:: Volks Dollfie Dreams Discussion Room :: Part XV ::

Super excited to have a chance at owning Emilia (hopefully)! I wish Volks would release her outfit from anime season 2 or the pink dress, perhaps as an optional set. I suppose her original outfit is more iconic.

 

I received my first Dollfie Dream the other day and I'm so smitten! I ordered a Dream Choice through a proxy and she's a DDH06 head on a DDP body in tan. Her outfit hasn't arrived yet but she's just so cute even in her little night outfit that she came with. I don't know why but she was heavier than I expected ! The DDP is the perfect body for me but I do hope to add a few other sizes to my collection~

 

New face up for 2B & 9S, repainted by me. It was a tough decision to remove the original make up of these 2 cuties.

Spoiler: More Here

Original face up before wiping.

 

I think this is the first time I’ve seen either one blank and man, they are really great sculpts. Nice job on the faceups!

 

Thank you so much. Because of them, I bought many blank DD sculpts to firstly practice on. Eventually, I had that courage to wipe ‘em off. I didn’t plan to repaint them until seeing some great artists did. It was a fun experiment though!!!

 

Where did you get such a lovely wig, if you don't mind me asking? It looks so angelically soft...

 

It is very soft. I got the wig from eBay. It is a Monique Gold wig named Pixie in white blonde color. This is the eBay link of the store Juju's Dolly Mall | eBay Stores

But I don’t think they have it anymore in stock in this color and size

 

Today I've found out that a week ago I've got a email from VolksUSA. They are informing me they already received my Dollfie Dream Meiko, which have been ordered on Dolls Party 45, and she will be shipped from August to Early-September instead of originally scheduled Winter 2021.

Have anyone else received such mail? And was it only about Meiko, or other dolls from Dolls Party 45 will come their homes earlier?

 

I received it too for my Meiko. The email seems to imply this could have happened to some who ordered MDD Rena also, since the wording is such that it refers to "Dolls Party 45 Limited Dollfie Pre-Order" and it's only the part listing the recipient's actual order that specifies which doll.

(edit: just checked a little bit on DollDreaming and found at least one person who got the same email for Rena! And some Snow Miku Reboot orders were similarly updated in July as arriving early. That's interesting, and certainly better than the preorder delays that are the norm in collecting!)

 

Yes, that's right! Rena, Meiko, and Snow Miku all shipped early! People who ordered from Volks International already received their's for the most part except Miku who ships soon. It's super exciting! Photos of custom Meikos that are already floating around have made me really wish I'd gotten her. She's SO pretty in basically everything.

 

That was fast! Today I've got email that my Meiko on her way to home! Tracking shows that she is arriving this Monday!

Congrats!, hope yours girl will be with you shortly!
And it's nice to know that Volks have resolved all its problems and have speed up production in such degree!

Yep, she really is! And the way she looks reminds me one iconic girl from sci-fi movie of my SU childhood, so I just could not pass her! Some times I think, that person who developed her look was a great fan of that girl!

Alisa & Meiko by Olyaya, on Flickr

 

I entered the hobby after ver. 1 was released I'm so happy that there's another one!!! How lucky

 

Is anyone able to post a pic of dream choice head DCH-21 in make-up option M01 with no wig? Or no fringe at least? I'm trying to decide if I like her eyebrows heh. TY

 

SHE'S HEEEEREEE. I am so in love ❄️I’ve never been so excited for a doll like I’ve been for her. I was able to take over a preorder- I was luckily the first one to see the post and messaged instantly. So many people replied right after me…it was literally fate. If I had looked at Facebook a minute later I wouldn’t have had the chance to probably ever get her. She is so so stunning, I’ve wanted this beautiful girl for years and it’s overwhelming to finally have her. I love her sm!! It’s a bit too green out rn so I edited the colors quite a bit ❄️ my beautiful Yuki Miku!!

 

BunnyLopunny, congrats on your new girl!
I clearly understand you: her smile, ... her big blue eyes looking right in your soul ...

 

Hi everyone! I was wondering, how often does Volks do restocks for their heads on the usa store? I noticed ddh-06 flesh was in stock, so I was thinking about buying it... I know ddh-09 flesh was in stock a little bit ago and sold out pretty quickly (restocked aug 21st, sold out by aug 23rd at least?) and I was wondering: how often does volks restock them? I imagine production/shipping could be a bit off because of the pandemic itself, but I am debating on if I should buy ddh-06 while it's still in stock... or just wait for whenever I save enough for Karin and just add 06 and/or 09 to my order if they're in stock then?

