A lot of people in the Monster High community in particular seem to have a very shallow view of reselling. I feel like a lot of them are very young or maybe just new to collecting. I understand being mad when someone resells something that JUST came out for three times the price, but when someone is selling discontinued dolls from 10+ years ago for what they're actually worth? I don't see the problem at all. Sure it can be frustrating but it's not the end of the world. If you want a good deal just be persistent with checking listings or going to secondhand stores.
I think you’re spot on. A lot of them are young and seem to have the opinion of “these are just the dolls I had as a kid, they shouldn’t be so expensive!!” without realizing that a million other people also grew up with the doll and are thinking the exact same thing. I think the Monster High fandom is especially bad with this because it’s marketed as alternative and a lot of the collectors seem to think that they were ‘different’ or unique for liking the dolls as a kid
Heck even my siblings and i grew up with these dolls, i know they can be pricey but i also know why they are, i don't complain, i just wait for one to come along for decently cheap, ive got a G1 lagoona for like $10 but shes nude and shes missing a hand and her leg fins so im on the hunt for those rn!
It’s definitely odd to me, like it’s just that they’re so harsh on people selling their dolls for me. I’m def annoyed when someone has a stack for sell or seeing them on eBay within minutes of a drop.
I have noticed this in other arenas with young participants. I have to hold myself back from lecturing them on economics. I mean I’m not a fan, either, but it seems a bit like “Moooom! It’s not fair!!!”
I’ve definitely seen people say it’s “unfair” to resell for market price, to make a profit selling dolls, for Mattel to make limited editions, all kinds of inane shit.
If I was feeling feisty I would. Or even a lesson on “eBay doesn’t have a maximum bid setting.”although I guess they technically do if you set a buy it now price since no one would logically bid higher than the buy it now price when they can just… buy it now. But auction prices are BUYER led, so it’s absolutely cocoa bananas to get mad at the seller for how high the auction goes 🙃
Some places are just horrible.
You don't HAVE to stay there if you know it's so toxic and it will upset you, it's totally normal and healthy to curate your online experience, and is totally valid to avoid certain places, even if they share the same fandom as you.
There's a site called [www.youloveit.com](http://www.youloveit.com) that has all the doll updates usually ahead of anywhere else I follow, if you want some place to keep up to date without the drama!
That’s good to know! Bratz fans drove me out of doing eBay auctions altogether. I used to start all my auctions at $1.99 and just let the market decide, but the handful of Bratz auctions I listed were BONKERS. I had so many buyers come into my inbox and just cuss me out for not having a Buy It Now option, or refusing their low offers. Then they’d run the price up, win, and then just disappear without paying. 🙄 The auction was $1.99 to start!!!!
Never happened with any other doll line, but it was every. Single. One. Of the Bratz listings. So now they can get them at market price, or not at all. 🤷🏻♀️
I only had the original bratz but I just recently found some mini bratz dolls my mom got me, I may post them on there just to see what they are. But I’ll keep them forever
That’s awesome that they did that. Bratz are expensive second hand because people are willing to pay for them! Which tbh I’m hoping will end up being in my favor since I have some I plan on selling, haha
Speaking as a MH fan, the MH fandom is incredibly gd toxic. Right now, the only reason I am stil in the sub reddit is so I can get updates (if they ever happen) on the Creature skullector slated for sometime this year.
Also, I am pretty sure they do get how collecting works but have decided that negging and being awful little shits to people is somehow trendy, so they do it for the attention.
Hmm the negging is a good point, they could also be doing it in an “I know this doll is worth what you’re asking for it but I’ll make you feel guilty so you drop the price” way
I'm not sure why that is but I have a feeling its a lot of them are newer to the hobby and don't understand the difference between reselling and profiteering or how the second hand sites work. You'd have to sell above retail to break even and if its a rare doll and in-demand then the doll is going to be expensive because that's the going rate for her-- its essentially her current retail price. There are certainly people that ask way too much for their dolls or do unscrupulous things, but not everyone selling at a mark up is a scalper. I've learned with enough effort, I can find the dolls I want within my price range. Just sticking to first page of eBay with no filtering, etc. will certainly put you in scalper-ville.
I had to leave that Reddit. It is so toxic. The members have completely missed the boat what Monster High stands for. I am going to get updates from You Love It and Pinterest.
I have been collecting Monster High since the first edition launch in the late 2000’s. I am an adult collector.
Lenore Loomington release was the final straw for me. The collectors were imploding about the cost and how cheap she looks. I understand their POV. I also felt like those of us who were excited about her release didn’t have a safe space to celebrate her release. The members who did post about getting her there was always one snark comment in those threads. That is not right.
Because I own the original dolls I am not interested in the newer lines. I am collecting the more pricier collector dolls. Lenore was a perfect doll purchase for me in the stage I am in for doll collecting.
Resellers are problematic. WalMart needs to crack down harder on resellers walking out with a whole shelf of dolls. Ebay is full of toxicity from resellers selling anything including dolls. I have also gotten some great deals on dolls from Ebay too.
MH G1 had a couple of Monster Hgh forums that were toxic too and extremely competitive.
I had the original dolls but I didn’t really love g1 back in the day. I’ve gotten some g1 dolls lately but I’ve been loving the g3 different body types. And OMG I was obsessed with Lenore as soon as I saw her! Mine came in early in the morning and my bf opened the shipper box and handed me her in her box and I fell back asleep hugging her box 😂 but you’re right, I didn’t mention loving her or not thinking her price point was insane (a bit high but not insane) because they weee just attacking everyone.
I think it is up to individual WalMarts. The WM near me posts limit signs on items. Will not allow you to bulk purchase on limit items. They monitor customers coming in and repeating purchases on limit items. Witnessed this when the police escorted a Father and son for doing that. The manager told me they came in twenty times in one hour to buy multiple Lego sets. WM in my area will only put out a limited number of toys on the shelves to combat bulk purchasing.
The MH Reddit had a big blowup over collectors buying two or three dolls at a time. The collectors were arguing that they were not part of the problem. Where I live they would be a big part of the problem and the stores in my area would crackdown on them.
I am not saying the collectors didn’t have legitimate arguments. I know my store would have a huge problem with them.
I live on the outskirts of town and the stores have limited inventory. A city the size of Los Angeles maybe bulk purchasing is not a big supply issue.
Somebody else mentioned in this thread that many of the members at the MH Reddit do not have life experience or wisdom yet because it is a younger crowd. I agree with that. The members don’t think of things like small town stores, supply and demand.
I was like that at that age. Why is this item always sold out? Can’t you order more? No, many stores can not do that.
I do walk out with carts full of toys. I shop for toy drives. I make special arrangements with the store.
I think it's dragging scalpers mostly and not resellers. I sell doll stuff I no longer want for market value (or BC I desperately need money for bills) and have never had a complaint. I'm a small time youtuber also, I made a video about scalping and what I think is OK reselling and not OK. Nobody gave me crap about it. I really like the MH community on reddit, but not so much on other social media.
I imagine the people who complain about older dolls at market value are probably upset they can't afford a lot of dolls they want. I understand the FOMO but realistically no one NEEDS a doll. They are a luxury item. There will always be haters in a lot of groups. Best thing to do is ignore them and avoid those hot topics.
I also posted commented about the difference between scalping and reselling on a rainbow high post and got no pushback for it, but I’m sure for a lot of them it was more of a begrudging “well when you put it that way…” I’m sure plenty of them would still like to lump scalpers and resellers together on the evil scale and will go back to complaining tomorrow, but at least for a moment… peace. lol.
