone tell me where i can buy Unoa Dolls From?

 

Normally you can only buy them from pre-orders (and I think the pre-orders already happened) or second hand.

 

you can only order them "directly" when they do a preorder through crescent.

here is a great thread (if rather long) about when preorders are and the prices to be expected when known.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190681&highlight=unoa

 

When is the next pre-order going to be announced? & where can i find this update at?, so i may keep an eye out
thanx in advance

 

Does anyone know where i can find Unoa Horns? I've heard they exist, but have only seen cat ears

I'm dying to get horns for my doll.

 

I have seen them on Yahoo Japan auction (join Crescent-Shop.com if you aren't already a member), but between Crescent charges and EMS shipping, you have to be prepared to pay several times what they would cost you in Japan.

 

Thanx!! Someone saw this post, and offered me a set of horns dirt cheap! hehe

 

Hi! can someone help me understand something?
When you order on the crescent website, are the shipping fees and intermediates fees included in the price?

 

NataNeko: fees and shipping will be added to the price.

 

It is really really easy to get an unoa doll. First you need to ask yourself: am I unoa-impatient or unoa-patient?

According to your response you decide on your next action.

I'm unoa-impatient: I'm prepared to pay more, because I need my little darling now. I start looking for an unoa doll on the second hand market - Yahoo! Japan, DoA's Marketplace, eBay and so on.

I'm unoa-patient: I can wait for my darling until the next pre-order, and settle down to keep an eye on Crescent for news of when the next pre-order will be.

 

Moving some info from an unoa-thread in the Mini section that the OP wants deleted:

 

This has been bugging me for a while now so I must ask, where do I buy Unoa?
I love their sculpts but I can't seem to find the website to purchase them on in the 'links out' section.
Can someone please help?
Thank you!

 

I would like to order a Unoa Sist. But cannot read the website it is in another language. How do I translate this and is thee other website that sell her>>

thank you

 

I hope this helps as I ran the site through google translater - they are lovely dolls but seems to be hard to get hold of them!

they have a tab on the left hand side of the NAV BAR page which says FOR OVERSEAS - when u click on that it explains
>>
NOTE:
1)Contents of this site are written in Japanese only.
2)Please do not copy any images;
artworks and photos on this site in order to use on the
other sites on the Internet without our permission.

The explaination how Alchemic Labo take orders of Unoa-Quluts for customers
in Japan
(This is for Japanese market ONLY. The orders must be Japan resident, can
comunicate in Japanese,
can wire money by postal savings in Japanese Yen and the shipping address is
in Japan.
For oversea's client, Crescent Shop (http://www.crescent-shop.com) take
orders as our agent
but thier policy is different from us. They announce how they take orders
each time they start taking orders.)

There are 3 types of sale how we take orders.
<Presale>
&#12539;The dolls we are selling in this period is "prototype".
We manufacture small quantity of dolls for checking quality.
&#12539;We are not exactly taking orders as a Presale.
The parts or the specifications could be different than the doll in the main
sale.
&#12539;Because of small quantity, we take orders by lottery if we do Presale.

<Main Sale>
&#12539;Basically, everyone who orders can buy dolls.
1. We manufacture specific quantity of the doll before we start taking
orders.
2. Unless the order reach the quantity, we can ship immediately after we
receive payment.
3. If the orders are more than the quantity, we choose buyers by lottery.
The winners can receive the doll immediately after the payment.
4. For the rest of persons who order the doll, we manufacture the doll
additionally as "Pre-order"
5. For pre-orders, we contact each customers when the doll is finshed
manufacturing.
We will ship out the dolls accordingly after we receive the payments.

<Final Sale>
&#12539;We are taking orders as a "Final Sale" IF we have excess coming from the
Main Sale.
The excess is from cancellations, from orders didn't reach the quantity we
originally manufactured
or from the additional production.
&#12539;Like Presale, the quantity should not be many.
We are not exactly taking orders as a Final Sale.
&#12539;If we do Final Sale, we take orders by lottery.

 

Oh thank you!! That explains alot and alot easier.

