Remember, scalpers are more than happy to spike the price of non-rare, playline dolls because the doll is popular. So it's good that most dolls aren't truly rare! It means a better chance at collecting a doll, especially series that have fallen out of public view. For example: Monster High dolls spiked in price was from a 2020 resurgence and the G3 releases. Before that, "rare" Monster High dolls were easier to collect since rarity matter less than popularity.
I don't get how scalpers "spike the price"? If the doll is popular and people are willing to pay a higher price that's not "spiking the price" that's supply and demand. The only way a reseller could alter the price is by altering the supply and if the doll is vintage they probably aren't buying out other second hand sellers to raise the price. I'm a collector and if I think someone is overpricing I buy it elsewhere. If I can't buy it elsewhere then I recognize the seller isn't "overcharging" they're selling for the market rate. If I still think that's too high I just don't buy the product. Doll collectors drive me crazy because they use the terms "seller, reseller and scalper" willy nilly and seem to have no idea how open market works for vintage items.
@@strayiggytv newer collectors are unaware of the prices being spikes and if even one in purchased at the premium price, all the other sellers follow suit. I’m trying to explain to collectors that the prices are being inflated and to be patient and wait for deals. This is an open market and a lot of people are being misinformed and tricked into overpaying because of nonsense words like “rare” being thrown around. I’m trying to help fix the problem.
@@strayiggytv and yes resellers often buy from other second hand sellers to spike the price. It’s happened to me when I’ve sold dolls under the “going rate” to try to be nice. It absolutely happens
@@xCanadensis this is going to sound kind of mean but if you're selling on a public platform you can't price things below the going rate to be nice. That's not how supply and demand work. To be nice you need to sell collector to collector on discord or a forum and even then once the item leaves your hand you have no say over what the buyer does with it :/ The point im making is that if the items are priced "too high" they will not sell. Period. If they're selling at that going rate then that is what the market has determined they're worth. Dolls are not needs they are wants, you can't really "price gouge" an item that has no inherent value except as a luxury good. This whole villainizing of the second hand market for charging what an item is worth by collector communities is weird and I know a lot of collectors who have had dolls for years, who would like to sell off some of their collections to buy items they would like more but are scared they'll be attacked fir charging what people are willing to pay by the community. Unless someone is selling modern scalped stock they bought multiples of at retail there is no way to tell who is scalping and who is simply selling vintage items for what they're worth. Once again if you or me or any collector doesn't think a doll is worth what a seller is asking don't buy it! If it's not worth that it'll come down in price to meet demand and if it is worth that it will sell. If the seller has to sit on the item forever, well then that's their cross to bear for charging more than the market would tolerate.
I've quickly learned that I Do Not Need Every Doll. My collection is made solely of dolls I adore and I feel really connected with. The 'rarest' doll I have is my very favorite ghoul Bonita Femur from the Monster High Freaky Fusions line. I see her pop up in doll lots all the time. She's my entire reason for getting into doll collecting. Rare dolls are cool but dolls that mean a lot to you are even better ❤
I agree completely!! And what a great choice of favorite :D I love Bonita - she’s one of very few dolls I brought with me when I lived in a dorm because she’s just so cute 🥺
I think there is definitely a difference between rarity and scarcity because some dolls are high in price because while they are technically mass produced, they can be rarely available for purchase, which makes them otherwise valuable. Also, rarity can be true for a play line. For example, sometimes finding an inbox play line doll is rare because most consumers are not collectors, so to find the doll unopened may be rare. That all being said, I think sellers tend to say everything is rare as a marketing tactic, not because it is or isn't.
Oh absolutely. I want to do an entire video about all of the complications of this topic but I’m scared to share how I KNOW a doll is rare if it’s not LE or that it’s gonna be rare because I think that’ll cause more predatory reselling tactics than benefit the collectors LOL
Good reminder that most dolls are mass produced! Sooner or later most dolls can come someone's way at an acceptable price. Except a few exceptions like in my knowledge comic con MH or EAH for a European like me haha. Some of your videos contained advice that really helped me calm down and avoid some of the FOMO.
Peteena Poodle is one of my all time favorite dolls but I have some trouble gauging her rarity. There’s always a couple for sale around the internet, but there’s just almost no information on her other than her commercials and what we can see on her packaging.