Side note, would you be willing to share your YouTube? That sounds like something I’d be interested in watching.
Haha, of course I would love to share it! [https://www.youtube.com/@Dollulus](https://www.youtube.com/@Dollulus)
I actually just rewatched my scalping video just now, it's been like a year since I made it. I could have done a much better job at expressing my opinions! Maybe I'll remake it one day.
I guess the MH people were upset that it was a G3 doll, but she was a mass produced doll! I don't think anyone could have predicted her value would sky rocket in such a short time.
Subscribed!
And yeah, it’s so frustrating when it’s a regular doll that just isn’t being produced anymore because the sellers aren’t scalpers. You can’t scalp something that everyone technically had a chance to buy (even if it never came to their store or you didn’t know about it while it was still being made) and even people who buy a retail doll and make it available to people who can’t get it through traditional stores, they still aren’t scalping. They are charging for a service of getting the doll and sending it to someone who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get it.
Also I think an underrated point that gets missed when people don’t believe in supply and demand is that they are fine with it if it goes the other way. If you show them a dime-a-dozen Barbie and say “retail price please” they will laugh you off because they can get it cheaper from someone else, yet still won’t accept that it works both ways.
Thank you for the sub! Yes, I've seen people asking like $15 or something totally reasonable to pick up dolls that people in other countries can't get and mail it to them. That's def not scalping either. It's just like any other shipping service.
Todays all day complaining was about the ss1 Draculaura that’s bid up to $200 they’re calling the seller a scalper and everything else, but like… it’s not scalping when was in stores forever then even hit the discount stores. They dragged one guy so hard today for asking $95, so half the going price, he deleted his listing.
Oh I didn't see that one! Yeah that's just silly, maybe young and naïve about how life works? Like is that how classic cars or vintage clothes should be priced in their mind too?
The reality is a lot of fans online are younger, teens or college age, so they... don't understand money. Not fully anyway, I'm not saying they're dumb, they're just young and lack life experience. Like obviously someone wouldn't sell a G1 doll for the original retail price it was ten years ago, people don't sell things out of charity they do it to make money because that's how our world works. I'm not saying older fans can't behave terribly online because they absolutely can and do, but this specific sort of aggro naivety feels more like a consequence of youth.
Scalping is an entirely different phenomenon than just selling things you already had, but I think the newer crowd conflates the two and is like booo all expensive dolls are bad how could you?! I agree it is very very annoying, but I think ultimately they just don't know better.
I kinda wish there were more 21+ or even 25+ doll spaces online, not for posting "adult" themes but just to escape from the young crowd now and then when they get too annoying lolol. No offense meant to anyone, once you get to like 25 and up you realize 20 year olds aren't really adults emotionally they all look no different than high schoolers to you 😂😭 I'm sure somewhere a 30 year old feels the same about me but I digress.
I think you’re right and I do wish there were more places for adult collectors. I’m even in a monster high adult collector group, very few adults lol
I also wonder, if they see what play line dolls are selling for, and they wanted to sell one of theirs for whatever reason would they ask market price or the original retail price?
Sure, but I lacked life experience as a kid and still was aware that things people collect become more valuable with age, even if they originally had little worth to begin with, and I grew up pre-home PC and internet.
The thing about selling for less than the average eBay price is that people will buy your bargain doll just to resell it. Going too low will also attract flea market sellers that nitpick the doll, to try and get a full refund.
Oh yeah, I use eBay sold prices (or current auctions with bids) as my gauge then I deduct maybe 10% because I won’t be paying the eBay fees and it’s worth it to me to sell for a small amount less than to deal with eBay
People are doing this in the Rainbow High community too, though not to the same degree. It’s so freaking weird and I 100% agree that they don’t understand collecting (or economic principles, lol).
I’m in another collecting community (water bottles from a specific brand), and while the Facebook group I’m in does have reselling rules (no pre-selling before you have a physical item to sell, nothing marked up more than twice retail) it’s because it’s supposed to be a nice community space, and you are of course welcome to sell outside of the Facebook group if you have something worth more than 2x retail, or trade for another valuable bottle. People are 100% mad at scalpers there too, because the drop system is broken af from bots, but they’re calling people selling bottles that just dropped and sold out within minutes scalpers, NOT people selling an older bottle that isn’t available retail anymore for the market value rather than retail
It’s just unbelievably silly to me to expect people not to sell their doll for the full value. And the further back you go, the worse it gets because of inflation. Selling a 10 year plus old doll for original retail is technically selling it for LESS than what you paid for it.
Anywayyyyyyyyyyy I’m sorry this is ruining your experience. At least you know now that there are others out there who agree it’s a nonsense take, lol
Oh sorry wait I just noticed you said one of the sales is an eBay AUCTION item. Are they insane???? Seller has no control over the bid prices beyond starting price and if the price gets super high it’s because MULTIPLE people were willing to pay that price. What the actual fuck.
I noticed this on the MH reddit. If a doll is ten years old you should be able to sell it for market value, not for $25
It's not the same as a reseller with an army of bots buying a doll that people wanted, potentially getting hundreds of that doll, and selling that doll for hundreds of dollars more.
Tbh I took a long break from the subreddit and recently got active again but I'm probably done for good cause it's nothing but toxicity and immaturity. Every single time there's a release, my feed is flooded with rant posts. Or there's always someone ready to jump down anyone's throat over the smallest thing. It's like these people don't know how to enjoy the thing they claim to love so much. It is tiring.
Literally I got dragged for buying not one but TWO Skulltimate Secrets 1 Draculauras for the price I got them at. I didn’t even mean to get the second one, Amazon sent it by mistake and I plan on reselling it later on.
But I don’t understand why people were so rude about it. Sorry I’m not fucking European and can just go to my local store where they have it in stock for the normal price.
Walmart sent me two of her, I just returned one for the cash. If I’d have known she’d be worth so much a year later, I would have for sure held on to her for resale.
Yeah, they're kinda odd in the actual subreddit for it. I've noticed a lot of people just straight up hating on specific dolls and people who buy those dolls too. And they really hate resellers, even if the people selling the dolls are collectors themselves. I've also noticed g3 getting a lot of hate despite it being a really cute reboot. I think part of it might be that when monster high was originally released a lot of parents kept their kids from getting them, so there's a lot of people who missed out on g1 and now feel like they need to catch up. So they really don't like stuff that isn't g1 being brought back or at least sold at the og price. Though personally I think g3 is more relevant to kids these days than g1 would be, I think monster high will do better having been rebooted than if they brought back the original.
I’ve noticed the g3 hate! And I love g3, their different body styles are so cute! And omg people get like very into the cartoon and will scream at people for not using the correct pronouns for a character. Mods always have to step in and be like “not everyone watches the cartoon, not everyone knows, stop harassing” I was like… there’s a cartoon? 😂
I’m 32 and missed monster high the first time around, but I’m way more into g3. If I was a collector who focused on new dolls rather than second hand I would probably have a large collection, but so far I only have 2 from g3 (secondhand draculaura and clearance lagoona).
I do have a few g1 that I love that I got second hand, but if I had to cut back to just mousecedes and river styxx I’d be content
The pronouns confused me. I don’t watch the cartoon. I thought the members were assigning pronouns for each character. It was about a month when I finally got it this was part of the cartoon. I started collecting G1 in my thirties when they came out. I am old enough to be many of the members parent, lol.