 

*raises hand* I have a newbie question: Does this hold true for the chibi Unoas as well?

Edit: After some more research I've been able to find 2 pre-order periods for the Chibi Unoas:
-April 2009
-February 2010
a ten month interval between the two. Can I assume that there might be another pre-order in December of this year? Or is that presumptious? Thank you!

 

Hi,
I've tried searching the forums for updated info on ordering Unoa Lusis 1.0 or 1.5 brand new, but all I find are things from 2008/2009 or older. I hope I'm not posting the same questions as someone else.

1. One place said that unoa boys, girls, and parts are old separately with three to five months apart from each other. If that's true, do they only sell the girls once a year?

2. I found posts about unoa 2.0. They look neat, but aren't my style. It sounded as though Araki Gentarou was going to continue making new types of dolls and not produce unoa 1.5 or 1.0. Is that true?

3. I also found another post that said Araki sells some of his dolls at cons such as Dolpa. Are they only events in Japan? Does anyone know how to find out which dolls he will sell and how many?

4. EDIT I also found the general post and when the unoa was put up for lottery/order last (Jan 2011), it was confusing because part of it said that the fairy type was 70000 yen and another said it was 79500 yen. Also some of the thread looked like it was hinting that they were only selling the fairy skin, but another post showed that the normal type could be ordered for 45500yen. What was really sold and for how much? Do the prices of unoas change for each order period or are they the same for normal skins and new versions such as fairy are more expensive?

 

Have you bothered to look at the official site to see answers?
http://alchemiclabo.com/

1. I don`t know. Your best bet is to check the official site. The bottom half of the left side on the webshop page is of their future release line.

2. Are you reffering to the Unoa Second? That s a whole different line with different heads.

3. He sells them at dollshow / i-doll as far as I know, not Dolpa. Yes, they are only in Japan. It is written on their official site which event they`ll participate and the doll they plan on bringing. They also sell faceplates.

4.Fairy skin Unoas go for a much higher price than the standard skin. I think one of the possible reasons as to why it goes higher is because at default it comes with more faceplates / handparts. Check the website for the prices for actual prices. I don`t have them in my mind ^^;

 

Is there an English page other than the overseas page? because most translators make things confusing.
and your answer to the first question, do I check the Japanese site for international order dates???

 

Firstly, the 1.0 dolls was the first mechanical version of Sist/Lusis, with a very slightly different resin tone. If you want a 1.0 girl you need to buy her second hand.

If you are looking for a brand new doll, you'll be getting an 1.5. Alchemiclabo's site is of limited use unless you read Japanese. Follow developments on Noppin (formerly Crescent) instead, they announce when a preorder's coming just before it goes live.

Araki-sensei has shown no sign of discontinuing Sist/Lusis, but he does continually release new dolls. There is certainly no guarantee that Sist/Lusis will be available for ever. If you'd like one or both of them, you'd be wise to purchase as soon as possible.

Araki-sensei participates in doll events in Japan, as is common for Japanese makers, and has also participated in the Paris doll show a few times.

Unoa prices are usually around 50000 yen, dolls that are built and painted by Araki-sensei are usually significantly more expensive. If you are looking for an ordinary kit doll, it's 50000 yen + fees and shipping you need to save up for.

 

How fast do they sell out? I've been checking Noppin and there is never any new products..I've been wanting Unoa Lusis as well but I don't know how.....I'm new so I apologize if this is a dumb question.

 

Adding on to 1felic's comment, I saw on this post: http://unoa.in/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=371&p=2406#p2406, that Noppin only sold 24 dolls total! Is that true and is that normal for overseas?

 

To answer 1felic and Peachdolly I quote myself from earlier in the thread:

This means that unoas are not limited. They don't sell out, but they are only sold in the none too frequent pre-orders.


When you see info about Noppin having received 24 dolls as their share, then it's one of two things:

• An after pre-order lottery - when the dolls that weren't paid for by the people who ordered them in the pre-order are sold off.
• Something special and limited is being released - a new doll type, dolls painted by Araki-sensei himself, dolls in a special resin.