I don’t like these changes. I never saw much difference in the 3 levels. I started with the Bronze membership and all of my babies sold at that level. Then Bronze was taken away, supposedly because no one was using it. I tried Gold for a month and didn’t sell anything. So I switched to Silver and that didn’t make much difference. So, I went to Gold, which is what I have now, but when I look at the site, it seems like my dolls have less exposure than they did before. I used one showcase credit yesterday and my showcased doll showed up under Just Born until the pictures started streaming and then it disappeared. The other doll I have listed didn’t show up anywhere until today. They used to drop down a few pages but they never disappeared entirely. I don’t like not having any choice and I don’t like having to pay extra for what used to come with the Gold membership. The free membership that he’s so proud of is no membership at all-just more effort for buyers to find your nursery. I think the next change is going to be charging a percentage fee.
True… he can have half the memberships and make the same money. 
I’ll be interested to see how many people stay and how many dolls they sell. I don’t think this was a good change but I could be wrong. We’ll see, I guess.
I’ll be staying, for a while anyway, because I hate Facebook and I don’t want to deal with the hassles on eBay, but I think Dave has made a big mistake with this change and will lose business in the long run.
I have always paid for the gold membership even when I didnt have babies to list on a somewhat regular basis because even if I wasnt posting there would still be one available for adoption show up on the scroll. Then in July I renewed my membership and didnt realize I only paid for silver. It took me 2 months to realize why I wasnt getting any traffic on anything I listed. When I realized what I did, I upgraded back to gold and was getting people looking again which did lead in some sales even if it was really slow.
At one point when I renewed it showed there were 154 gold members and 198 nurseries registered. So I think there are a lot more people who used the gold level than most realize. Which would explain for Dave’s reasoning in changes being made.
Also I know this is likely not going to be liked, but I feel needs to be said. Just because someone is able to list a baby most days does not mean they are mass producing them or that they are low quality. I usually take from the end up of April until the beginning of September where I still reborn but am posting very little. This time frame for me is very slow and I make very few sales, so I see no point in continuing to post what I have when they likely aren’t going to sell. I keep painted kits and assemble them when the busier time of year rolls around. So yes, for the month of December I may be able to post a doll nearly everyday, if I have them set aside from previous months. This doesnt mean that they are low quality. I spend a lot of time for months reborning so that when times like this roll around I have babies for adoption. You dont know what another artist may or may not be doing to be able to make posts. So to say that artists who do have them to post frequently are just mass producing low end dolls I dont feel is quite right. I reborn what I know has sold well for me and that may not be the same thing that goes for another.
I don’t think this change will weed out those mass-produced, all look-alike, hat pulled to the eyes so buyer can’t see eyebrows or unshaded ears and other lack of the details.
The RA who produces 1 doll a month will raise their prices to recover for more expensive membership, so the gap in price will grow even bigger. And as I learned on Reborns, majority of people want to buy as cheap as possible because despite the warnings that reborns are not a child toy they are buying them for kids, and those lowpriced ones sells faster. So it will not make a difference for mass-producing ‘artist’, but will make a big difference for good quality artists (regardless of level).
I don’t think Dave cares about what we, as users, are thinking. This is why he said what I understood as take it or leave it: “There it always Etsy.com/ebay/facebook where you can go and try to sell your items. At the end of the day you have to do what makes the most financial sense for what deliver results.”
I also don’t want to price my babies for $150 - $200 so they will sell to be a ‘child toy’ regardless of how careful the child might be. May be it’s an arrogant statement and sale is a sale - it’s not mine after I sold it. But that is my truth, as I paint my babies like they will be my keepers and I know how much time and love I invested in them…
It’s a sad change 
I agree.
If I was to continue reborning I wouldn’t be able to raise my prices, my dolls don’t sell if I price them any higher even waiting almost a year. It’s no fun to have to wait that long between painting dolls. Those with a reliable outside income wouldn’t have to deal with that as much, but as a disabled student with no job, its rough. Does anyone find it more difficult to just browse dolls with that “more for adoption” page gone? People almost need to have a specific idea of what they want, they cant just browse everything that’s available.
I miss when reborns.com was the answer to prayers and a solution to ebay, and Dave listened to what we needed and wanted and implemented it. It USED to be a site that was based on what the users wanted. This isn’t the case anymore and it seems he doesn’t care anymore either. Why just before Christmas too? That seems like bad planning to me.
I guess I really am done reborning. This was the last straw and I don’t think it’ll be feasible for me to return if I know I can’t afford to sell.
I agree. I can hardly find my own dolls and I think it was dirty pool for the Silver members to just lose half their listing time, especially 3 weeks before Christmas.