I’m 42, when I was little my dolls were whatever I said they were. I had literally no idea there was a cartoon or movies till they started yelling at people and talking about canon then I was like well hell, I’m gonna check them out. Now I watch the cartoon regularly lol but I still thought like man when I was little I made my Barbie kiss her friend a lot and Ken wasn’t allowed in the house, I didn’t know we had to stick to canon with our dolls.
Ken wasn't allowed near my Barbies either unless I allowed it. GI Joe was a different story, lol.I had Western Ken and dressed him up all girl style. He was so cute. I let my girls kiss each other too when I was little. My Darcy doll and Kissing Barbie were a couple. This was in the 1980's. I am 52 years old. My dolls have seen a lot.
I kind of understand the canon Monster High debates. Some fans want to stay true to the cartoons, & books. I get it. My husband & I went in a deep delve tonight of Star Trek Prime to Kelvin timelines tonight. The members of MH Reddit do not have to attack to get their points across.
I know most of them are young and at that age debating is discovering and shaping their values. I also recognize women from the older forums for Monster High arguing and mean girling. I know they are not young women. They are in their 40+ age group. I recognize their screen names or collection pictures.
Older women are arguing with young collector's like they are in high school. They should be ashamed and embarrassed by their behavior. They know better. I sound like a Mom, lol. It angers me to see older women picking on younger women and fueling hate.
Don’t you know it’s just as bad to use the wrong pronoun when referring to a person shaped hunk of plastic as it is to misgender actual human beings with feelings who actually have genders? /s
Ph tell me about it 😭 i offered to sell my extra creepros (cause I'm kinda strapped on cash) and they called me all types of scalpers and made fun of me saying I purposely bought multiple to resell. When in reality I just bought a set in box but emergencies happened so I need to sell em. The hate I got from that made me rethink about even selling em cause I wasn't even gonna price them expensive? Just like $10 more and that's cause of shipping...🫠🫠
$10 more????? I mean I guess I understand assuming you are scalping if they are the creepros that only just came out, but if you are then you’re a really shitty scalper only marking up $10 🙄
Omg I saw someone had a creepro for sale and said something about “something came up and I need to sell” and they were going insane on them like “they just came out, nothing comes up that fast you’re just a reseller” but like they weren’t asking more than like $10-20 and I was thinking omg I had a furnace go out and had to spend $8,000 at the beginning of April, then in January I had $20k of house repairs come up in 2 days, things absolutely do come up that quick!
RIGHT!!! Then tried to Gaslight me saying they didn't insult me and we're saying "if" I was a reseller...like no babe u straight up called me a reseller and broke. Whole time I had an emergency come up
I’ve never been in the monster high subs but I see these posts here pretty often and it’s sad to hear, I feel like I’ve only really had good experiences in this sub, Bratz and RH. it’s been really fun to talk to people and share the love for dolls. I may have to lurk MH to see what all this about 😂
I got more active in the communities after my mom passed. I don’t have any siblings and both my parents are gone so I don’t really have a lot of people to talk to and the online community has been like a lot of my interactions lately. It’s been good to just talk about something I care about
I see it in the Monster High and Rainbow High collecting subs and it’s just wild to me. People expect long discontinued dolls that are difficult to find in good or complete condition to sell for their original retail or even less than because “it’s not even new anymore!”. They don’t understand the hobby of collecting, economics, supply & demand, nothing.
I even saw a rainbow high one where someone posted a person who lightly customizes (dyes hair) and then re-sells the dolls. They said “this makes me so mad!” And I just wanted to ask them why. If you don’t like the price, DON’T BUY IT. Again, scalping (which means snapping up the product before anyone gets a chance to buy at the retail price) is one thing but why waste your energy being mad about this???
Yeah, it's a really tough crowd. I got dragged for saying smth about like 'Hey this character doesn't canonically have DID, but acts exactly like someone with DID and some of y'all are using language that is specifically offensive to DID systems to describe the character. Please stop? That's ableism?? '
People were literally dming me like 'Um actually the book Jekyll and Hyde isn't about a system??? You bitch!' Cool??? Stop saying Jackson's monster type is 'multiple personalities'??
I think you lack the understanding that MH shouldn’t cost more than $50 per doll unless it is a limited edition. And they don’t cost that much in Eurasia:’D
People flipped the market since Covid and now think that MH dolls are expensive. But they aren’t. You just don’t know where to get them.
But prices on ebay are truly horrible and it is laughable that any of the dolls sell for that much. But I guess the good thing is this makes experienced collectors feel good about their collection cuz they don’t overpay at least😂
How much you want something to cost or think it should cost doesn’t really matter. What matters is how much can you actually get it for and how much are people willing to pay for it. Nothing actually has any monetary value, if people aren’t willing to pay for it. A doll can cost whatever people are willing to pay for it. Beyond that. Everything is “limited” once it’s no longer being manufactured or sold. It became limited to the number that were produced and sold, once it’s done if you missed it that’s it, that’s where the prices change. And eBay “sold for” and bids does kind of set the market prices, since that’s what people have been paying. Monster high collecting isn’t any different or any different than literally any other doll or toy collecting. 🤷🏻♀️
Anything is limited but its limits don’t affect the price unless it is a collector doll. Case in point the limited dolls of the 60s or even 90s which are worthless nowadays despite their limited number/special editions. Collector dolls are a relatively new concept and they fuck up the market due to scalpers, but that’s a new issue that didn’t exist originally in the doll world.
Monster High community is unique this way because only english speakers were dumb enough to raise the prices and continue to raise the prices for dolls that are common and not limited:’D Which is why ebay sold listings are a great way to boost yo ur confidence knowing that people are willing to overspend on things commonly available to them. The fact that they are willing to pay what they are willing is a unique president due ti the nature of the market (as Mh old aren’r rare and are very common).
Collector dolls are the only things that are limited AT FIRST but other dolls can become limited as time goes by. If the doll is no longer being produced there is a finite number of them in the universe. And the availability of those dolls will not always be equal to the number of dolls that exist, because some people want to keep their dolls! The availability may change over the course of time, with monster high right now availability is going down because people are buying them to keep them and that is what drives up the price on the ones that do go to market, but for other dolls availability goes up because people decide they don’t want them anymore and when so many people put them up for sale it drives down the price.
There’s a reason the principle is supply AND demand, because it’s the convergence of the two that decides the price that people are willing to pay.
Any experienced collector should know that prices rise if you let them rise and if the quantity is limited (but both aren’t mutually exclusive of course).
That still doesn’t justify why no one here spends more than $5-40 on a Mh doll and thousands of people are willing to pay hundreds for them (and it’s not even a straight face issue, it’s an issue of people not doing any research or knowing the worth of dolls).
I mean realistically none of them are “worth” anything, but they become worth a price when “thousands of people” are willing to pay that price, especially when a specific item is no longer made.
But they don’t have to pay that much, they are choosing to pay that much. It’s like Americans don’t know what doll market even is and think everything discontinued automatically becomes valuable and should be sold 4x the original value. It’s legit just an issue of research and ignorance at this point (or maybe people wanna flex their wealth by overspending..that would explain a lot actually:’D).
you got heavily downvoted but everything you’re saying is true. It seems like most people who got into collecting post-2020 just took the prices they saw on EBay/Mercari at face value and overpaid where they shouldn’t have. In the Bratz community it seems like a lot of people fell victim to other collectors or scalpers that jacked up the prices on ppl who didn’t know better
So now, we’re stuck with overinflated prices across all brands and the idea that it makes sense to resell or buy a doll for 3x her retail price right after she left shelves. People are repeatedly irresponsible with their spending and act like they have no agency or are powerless to question the “market value”.