A truly rare doll! Produced in low quantities, discontinued quickly, lots of small parts, very old. All of those factors make a doll rare. Her price is actually pretty low if you can get a good condition one for like $100-$200! I managed to get two with a bunch of complete outfits for I think $300 last year? I managed to get two and I am so grateful. Incredible doll
You're right! My dolls are special bc out of the available thousands of designs on the market I chose them to bring home and love! 💖 And those who I choose to repaint become one of a kind, so yeah, I don't think I'll ever hunt for limited editions unless the design is something super up my alley. I'm happy to see your collection though, it's like a little museum that you live in
I'm new to doll collecting. I really appreciate this video. I mostly do it because it's my favourite thing but I also hope to have dolls with value. Thank you for giving me a new perspective. Happy Doll Collecting!!🙂
Could you make a vid on where you get your pinkie Cooper and Novi star dolls? I would LOVE to get my hands on a Novi stars doll and pinkie Cooper but can't find any or their crazy expensive
The answer would not be helpful because I was gifted the novis and the pinkies I got like ten years ago at Toys R Us or thrifted 🫡 (I have bought a few online for reasonable prices too - I have lots of doubles. The price went up because they’re a fad rn. Just wait and watch the prices fall)
Yep, same thing always happens with the munchlings Disney releases. Their prices always drop after a year as people don't buy a $11 blind bag plush for $30~ lol
This memory will always stick in my head, when it comes to dolls that are labelled as rare, and dolls that are actually rare, that memory that will always be there is, I saw a Bratz Felicia on eBay priced at over £700, while I say a Black Francie from Barbie priced at over £450, the Felicia is a mass produced doll that’s just popular, the Black Francie is a doll that was limited to I believe 500 back in the 60s.
The rarest doll in my collection I just acquired. It’s an Emily the Strange comic con exclusive “anti-hero” doll from 2010. She’s a limited edition of 250. My aunt passed away about 6 years ago and she was a huge doll and hello kitty collector. My uncle just started letting us go through boxes for my collection and my mind has been blown at some of the dolls she had. I was expecting porcelain or Barbie but she was such a vast collector. BJDs, pullips, monster high, kelly’s, and a ton of dolls I’ve never heard of before. Its so bittersweet because I never got to meet her before she passed but I kind of feel like I’m able to know more about her, it’s made me realize my collection represents such a large part of my life.
As a very casual amiibo collector, yeahh this. Some of the most random amiibo figures have absolutely spiked in price, and it's hard to predict what will happen (kept a limited 2016 release in box to this day, and...they got rereleased and brought back down to rrp in recent years. The similar 3 pack release that I opened though? 2x rrp now. I'm happy though, I like my figures regardless of money)
Thank you so much for this - I have dyscalculia and often need to peer review prices because I cannot properly understand the value of numbers or conceptualise them, so doll prices can be a struggle for me. Especially when people are dishonest about the value to cost ratio. ... that and it makes me sad to see dolls rot on ebay listings for absurd prices when they could be going to a new, loving home. You do NOT need to be selling an incomplete monster high doll for 100 dollars 😭
All rare dolls are actually not expensive by any means, I have one of a kind prototype dolls that most people wouldn’t care about! Rare, obscure dolls that don’t have notoriety sell for 10x less than a monster high doll with a million units every day!
@@xCanadensis Thx for the info I was actually debating whether to put “most” or “all” in the made up quote but put “all” instead cuz I thought it sounded better. I obviously did not do my research lol
I love when u educate us 💜 What makes a doll collection special is what the dolls mean to their collector! Most collectors probably don’t have “rare” dolls tbh
I would kill for your queen amidala. I recently discovered that it was a short lived series dedicated to her costume design and now I'm determined to get all of them as I have one with the box I found
I refuse to buyMonster High dolls from Resellers, because they seem to think mass produced dolls are somehow "rare" because they dont make G1 aside form collector dolls. I want Isi Dawndancer badly but im not paying $50+ for an incomplete doll with stains and messy hair.
Yeah "rare" on a listing or worse "RARE HTF" on 20 different listings for the same doll should be the indicator most fans need lmao some things are genuinely hard to find but most things labeled as such are not at all.
I’m currently buying doubles of an Elise and Erica for their wedding outfits, and them in box. But there are soooo many listings for them for over $300 even out of box which is insane cause they are clearly not rare in the slightest.
I do always say that the Princess and the Pauper dolls are rare, but not because of the dolls themselves, but the cost of them being cheaper than $50 in good condition IS rare. 😅
Maybe Novi Stars and Pinky Cooper not rare where you are, but in countries where they never made a debut they can be considered one. We dont even have proper thriftstores so finding one only leaves ebay and such and those are always overpriced. I would like to have 1 or 2 each (I like customizing), but no chance for quite a ehile (and even if the doll itself wouldnt cost that much sometimes shopping cost twice as much)
I’m not referring to my location, I’m referring to how rare they are in general… which is only slightly. If there’s 100,000+ available eventually the price will drop and even people from other locations can get them for good prices.