I just think it became to full of sellers and less buyers. Anyone who wanted to make a quick buck can slap paint on 20 babies a month and list them cheap… and they will almost all sell., 20 dollars a month no biggie if you are selling (for example) 20 dolls a month at 150.00.
I wish there was a way to have to have legitimate skill or experience to sell on sites. So not just anyone can buy a sculpt and hack it for a quick buck. But people buy those dolls… so, what can we do?
The only answer is to buy cheap sculpts and slap a little paint on quickly and sell cheap.
None of us are ever going to be willing to do that.
@YelenaRey said it perfectly… most of us paint like every doll is a keeper. And refuse to sacrifice our love and quality for a quick buck. I think there should be STANDARDS.
But there no way to insure that.
Helena that’s exactly what I did. My payment was due 12/5 so I thought I would try the gold. I have only sold one since Oct 5th. Then the next day or two he changed the plans. I do not like these new rules. I don’t advertise anywhere else plus I’m having some major health/pain issues so don’t go out much anymore. I have psoriasis arthritis with a major flare for several months. Painting these lovely dolls has helped get my mind off my circumstances. Sadly, I put my 10th doll on reborn.com tonight, unless I sell some before the 5th of January this e will probably be my last reborn doll, I can not afford to continue without sales and I am not a collector. I live in a small space, just no room. I will really miss painting, I’ve enjoyed it so very much and I’ve come a long way.
Today when I added Summer Rain I was rather shocked to see the new layout, I really don’t see how he thinks we artists are going to be happy with this system… however, maybe ill be surprised
Had it not been for this thread I would have not even known that anything had changed. Wow.
Being an artist who sold there for several years, doing just fine on bronze ($5) until that was taken away, then silver ($10) which has now been taken away, I am definitely not thrilled with the change, but I guess business is business. Dave sets up these sites to make money, so that’s what he’s doing… trying to make more money.
He isn’t wrong for any of the above, but I can’t say that I agree how this was carried out. The timing is just plain wrong. Secondly, I feel like we should have been given a heads up. “Hey, just want to make you aware that the following changes will be implemented as of January 2020” or something like that. I also don’t think it was right for those of us who bought a silver membership to just lose half the days, once again with no notice. I feel like those who had silver should have been allowed to keep their days, just not be able to renew at a silver level afterwards.
I am only now beginning to paint again after a 6 month break, but will not be able to produce many dolls due to only being able to paint for an hour or so at a time before pain forces me to stop. In other words, it will take me forever to produce a doll. Time will only tell if a $20 membership fee is worth it under these circumstances.
Absolutely. I even didn’t understood that from Dave’s initial ‘announcement’, only when he commented on Kimberly’s post it was like an eye-opening
Have been gold since the change because I didn’t feel like silver was as beneficial then. However I’ve not sold a doll in literally a year. I may end up with a whole lot of babies and kits that my son will have to dispose of when I die…
I read a few of the comments lately that Dave has posted and it’s basically the vibe of “ if you don’t like it- go try and sell your dolls elsewhere” here’s your money back that’s it. Kind of makes me nervous a bit because reborns.com was so perfect, but I guess everyone ends up trying to make more and more more money so I guess this is what’s happening. Where will my dolls go if I don’t now pay for “showcasing”?
This seems to have been a hard year for Reborn Artist. Everyone trying to get easy money from our hard work. Such a shame. Hopefully 2020 will give us our due! Here’s to Hard Working Reborn Artist Everywhere. May the next year show and prove how Awesome and Valuable we are!!!
I always did gold anyway… and the showcasing sounds interesting. I hope Dave’s experience , marketing and website intelligence is leading us to success. No one likes change… but I’m hoping this is for the better. Fingers crossed!
Me too, when you are down the only way is up right? 
I for one am done with reborns. com because I can’t afford to shell out $20 a month with only 1-2 babies in my nursery, which may sit for months without a sale. At least with eBay I don’t have to put any money out until a doll sells. And I know exactly how much profit I’ll get from that sale. If I have a single doll listed on reborns at $300 for 4 months I’ll make $220. Every month it sits on reborns will cost me $20 more in lost profits. The same doll sold on eBay will make more no matter how long it takes to sell. I don’t consider myself a top artist, but I don’t think I’m making cheap trash either. Even so my dolls rarely sell quickly so for me it doesn’t make sense to continue with reborns. And honestly, no matter what membership level I’ve tried, I’ve sold as many dolls through FB and eBay as through reborns.
According to what Dave says, they should go on Just Born and Featured Babies.
I’ve tried but only gotten time wasters. Others have luck with it though so maybe it’s just me.