Also, does anyone have a comparison of the extra small and small bust for the dds body? The dds body comes with medium as the default and honestly, I think the medium bust is actually quite large. I think Miku has the extra small bust by default even though she's on a bigger body, so her next to the dds body is the only frame of reference I have at the moment, but usually the comparison photos I've seen are clothed. Is it easy to sell the default busts of a body secondhand? I don't anticipate myself having enough dollfies to make real use of any extra parts, unless maybe I decide to piece together a body part by part to make it more attainable as it seems getting a dollfie via layaway/installment plan isn't really possible outside of maybe something like Paypal Credit.

Lastly, besides Karin, 06, and 09, I've found I like a lot of the "special edition" dollfies like ddh-14 & ddh-16 that are only available in Japan, so I am not sure how easy or expensive proxy fees add to them... but it seems they pop up on mandarake sometimes? Are they particularly hard to get? I just want to know what kind of difficulties I aught to expect before I get my heart set on them. ^^;

 

Here's you side by side comparison, @Epona



Left to right, we have M, SS, and finally S. All DDS (not f-3).
I bought the S when SS bust wasn't an option yet and then bought an SS after it became available.

My personal favorite is the single piece SS torso, but I never got around to buying one. That one is even flatter than the one I have on her.

 

@Epona VolksUSA gets stock when the Japan head office sends it to them periodically via sea, maybe 4-6 times a year. If something goes out of stock, anticipate around 2 months before it returns if it's a regular item they commonly stock. Most if not all of the common item DD heads are stocked regularly. If the USA branch is out of stock of something, you can always try Volks International and import from Japan directly yourself as a secondary option. Depending on the yen rate at the time, that's sometimes cheaper or around the same price even with EMS shipping.

Only you can decide your purchasing strategy, because only you know how much you want a blank head-06 versus Karin. If you got Karin, would you even need the 06 right away, or would it just sit in the corner for a while? I try to welcome dolls one at a time where possible for this reason, but you may or may not feel the same.

Some of the higher-numbered DD heads are exclusive to D'Coord models or Dream Choice models. The DC models are easier to get in person on a trip / proxy for because anyone with an hour to spare at Dollpoint can walk out with one built to order. D'Coords are premade store or event limited, and thus are only periodically available new. Both types show up at secondhand stores. If there's a head and faceup combination you like, I wouldn't worry too much about getting ahold of it; there will be a way as long as you are patient.

 

@Epona in terms of availability, Volks JP store most often has heads (such as DDH-09) in stock. And anyone can order from that store - they'll ship anywhere. That's the only way I was able to get my DDH-09!

Side note - I actually buy most things from the JP store, even though I'm in California. Understandably, they just have way more things to purchase in general. It's very convenient.

 

Can I introduce my 09? I got her from Yahoo japan auctions

 

https://twitter.com/volks_dd/status/1439152740546928641?s=21

This year’s preorder is Y’shtola. Available from both volks and square enix stores but seems no matter where you go, it’s full price up front, no deposit.

 

Thank you! I've been looking for this information all over! The Square Enix store says that the purchase gets charged now but the Volks USA store is a little ambiguous. Now that I know, I wonder which store I should go with?

 

They both are paid in full >< I think maybe see which does you better on shipping.

 

That's what I was thinking too, but they're both USA based shops so I don't think rates/customs will be much different coming to Canada. The Square store says that they'll get her in stock late 2022 and Volks USA says they'll get her early 2023 so maybe I'll go with square? I dunno ><

 

RIP my wallet. Hopefully Scalefast isn't handling shipping of Y'shtola through Square's store, because their rates are yikes sometimes [and I've heard some not good things, but take that for exactly what some rando's word on the internet is worth lol]

 

Absolutely do not do the Square Enix store. Last I checked the shipping was private courier only to Canada and was bananas prices. I had something preordered and the shipping was about as much as the item so I cancelled it. Not sure if Volks USA is the same but definitely have it shipped via USPS and not a private courier if available. Private couriers (FexEx/DHL/UPS) charge extra customs processing fees.

 

Can I choose USPS if I order through Volks USA? If I can avoid the private couriers it would save me so much customs fees
I just kind of resign myself to customs fees

 

I ordered through Volks USA. I usually order just about everything USPS - I chose "Standard Shipping" for this one. I think it's USPS. I can email them for you and ask if you'd like.
(edit: I emailed them for you, will update)
(update 2: "Due to the size of the doll, it will most likely be UPS Ground for the 'Standard Shipping' option.")
Additionally, 1k upfront is rough. Don't like it. If delivery were closer, sure. End of 2022? Phew.
Just feels bad.