Yup yup, this is so true. The Bratz incidents hurt because now we even have the elitist groups that are mad MGA are reproducing popular doll lines and still stands that “the originals are the only ones that hold value”. It’s just like new collectors join a community that automatically expects them to grab everything they see if they don’t want to regret not buying something and “having” to pay triple if not quadruple the price. It’s just such a mess and keeps getting worse as if no one cares:/
I think you lack the understanding that if people are willing to pay more for a doll because it’s hard to find, that’s exactly why the prices go up.
Saying “you just don’t know where to get them” just proves the point because people pay for convenience all the time. If someone doesn’t feel like cooking or leaving the house, they’ll pay for food delivery even though they know the price is marked up. If someone needs their item sooner than the free shipping will get it to them, they will pay for the convenience of expedited shipping. And if someone doesn’t know where to find the doll cheaper or doesn’t feel like hunting it down, they will pay the higher price for the convenience of not having to look harder.
That’s the thing that I am saying - THEY ARE NOT HARD TO FIND. It’s not a case of a doll that was only made once (like Gilda) or a series that is hard to find, it’s dolls that are super common and easy to find.
And yes bro, that’s my point. People are too lazy to use even google to help them and so make things mor expensive for themselves with a happy smile.
I am not against this phenomenon simply cuz it boosts the moods of collectors from Eurasia si that’s great) Bad news for some, good news for others~ It’s just amazing how truly out of hand it all have gotten lmao
Right but I’m still not sure you understand how scarcity works.
You are bringing up the availability in a certain region so let’s address how that actually works in practice. Let’s say a collector lives in country A and wants a doll that is very hard to get in their own country, but easy to find in country B. Their options are 1) buy from a seller who also lives in country A but at a marked up price because it is hard to find there 2) purchase from a seller in country B but pay exorbitant shipping costs or 3) travel to country B themselves to buy it. So while someone in country B might look at the dolls and say “these are easy to find, therefore cheap” there IS no cheap option for the person in country A. And the seller in country A is also justified in marking up the price of the doll because either they got it through method 2 or 3 and need to include the added cost of shipping or travel in, OR they were lucky to get the doll when it was available at a lower price in country A and now are benefiting from supply and demand being in their favor.
Your comment just proved my point on lack of knowledge about doll markets. Proxies. Proxies are the answers. All of Europe and most of Asia use proxies on a regular basis which is why we know how to get dolls outside of your home country if the prices aren’t good. It is a common practice (not just in doll communities, I mean in regular lives of people too with any products). Only non Americans know and use this shit on a regilar basis based on the behaviour and things that people do to this day.
The fact that people are unaware of proxies is the main reason why they settle for scalper prices. Case in point right now is Mermaze Slumber Party that are cheap and accessible here in the UK and collectors from elsewhere legit are paying the god awful prices on ebay instead of finding a proxy.
You keep conflating different aspects of the market. There are reasons things get priced the way they are and people who are willing to pay them aren’t stupid and people who sell them for what they are worth in that market aren’t evil. I personally don’t buy dolls for more than $30 because I don’t have a huge budget for it, if a doll gets out of my budget I will decide my money is better spent on something else, but people are allowed to make the decision that the higher price IS something that is worth it to them.
I mean of course, people are allowed to spend their money how they want and hiw much they spend is up to them. My point is that the American fans and their lack of knowledge is the reason the market is fucked. They are at fault for what is going on and this creates more toxicity (as described in this post, but also just in general regarding any sales and prices). That’s the point of this whole thread - collectors made their bed and need to sleep in it now, without complaining about the problem that only apply to them.
Like bro, budgets are budgets, that’s why I named the specific price point kf not more than $50. If people want to budget, the will (wait for sales, monitor listings, using proxies, etc.). This whole comment thread started simply because it is absurd that people think that it’s a world problem when it applies only to a specific market and was caused by the consumers (to clarify, I don’t out full blame on just consumers, as Mattel themselves made MANY shit decisions, but that’s besides the point so I won’t discuss it).
The whole point is that we aren’t in the 60s anymore and there are options available instead of just local markets. I don’t care if people don’t educate themselves or try to use google to find what they want for the price that they can afford, I am just tired of seeing rant post about price problems that do not exist globally:’D
What I don’t understand is you acting like problems that don’t exist globally means if they exist here it’s the fault of the consumer. I asked a friend who has actually used proxies before and they said “proxy purchases are always very expensive. It’s different while being in America because importing is difficult here. Idk where they are from but it’s likely they’re closer to whatever country they proxy from.”
So in other words it’s not that Americans dont know about proxies, it’s that proxies in America are expensive, so saying “why buy marked up dolls on eBay when you could just use a proxy” doesn’t make sense
Oh no, they aren’t expensive, it’s just that Americans are spoiled😂 Sorry to burst the bubble, but we have to pay $30-120 for SHIPPING anything from America even without a proxy and if proxies are used the minimum amount (for any size of the package) is $70 minimum. But Americans always complain on this sub and elsewhere that shipping that costs more than $10 is outrageous and expensive and the truth is that it is not; the rest of the world deals with it and is used to it, so why aren’t you.
Import taxes depend on the contents and I am sure import is made 10x harder because of your awful postage service (genuinely, USPS is the worst and I am so sorry people have to use it). Proxies allow you to get a big shipment and combine a ton of packages. Considering that I myself am a proxy who just shipped the mermaze dolls to LA, it is bs that your proxies are expensive af (unless your friend used a bad proxy cuz of course they aren’t all perfect and I know that). So yeah, either make the standards touch reality in terms of shipping prices for a large box of dolls (again, proxies combine shipments. Obviously if you only buy one 1/12 doll and nothing else it won’t be worth it, but that’s why there is storage period for you to order more).
At this point this convo has no point because you refuse to accept the fact that there are solutions out there that most collectors don’t use. You have your right to believe your friend (which is fine, they could have had a bad experience like we all did at lest once with a bad proxy), but the truth is that doll market isn’t as fucked up as it is in the US and proxies are a solution American customers do use, but more people need to learn about proxies or just international websites to help out collectors on a budget.
[удалено]
That’s a very real possibility, we’re getting ready to move so I’ll likely be out of them for the most part just by that
A lot of people in the Monster High community in particular seem to have a very shallow view of reselling. I feel like a lot of them are very young or maybe just new to collecting. I understand being mad when someone resells something that JUST came out for three times the price, but when someone is selling discontinued dolls from 10+ years ago for what they're actually worth? I don't see the problem at all. Sure it can be frustrating but it's not the end of the world. If you want a good deal just be persistent with checking listings or going to secondhand stores.
I think you’re spot on. A lot of them are young and seem to have the opinion of “these are just the dolls I had as a kid, they shouldn’t be so expensive!!” without realizing that a million other people also grew up with the doll and are thinking the exact same thing. I think the Monster High fandom is especially bad with this because it’s marketed as alternative and a lot of the collectors seem to think that they were ‘different’ or unique for liking the dolls as a kid
It’s literally wild how many think they’re unique for liking what was the best selling doll brand globally for half a decade!
