Scam on Ebay: seller "brandshopping-2008"

The resin doesn't look like Volks...Volks tends to look very opaque in photos (as it does IRL) and the colour looks really off, but that could be the lighting. I'm betting recast.

In case anyone missed it: Brandshopping's feedback score was previously 6, but they just recieved a negative feedback. So I guess we wait for them to make a new account with a clean feedback score now? Unless they decide to persevere with this one.

I think they mean this version two: http://www.aoddoll.net/ProDetail.asp?id=181

Also, the seller's profile photo...That's a little suspicious right there.

 

thanks for that, i can now actually see where they sanded the nose and cut the eyes to make them bigger. i can show on photoshop when i get home

 

Easy. It is not a Soandsoartist Lastname doll, it a DollCompanyNameHere doll. Even more so, most times the artists name is not even given nor recognized on the page. If it is, it's usually tiny print. This is not an example of artist love, it is however a shining example of how a company (corporation) works. It is all for the money.

 

So because they joined a company (perhaps because they couldn't support themselves or their families just selling the dolls themselves), they automatically don't love making dolls? That seems like very flawed logic to me. Just because the company chose not to scrawl the artist's name all over the sculpt pictures doesn't mean that the artist put any less time or effort into creating something that they felt was beautiful.

 

dude - the dolls my mom and i create are called "atelier macabre" - you mean then we don't love our dolls? you are just sooooo WRONG!! we spend HOURS working on these pieces with the knowledge that we won't make any money really on them, but because we LOVE to make these dolls and see it as an expression of things we can't otherwise easily say. yes, we plan on selling some, but i can tell you this - i a have a huge number of personal dolls in the work (more than i would ever consider selling) because i want to express things about myself. and they will all be under the name "atelier macabre"

in fact - migidolls is run by an artist. dollstown was started by i believe two artists. k-doll i believe is one artist. there are a HUGE number of "companies" that are just single artists.

 

I think you are displaying a lack of experience in this hobby, a lack of understanding about this subject and a lack of imagination concerning any artists/creators in general. I think this insistence that having the artist's name as a brand being a show of love is a reflection of your own egotism and also shows a lack of understanding of how businesses work.

I'm always the one who's chanting, 'It's a business and they're doing it for money'. But seriously, this is ridiculous.

If you want to buy bootlegged stuff, go forth. No one here can stop you. But trying to justify your leanings to bootlegged items by making yourself out to be a cool 'bad boy' (sticking it to 'the man'? Wow, that really shows them!) and putting down other companies in this manner is tragic. TRAGICALLY LAME.

 

I agree, that doesn't look like Volks resin to me, either--so I'm guessing modded and then recast. Who knows about the body...that could be either legitimate, or recast, or under-the-table...or....

Sad, as from the other doll pics they posted for their other auctions, it was beginning to look like they were just rather unethically using stolen pics to try to up interest in their own less-photogenic but still possibly original dolls. >__<

 

Since they say that you can choose the skin tone, it is probably a modded and recast head.

I took an import seminar once... if you go to China to import an item, you get an agent that makes appointments for you at the factories that produce the product that you want. The example given was glassware. The factory has displays of glassware that they have made, and you can select from what they have, or you can bring your designs for them to prototype/produce for you. If you do not want them to reproduce and sell your designs to someone else, you need to make that part of your deal (and hope they stick to it) because they may put your design in their showroom and allow someone else to buy it. I think that you could also make a deal to be paid a design fee for each piece if you allowed the manufacturer to resell your design to someone else.

I imagine that if you wanted to sell a BJD (under your brand name), you could go to a resin casting company and select from whatever they have cast for other companies or bring in your own prototype for them to cast for you.

This person could have possibly gone to the company that casts the AoD bodies and ordered some, then gone to another company to buy some heads and yet another to recast their modded Lucas head. Under the right circumstances, it may be perfectly legal in China, but other countries have a different set of criteria for manufacturing and copyright... chances are, this seller doesn't even understand why customers are asking all these silly questions about photos and head molds.

In the US and other countries it is illegal to reproduce other people's designs, or use other people's photos for advertising instead of showing photos of the actual product... this seller may be a flat out scammer, or they may be someone who is following Chinese business practices but trying to sell internationally.

At least, that was my take on the translated babble that was the answers to the questions sent to that seller.

Either way, it is bootleg product if they are using any Volks parts, because Volks does not allow their product to be cast by anyone other than themselves. As for the AoD bodies... who knows? AoD isn't even sure.

 

i'm surprised someone still wants to buy something as ugly as that

 

I don't see their feedback or sales setting any records.

 

All this. And the fact that many shop pages state the sculptor's name right there in the item description. Though they tend to be the more detailed dolls (Eg Latidoll, Serendipity.)

