2013 Fairytale Designer Collection

In France, at the paris store , it was ugly. There were about 30 people and more for 15 dolls , first come first serve. They gave ticket but didn't respect them at the end, some exchange their ticket after they got their dolls. but it didn't matter anyway... And then, the dolls were all in the cashier table, so people pushed away blocked some other to get their doll, you had the possibility to choose , so people had one in their hand, but decide to stay to see if there wasn't another which could be better than the one they got etc etc

and they weren't resellers... Some of them were from my french board forum, greedy and egoist people... no resellers because there are still no dolls from that day in sales in ebay from France.

They were ugly disney fan. I had tickets, didn't get my dolls. Others the same. Or you will have only avaible the box that is destroy ( the word is strong, not that destroy but huge flaw ) or very damage hair at the end. But even , they had been bought because it was crazy and people were ready to buy dolls with defects. No matter what.

A very sad experience .

wow the prices for the BATB are INSANE! LoL I honestly thought these sets were horrible looking; if it weren't for the princesses looking so nice I think they would have sat on the shelves. I would never pay that much for the designer couples. I wouldn't even pay that for my 17" collection and I like it WAYYYYY better than the designers.

What I find crazy is that during the Snow White doll release..there were a lot more girls/families at the raffle...now as these dolls go out, there are more stories of groups of men or older men, or HUGE families at the raffles..it's so crazy!

I got Belle online, (thank you for the link so much!) but when I have gone in store for the raffles there has been a mix of women and men. Some seem like collectors and some resellers. Some I hear talk about how it is for their daughter who is in school. There are two older guys I have seen every time but only one buys a doll even though they both put their name in the raffle. I think he is a collector and not a reseller. Either that or he is buying for his daughter or niece or someone who is a collector.

So far I have not seen the giant group of people who each bought all five designer dolls last year and were all from the same family.

I cant believe how crazy this is. I wasn't collecting when the Designer dolls came out, but some peoples reaction and the whole scalping/reselling thing just really disgusts me. I think its so sad for someone who really wants a doll as part of thier collection and they miss out. And that it could have gone to someone who is marking these WAY up and putting them on ebay. Its just so sad.

I also feel really bad for the Disney employees who cant enter the raffle or get a doll. I guess they could send a friend in for the raffle for them though. I talked to someone at a local DS who seemed like a collector too. I felt bad for them to not be able to get one.

Now Im REALLY freaking out about Ariel. She was really the only one I wanted from the start. I decided to go ahead and get Belle and Rapunzel too because I love them both and knew Id be upset if I missed out on them later. Thank you for posting the links for Belle, I was able to get her pretty quickly. I have planned to be at my local store for Ariel in two weeks. I just hope I can get her in the store rather than staying up to get her online that night. I know she is going to sell out so fast.

And then Im done with dolls until next year (LOL yeah right!). I have heard rumors of Designer Anna and Elsa, plus more DFDC couples next year, and of course they are doing something special for Sleeping Beauty. I MUST get a LE Aurora if they do one, and Aurora/Prince Philip if they do those.

I do agree it is frustrating that there are scalpers and sharks out there making it harder to buy these dolls but at the same time if people would just stop buying the dolls at the prices they put them up for then they will drop the price. So it sort of is a two way street if you think about it. Not saying that I support the secondary market but if what they were really doing was bad then the whole idea of ebay would technically be wrong because it is a website solely based on people selling their items on the secondary market.

It's a tough one because you do have people that want to just trade their dolls or sell them at market and you have those that just list them as an auction with a low price and it is because of the buyers that it ends up overvalued and not the seller. So sometimes it is just normal supply and demand and something that cannot be helped, so the way I see if is yes it is frustrating to see but at the end of the day if a buyer is willing to pay that much for it then let it be, so long as if you are able to get your dolls at retail then you should just be happy with that. By the way how many people on the forum purchased more than one doll just in case something happened to the other, how many have ordered two one to take out of the box and one to display? Isnt this similar to taking one away from another collector then?

