That’s awesome!!! Thanks for the update Nevin! We are rooting for you.
To answer your question, I think they’ve increased.
TL:DR I think there are more people buying the counterfeits who have no clue what they’re buying than there are spiteful collectors who know and don’t care.
Here’s what I’m seeing:
I haven’t seen many BB fakes in the wild a lot, usually just Realborn Darren Asleep. I noticed him sold in a Facebook moms group a maybe 6 months ago. The seller was a mom too, she also sold like clothes and stuff. She had some relationship with an unnamed doll factory but she really didn’t understand at all what she was selling - she’s a drop shipper…I messaged her and showed her that Darren is a real human baby and it’s wrong to steal his image without credit, consent, or payment, and she actually agreed to stop using pictures of Darren but she would still keep selling all the other dolls because I didn’t show pictures of those real babies… she really didn’t understand I guess, but she was small potatoes compared to TikTok…
What worries me most is what I see on TikTok. For the record I didn’t even want to join TikTok but I have accepted that it’s a great way for us artists to reach new collectors. [Tangent: People are always saying our sales are too low, so what should we do, lower our prices? no! I think that means we need to expand our reach instead. We need more new collectors to join the fun! More customers will lead to more sales.]
When you search “reborn” on TikTok will you get almost all sponsored ads for Babeside and similar brands… it’s messed up that TikTok allows these counterfeiters to use their ads platform, and even more upsetting when the counterfeiters send free dolls to random regular people to review and promote. I’ve even seen videos of reviews from kids!! There are hundreds of people on TikTok buying and selling counterfeit reborns through various affiliate programs and they have NO IDEA the dolls are stolen or who they’re stolen from.
On a whim one day I went into a livestream of some of a random woman showing a counterfeit she selling as a Babeside brand affiliate (drop shipper) I said in the chat “do you know those are stolen?” and in real time I watched her react to me with shock and sadness. Heartbreakingly, she didn’t know at all. She was upset and wanted to talk to me more so I could explain. Privately, we messaged back and forth, I explained everything, and it was sort of a good conversation but also heartbreaking that I made her feel so bad and sad about what she’d promoted, she really had no idea what she signed up for. The website selling the dolls she was working with said explicitly that they were original dolls. She even asked them after I started talking to her. They’re liars! but how are regular people to know better? She kept asking me about specific dolls and I did my best to match the fakes with the authentic kits I recognized. Luckily I have ay good eye for that… the one they call “Lucy” that’s Lou Lou…
“Olivia” is April by Joanna Kazmierczak
“Daisy” is Missy by Natalie Blick
“Stella “ is Bonnie by Linda Murray
“Maddy” is Maddie by Bonnie Brown
“Noah “ is Levi by Bonnie Brown
“Doreen” is Saskia by Bonnie Brown
there were a few I couldn’t match. Idk if those were actual original sculpts or just ones I don’t know.
In the end she agreed to stop promoting the counterfeits, but she couldn’t delete the old videos because of TikTok’s policies (if you delete videos they punish you in the algorithm) and she had a contract she had to fulfill. That’s where we left off. ugg. It just sucks for everyone. These sellers of course should do more research, but it’s not like Google is going to show them how to tell the difference between real dolls and fake ones and why it matters.
After that experience I don’t think that messaging these random people personally is enough, it takes too much time and emotional effort on both sides. What I wish is for TikTok (and China, lol) to stop allowing the fakes at all… idk if we’d ever get that… maybe we’ll have better luck fighting it on other platforms? maybe we can drown out the fakes with getting people excited about authentic dolls instead? maybe the sculptors can ban together for big lawsuit against Babeside specifically? An even bigger issue is that we need to educate people that buying toys for kids or stuff themselves from offshore factories with no safety checks and accountability is gambling with their family’s health but that’s a separate issue… maybe we can prove that the fakes contain lead, would people even care? idk.
but yeah I know this comment is long, if you’re still reading let me know if you ever want to hop on the phone to chat. I have a background in digital content management… anyway yeah it really feels like TikTok is making things worse, but it’s not all bad. There are some glimmers of hope, one being that some nicer content creators (cough cough not you know who) get a lot of views and are spreading awareness about the hobby in general and how to buy authentic.
In February I came across a paid ad for Ashton Drake for the first time, I was excited to see that. So that’s another good thing. At least some of the ads on there aren’t for scam dolls but I cannot emphasize enough how prolific the counterfeits are there. It’s inescapable and has changed how I feel about people using the word “reborn” because we need to meet new collectors who find out about reborns BECAUSE of the counterfeits where they are and support them growing their collections to include authentic dolls too.
Other things I’ve noticed:
- It didn’t take very long for Lily and Irys K to be counterfeited, it was shockingly fast
- The counterfeiters are now modifying kits in ways that make them even more desirable, for example an awake version of Pickle, a silicone Laura, a mini version of Levi. I think these fakes are more desirable than the original authentic dolls to some people, people who don’t understand for various reasons, including the misinformed collectors who feel comfortable buying fakes as long as they’re slightly different than the original (people who don’t understand that sampling and fair sure are a legal defenses and not always okay within copyright law)
- I report every counterfeit I see on Mercari, which has a reporting styem that specially lets you select “counterfeit item.” idk if it’s making a difference. There are more authentic ones than fakes on there though. Some people direct their customers from TikTok to Mercari.
Thanks for listening to my TED talk!
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. Tik Tok is a huge platform.