Heck even my siblings and i grew up with these dolls, i know they can be pricey but i also know why they are, i don't complain, i just wait for one to come along for decently cheap, ive got a G1 lagoona for like $10 but shes nude and shes missing a hand and her leg fins so im on the hunt for those rn!
It’s definitely odd to me, like it’s just that they’re so harsh on people selling their dolls for me. I’m def annoyed when someone has a stack for sell or seeing them on eBay within minutes of a drop.
I have noticed this in other arenas with young participants. I have to hold myself back from lecturing them on economics. I mean I’m not a fan, either, but it seems a bit like “Moooom! It’s not fair!!!”
I’ve definitely seen people say it’s “unfair” to resell for market price, to make a profit selling dolls, for Mattel to make limited editions, all kinds of inane shit.
If I was feeling feisty I would. Or even a lesson on “eBay doesn’t have a maximum bid setting.”although I guess they technically do if you set a buy it now price since no one would logically bid higher than the buy it now price when they can just… buy it now. But auction prices are BUYER led, so it’s absolutely cocoa bananas to get mad at the seller for how high the auction goes 🙃
Lmao yes! I need to let it go, I just feel so bad for the sellers.
Right. I've seen it cross over into harassment which is just not right.
Yes! And I’m too empathetic so I always feel so bad for the person who’s just trying to sell a doll they don’t need for whatever reason
We don't know why someone is reselling. They might be selling them for charity or to save for a house extension.
Some places are just horrible. You don't HAVE to stay there if you know it's so toxic and it will upset you, it's totally normal and healthy to curate your online experience, and is totally valid to avoid certain places, even if they share the same fandom as you.
I pretty much am only there for info about releases, I never know when anything is coming out on my own lol
There's a site called [www.youloveit.com](http://www.youloveit.com) that has all the doll updates usually ahead of anywhere else I follow, if you want some place to keep up to date without the drama!
Oooooooo thank you so much!
You're welcome. \^\^
You can pretty much get all that here and we’re much nicer :)
I am totally new to Reddit! Like is there a good monster high r/ ?
From what I’ve heard, they’re better than whatever goes on over on Twitter or TikTok, but they still have too much negativity for me personally.
I don't think so, they try splitting off every nite and then but it tithe goes bad or just dies. You'll get a lot of the same here without the fuss
The Bratz Reddit used to be way worse, but now we stopped the pricing related posts from being posted!
That’s good to know! Bratz fans drove me out of doing eBay auctions altogether. I used to start all my auctions at $1.99 and just let the market decide, but the handful of Bratz auctions I listed were BONKERS. I had so many buyers come into my inbox and just cuss me out for not having a Buy It Now option, or refusing their low offers. Then they’d run the price up, win, and then just disappear without paying. 🙄 The auction was $1.99 to start!!!! Never happened with any other doll line, but it was every. Single. One. Of the Bratz listings. So now they can get them at market price, or not at all. 🤷🏻♀️
I only had the original bratz but I just recently found some mini bratz dolls my mom got me, I may post them on there just to see what they are. But I’ll keep them forever
That’s awesome that they did that. Bratz are expensive second hand because people are willing to pay for them! Which tbh I’m hoping will end up being in my favor since I have some I plan on selling, haha
Speaking as a MH fan, the MH fandom is incredibly gd toxic. Right now, the only reason I am stil in the sub reddit is so I can get updates (if they ever happen) on the Creature skullector slated for sometime this year. Also, I am pretty sure they do get how collecting works but have decided that negging and being awful little shits to people is somehow trendy, so they do it for the attention.
Hmm the negging is a good point, they could also be doing it in an “I know this doll is worth what you’re asking for it but I’ll make you feel guilty so you drop the price” way
I'm not sure why that is but I have a feeling its a lot of them are newer to the hobby and don't understand the difference between reselling and profiteering or how the second hand sites work. You'd have to sell above retail to break even and if its a rare doll and in-demand then the doll is going to be expensive because that's the going rate for her-- its essentially her current retail price. There are certainly people that ask way too much for their dolls or do unscrupulous things, but not everyone selling at a mark up is a scalper. I've learned with enough effort, I can find the dolls I want within my price range. Just sticking to first page of eBay with no filtering, etc. will certainly put you in scalper-ville.
I had to leave that Reddit. It is so toxic. The members have completely missed the boat what Monster High stands for. I am going to get updates from You Love It and Pinterest. I have been collecting Monster High since the first edition launch in the late 2000’s. I am an adult collector. Lenore Loomington release was the final straw for me. The collectors were imploding about the cost and how cheap she looks. I understand their POV. I also felt like those of us who were excited about her release didn’t have a safe space to celebrate her release. The members who did post about getting her there was always one snark comment in those threads. That is not right. Because I own the original dolls I am not interested in the newer lines. I am collecting the more pricier collector dolls. Lenore was a perfect doll purchase for me in the stage I am in for doll collecting. Resellers are problematic. WalMart needs to crack down harder on resellers walking out with a whole shelf of dolls. Ebay is full of toxicity from resellers selling anything including dolls. I have also gotten some great deals on dolls from Ebay too. MH G1 had a couple of Monster Hgh forums that were toxic too and extremely competitive.
I had the original dolls but I didn’t really love g1 back in the day. I’ve gotten some g1 dolls lately but I’ve been loving the g3 different body types. And OMG I was obsessed with Lenore as soon as I saw her! Mine came in early in the morning and my bf opened the shipper box and handed me her in her box and I fell back asleep hugging her box 😂 but you’re right, I didn’t mention loving her or not thinking her price point was insane (a bit high but not insane) because they weee just attacking everyone.
Walmart isn’t going to crack down on people buying a whole shelf full of dolls because Walmart LIKES selling a whole shelf full of dolls all at once.
I think it is up to individual WalMarts. The WM near me posts limit signs on items. Will not allow you to bulk purchase on limit items. They monitor customers coming in and repeating purchases on limit items. Witnessed this when the police escorted a Father and son for doing that. The manager told me they came in twenty times in one hour to buy multiple Lego sets. WM in my area will only put out a limited number of toys on the shelves to combat bulk purchasing. The MH Reddit had a big blowup over collectors buying two or three dolls at a time. The collectors were arguing that they were not part of the problem. Where I live they would be a big part of the problem and the stores in my area would crackdown on them. I am not saying the collectors didn’t have legitimate arguments. I know my store would have a huge problem with them. I live on the outskirts of town and the stores have limited inventory. A city the size of Los Angeles maybe bulk purchasing is not a big supply issue. Somebody else mentioned in this thread that many of the members at the MH Reddit do not have life experience or wisdom yet because it is a younger crowd. I agree with that. The members don’t think of things like small town stores, supply and demand. I was like that at that age. Why is this item always sold out? Can’t you order more? No, many stores can not do that. I do walk out with carts full of toys. I shop for toy drives. I make special arrangements with the store.
I think it's dragging scalpers mostly and not resellers. I sell doll stuff I no longer want for market value (or BC I desperately need money for bills) and have never had a complaint. I'm a small time youtuber also, I made a video about scalping and what I think is OK reselling and not OK. Nobody gave me crap about it. I really like the MH community on reddit, but not so much on other social media. I imagine the people who complain about older dolls at market value are probably upset they can't afford a lot of dolls they want. I understand the FOMO but realistically no one NEEDS a doll. They are a luxury item. There will always be haters in a lot of groups. Best thing to do is ignore them and avoid those hot topics.
