He seems to pay attention and consider all the feedback.
Honestly it is a great platform.
Curious to see if it is something he would consider? There is no other platform that listens to community feedback.
Options are
Etsy- so expensive but great visibility and it’s beautiful.
eBay: terrifies me and it has high fees.
Social media, it can be risky and it’s limited visibility.
Reborns: 20 bucks a month, captured audience, as many photos as you want, video, archived nursery, built in safety, no knock offs, and 89 dollar factory babies.
I use to be annoyed by only getting one baby listed a day, but I found a way to make it work.
When those Pre-Loved were not identified as ‘Pre-loved’ and you ONLY can learn about that from their listing (in case the seller is honest and doesn’t list it as brand new), and they ALWAYS were mixed with newly created dolls no-one said a word.
Now that they are clearly marked as Pre-loved and even have their own tub it’s a problem?
Those people who sell them pay their membership the same as everyone else. I consider myself an artist, but I plan to sell dolls from my collection, so why shouldn’t they be exposed as everyone else?
I do like Pre-Loved identification because it was interesting for me to learn how many dolls get re-sell and which sculpts re-sells the most even after release. There is interesting statistics there, people.
It’s a great platform for sure. And yes he listen to feed back. A bit too much. He should just, listen, than make reasonable decision instead of try to implement every suggestions. Trying to please everyone is not easy. By doing that it gives a site that goes everywhere with no consistency.
A selling platform should be simple to use, to list and to browse.
With too many options to check the boxes it’s not easy anymore. The search fonction is painful to use and don’t work well. I still can’t search efficiently by size.
It’s becoming less enjoyable.
This is my problem! If alternatives which are brand new and take just as much work for the artist, and are absolutely just as much of a reborn don’t qualify for the front page, then the preloved ones shouldn’t either. They need to be strictly limited to their own tab just like the alternatives are now.
Also, on that subject you can add the filter to include alternatives and/or preloved. But not everyone knows that. And it appears that the preloved dolls default into being shown unless you click to not include them. But the alternatives default into not showing unless you click for them to show.
It is impossible, in this world, to make everyone happy. Maybe he doesn’t know that yet – I spoke with an older lady in a store a week or so ago, and at one point I thought she was going to start crying. So, I asked her what was wrong. She said, “I am just trying to please everybody here.” I told her it is not going to happen – not in this life. The same for Dave’s site. Also, maybe I shouldn’t have an input since I don’t sell dolls, but it seems something like cheating to me for someone who does not have the artistic gift to paint the dolls to buy from someone who DOES have that gift and then resell them. I mean – Oh, I can’t make dolls to sell, BUT, I will just buy some and resell them to make money that way.
I saw Dave say at one point that when he created reborns, he didn’t do it with alternatives in mind. I have been a member on his site for over 6 years now. I can say that he probably didn’t have “pre-loved” dolls in mind either when he created it. It was a place for artists to come and sell their work. In which case it would all be new dolls. The amount of “pre-loved” dolls that are on there now is the most there has ever been. When I first joined it was rare to see a pre-loved doll on there.
For me, if you are going to let pre-loved dolls have the same perks of new reborns listed, he needs to let that happen with the alternatives as well then. Just my opinion.
I like that we can see it now I just think it should be like the alternatives. No front page unless you choose to see them (once he finally adds the button)
Or let all be on the front page like before… with out the changing categories upon personal opinion of what a reborn is.
This is the SELLING site. And every artist is happy when their sell a doll, so artists are benefiting from their buyers. When buyers have too many, or don’t like the artists work, or for whatever reason - they have the right to sell (for whatever price they want to sell) using this SELLING platform.
I have noticed a lot of pre-loved dolls but I have one up myself. I can see making a separate category for them and would even be fine with them not getting front page view as long as those looking for one can go to a place on the site to look for them specifically. Some are looking for a good deal and might find some of them more affordable. I dunno…
I too have noticed a massive increase in pre-loved dolls on the site. I’d love to believe that it’s just people on the quest for their perfect baby, buying to inspect and then selling on when it wasn’t perfect. Unfortunately some people are listing so many of them in such quick succession that it feels more like they’re just being flipped for profit.