And if this is a rant about the big bad Volks company, they also make the sculptor's names easily available.

I can only conclude that m133x hasnt done her research, and is clasping at straws to justify making an unethical purchase.

 

You wouldnt be banned, you have acted as anyone with the right intentions would!! And the mods can see that as plain as day as can everyone you are keeping up to speed! I do sincerely hope that the best outcome is achieveable, *fingers crossed* that this is a new seller with no experience with the sales of BJD's and really hasnt a clue - though unlikely given the obvious resemblence of Volks Lucas... that way you may actually get an original head thats as cute as button!! And please forgive my faux pas, I confused you momentarily with the other bidder on the auctions I contacted

 

Whitewings - not a problem. Thanks for your help.
I'm just glad that I didn't have access to the yahoo Japan auction when the original artist's head (whose pictures were stolen and used in the 'Sunny' auction) was being sold, or I would be very broke - but very happy - now.

 

and I got an email from ebay telling me about it - no details, but to go to paypal and file a claim. Whazzup with that?
and, the tracking number I got has the item stuck in customs since the 18th - I hope they keep it. I went ahead and filed with paypal.
Boy, I have hit the lottery - my first syb came with a divet in her nose that I could see through the plastic shield protecting her head (limited edition, no replacement), my Selena came but I found a divet in her head above her ear, and I am seriously thinking of sending her back, too. And this mess.
I think I will stick to CP's, and seriously understand now why so many are devoted to Volks.

 

Yikes!! If e-bay has pulled everything then obviously there was cause for it. File your claim asap!! And good luck with it all *hugs* Let us know what paypal has to say AND what comes of the alleged doll....

 

I'm crossing my fingers for you to get all your money back!

So you can get a real Lucas ^^

 

Like I said, there are no coincidences, and sometimes things work out. Can I remove my red 'B' yet?
LOL!

 

pamdora, that is excellent news!
I notice that besides the listing all being gone (current and completed) they are now "No longer a registered user"
Based on the photos, I think you were not going to be happy with what they were sending even if it was not a re-cast, so this is great news for you. File NOW and good luck!

 

Just chiming in to agree here. And even if you were able to justify theft that way, even "big name" doll companies are frankly small enterprises - there is no such thing as a giant corporate behemoth BJD maker. There are just companies with people doing their best and putting a lot of love and effort into their work. (And note, it takes love and effort to start a successful small business - as well as dedication, loooong hours, and creativity. Whether or not the item they produce has their own individual name stamped on it, anything a small business makes is done by sweat and brainpower.)

BtA

 

Ugh, that sounds terrible. Do you have any pictures of the doll you received? I'm rather morbidly curious.

 

Probably because other unfortunate buyers e-mailed the photos of what they REALLY received to eBay, and eBay finally figured out that these people are scammers. I hope that the mods will let you post a full account of everything here. In fact, I think it would be great if they could make a sticky thread of your story, so people understand what they're getting into by buying recasts! Not only is it horribly unethical, but that resin's probably toxic, too.

And please let us know if you get your money back! I hope so!

 

pamdora, that sounds positively awful.
Under the circumstances, I don't think your should even have to send it back unless the seller is willing to pick up the charges for that. I think if you show paypal what you got lots of photos of the auction compared to the actual item, with lots of closeups to document the flaws) they will quickly rule in your favor. I would also mention the health concerns about even handling it further. Besides filing the official claim, I would also suggest calling them on the phone - often they can take care of it right then and refund your account more quickly.

 

I would ONLY post pictures here if the moderators allowed it. I have tried to take pictures of the - the ABOMINATION - to show on my picturetrail album, but I think the fumes have melted my camera - my camera has failed to pick up the grisly details, and will not upload to my computer, although it was working fine just before!!!

Let it be known that the smell from the box - before I ever opened it - was bad enough, and I have had experience with volatile organic chemicals - the person who cast this will likely suffer some terrible health effects (this is not my wish, I would never wish that on anyone, but fact, none the less).
I would be glad to write up the horror for a sticky - after all, if I can't be a good example, I can at least be a horrible warning!

 

Thank you for that information, Mh - I will try to call tomorrow. Unfortunately, neither camera is able to pick up the obvious flaws and details - of course, I could just send the thing to them and let it speak for itself.
It reeks.

 

OMG, eeeeeeeeeeek!!! If you are able to get the "thing" to paypal they can go as far as banning the person from registering on paypal. Its simple enough to use a fake name on paypal to PAY people but its another matter to withdraw funds if it doesnt match with your banking details so they would not be able to use paypal and therefore never again on ebay.

