I understand the age restriction. I’m comfortable with my daughter…she is very mature and when it comes to her baby dolls she cares for them like real babies. She gently dresses them, carries them around, and treats them with great care. Our main risk is with her friends but when they come over we make sure to put them up high or tell them (depending on the friend) that these are “special” dolls and not to be played with. That being said, I don’t think she “needs” a $400 doll so I’m resetting expectations and we’ll pick something a little less.
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I think most 8 years old are mature enough to take care of a reborn. I have 4 nieces and a daughter, age 5 to 12, all of them have one and except for my daughter they all take good care of them.
Edit : I mean they understand that a reborn is not a play doll. If a child want a doll to play, dress, feed and bath all the time, it’s maybe not a good choice !
These ones are all Kristy Leigh Walker’s dolls (I think all have sold) but like I said they are higher priced.
The kit you seem to be interested in is Saskia sculpted by Bonnie Brown. Her kit has been illegally copied. Her legitamate kit is still available though but out of stock… I think they said until Jan. (that could change)
Her blank kit is $110. Most of that reborn will be $300 and up. She is 22 inches long and I think wears 0-3 month clothes.
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If you want a reborn doll that looks like any of those you see in the stolen photos, you will have to pay at least $500 or more from a good quality, experienced artist. These were painted by master artists, and some of the dolls in the photos were prototypes of limited edition kits. China doesn’t make master artist quality reborns or even the really nice ones sold by artists who are not master artists that look really good. China doesn’t make real reborns at all, actually. They make cheap knockoffs that they call “reborns”, but they are NOT reborns.
reborns. com is a good place to find a real reborn, and there are different price ranges there.
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There are several Saskias under $400 available on Reborns.com as well as many other less priced dolls.
I think if you will order today you still will get a box before Christmas.
https://www.reborns.com/index.cgi?find=saskia&sub=Search
I have one very lovely sold out limited edition baby from my collection (not my work) listed for sale which I can ship tomorrow.
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Unfortunately it’s a scam site 
There is a thread on this forum stating “available babies” from forum members, and reborns.com alot of sellers list there as well
Gosh, so many sites and as some people said, these names are just ridiculous. Usually a rule of thumb is if you haven’t heard of the site, or it looks sketchy, then don’t buy from them. Then a lot of these people who get scammed knows the dolls are likely from China, where lots of counterfeit items come from, and they surely wouldn’t buy anything else from these websites, knowing they may have poor quality or small clothes that does not look anything like the model.
It sucks to see this many people getting scammed, but at the same time, now there are lots of warnings out there about these sites. Then these people who do “research” before hand, they should know a good quality reborn doll costs hundreds, with budget babies costing at the most $200. $60 is too good to be true! They should also know these dolls are one of a kind. They are not getting the exact doll in the picture.
It’s getting to be so many and sales have been horrible for most artists due to these sites taking Christmas business away.
I am on several facebook groups and most posts are “I got scammed”. Now it feels like people are using the scammed thing (who may not had ordered from these sites) to just get discounted dolls.
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I agree. Granted of course there are some that didn’t know it was a scam as they don’t know about reborns. However you’ll also see those who have been in Reborn groups for months (based on past posts etc) claiming they didn’t know and there have even been some who have been caught using others photos and screen shots to claim they have been scammed by these sites. I’m never one to blame the “victim” and am certainly NOT trying to, but my question is if they don’t know anything about reborns, how do they find Reborn groups, this forum and other forums…after they buy from a scam site but not before? Its not a attack on anyone nor am I calling anyone a liar, it’s just odd
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It’s mostly because people do their research AFTER they got scammed. So they found thoses groups and forum too late. It’s always the case with everything.
It’s like buying a kitchen stove, have problems with it, then found all the bads reviews afterwards, when searching for a solution…
Yes, I realize that now which is why I found this site. Over the last two weeks I’ve watched the shipping notifications from this company and something wasn’t sitting right with me. Then the red flags started adding up. Until finding this site and reading about these scammers I had no idea that reborns were created by artists and were often one-of-a-kind. Fascinating.
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It’s different if a dad, elderly person or someone, who has no interest in dolls himself or can be kind of naive about the internet and know how to look up google reviews/info goes on these sites to buy one…of course they may not have any idea. I also think some people are just being cheap or don’t appreciate the value of art. There is also the fact of instant gratification where people don’t want to save the money, and just wish this doll turns out how it does in the picture.