I feel that at this point, actual doll artists deserve to be set apart from doll resellers. We need to be allowed to watermark our photos to show that a doll is coming straight from the nursery that created it and it’s not being sold as a second hand doll. This would have the added bonus of adding a level of protection against photo thieves.
I recall when Dave was shouting from the rooftops here about how his membership package was still a great deal when he got rid of the $10 tier just before the Christmas rush a couple of years back. His emphasis was on all of the exposure and advertisement that his platform would provide. Now the dolls that artists are listing are being pushed from the front page so fast that it could make your head spin. If I have to dig through 6 pages of “pre-loved” dolls to find a doll listed last week, how is that exposure? He posts each new doll once on Facebook, and once on Instagram… And if someone follows your nursery, they get an email as well. This doesn’t seem like $20 worth of exposure and advertisement to me. Not when new dolls are being buried so quickly by used dolls.
Maybe it’s just me, but during our ongoing battle with the China scam dolls, haven’t we been telling everybody that ordering from reborns was the only way to ensure you would get what you pay for? The only site that didn’t allow scams and knockoffs? We have driven a huge amount of traffic to his site with no thanks to show for it. The least he could do is allow us to use watermarks. I believe it would make the site appear more professional as well.
Definitely agree. It’s not a crime to list pre-loved dolls, it’s just that it’s overrunning the site. I would love if he had a section for them so people could browse that tab and look for a good deal. It’s kind of like shopping at a department store, then going to another section, usually in the back, for the clearance rack.
Having used other platforms, 20 bucks a month is a steal. Etsy charges you 12-15% extra just to “advertise” and that isn’t for you specifically, it’s for them. If you sell a baby after someone has clicked on an Etsy link you pay.
If you only list one baby a month on reborns it might not seem that great a deal, but you could hold off, list 2-3 at one time and just pay for that month?
This isn’t a marketing site as much as a selling platform. I feel like I am responsible for my own marketing. I don’t depend on front page and have never used my credits for for front page I don’t think, not sure I have figured out how to yet.
I think the front page draws you in but having a tab helps you if you have something specific in mind.
I have a few friends who enjoy window shopping, searching, reading bio’s. It’s an experience and they take their time looking for the perfect baby.
It’s so many sellers it keeps the site fun to come back to, there are always new babies.
It’s not that, it’s a frustration build on having to compete with fake then compete with used. As artists we struggle a bit to stay ahead.
I don’t mind having preloved dolls on the site, just maybe not on the front page.
I disagree with you for the reasons that I already stated;
they always were on the front page before, but never was identified as ‘pre-loved’ before - no one has a problem with that before;
this is the selling platform, not ‘look at my artistry’ platform;
reseller pays the same membership fee and should have equal rights.
You would argue then ‘what about alternatives’, and this is where I agree with @jlesser - while they have their own tab (like ‘Pre-Loved’) they should have front page exposure.
I agree. I didn’t realize Alternatives were moved off the front page. That stinks. I mean kits don’t get featured as far as I can tell so I guess Dave has certain categories that can’t be featured? But for preowned dolls I agree that a paying member should have the same benefits as if the doll is new. (I think alternatives should too but its up to Dave). I’m saddened by the amount of people turning around and reselling the dolls quickly- especially for a large profit. But there are also just regular collectors that want to sell their dolls there. I am one of them. I don’t flip dolls or sell them right away unless I don’t like the kit or just didn’t bond. Personally, I’d rather see a customer sell the doll instead of telling me something is wrong with it and try to return it when it’s just that they didn’t like the kit or whatever. Again, I think I’m in the minority with this opinion but once the doll sells as long as I don’t have to take it back it’s the customers to do what they want. If they want to sell it because they don’t like it then it’s fine by me.