You poor thing... at least on the upside you may single handedly have put this SOB out of business and bring their budding fraudulent empire to its totally scammed and badly jointed knees.... LMAO

BIG *hugs* to you xox

And change your 'B' to a 'C' for champ

 

I wondered about that - they had to get the money from Paypal somehow, but I remember Paypal used to just send people a check at one time - I think they still do for a fee.
I doubt that I had much to do with this seller leaving ebay. In any case, maybe sending the abomination to Paypal is a good idea! Or Ebay? hmmmmm. . . .they would likely file charges against me for sending hazardous materials in the mail!

 

You have permission; armeleia already mentioned this in an earlier post in this thread:

 

Hay, I was just thinking...local news stations often do 'human interest' stories on consumer fraud. Is this a possibility? Their pro cameras and lights would probably be just the thing for showing how bad the 'doll' really is.

 

tigerbaby, you have a good idea there, if it could get national coverage, could warn people.
I apologize for the terrible pictures, but have uploaded what I had here:
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20998632

Unfortunately, I am running late for my trip and have to go out of town - when I get back, I will do some better pictures and perhaps elaborate the saga.
Thanks everyone, for not beating me up too bad for this. I was duped by a pretty face, stolen as it was.

 

Um, we need a password to see the pics. Sorry you got scammed like that

 

sorry about that - if the link doesn't work, try
http://www.picturetrail.com/pamealia
and go to the 'Sunny' album.

 

You STILL need a password Pamdora.

 

It's still asking for the password, pamdora. oO

 

what a horrid story. so sorry this happened to you! but i am dying to see these photos!

 

I was wondering the same thing about whether or not this seller was trustworthy or not. She had two dolls on ebay that I fell in love with. I asked her what brand they were and she said they were a new company in china making dolls, and she still didnt give me a name. Then the next day my pretty dream dolls were gone! (Maybe it was for the best). But recently I saved another one of her dolls in my ebay and a few days later it was a completely different doll in the picture (I was so confused). Right now she only has 8 feedback threads and two of them are negative. Im still not sure what I think about her...

 

Sorry folks - think I inadvertently password protected it - I keep getting into the 'member' area. If it asks for a password, it is 'enter' (without the apostrophes).
I do apologize for the poor pics, but the best I can do right now.

 

oO OMG,...the head doesn't even fit on the body..much less match! And the knees..and...That's such a horror story! Never you mind the whole toxic chemicals bit. x.x; Good god...*faints*

 

oh how terrible! please update us as you progress with your paypal claim!

 

Wow. Based on these pictures.... You werent joking about how atrocious this doll's quality is! I'm so sorry! When I made my last post I only say the first page of this thread before the seller was really investigated! Im speechless! There must be SOMETHING we can do to stop her form selling ASAP! Unacceptable doesnt even begin to cover what she is doing... Im at a loss for words.

 

that side shot of the head that doesn't even come close to fitting on the neck is pretty damning. The last thing you want to have to do at this point is pay a lot of $ to ship it back.
I think if you use the closeup feature on your camera (looks like a flower icon) you might be able to capture the flaws. It might take some experimentation to see what lighting is best (natural, flash, outdoosr, etc) but it would be worth it to make a good case with paypal. If your camera has flash exposure settigns try setting it to -1 so that you get some flash but not too much - that's usualy pretty good in the closeup mode for capturing details.

Please keep us posted. Documenting this is a great service to all of us.

 

not sure????? after hearing pam's story and seeing her pics can there possibly be any doubt that this seller is doing anything legit?

I think early on, there was a lot of doubt expressed, and maybe even some wishful thinking that this would all turn out to be a wonderful new company that was unfortunate in using promo pics they didn't have rights to. But I think now it's been definitively proven that they are scammers of the nastiest kind: sending out a poorly done recast with chemical issues. So they are, at the very least, crooks (stealing sculpts) and scammers (sending out dolls that are not as represented in their listing), along with who knows what about the chemical issue.
I don't think there can be any more doubt about this seller at all!

 

pamdora Thanks for the pics. I hope you'll be able to get your money back. I'm not sure how PayPal works as far as refunding you for something like this, but if you show them the pics, I don't see how they could justify NOT issuing a refund: it's quite obvious the body that was sent to you doesn't even come close to the body they used in their auction listing.

Not to mention they Frakendolled the crap out of her... I feel sorry that people can even fathom wanting to profit from creating such an abomination...

This proves to me beyond any shadow of a doubt that this seller is running scams. Hopefully others will agree after seeing what you've shared.

Fight the case with PayPal and get your money back! Good luck, pamdora!

 

OMG pandora. I hope you get your money back!!!!!!!!

 

omg! those pics, speechless, they were awful. thats is the worse goddam doll ive ever seen..........

good luck Pamdora and I hope its ruled in your favour of getting your money back! give those pics to paypal i cant see they wouldnt repay you.