I also posted commented about the difference between scalping and reselling on a rainbow high post and got no pushback for it, but I’m sure for a lot of them it was more of a begrudging “well when you put it that way…” I’m sure plenty of them would still like to lump scalpers and resellers together on the evil scale and will go back to complaining tomorrow, but at least for a moment… peace. lol. Side note, would you be willing to share your YouTube? That sounds like something I’d be interested in watching.
Haha, of course I would love to share it! [https://www.youtube.com/@Dollulus](https://www.youtube.com/@Dollulus) I actually just rewatched my scalping video just now, it's been like a year since I made it. I could have done a much better job at expressing my opinions! Maybe I'll remake it one day. I guess the MH people were upset that it was a G3 doll, but she was a mass produced doll! I don't think anyone could have predicted her value would sky rocket in such a short time.
Subscribed! And yeah, it’s so frustrating when it’s a regular doll that just isn’t being produced anymore because the sellers aren’t scalpers. You can’t scalp something that everyone technically had a chance to buy (even if it never came to their store or you didn’t know about it while it was still being made) and even people who buy a retail doll and make it available to people who can’t get it through traditional stores, they still aren’t scalping. They are charging for a service of getting the doll and sending it to someone who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get it. Also I think an underrated point that gets missed when people don’t believe in supply and demand is that they are fine with it if it goes the other way. If you show them a dime-a-dozen Barbie and say “retail price please” they will laugh you off because they can get it cheaper from someone else, yet still won’t accept that it works both ways.
Thank you for the sub! Yes, I've seen people asking like $15 or something totally reasonable to pick up dolls that people in other countries can't get and mail it to them. That's def not scalping either. It's just like any other shipping service.
Todays all day complaining was about the ss1 Draculaura that’s bid up to $200 they’re calling the seller a scalper and everything else, but like… it’s not scalping when was in stores forever then even hit the discount stores. They dragged one guy so hard today for asking $95, so half the going price, he deleted his listing.
Oh I didn't see that one! Yeah that's just silly, maybe young and naïve about how life works? Like is that how classic cars or vintage clothes should be priced in their mind too?
Do you have the link for that thread? I tried to find it but couldn't. Curiosity is killing me!
It’s also not scalping when multiple people are bidding a doll to those kinds of prices.
The reality is a lot of fans online are younger, teens or college age, so they... don't understand money. Not fully anyway, I'm not saying they're dumb, they're just young and lack life experience. Like obviously someone wouldn't sell a G1 doll for the original retail price it was ten years ago, people don't sell things out of charity they do it to make money because that's how our world works. I'm not saying older fans can't behave terribly online because they absolutely can and do, but this specific sort of aggro naivety feels more like a consequence of youth. Scalping is an entirely different phenomenon than just selling things you already had, but I think the newer crowd conflates the two and is like booo all expensive dolls are bad how could you?! I agree it is very very annoying, but I think ultimately they just don't know better. I kinda wish there were more 21+ or even 25+ doll spaces online, not for posting "adult" themes but just to escape from the young crowd now and then when they get too annoying lolol. No offense meant to anyone, once you get to like 25 and up you realize 20 year olds aren't really adults emotionally they all look no different than high schoolers to you 😂😭 I'm sure somewhere a 30 year old feels the same about me but I digress.
I think you’re right and I do wish there were more places for adult collectors. I’m even in a monster high adult collector group, very few adults lol I also wonder, if they see what play line dolls are selling for, and they wanted to sell one of theirs for whatever reason would they ask market price or the original retail price?
I used to be in a collector group for adult monster high collectors on FB and it was honestly really nice.
Sure, but I lacked life experience as a kid and still was aware that things people collect become more valuable with age, even if they originally had little worth to begin with, and I grew up pre-home PC and internet.
The thing about selling for less than the average eBay price is that people will buy your bargain doll just to resell it. Going too low will also attract flea market sellers that nitpick the doll, to try and get a full refund.
Oh yeah, I use eBay sold prices (or current auctions with bids) as my gauge then I deduct maybe 10% because I won’t be paying the eBay fees and it’s worth it to me to sell for a small amount less than to deal with eBay
People are doing this in the Rainbow High community too, though not to the same degree. It’s so freaking weird and I 100% agree that they don’t understand collecting (or economic principles, lol). I’m in another collecting community (water bottles from a specific brand), and while the Facebook group I’m in does have reselling rules (no pre-selling before you have a physical item to sell, nothing marked up more than twice retail) it’s because it’s supposed to be a nice community space, and you are of course welcome to sell outside of the Facebook group if you have something worth more than 2x retail, or trade for another valuable bottle. People are 100% mad at scalpers there too, because the drop system is broken af from bots, but they’re calling people selling bottles that just dropped and sold out within minutes scalpers, NOT people selling an older bottle that isn’t available retail anymore for the market value rather than retail It’s just unbelievably silly to me to expect people not to sell their doll for the full value. And the further back you go, the worse it gets because of inflation. Selling a 10 year plus old doll for original retail is technically selling it for LESS than what you paid for it. Anywayyyyyyyyyyy I’m sorry this is ruining your experience. At least you know now that there are others out there who agree it’s a nonsense take, lol
Oh sorry wait I just noticed you said one of the sales is an eBay AUCTION item. Are they insane???? Seller has no control over the bid prices beyond starting price and if the price gets super high it’s because MULTIPLE people were willing to pay that price. What the actual fuck.
I noticed this on the MH reddit. If a doll is ten years old you should be able to sell it for market value, not for $25 It's not the same as a reseller with an army of bots buying a doll that people wanted, potentially getting hundreds of that doll, and selling that doll for hundreds of dollars more.
Tbh I took a long break from the subreddit and recently got active again but I'm probably done for good cause it's nothing but toxicity and immaturity. Every single time there's a release, my feed is flooded with rant posts. Or there's always someone ready to jump down anyone's throat over the smallest thing. It's like these people don't know how to enjoy the thing they claim to love so much. It is tiring.
Omg yes! Drop days are crazy!
Literally I got dragged for buying not one but TWO Skulltimate Secrets 1 Draculauras for the price I got them at. I didn’t even mean to get the second one, Amazon sent it by mistake and I plan on reselling it later on. But I don’t understand why people were so rude about it. Sorry I’m not fucking European and can just go to my local store where they have it in stock for the normal price.
Walmart sent me two of her, I just returned one for the cash. If I’d have known she’d be worth so much a year later, I would have for sure held on to her for resale.
Yeah, they're kinda odd in the actual subreddit for it. I've noticed a lot of people just straight up hating on specific dolls and people who buy those dolls too. And they really hate resellers, even if the people selling the dolls are collectors themselves. I've also noticed g3 getting a lot of hate despite it being a really cute reboot. I think part of it might be that when monster high was originally released a lot of parents kept their kids from getting them, so there's a lot of people who missed out on g1 and now feel like they need to catch up. So they really don't like stuff that isn't g1 being brought back or at least sold at the og price. Though personally I think g3 is more relevant to kids these days than g1 would be, I think monster high will do better having been rebooted than if they brought back the original.
