Long story short, I made this Kenzie a while back for a friend. She has synthetic hair that only took a few hours to root. I only charged my friend about $150 for her. I feel like that’s fair…she’s a friend and it was one of my first dolls. Anyone else I would probably say $275-300. Well, fast forward to a few weeks ago. A guy messaged me on reborns asking for this doll with blonde, straight mohair. I told him that would probably be about $350. I told him I don’t really do customs. But I could make her and give him the opportunity to buy her before I list her. Then I started looking at mohair cost. Good blonde hair is expensive…especially straight. And how much would it take? I’m assuming about an ounce? So I emailed back and told them I can’t make it for less than $450. Then his wife emailed back saying wavy blonde mohair would be fine, but keep it around $300-350. I just emailed them back again. And said I can’t do it for less than $450. I explained that the hair alone would be $50 at minimum, and that’s for the cheap, hard to root stuff. And it would take as long to root her as it would take me to root 4-5 newborns. And also, shipping would be about $40 probably. I told them the only way I’m comfortable making her is with the synthetic hair. (I already bought blonde curly hair a long time ago to make this kit a blonde version of the one I already made.) I told them this synthetic hair version would probably be around $300 with $40 more for shipping. So…am I wrong? What’s a good price for this Kenzie? She’s going to take away time I could be using to make other $300-400 dolls that are way less time consuming. And if I did do mohair, how much would I need and how much should I charge? And how much does it cost to ship giant babies like her? 
I don’t know but I would definitely get the money upfront, at least for all the supplies…
Whatever you decide on, just collect a good deposit.
I have not made this particular doll before, but shipped a 3 month Joseph for around $35. Really it depends on where they live. If you are worried about it, you can always finish her, calculate shipping, then invoice them for the remaining balance along with the shipping.
I have no idea on price…just don’t give her away And Do get a non refundable deposit to pay for all you need for her…I remember you posting this Kenzie…she’s adorable. I have a kit for myself whenever that happens LOL OH and 3 month Joseph was almost 40.00 for me to ship with full insurance and sig con.
Thanks everyone. I don’t want to take a down payment because I flat out don’t want to do a custom. I always tell people up front that I will take their general request and see what I can come up with. Then I’ll offer it to them first before a list it. I don’t like customs because it’s hard to set a price up front. I don’t decide prices on any of them until I list them.
I told them I’m going to make the doll with the synthetic hair because the mohair option takes too much time and money. They can choose to take the version I can make within their budget. Or they can agree to pay the higher price. I wish I could make what they want for the price they want. But I just can’t justify my time for so little profit.
Such a cute Kenzie!
Hahaaa. You sound like me. I do not like customs at all for so many reasons. For a while I was doing exactly this: taking requests and giving people first option to purchase. But, believe it or not, people even got on my nerves with this, so now I do none of the above. No customs, no requests, don’t remake dolls that I’ve previously done. Nothing. I paint what I want when I want and whoever wants to buy is welcome. Apparently this is the only way I’m happy. 
Thank you. I really do love this kit. But she’s so time consuming.
I think that’s where I’m headed. Most of the time when I tell people this I never hear from them again. I do have a few people who have requested certain dolls for their kids. I call those affordababies. Those customers have been awesome. But people who want dolls for themselves can be very annoying. I actually had one keep adding requests to the point where she wanted a breathing baby with a beating heart that pees and poops. I told her she’s wanting more than I’m willing to provide. 
Oh my. That is crazy. Lol
I think the one that got me to the point of never taking requests again was a lady who wanted one for her daughter. I had a Summer Rain listed at that time, they loved my painting style, just not that sculpt. Okay, fine. I pull out all my kits and snap pictures. They choose a kit and started in on the requests. All kinds of emails the whole time. In the meantime my Summer Rain sells. So I finished up and sent the lady pics. I didn’t hear from her, which was weird because she had been emailing me a lot. Finally, they contact me to say they don’t like the doll (that was painted exactly as they requested). They prefer Summer Rain. 
Done, done, done. Never again. I don’t have it in me to deal with the nonsense.
That’s crazy. I think with my mouth I would have said I’m not God and these are just dolls. 
Don’t get me wrong…had she asked at just the right time, it’s likely I would have mailed her a 7 or 8 year old boy, maybe even a buy one get one free offer. 
Give birth and you’ll get exactly that…
Yep! I wanted to tell her that. I already birthed 4 and adopted 1. Now I’m 46 years old and I don’t think the baby factory works anymore. She’s gonna have to do that one on her own.