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Advice on Doll Trading?

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Advice on Doll Trading?

Jacko

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I have a question that I'm hoping some fellow doll collectors can help give me some insight on.

I have been debating back and forth about narrowing down my doll collection and focusing on one or two of my favorite princesses/characters. Since there are so many dolls and since I have a tendency to love them all, the hobby is proving to be a little too expensive. My #1 character that I want to collect right now is Snow White. So far I have most of the dolls that I want of her except for, of course, the beautiful 17" version.

So my question is this: would you consider the 2011 Designer Ariel doll to be a fair trade for the LE 17" Snow White? Unfortunately I can only really rely on eBay to gauge what people consider market price right now. I've noticed that there are always 17" Snow dolls in the $1000 range that never seem to sell, but any time a doll comes up in the $500-$600 range, they move pretty quickly. I know value can be a personal determination too, which is why this is so tricky.

Would it be more ideal if I were to offer to trade the Designer Ariel PLUS another Designer doll or the LE 17" Ariel doll (so 2 of my dolls for 1 Snow doll), or would that be overkill?

This is all purely speculation at this point as I would first need to find someone willing to trade their Snow White, which will probably be difficult in itself. Of course my other option is to simply sell some of my dolls to make money to buy the 17" Snow. Any thoughts/comments/ideas would be much appreciated!
 
I would (personally) say the LE17" Snow White is *slightly* more valuable than the Designer Ariel.

First, the edition sizes make Snow White a little harder to find, there are only 5000 of her but 8000 of Ariel.

When these dolls sell auction-style Snow White tends to sell in the $500-$750 range, and Ariel tends to be going up in price lately, but is still selling in the $350-$550 range.

Someone might do a 1-for-1 trade (depending on how much they want the Ariel...and yes she is becoming more valuable and harder to find)...but I think if you offered the Designer Ariel plus another doll you might get more results. Snow is older, and there are 3000 less of her so it might be hard to find someone willing to trade her for JUST the Ariel.

I would say your BEST chance of obtaining the Snow White is to sell some of your current dolls and just buy a Snow when she pops up for a decent price, but you can always try to trade first and if no one seems interested you can go the selling route.

Good luck! I still need Snow and Tiana to complete my LE 17" collection and they have been proving hard-to-find/too expensive for me at the moment.
 
Hi Jacko! As you said this can be a bit tricky because the value of something can sometimes be subjective. I am pretty sure you can find someone who would be willing to do a fair trade with you, the tricky part is finding someone who has the doll you want in exchange for the doll you have. As far as the value of the dolls you mentioned, I think that exchanging 2 dolls for 1 is a bit much. I guess it comes down to how much you really want the doll. The Ariel Designer doll is wanted by many, including myself. I am going crazy trying to get my hands on her, but it is yet to happen. While the designer Ariel is highly valued, so is the Snow White 17" doll. She tends to sell between $500-$700. Lately the Ariel designer doll has surpassed the $500 mark, but this all changes day to day. I know the Snow White doll is the most valued of the 17" dolls and Ariel is the most valued of the designer dolls. By these standards some would consider it a fair trade. Others will only look at numbers and again this is tricky because it changes depending on the time of the year. You can try and see if you find someone, you never know. Your other option would be like you said, to sell the dolls you are willing to part with and purchase Snow. If I had the Snow White, I would totally do the trade with you. I hope you find someone, I wish you good luck on your search! Let us know how it turns out!
 
I think it depends on the collector and what they feel is more valuable to them. Personally, if I had a Snow White I would trade with you in a heart beat! However, I would say the Alice is probably the most valued of the 17" dolls and Snow White is the second. Only because Alice only has 500 in here addition size which makes her more sought after by most collectors. However, her price has been coming down lately. Instead of 800-1000 she has dropped to 600-800. Anyway, I hope you are able to get Snow White Jacko!
 