I almost feel sorry for it but its only fit for landfill..................or sealed with other toxic waste somewhere safe.............

 

is all I can say to that! I really hope you can get your money back, that's just terrible! That doll is so ghastly. I can't believe someone thought they could get away with this. Lord knows I love that new resin smell, but if that girl was as stinky as she is ugly... I feel for you, pamdora

 

Wow. Just... wow. I am SO sorry that you had to go through all this but I am so glad that you were so forthcoming about the whole thing. To us, to eBay, to PayPal and the whole works. With any luck you will get your money back and we'll all have learned a lesson.

Now I'll probably get my ample butt spanked for saying this but I hope the people who were raising a stink about how bad we all are for pointing out scammers will shut the heck UP. Sometimes having a little bit of ethics is a good thing, you know?


ETA:
Wow again... just went back and looked at your pics. The torso issue might be just bad bad stringing, but there's no doubt about the knees and WHAT is with that head/neck joint?? If it weren't for the fact that someone had to PAY for that it would be almost laughable! Kind of reminds me of putting a 70 cm head on an MSD body. A slim mini, at that

*hugs* and more *hugs* to you, pamdora, for the entirety of this ... fiasco.

 

I said I would go back to lurking but I have some admissions to make. First I never said the dolls aren't made for love, and yes I know there is an extensive amount of work that goes into them.

The pictures from Pamdora were pretty informative, and hopefully pamdora can get her money back. The point of them being a recast is pretty mute since nothing that horrendous could be a copy.

My only point that I stand by still if you are a doll company, have stock that people can buy. Don't have every doll on your front page sold out. Don't leave your more popular dolls sold out to try and sell less attractive items.

I'm not saying I can't afford an exclusive or limited doll, there are a lot out there I wouldn't have by personal preference. But I also do not (And this is by choice) want to pay more for a doll than I do my house payment.

That would be why Brandshopping and others have a market. Too bad that Brandshopping couldn't produce the goods she/he was peddling. And good for Pamdora for showing us what she got, to show anyone what can happen.

 

As a follow-up, wanted to let you know that paypal decide in favor of the sellar and would not refund my money for the doll I purchased from brandshopping. The sellar offered to refund $200 if I sent the doll back to them (at my expense) - that was nice. . . and so it goes.
Thank you for all the positive wishes.

 

you have got to be kidding! PAYPAL ruled in favour of brandshopping and their toxic monstrosity! that is utterly disgusting.

Ok, so you get $200 back if you send the doll at your own expense but to rule in favour of those scammers is appalling.

 

Pamdora, I'm so sorry to hear that Paypal ruled in their favor! I am shocked as well! Are you going to contact eBay at all?

 

totally nuts! anyone can plainly see that thing you got was nothign like the auction photos. Don't give up - I would continue to call paypal and talk to them live.

 

That's outrageous!! You should send the thing to Paypal and see if THEY'D spend $300 on that piece of toxic crap.

 

I am going to call Paypal on Monday and see if I have any other recourse - I have been out most of the day and will be out this weekend - hopefully Paypal will entertain my pleas. I will pay with Visa from now on - at least that is another avenue for recourse. GGGGGG.
But, hey, we needed to find out what these folks were selling. I suspect that they had a few good items and got some positive feedback to get themselves established for their fishing . . . I still don't know why their auctions were pulled from ebay, but I will be watching for them.
But, I knew what I was going into and I was forewarned, and knew I might lose the money - it is only money. I'm not rich, but I'm not hurting too bad, either. I hate taking a loss and having a thing in my garage that I don't know wht to do with - maybe I can write one of those funnie auctions (like the jesus toast) and describe my pain . . . with full disclosure, of course, and include a gas mask.
You guys are great - thanks again.

 

I can't believe that PP decided in the seller's favour. That is absolutely insane.

I really hope everything works out for you.

 

In some circumstances I can see why they wouldn't refund, but in this case didn't you say ebay pulled the auction you actually bought from? If that's the case, they seem to have moved the goalposts again. How can they not refund if they pulled the auction?

Can you do a copy/paste of what you sent to Paypal as your claim? Maybe people here can help you redo it.

 

Here is an auction that I just came across

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-3-BJD-super-d...5034QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVWQQsalenotsupported

The sculpt of the head looks to be the SAME as the doll I got from Branshopping, only on a boy body.

The sellar appears to usually only sell accessories. Comments? Observations? Am I wrong?

Here is the link to my picturetrail album for reference . . .
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20998632

 

It looks totally the same. The body looks like a Luts Delf body, but there's something weird about it. In any case, it's not an 'Angle of Dream' doll as described.

 

the auction doll from mybayer2008:



and my 'doll' from Brandshopping_2008

 

isn't that an old luts body?