 

I'm really excited to get Y'shtola. I gave up on ever getting into this hobby and thought I moved on, but the FFXIV collab has me finally rekindling my interest. I just ordered her!

I ordered her through Volks Int though, since her price tag is so high upfront, but she's cheaper than Square Enix store or Volks USA. Since she's such a long wait, I don't mind waiting international shipping times if it's a little better on my wallet.

 

It's actually a lot faster to order from Volks int because it'll be shipped express from Japan rather than waiting for it to take the slow boat to California and then shipped to you. There's an extra month or so wait for dolls through VolksUSA. I don't know how Square Enix's store works so I can't say anything about them, but I imagine they'll probably also get a slow boat bulk shipment.
The shipping may be more for DHL/EMS but you'll have to do the math for the exchange rates and etc to figure out the best price. I'm not sure how much shipping will cost from Volks int so I can't tell what's the best deal. Either way, since you ordered through Int, you'll get your fastest out of the 3 options.

 

Oh that's very interesting! It makes sense though and I understand.

I actually compared VolksUSA and Square Enix store prices and I was originally going to order through VolksUSA (I had the ability to do curbside pick up due to where I live), so it would have been cheaper for me to do VolksUSA to Square anyways. Square Enix USA's shipping prices are ridiculous though. For whatever reason, they've never given us the option to combine shipping into one order, although this is a general gripe and not specifically about pre-ordering Y'shtola. I try to only order through Square Enix when absolutely necessary because paying 50 dollars on shipping because they ship everything separately is really off putting.

I ended up ordering through Volks Int because someone on a friend's facebook post mentioned so I decided to make comparisons! The shipping rate was kind of high, but the overall purchase was about $100 cheaper than VolksUSA with curbside when I checked my bank statement to see the conversion.

 

Oh good then! Since they have to charge sales tax for people in California, it can make int the cheaper option for Californians. Tax on a $1k purchase can really be a lot and negates any savings from avoiding shipping. I'm glad you were able to find the best deal! It's always good to shop around first.

 

I bought Y'shtola through the SquareEnix store.

I'm from Canada. I compared the shipping for VolksUSA and SquareEnix with fake checkouts, and Square was the cheaper option with about a $20 difference. Square also has that 700 member reward with purchasing her, which I can use to get some special stuff from their store (it seemed the better option). I'm hoping that the customs fees won't be too much for me. It's been so long since I've purchased a doll this expensive.

She's also going to be my first DD.

 

I love Y'shtola and I'm seriously considering getting her. She'd also be my first DD.

So I am based in the US, but not CA. I added her to my cart and went through checkout up till the last step before purchase. VolksUSA has my total as $1,021.90, Volks Intl. has my total as 103,840 yen which Google says is $944.85. That's a fairly big difference price-wise. Is there something I'm missing? Or does the conversion rate just work out in my favor at the moment?

Also, how easy/hard is it to change shipping info if I need to? We rent, so even though we don't plan on moving, there's always the vague possibility we'll move before she ships.

ETA: I've never purchased from Volks, USA or Intl, so I guess the whole process just has me a bit nervous since it's all new to me

 

The exchange rate is favorable right now - they basically put her USD price as if it’s 100 Yen to the dollar but it’s actually closer to 110. The shipping for international seems low though so I’d double check that to be sure it’s saying it’s the full amount - the shipping for my snow miku recently was 7,200 yen.

Assuming shipping is correct, make sure your payment method doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee - the exchange rate won’t be quite as good as Google but you’ll probably still come out ahead so long as there’s no added fee.

Edit: Haven’t done it, but both should be able to process an address change - you’ll have to message them about it but yeah, with these long production times, they know moves happen. They should also notify you when shipping is going to start so you can make sure things are in order.

 

Thank you! I really appreciate the additional info. Shipping seemed lowish, but it didn't give me any different options on the Intl site to select shipping so idk. Even if shipping is higher, seems like worst case it'll come out the same, plus I might get her slightly sooner.

 

I bought through Volks INT and I can tell you that my bank statement for her charge was $947 USD when converted. I used a travel card, so I didn't receive any foreign fees because it's meant to be used out of country. The conversion is/was very in favor to the dollar right now. I spent like 30 minutes+ to make sure everything seemed correct cuz I also get pretty paranoid when I make large purchases.