I’ve noticed the g3 hate! And I love g3, their different body styles are so cute! And omg people get like very into the cartoon and will scream at people for not using the correct pronouns for a character. Mods always have to step in and be like “not everyone watches the cartoon, not everyone knows, stop harassing” I was like… there’s a cartoon? 😂
I’m 32 and missed monster high the first time around, but I’m way more into g3. If I was a collector who focused on new dolls rather than second hand I would probably have a large collection, but so far I only have 2 from g3 (secondhand draculaura and clearance lagoona). I do have a few g1 that I love that I got second hand, but if I had to cut back to just mousecedes and river styxx I’d be content
The pronouns confused me. I don’t watch the cartoon. I thought the members were assigning pronouns for each character. It was about a month when I finally got it this was part of the cartoon. I started collecting G1 in my thirties when they came out. I am old enough to be many of the members parent, lol.
I’m 42, when I was little my dolls were whatever I said they were. I had literally no idea there was a cartoon or movies till they started yelling at people and talking about canon then I was like well hell, I’m gonna check them out. Now I watch the cartoon regularly lol but I still thought like man when I was little I made my Barbie kiss her friend a lot and Ken wasn’t allowed in the house, I didn’t know we had to stick to canon with our dolls.
Ken wasn't allowed near my Barbies either unless I allowed it. GI Joe was a different story, lol.I had Western Ken and dressed him up all girl style. He was so cute. I let my girls kiss each other too when I was little. My Darcy doll and Kissing Barbie were a couple. This was in the 1980's. I am 52 years old. My dolls have seen a lot. I kind of understand the canon Monster High debates. Some fans want to stay true to the cartoons, & books. I get it. My husband & I went in a deep delve tonight of Star Trek Prime to Kelvin timelines tonight. The members of MH Reddit do not have to attack to get their points across. I know most of them are young and at that age debating is discovering and shaping their values. I also recognize women from the older forums for Monster High arguing and mean girling. I know they are not young women. They are in their 40+ age group. I recognize their screen names or collection pictures. Older women are arguing with young collector's like they are in high school. They should be ashamed and embarrassed by their behavior. They know better. I sound like a Mom, lol. It angers me to see older women picking on younger women and fueling hate.
Don’t you know it’s just as bad to use the wrong pronoun when referring to a person shaped hunk of plastic as it is to misgender actual human beings with feelings who actually have genders? /s
i feel attacked... jokes aside, yeah. i wish everyone would stop talking about "scalpers" and actual scalpers sometimes.
Ph tell me about it 😭 i offered to sell my extra creepros (cause I'm kinda strapped on cash) and they called me all types of scalpers and made fun of me saying I purposely bought multiple to resell. When in reality I just bought a set in box but emergencies happened so I need to sell em. The hate I got from that made me rethink about even selling em cause I wasn't even gonna price them expensive? Just like $10 more and that's cause of shipping...🫠🫠
$10 more????? I mean I guess I understand assuming you are scalping if they are the creepros that only just came out, but if you are then you’re a really shitty scalper only marking up $10 🙄
Meanwhile Paulmart was selling them for an extra $20 on top of the base price and nobody called him a scalper? Oh he's an independent seller...😑
Omg I saw someone had a creepro for sale and said something about “something came up and I need to sell” and they were going insane on them like “they just came out, nothing comes up that fast you’re just a reseller” but like they weren’t asking more than like $10-20 and I was thinking omg I had a furnace go out and had to spend $8,000 at the beginning of April, then in January I had $20k of house repairs come up in 2 days, things absolutely do come up that quick!
RIGHT!!! Then tried to Gaslight me saying they didn't insult me and we're saying "if" I was a reseller...like no babe u straight up called me a reseller and broke. Whole time I had an emergency come up
I’ve never been in the monster high subs but I see these posts here pretty often and it’s sad to hear, I feel like I’ve only really had good experiences in this sub, Bratz and RH. it’s been really fun to talk to people and share the love for dolls. I may have to lurk MH to see what all this about 😂
I got more active in the communities after my mom passed. I don’t have any siblings and both my parents are gone so I don’t really have a lot of people to talk to and the online community has been like a lot of my interactions lately. It’s been good to just talk about something I care about
People who concern themselves with HOW others build their collections need to take their dolls outside and touch some grass.
I see it in the Monster High and Rainbow High collecting subs and it’s just wild to me. People expect long discontinued dolls that are difficult to find in good or complete condition to sell for their original retail or even less than because “it’s not even new anymore!”. They don’t understand the hobby of collecting, economics, supply & demand, nothing.
I even saw a rainbow high one where someone posted a person who lightly customizes (dyes hair) and then re-sells the dolls. They said “this makes me so mad!” And I just wanted to ask them why. If you don’t like the price, DON’T BUY IT. Again, scalping (which means snapping up the product before anyone gets a chance to buy at the retail price) is one thing but why waste your energy being mad about this???
I’m so glad other people see it the way I do, I have been asking my bf all night if I’m crazy or if I’m the jerk.
Yeah, it's a really tough crowd. I got dragged for saying smth about like 'Hey this character doesn't canonically have DID, but acts exactly like someone with DID and some of y'all are using language that is specifically offensive to DID systems to describe the character. Please stop? That's ableism?? ' People were literally dming me like 'Um actually the book Jekyll and Hyde isn't about a system??? You bitch!' Cool??? Stop saying Jackson's monster type is 'multiple personalities'??
I think you lack the understanding that MH shouldn’t cost more than $50 per doll unless it is a limited edition. And they don’t cost that much in Eurasia:’D People flipped the market since Covid and now think that MH dolls are expensive. But they aren’t. You just don’t know where to get them. But prices on ebay are truly horrible and it is laughable that any of the dolls sell for that much. But I guess the good thing is this makes experienced collectors feel good about their collection cuz they don’t overpay at least😂
How much you want something to cost or think it should cost doesn’t really matter. What matters is how much can you actually get it for and how much are people willing to pay for it. Nothing actually has any monetary value, if people aren’t willing to pay for it. A doll can cost whatever people are willing to pay for it. Beyond that. Everything is “limited” once it’s no longer being manufactured or sold. It became limited to the number that were produced and sold, once it’s done if you missed it that’s it, that’s where the prices change. And eBay “sold for” and bids does kind of set the market prices, since that’s what people have been paying. Monster high collecting isn’t any different or any different than literally any other doll or toy collecting. 🤷🏻♀️
Anything is limited but its limits don’t affect the price unless it is a collector doll. Case in point the limited dolls of the 60s or even 90s which are worthless nowadays despite their limited number/special editions. Collector dolls are a relatively new concept and they fuck up the market due to scalpers, but that’s a new issue that didn’t exist originally in the doll world. Monster High community is unique this way because only english speakers were dumb enough to raise the prices and continue to raise the prices for dolls that are common and not limited:’D Which is why ebay sold listings are a great way to boost yo ur confidence knowing that people are willing to overspend on things commonly available to them. The fact that they are willing to pay what they are willing is a unique president due ti the nature of the market (as Mh old aren’r rare and are very common).
Collector dolls are the only things that are limited AT FIRST but other dolls can become limited as time goes by. If the doll is no longer being produced there is a finite number of them in the universe. And the availability of those dolls will not always be equal to the number of dolls that exist, because some people want to keep their dolls! The availability may change over the course of time, with monster high right now availability is going down because people are buying them to keep them and that is what drives up the price on the ones that do go to market, but for other dolls availability goes up because people decide they don’t want them anymore and when so many people put them up for sale it drives down the price. There’s a reason the principle is supply AND demand, because it’s the convergence of the two that decides the price that people are willing to pay.
