I have worked 2weeks in a mohair farm. Best time of my life ! I dislike other big goats tho. I prefer sheep.
Love it!
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Not only are prices going up…seems like quality is going down…I’ve seen so many people with defects in first quality kits.
I just had to replace limbs on both my Delilah and Elijah sculpts…big black spots that were very obvious and could not work around.
I think once prices have raised…they will not go back down.
With the USA basically printing an abundance of money…just because they can…we will see continuing inflation…for a long time…I’m thinking.
I have a feeling I will be picking and choosing very carefully which kits I buy in the coming days.
I will miss the days of…“ohmygosh…shes sooo cute…I HAVE to have her”…
Now…it will be…“if I buy…will it sell???”
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Now that I think about it, Mutton, just in case she started eating my tulips.
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I saw an article somewhere, that said the inflation will go down and won’t really last long.
I think that inflation will not be short lived. Kit production by Joy Dolls will be stopped for July and August because they are out of vinyl and don’t think they will begin to be able to pour again for a couple of months. Any new pre-orders won’t be available at the dealers until probably this winter.
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My grown son loves goats and has always wanted to do just what you are talking about. He so wants to get a goat and walk it around on a leash, take it to the dog park and argue with people who try to convince him it’s not a dog. Wish there was a rent-a-goat place so we could make it happen. His wife is not going to go along with having a goat living at their house!
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In general, not specifically about dolls.
We have a guy here were I live that you can call, he has a whole “heard” (? I am a city girl) that he can bring to you. Our city hires him to have his goats eat down the grass that grows in empty fields, near the over pass, or anywhere else it can grow, dry and be a fire hazard. His goats get fed the grass disappears and he makes some money, it is so cool to drive by and see 50 or more goats having lunch.
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I meant in general too!
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True:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
I doubt it. Supplies are hard to get everywhere in most businesses. So that’s going to cause inflation. And all the increased wages will absolutely cause inflation.
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And yet Amazon is still selling knock offs for 30 a kit -with the dog- what is that about? Why are knock offs still so cheap and the authentic kits are going up?
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Because knockoffs cut out all the middle men. They come straight from the factory. With legit kits, sculptors deserve some pay for their work. My post above from Melody Hess explains it.
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Their quality is lower. They do not guarantee no carcinogens released when heated. They are less detailed. Some of the vinyl is nowhere near as nice.
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They don’t pay sculptors, they don’t have to pay for things like making a mold out of the clay sculpt, they can throw whatever they want into the vinyl mixture and they don’t have to pay for quality control. I’d also assume their workers are paid less and/or work in worse conditions.
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I’m new to selling. I have sold two babies. I don’t have a leg to stand on for opinions on pricing. Also, I don’t feel the need to set someone else’s prices. Whatever an artist feels their work is worth ya know?
All that said, I do get irritated about low ball prices. Like if you pay $1,000 for a doll how does anyone figure selling it for $1,200 is OK? That barely breaks even in most cases. I’ll limit that opinion to well done babies because the horrific ones deserve to be that low or even taking a loss on them.
I priced a doll for I what felt was in the ball park for the quality of paint job I did. Of course I could be pretty delusional about this too. There was a lot of interest in that baby but EVERY SINGLE TIME they found out the price it was some nasty response. “You’re crazy.” “I never heard of you before. New artists have no business pricing their dolls anywhere over half what the blank costs.” “You are a scammer. Leave me alone.” “This kit sells for far less than that. Good luck with your over inflated opinion of your crap paint job.”
I could go on and on. All of those responses were from Facebook. I’m about to retire my account there. Sorry for the rant.
Back on topic, with kit prices going up and artists seriously low balling a finished doll, I’m very discouraged myself. I have a custom that initial estimate was agreed to be $450. Well, I messed up the eyebrows and we agreed to $380. I see babies around the same quality as my custom go for $200 or less. Like, is there even a point to me buying a kit for $100 of I won’t be able to sell it for over $200?
I’m upset about it enough that I’ve been thinking about selling my vinyl kits at cost and keeping all 3 silicone babies I have.
As a matter of fact, a big factor in the decision to keep Andrew was because I don’t feel like it is fair that just because he’s my first FBS that I shouldn’t be able to price him with similar quality. I’ve seen better painted than mine go for far less. Like I said, I don’t care what an artist sets a price to as really. My biggest issue is being able to recoup funds and be able to keep making babies. I can’t even break even on a baby with the average prices unless I downgrade my materials. I refuse to use less than what I think is top quality. It won’t last and I know it.
Back to the vinyl kits, how will I make enough off of them to keep going once prices rise to $150-200 average for a newborn size? Of course then when vinyl prices go up, silicone will too and if that happens, I’m done. I’m not paying over $2,000 for a blank silicone. This hobby isn’t worth that kind of money just to be told I’m a nobody artist (I am but still) and insane for my price.
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Try selling on reborns.com. There’s a good market there and a variety of skill levels. I know what my dolls are worth. I occasionally lower the price a little, but not very often. I just leave them listed until someone who loves them finds them. Sometimes it takes awhile. That’s okay. I’ve never had anybody attack me like the Facebook members did you. You don’t have to sell at a loss simply because somebody who doesn’t understand the costs of making a reborn wants a cheap one. Don’t sell your dolls for $200 just because someone else does. The only ones I’ve ever sold under $200 were micro preemies and I’ve raised my price on those because the kits are more expensive now and those tiny parts are harder to paint. Don’t quit and don’t underestimate your skills. Just don’t sell on Facebook if people are that mean, rude and disrespectful. Go where your work is understood and valued. The first doll I ever sold was purchased for $350 and they didn’t bat an eye.
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I appreciate this. I get frustrated but I think I will stick to reborns.com from now on. Maybe it’s just the groups I post in but lord have mercy. I didn’t think Andrew was that bad ya know? Maybe it is sour grapes. In any case, I’m keeping him because I have a weird emotional attachment to him. I’ve got some dolls about to be finished and I’ll just plop them on reborns.com and see how it goes.
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I struggle selling. I have raised my prices recently and it has helped, but I have some dolls sitting here for more than a year. They are not bad at all. I can’t afford having dolls piling. I have no storage for themm. Even less for bigger dolls like toddler.
It’s a bit frustrating.
I have thought about turning into silicone, but after the sale of Genevieve fell off, there was no interest in her anymore.
I don’t want to low ball my artwork and don’t want to accumulate reborns that doesn’t sell either. It’s a crual situation. With all the fake kits and counterfeit reborns on one side and the raising price of legitimate kits, I feel like in an impass.
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