Shipping should be fine unless they somehow decide to charge a second fee for whatever reason, but I don't think so? It gave a breakdown when checking input

Overseas Shipping Fee: 4540 yen
Overseas Shipping Insurance: 200 yen
Shipping Fee: 8300 yen

Is what I'm seeing right now. It should be solid based on abs2891's reply about their recent purchase being at 7200 yen.

 

Wow. That is a difference. Huh...

Now I should have done the work to calculate with Volks INT.

Also, Square charged me 12% sales tax on her. I've sent a question in on why that is, as to my knowledge I shouldn't be charged US sales tax on the purchase as it's being shipped to Canada. I hope that they agree it's an error and refund me. Though now I may consider asking for a cancellation and try Volks INTL, but since it's a pre-order I may be out of luck.

 

Agree there should be no US tax charged for you, unless the sales tax is for shipping duties and taxes. (For example Amazon JP precharge fees for anticipated taxes and duty).

 

Thanks. Been a while since I purchased, so I forgot the no US sales tax for me. The 12% tax was on the doll, and the invoice lists a separate one listed for the shipping. So I hope they'll contact me soon about the error regarding the doll.

 

Thank you! I thought I must be messing up something or forgetting something since there was the difference, but I think INT just works in our favor this time. I'll need to check to see what sort of foreign transaction fees my bank may have, but as long as it's nothing too extreme, I'd still be saving money.

 

Tbh I would have bought through VolksUSA had I not seen a stray comment on FB that it's 940 through their international website. I really have to thank my friend's friend for the comment ahah.

Good luck though! Maybe you can leverage a cancel if you wanna try doing it through VolksInt, but you definitely should get a partial refund as it doesn't really make sense for a Non US citizen to get, well, US tax. I hope it works out for you!

No problem! The e-mail confirmation doesn't give the full breakdown for some reason, but it's easy to check check the breakdown at checkout before committing so I wanted to confirm.

Volks Int being that much cheaper than the other options is really a god send and I'm glad that more people can potentially save by knowing.

I don't usually see foreign transaction fees hit for online purchases, so I hope you don't get hit by any, since they're typically 3% and 3% off almost 1k is still OOF. I just took the safe route and used said card since I want points on it to get money back haha.

 

The site is all in japanese so wasn't sure-- they ship to the US?

 

Ah, you can change it to English though? Mine auto translated to English. There was an option (it shows as an orange box for me) in the top right corner with a language menu dropdown. It looks like it supports JP/CH/EN/KR although non JP might use machine translation. I can say that even if it's machine translation; I was able to navigate everything I needed to easily.

They ship internationally. I think others can also confirm they've ordered and received from Volks INT they've received from them while residing in the US.

If you scroll to the bottom of their home page it tells you their options (which includes shipping outside of Japan). Clicking on it sends you to their FAQ about shipping breakdown.

 

Thanks! On the field where it asks put city address do you include the state there?
I didn't see any fields to add in a state.

Also- I dont know if I'll be living in the same place 1 year from now- do you know if I can change my shipping address closer to time?

 

Uhh I was a little confused by it too tbh and I was scared of doing it wrong, but I think as long as the address is there and zip code it should be fine.

I just put all of it on one address line (X Street Address, City, State) and zip code where it asks. I don't think it should be an issue.

As for changing addresses, you would probably have to look into it since this is my first Volks and I've never been in a situation where I had to change my address. I imagine you can e-mail them about it since it's probably pretty common for people to get address changes between production.

 

We just pre-ordered ours! We live in California and did it through Volks USA to be shipped to our house. Since it's going to be arriving sometime in 2022, we didn't want to deal with any Cross Border Fees that might get tacked on if we did through the Volks International. Good luck everyone! Looking forward to seeing all our dollies next year!

 

Update: They cancelled and refunded. I've decided not to attempt to purchase Y'shtola by other means after this trouble. So I'll not be on this thread anymore. I wish the rest of you well in receiving your Y'shtola.

------------

So it seems that SquareEnix/Scalefast charged me Canadian taxes, and they say it was correct for them to do so.

This was their response:

"Canada charges taxes both on sales (division II) and importation (division III).
Unfortunately, both taxes are charged at the same rate which might be confusing as they use the same terminology to define both.