Prior to Cinderella i had to build my entire LE and designer line from the secondary market and in some cases I had to pay a lot for them which some people might think is excessive but for me I figured it was fine as that is what I thought the dolls were worth on market. So I guess what I am trying to say is that yes scalpers can be annoying but at the same time if it wasn't for them I would not have been able to complete most of my collection as I had to rely on them to complete my collection. Yes I had to pay more but why should that matter to anyone else? I was willing to pay for it so because I thought it was worth it. Yes the profit the seller would have made is ridiculous but to them I say touche, they knew about it before I did and managed to find a market they could make money in so now to avoid all of that myself I just try to keep on top of it all and do my research and figure out ways I can stay on top of the scalpers so that I can get the dolls I want at retail.

Don't waste your time hating on the scalpers as that wont make a different spend that time instead staying one step ahead of them as that is all your really can do at the end of the day.

I agree with you Polaris.... To a certain extent , if u miss a doll, it's a given ... You will have to pay more to get it , and that's fine because that's what people are willing to pay , and yes sometimes I am thankful for say a chance to buy something that I didn't even know existed at one time. When I decide to sell something ( usually part of my collection) I always start the bidding on a low bidding ( usually at retail value) so people can pay what THEY feel the doll/ object is worth, as opposed to putting up a" buy It now " of astronomical amounts. For example : I am really after the wdcc rapunzel figurine which has not been put up for auctions for a long while, but instead listed at around $900 and above. No one buys them but they are relisted over and over again. The last auction for this figurine sold for $600, still a great investment for a reseller, but yet for some, it's not good enough to just have triple, or quadruple what they paid for an item. And that's when ( for me) it becomes and issue of greed.

Polaris, I agree with this as well. It something that my husband and I have talked about multiple times. ebay is not the problem, I love ebay and I am thankful that this site exists because I have been able to find things that I have been on the search for or missed out on, ebay is a wonderful tool. However, unfortunately people are the ones who drive the prices up. A lot of times people start these collectibles at very low prices and if they finish at a certain price then the scalpers and sharks now have a number to shoot for. Some people will always try to make $$, but it is definitely a two way street. I am pretty sure that most of us have used ebay at one point or another to find something we really wanted. It is frustrating when we see those outrageous prices, but then again sometimes these are the prices being set by the very same people who are buying them. I too list things at a low price or retail value, I know what it feels like to want something so bad and prices being outrageous, like the original Ariel designer doll that I am so desperately seeking. Every time I browse through ebay it looks farther and farther away of owning her. Since she has sold for over $500 in the past, now people aim for $500++. One day maybe....

RapunzelSalat said:

I got Belle online, (thank you for the link so much!) but when I have gone in store for the raffles there has been a mix of women and men. Some seem like collectors and some resellers. Some I hear talk about how it is for their daughter who is in school. There are two older guys I have seen every time but only one buys a doll even though they both put their name in the raffle. I think he is a collector and not a reseller. Either that or he is buying for his daughter or niece or someone who is a collector.

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So true that we really cannot judge a book by its cover (which is the lesson of Beauty and the Beast). Unless we actually hear a person claim that they are buying to resell, we never truly know the circumstances of why any particular person is buying something. There are a good number of male collectors of dolls and I am sure that many (if not most of them) have been assumed to be resellers if they showed up at the in-store raffles for the Designer and DFDC dolls, even though they were buying for themselves. Disney Princess and Villains collectibles, as well as dolls in general, are not just for girls/women: they are for anyone who is a fan of the characters. Now that said, yes, we do see a lot of these same collectibles being sold on the secondary market at varying price points. Resellers can be men or women.

I totally agree with Polaris that the secondary market is a necessary evil. Like Polaris, I had to use eBay to obtain all of the pre-Wedding Rapunzel 17" LE dolls, many of which were at least twice the original retail price. If only collectors had bought the dolls for their permanent collections, the chances of getting one as a new collector would be slim to none. That is one reason why LE Snow White and Designer Ariel do sell for so much, because when they were released the majority of the people buying them were not resellers. I have heard from CMs that LE Snow White originally took forever to sell out in the stores!

Shivatopia said:

I have heard from CMs that LE Snow White originally took forever to sell out in the stores!

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It's true. I remember seeing her there for a long time. Tiana took a while, too. I guess they picked up popularity with Belle? I didn't like her at all, so I never paid attention to how long she lasted in my local DS.