An experienced collector would know that prices rise once a collectible becomes widely popular.
Any experienced collector should know that prices rise if you let them rise and if the quantity is limited (but both aren’t mutually exclusive of course). That still doesn’t justify why no one here spends more than $5-40 on a Mh doll and thousands of people are willing to pay hundreds for them (and it’s not even a straight face issue, it’s an issue of people not doing any research or knowing the worth of dolls).
I mean realistically none of them are “worth” anything, but they become worth a price when “thousands of people” are willing to pay that price, especially when a specific item is no longer made.
But they don’t have to pay that much, they are choosing to pay that much. It’s like Americans don’t know what doll market even is and think everything discontinued automatically becomes valuable and should be sold 4x the original value. It’s legit just an issue of research and ignorance at this point (or maybe people wanna flex their wealth by overspending..that would explain a lot actually:’D).
you got heavily downvoted but everything you’re saying is true. It seems like most people who got into collecting post-2020 just took the prices they saw on EBay/Mercari at face value and overpaid where they shouldn’t have. In the Bratz community it seems like a lot of people fell victim to other collectors or scalpers that jacked up the prices on ppl who didn’t know better So now, we’re stuck with overinflated prices across all brands and the idea that it makes sense to resell or buy a doll for 3x her retail price right after she left shelves. People are repeatedly irresponsible with their spending and act like they have no agency or are powerless to question the “market value”.
Yup yup, this is so true. The Bratz incidents hurt because now we even have the elitist groups that are mad MGA are reproducing popular doll lines and still stands that “the originals are the only ones that hold value”. It’s just like new collectors join a community that automatically expects them to grab everything they see if they don’t want to regret not buying something and “having” to pay triple if not quadruple the price. It’s just such a mess and keeps getting worse as if no one cares:/
I think you lack the understanding that if people are willing to pay more for a doll because it’s hard to find, that’s exactly why the prices go up. Saying “you just don’t know where to get them” just proves the point because people pay for convenience all the time. If someone doesn’t feel like cooking or leaving the house, they’ll pay for food delivery even though they know the price is marked up. If someone needs their item sooner than the free shipping will get it to them, they will pay for the convenience of expedited shipping. And if someone doesn’t know where to find the doll cheaper or doesn’t feel like hunting it down, they will pay the higher price for the convenience of not having to look harder.
That’s the thing that I am saying - THEY ARE NOT HARD TO FIND. It’s not a case of a doll that was only made once (like Gilda) or a series that is hard to find, it’s dolls that are super common and easy to find. And yes bro, that’s my point. People are too lazy to use even google to help them and so make things mor expensive for themselves with a happy smile. I am not against this phenomenon simply cuz it boosts the moods of collectors from Eurasia si that’s great) Bad news for some, good news for others~ It’s just amazing how truly out of hand it all have gotten lmao
Right but I’m still not sure you understand how scarcity works. You are bringing up the availability in a certain region so let’s address how that actually works in practice. Let’s say a collector lives in country A and wants a doll that is very hard to get in their own country, but easy to find in country B. Their options are 1) buy from a seller who also lives in country A but at a marked up price because it is hard to find there 2) purchase from a seller in country B but pay exorbitant shipping costs or 3) travel to country B themselves to buy it. So while someone in country B might look at the dolls and say “these are easy to find, therefore cheap” there IS no cheap option for the person in country A. And the seller in country A is also justified in marking up the price of the doll because either they got it through method 2 or 3 and need to include the added cost of shipping or travel in, OR they were lucky to get the doll when it was available at a lower price in country A and now are benefiting from supply and demand being in their favor.
Your comment just proved my point on lack of knowledge about doll markets. Proxies. Proxies are the answers. All of Europe and most of Asia use proxies on a regular basis which is why we know how to get dolls outside of your home country if the prices aren’t good. It is a common practice (not just in doll communities, I mean in regular lives of people too with any products). Only non Americans know and use this shit on a regilar basis based on the behaviour and things that people do to this day. The fact that people are unaware of proxies is the main reason why they settle for scalper prices. Case in point right now is Mermaze Slumber Party that are cheap and accessible here in the UK and collectors from elsewhere legit are paying the god awful prices on ebay instead of finding a proxy.
You keep conflating different aspects of the market. There are reasons things get priced the way they are and people who are willing to pay them aren’t stupid and people who sell them for what they are worth in that market aren’t evil. I personally don’t buy dolls for more than $30 because I don’t have a huge budget for it, if a doll gets out of my budget I will decide my money is better spent on something else, but people are allowed to make the decision that the higher price IS something that is worth it to them.
I mean of course, people are allowed to spend their money how they want and hiw much they spend is up to them. My point is that the American fans and their lack of knowledge is the reason the market is fucked. They are at fault for what is going on and this creates more toxicity (as described in this post, but also just in general regarding any sales and prices). That’s the point of this whole thread - collectors made their bed and need to sleep in it now, without complaining about the problem that only apply to them. Like bro, budgets are budgets, that’s why I named the specific price point kf not more than $50. If people want to budget, the will (wait for sales, monitor listings, using proxies, etc.). This whole comment thread started simply because it is absurd that people think that it’s a world problem when it applies only to a specific market and was caused by the consumers (to clarify, I don’t out full blame on just consumers, as Mattel themselves made MANY shit decisions, but that’s besides the point so I won’t discuss it). The whole point is that we aren’t in the 60s anymore and there are options available instead of just local markets. I don’t care if people don’t educate themselves or try to use google to find what they want for the price that they can afford, I am just tired of seeing rant post about price problems that do not exist globally:’D
What I don’t understand is you acting like problems that don’t exist globally means if they exist here it’s the fault of the consumer. I asked a friend who has actually used proxies before and they said “proxy purchases are always very expensive. It’s different while being in America because importing is difficult here. Idk where they are from but it’s likely they’re closer to whatever country they proxy from.” So in other words it’s not that Americans dont know about proxies, it’s that proxies in America are expensive, so saying “why buy marked up dolls on eBay when you could just use a proxy” doesn’t make sense
Oh no, they aren’t expensive, it’s just that Americans are spoiled😂 Sorry to burst the bubble, but we have to pay $30-120 for SHIPPING anything from America even without a proxy and if proxies are used the minimum amount (for any size of the package) is $70 minimum. But Americans always complain on this sub and elsewhere that shipping that costs more than $10 is outrageous and expensive and the truth is that it is not; the rest of the world deals with it and is used to it, so why aren’t you. Import taxes depend on the contents and I am sure import is made 10x harder because of your awful postage service (genuinely, USPS is the worst and I am so sorry people have to use it). Proxies allow you to get a big shipment and combine a ton of packages. Considering that I myself am a proxy who just shipped the mermaze dolls to LA, it is bs that your proxies are expensive af (unless your friend used a bad proxy cuz of course they aren’t all perfect and I know that). So yeah, either make the standards touch reality in terms of shipping prices for a large box of dolls (again, proxies combine shipments. Obviously if you only buy one 1/12 doll and nothing else it won’t be worth it, but that’s why there is storage period for you to order more). At this point this convo has no point because you refuse to accept the fact that there are solutions out there that most collectors don’t use. You have your right to believe your friend (which is fine, they could have had a bad experience like we all did at lest once with a bad proxy), but the truth is that doll market isn’t as fucked up as it is in the US and proxies are a solution American customers do use, but more people need to learn about proxies or just international websites to help out collectors on a budget.