We, Scalefast, must charge the Sales Tax (division II) of the appropriate province (GST/HST/PST/QST Division II).
However, it is the customer’s responsibility to pay the Importation tax (GST/HST/PST/QST Division III) and eventual Duties.
There is nothing much we can do about these double taxes, we really abide by the Canadian laws."

In addition, it seems that other Canadians have stated that Scalefast has possible Fraud with regards to this tax mess. I have requested a Cancellation and Complete refund with Scalefast as I don't trust them. The above explanation was the same given to others, which others say is BS. Some of who were successful in a refund of the taxes charged.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquareEnix...fast_and_possible_fraud_for_canadian/g0juq5q/

I hope Scalefast will accept to Cancel this and refund me because I just don't want the headache. It's early into the pre-order that it should be possible, however I know they may stick to their guns no the no-cancellation policy because of it being a made to order item.

If they do not, then it seems I will need to wait and see what is charged to me upon arrival. Then be ready to refuse paying those charges if Scalefast fills in the Commercial/Import forms incorrectly with whatever delivery company they use.

 

Hello everyone!
I'm not too active here cause I only have one Dollfie Dream and it took me 3 years to get her out of her box.

I struggled changing her hands and putting those gloves on, omg...
And I haven't figured out how to put her earrings on either, lol!

Anyway here she is!


And bonus pic with my cat Luna sniffing her.

Spoiler

 

@himitsu Your Sailor Moon is so awesome! Seeing her in owner pictures made me realize how amazing she truly is. And your Luna is so cute! More pictures? Thanks for sharing!

 

@himitsu Your Sailor Moon is so cool!
Here is a pic of my Melty to celebrate upcoming Halloween

 

Are there separate mini dollfie dream heads in similar fashion that there are normal dd? I really like mochi ashi body but hard to find a head

 

There are! Technically any DD head can be put on any DD body - they all use the same neck system - but some may be too large or too mature-looking for your tastes. Heads like DDH-01, DDH-10, DDH-22, and DDH-27 have a younger, rounder look and look very good on the smaller bodies.

You can see all the separate heads here on Volks USA:
Dollfie Dream® :: DD Option Parts :: DD Heads (DDH)

and here on Volks International:
商品一覧

and it's really just a question of finding one that looks good to you.

 

I purchased Y'shtola through Volks Intl. Does anyone know if Volks charges when you place the preorder or when the doll ships? I found a thread from 2011 that said "usually Volks charges the cc when they're ready to ship your doll" but I wasn't sure if that's still true. I initially saw a hold for her in my bank account that has since dropped off. When I asked my bank about it, they gave me a really vague answer that left me confused. I just don't want anything to go wrong

 

When I’ve had preorders at Target my card initially will show a pending charge and in a few days that charge would drop off. But then the next day or two it would show back up and then drop off again and then show back up. It kept doing that over and over until the item eventually became in stock and my card was actually charged. I really hated this and I really hesitate to preorder anything at Target now. A bank won’t know anything unless it actually is showing up as a pending charge. But most companies just do a pending charge just to make sure you have enough funds in your account and then it drops off and stays that way until the item actually ships. Some companies didn’t even charge me at all with even a pending charge until the item actually shipped (which was ideal!). So it just depends on how the company does it. I would say that if you don’t see another charge for say 3 weeks then the pending charge hopefully won’t show back up again until it’s ready to ship which would be nice. But it is best to have those funds for that preorder amount in your account available just in case.

 

@Lynessa your Melty is sooo pretty! That outfit looks great on her

Last month myself and @Yushimi took our DDs out on the town. People (mostly older folks) were endlessly curious and super nice, with lots of questions and kind comments. It might help that it was in wine country though so everyone there was doing some kind of wine tasting that day lol. But anyways, it was pretty fun!

 

DD KAITO just confirmed on the official volks_dd Twitter

 

Trick or treat

 

The lottery dolls are so cute!! I want to apply for 2 (19 and 24) but it's really a bad time to buy it's almost Christmas and volks decides to do four lotteries at the same time I must sell every doll item I have here so I can join 2 lotteries, the DD and SD Volks USA! Oh god I don't even have marketplace access to sell, since last year I've been meaning to apply but I always forget>_< I will submit my application, hopefully I get approve quickly so I can start selling!!

OMG kaito is coming too?? I need to start selling stuff now to save up money! I must get Kaito!!

 

I ordered Y'shtola and I'm so excited, can't believe it's really going to be a year until she comes home.

I'm also super super tempted with Kaito. I'm swiftly running out of space for dolls but he's my OG husbando and I'm feeling like I need him!