If proper research is done, just by googling “reborndollshop”, this shows up on the 3rd result: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/reborndollshop.com
@Leabelle - you’re right. They do or they join the group then see they got scammed, then I hate it when they say things like, “I am turned off by reborns. People are not trustworthy.” Well your fault you bought from a scam site. It would be different if they got scammed by an actual “artist” or person selling 2nd hand.
I have also seen a few people who didn’t learn their lesson the first time and got scammed a 2nd time…smh.
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Agree 100% with everything you said!!
In a perfect world it will be like that. I agree that it’s not easy, like an inclusive group.
I saw my first reborn on Etsy. I look several of them, and found them amazing. I then look for reborns dolls on Google, and found this forum. I watch YouTube. Took me a long time to figure out what they really are, the difference between reborn and silicone, etc.
But I was searching for reborns as artwork.
People today, with YouTube, they have a young child who get excited about reborns unboxing and roleplay, often videos with Ashton Drake or Paradise Gallery made by children, ask mommy to have one. One that breath, cry, pee and they can bath… Mommy didn’t know better than buy on a “reborn store”.
Or people search for toy dolls and land on them, find them beautiful. They do not realize.
Even if there was an Association, or an informative website, who will look at it before hand ? Those persons haven’t heard of reborns before !
We WANT people to do research. Not just browsing Google and buy the 1st they see.
We can teach them all we want, but they won’t listen until after they’ve been scammed.
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Saw today on FB where someone said these dolls have a stickiness to them, which may be the toxic chemicals coming out of the cheap vinyl. Ewwww.
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For an 8 year old you might consider a berenger la newborn doll, they can be found at Walmart and sometimes target online, there are several types some with cloth bodies and some with full vinyl bodies. They are a wonderful alternative to reborns for children and beautiful babies though not artist specific, and they fit into preemie clothes or American girl bitty baby and bitty twin clothes also.
Another option, if she is artistic at all may be learning to reborn herself, knowing I wasn’t much older (10) when I started learning to reborn and it can be super fun to learn, if she’s mature and enjoys painting or such things she may find that just as enjoyable.
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Well now not all of us who got scammed were looking for a cheap deal on a reborn. I wasn’t looking for a reborn and didn’t know what they were or that they existed. My daughter wanted a baby doll for Christmas that looked real. Aside from Ashton Drake we didn’t know any other companies so I googled “life like baby dolls” and viewed google “IMAGES” …hundreds and hundreds of images. Suddenly she saw Truly Hailey and fell. in. love. I made a rash decision to splurge and ordered 3 dolls from a company I didn’t know on a Friday night at 9pm when I was exhausted and not at my best decision making self.
I typically research the hell out of everything. I over do it all the time. Today for example, I’ve been here multiple times reading and reading and searching for the quality sites you’ve all shared with me. I’ve learned so much. First that there are doll kits, with names, that artists buy and customize for their clients. I had no idea that happened. Not everyone is familiar with Reborns. Second, the photo my daughter picked was a doll that I would never buy for her because it would cost (as one of you told me) $1,000! Third, we are not in the business for a true Reborn doll…at least not now.
I’m mad at myself for not seeing the little red flags. I’m really mad that I might be out $400. But I’m also sorry that your artistry is being hacked and there is little to be done about it. I’m sure that as soon as one scam site goes down they just change the domain name and pop it right back up again.
At least today we have one more educated person and I shared the knowledge with my daughter. We looked at the doll photo and how beautifully she was colored, the palate choices and how the colors blended. The details of the knuckles and the sheen in her eyes. Now she understand too that those dolls are hand painted works of art and that maybe one day she will own one. But for now, she will be happy with a nice baby doll…maybe an Ashton Drake. We’ll leave the $200+ dolls on the shelf for now.
To those of you who patiently educated me today - thank you. I’ll spread the word and share with my friends too.
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Most people who want to research will easily find information on Reborns. My downfall was that I was just looking for a high-end baby doll for my 8yo and I made a rash decision in my exhausted haze on a Friday night when my daughter saw “Truly Hailey” and fell in love. I just thought I was shopping for baby dolls. That being said, I still should have looked more closely at the company website. I found it through Google and then Amazon and they used PayPal. I skimped on my research of the company and might be out $400 for it. That’s my own fault. But this site has been an amazing resource today. I’ve learned so much.
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