One can only hope, when I see such beatifull collections I get a little jelly... One day, maybe one day :) but so far couldnt even get a decent Merida doll around the shops we have here XD :(
Wow Brooke how you manage to keep them dust free!? Even out of box? Plz give us the next video tips for keeping out dolls nice and clean (I'm both NIB and out of box collection)
Unfortunately I’m not sure how much advice I can give - I think it’s the climate I live in and my pretty new AC system. If you haven’t replaced your air filters, you should do it about every 6 months (you can clean some of them which is more eco friendly and economical)
@@xCanadensis Oh I see! Thanks for response :) unfortunate a wildfire was near at my city and the next day the dress of my Esmeralda LE was full of ashes :(
I have an Erika doll that I got at a garage sale as a kid and one that my mom gave to me as a gift a couple years back that's still in the box. Didn't realize people considered them "rare." They are absolutely not at all. It's crazy to me that people would spend hundreds of dollars on an Erika doll, but maybe that's because I got both of mine essentially for free. Also, this has nothing to do with the video, but my name is Ericka, and I had no idea the doll's name until after the garage sale. It was a funny coincidence. That was probably my favorite barbie as a kid just because we have the same name, lol
@@xCanadensis one of them yes, the other I painted thinking it wasn’t a special doll(I found out yesterday when trying to find its age, still didn’t find its age though)
Its supply and demand. There is a higher demand for some older dolls, which makes them rare. Play line dolls usually have more demand because people had them as children. Most will get destroyed over time or thrown in the garbage. Finding a doll in box form lets say 20 years ago, does make it rare, and because it has a high demand they price will be higher.
Yeah! The video is supposed to explain the difference between something that is “in demand” and something that is /actually/ rare. And lots of dolls nib from 20 years ago are very common, especially virtually any Barbie doll.
I feel like rareness in dolls mostly has to do if they are 1) in amazing condition and still have all their parts and 2) how many verified people actually have one of the dolls. It’s not really a competition to see who has the rarest dolls, but just a means of showing how much money you can spend on inanimate objects (THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH IT DON’T TAKE IT NEGATIVELY PLEASE!!)
It shouldn’t be a competition in any way :/ it’s a hobby like watching movies or reading… we’re simply enjoying the dolls and it becomes toxic when it’s a contest
@@xCanadensis its been years since I started collecting and i am still looking for them 😭 ive seen so many listings but every single time they are sooo overpriced, i am giving up really
They can be “rare” in the sense that they are very hard to get your hands on because they are so well loved. Like sure there are a lot of them, but it’s rare to find them on the market?
@@Cllocopine valid distinction but that would be “HTF” (hard to find). Implying the doll is literally rare is trying to fool the buyer into paying more and thinking it’s justified because it’s a truly “rare” item. When I’m looking for a doll that’s high in demand but also high in quantity i set a price I want to pay (let’s say I’ll pay $50 for the Novi Stars doll I really want, about double her retail cost? and then I just wait until one comes up.
Ironically they were nearly all gifts! I’ve never actually found one thrifting somehow 😭 I think they’re becoming more and more rare because they’re such terrible quality dolls that people probably throw them away
What made you decide to open them? I am a holiday barbie collector and I am dying to open them! But I have been taught to keep it in the box. But I'm dying to know what their shoes look like! 😂
I collect for me and my enjoyment and not because I want to preserve value for the future! I know I don’t enjoy them as much in box so I unbox them. A lot of people prefer in box dolls but I just do not
It’s always been extremely popular! I’m just showing limited edition, expensive collector stuff. It’s so popular that even the regular playline dolls sell for a lot because they’re in demand
The only one known to be named, at least as far as I’ve heard, is Vermina which is the one I have. She was found in old factory scrap and I purchased her from someone in China
Idk! I don’t really care what they can sell for - I know what I paid for everything in my collection but I don’t really want to volunteer that information because people are weird
@@Cleodenile_1 I find that they're less rare and more so hard to find once major retailers stop selling them. They were still massed produced, but after their initial sales you kinda have to look to the secondhand market. Meanwhile, stocks will usually be around longer for items that weren't exclusive, so they can be easier to find firsthand.
This video was before they came out but I know the edition size (and I learned it on good authority) and it’s much higher than any of the dolls in this video
@@xCanadensis okay thank you for the information, i found one at a thrift store and was wondering but i would never sell no matter how rare because she is such a grail to me