I personally have no problem at all with the Ebay resellers. I have young children and often times their needs have to come before things like collecting. It's reassuring to me that if I don't have the money for a doll that I really want, I can get it later. The sellers take a lot of risk with the things they try to flip. I imagine most of them lose money on some items and make money on others. On the bad side, I am nervous about Ariel also. The resellers will be out in full force along with the collectors. I am really pulling for everyone on here to get their Ariel Doll!!!

Tinkerboy said:

I cant believe how crazy this is. I wasn't collecting when the Designer dolls came out, but some peoples reaction and the whole scalping/reselling thing just really disgusts me. I think its so sad for someone who really wants a doll as part of thier collection and they miss out. And that it could have gone to someone who is marking these WAY up and putting them on ebay. Its just so sad.

I also feel really bad for the Disney employees who cant enter the raffle or get a doll. I guess they could send a friend in for the raffle for them though. I talked to someone at a local DS who seemed like a collector too. I felt bad for them to not be able to get one.

Now Im REALLY freaking out about Ariel. She was really the only one I wanted from the start. I decided to go ahead and get Belle and Rapunzel too because I love them both and knew Id be upset if I missed out on them later. Thank you for posting the links for Belle, I was able to get her pretty quickly. I have planned to be at my local store for Ariel in two weeks. I just hope I can get her in the store rather than staying up to get her online that night. I know she is going to sell out so fast.

And then Im done with dolls until next year (LOL yeah right!). I have heard rumors of Designer Anna and Elsa, plus more DFDC couples next year, and of course they are doing something special for Sleeping Beauty. I MUST get a LE Aurora if they do one, and Aurora/Prince Philip if they do those.

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There is usually one doll put aside for every 10that will be out on sale for Disney Store guests so cast members definitely have the opportunity to obtain le dolls.

I sometimes get annoyed with the prices they will list a single doll at but it really is up to the buyer. The buyer is the one who decides how much the doll is worth. I have used eBay several times to reduce my doll collection because it became to large and some of the dolls I was not in love with. I was really surprised at how much I got in return. I always put the dolls at a low starting point and buyers would go crazy. Also I have bought doll myself off eBay because I didn't start collecting until Merida was put out. Needless to say I bought most of my collection from eBay then realized I went a little crazy and resold a good portion of it. I only collect my favorite characters that way I can keep my collection down.

However, I broke my rule for the Fairytale Designers! They are all so pretty I have all of them (including the Variant Snow) so I must add Ariel/Eric to my collection so it will be complete!!! At least until they come out with the second round of Fairytale Designers......sigh.....I should start saving by January......

I agree with ebay as a secondary market, and getting what we want after they fact from there. Its not ebay thats the evil. Although its pretty clear when someone is just trying to make a huge profit off of this. I have set to just not support it. If I cant get the dolls I want at what I think is a fair price, than I wont buy it. I just dont want to support that.

I wanted to collect dolls for years but never did until this past December, so I missed out on the Designer dolls, a lot of LE ones that I want, and the Villians. I just check ebay occasionally and hope Ill find them at a good price at some point. Its part of the reason I went ahead and bought DFDC Belle, even though I wasnt that in love with her in pictures, I would rather get her now, then pay three times as much after the fact.

Thats why I joined and love this site, because you connect with other collectors and people are selling stuff at pretty fair prices. That's awesome!

Very true! If I had known more about this site I'd probably would have started trading dolls on here. There are still a few dolls that I want to eventually trade for but the only one I really want is the Designer Maleficent. Sigh....I had every opportunity to buy her and I didn't. My dad was even going to buy her for me and I told him no because I wasn't in love with it......then I saw it in stores and was like, "stupid stupid stupid!" And of course she was sold out by that time and way to expensive to pay for on eBay.

While we are waiting for our Belle's to arrive I thought it would be fun to check out the designer's inspiration (from the DisneyGeek video available on the DS store blog). Yay OUAT!!!!

ladyroselie said:

While we are waiting for our Belle's to arrive I thought it would be fun to check out the designer's inspiration (from the DisneyGeek video available on the DS store blog). Yay OUAT!!!!

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That was one of the many motivators for why I wanted this set!

I'm glad for resellers because they are the only way I could get Variant Snow White which I love love love! I do wish I had waited longer because I paid more than what she settled down to, but I am still so happy to have her. I also got LE 17" blonde Rapunzel this way. I will need to buy 17" Snow, Belle, Alice, Tiana, Gothel, and nearly ALL the designer princesses this way. Sigh.

I have positive Disney Customer Service experience to share. My doll was scheduled to be shipped to a different address than mine. I called yesterday and was told that it is "too late to revise or cancel" my order. I got upset, but not mean, and told the lady that this was really important to me and that the address was not even a previous address of mine. I would have to drive 6 hours to get my doll if the person at the address would even give it to me. She said she would send an e-mail, but basically told me tough luck. I am really upset all day long. She called me this morning and said that she got to thinking during her lunch break and called a friend she knows in the shipping department in Tennessee. She explained the situation to him and he personally relabeled my doll and fixed everything before the scheduled UPS pick up today. When I thanked her on the phone she said that she could hear in my voice that I really cared about this doll and she wanted to do extra to help me out. I checked the online order and the address is fixed and everything is better. I feel so blessed to have connected with somebody who actually cares and goes the extra mile to help her customers. If I can find her name, I'll post it on here so you can ask for her if you need to call!

Meawhite said:

I have positive Disney Customer Service experience to share. My doll was scheduled to be shipped to a different address than mine. I called yesterday and was told that it is "too late to revise or cancel" my order. I got upset, but not mean, and told the lady that this was really important to me and that the address was not even a previous address of mine. I would have to drive 6 hours to get my doll if the person at the address would even give it to me. She said she would send an e-mail, but basically told me tough luck. I am really upset all day long. She called me this morning and said that she got to thinking during her lunch break and called a friend she knows in the shipping department in Tennessee. She explained the situation to him and he personally relabeled my doll and fixed everything before the scheduled UPS pick up today. When I thanked her on the phone she said that she could hear in my voice that I really cared about this doll and she wanted to do extra to help me out. I checked the online order and the address is fixed and everything is better. I feel so blessed to have connected with somebody who actually cares and goes the extra mile to help her customers. If I can find her name, I'll post it on here so you can ask for her if you need to call!

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Wow that is amazing, to be honest I would have thought that all Disney Customer Service people would be like that, especially since it is Disney and they are supposed to make everyone's experience "magical". But I am glad that there are people out there that still go the extra mile for others even if they dont know them personally.

Wow! That's amazing Meawhite. Now that's customer service and I'm glad your doll is going to the right place.

That's so great!

I went to the "Contact Us" and gave positive comments for the CMs that helped me so much. No matter how much we may thank them, I feel it's important for the higher ups to know just that their employees go out of their way to help customers, and this only reflects positively for Disney.

Propita said:

That's so great!

I went to the "Contact Us" and gave positive comments for the CMs that helped me so much. No matter how much we may thank them, I feel it's important for the higher ups to know just that their employees go out of their way to help customers, and this only reflects positively for Disney.

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I know that I wrote down her name somewhere. I'm going to find it and follow your example. Who know, maybe she'll get a thank or something from her boss. I wasn't necessarily upset with her yesterday, I just felt hopeless and defeated. That she would sense that, go the extra mile, and then call me to help ease my worries, means the world to me. Belle is my favorite princess and I adore this set and now I get to have her. I knew there was a reason I love Disney. They have the ability to make me feel like a little girl again! Thanks for your support forum friends!

What an amazing story! This truly brings me happiness and I am so glad that you were able to get all of this squared away so that you receive your doll. So many bad things happen in the world every day and sometimes we lose faith in people, but stories like this are a reminder that there are people that still go the extra mile. Way to go!

LittleMermaidAriel said:

What an amazing story! This truly brings me happiness and I am so glad that you were able to get all of this squared away so that you receive your doll. So many bad things happen in the world every day and sometimes we lose faith in people, but stories like this are a reminder that there are people that still go the extra mile. Way to go!

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I can tell you are a very kind person by your post alone. I am super happy and felt that in the middle of the stress and waiting, others should share in the kindness of a stranger. I did submit a comment to the Disney Store. Hopefully, she gets to see what I wrote! I was feeling down, but now I am once again super excited for Ariel. The next (almost) two weeks is going to take forever!