Thanks for the comments everyone! It's really nice to have some other perspectives on this. It looks like there are currently two 17" Snow White's on eBay right now hovering at the $500 range, but there are quite a few days left so I expect the price to go up. She is a very difficult one to obtain! I hope you are able to get one yourself PrincessBecky!

LittleMermaidAriel said:
If I had the Snow White, I would totally do the trade with you. I hope you find someone, I wish you good luck on your search! Let us know how it turns out!
Click to expand...

Ah, too bad! If you had Snow we could have each obtained a doll we really wanted Good luck to you too in your search for Ariel!

MountedArcherPrincess said:
I think it depends on the collector and what they feel is more valuable to them.
Click to expand...

I think you are completely right about this. It all comes down to the collector and what dolls they are after. For me, I have decided to focus on Snow White so I am willing to part with my Ariel even though I think she is a beautiful doll. So it may be possible to find someone who is focusing on Ariel or interested in completing the original Designer set who would be willing to part with their 17" Snow in exchange. I know Ariel is very popular so I may eventually get lucky!
 
I agree with Princess Becky in that the easiest way for you to get the doll is through selling the ones you want and buying her. The main reason being that Snow was the first of the limited edition dolls so if anyone had her they would have been aware of the line since day one hence there is a good possibility that they would have the entire set or all the dolls that they wanted.

I personally think that Snow is more valuable that Designer Ariel due to the fact that she is bigger in size (ie original cost was $100 compared to Designer Ariel's $60). Also Snow looks more classic and is more sought after by collectors and as mentioned by others does have a smaller edition size by 3,000 units compared to designer Ariel.

I think trading two dolls will give you a greater chance in terms of equalling the value but I think it will be hard for you to find someone willing to do so. The only doll that I believe will give you a great chance at Snow would be Alice as they are around the same when it comes to value (I think Alice is slightly higher as mentioned by Mounted Archer Princess mainly due to her edition size and that classic look she has). But then again if the person has Snow it is likely they would have an Alice as well, unless they did buy their Snow on the secondary market and then decide they wanted Alice instead.

I managed to collect the entire set and I can tell you now that Snow and Alice are at the top of my list of favorites, followed by my Designer Ariel. So I think unless you have an LE Alice to trade for a Snow it will probably be best to just sell the dolls you do not want to keep and buy the Snow doll through eBay.

She does come up every now and then but I noticed that the number of listings for Snow has dropped compared to last year (especially for Alice) so hopefully you can find her at a great price soon and are able to get her. Good luck!
 

Thank you for the input! To be honest, I never actually thought about that, but you are right. If someone has the Snow White and they are doll collectors, then chances are very good that they bought all the original designer dolls that they wanted as well. I suppose there is always the odd chance, but I do believe it will be difficult to find someone to trade with.

I think I am just going to attempt to sell some of my designer dolls in order to save up enough money to purchase the 17" Snow, it will probably be a lot easier that way. She is such a beautiful doll and I am determined to add her to my collection
 
As others have said I would sell the dolls you dont want at the fair price you think you could get and apply the money to Snow. Seems trading it would be harder to do.
 

No worries, I really do hope you manage to get her as she really is an amazing doll and is by far one of my favorites. Good luck!!
 
Not all doll collectors collect every single doll that comes out. I know one person who started with the 17" dolls, and opted out of the designers because they wanted to continue with the 17" set and she started liking the designers after they all had sold in 2011. If someone paid $99 for Snow, and wished they could have a designer Ariel now...that would totally be worth it to them as they would be uptrading based on what they originally paid. I bought two 17" dolls from Disney, and have since decided I just don't want to collect them and am sticking with the designers. I'm keeping wedding Rapunzel for a wedding gift for my daughter someday...can't think of a reason to keep Lady Tremaine - so I'd totally trade her out for a lesser valued doll that I really wanted. I would say, hang on to Ariel for a bit...like PrincessBecky said...she has been climbing. Hang on to her for that reason and the option to trade. Just my opinion.
 

That is a fair point and is also why I said that they would have probably collected all the dolls they wanted and if they weren't collecting all dolls then I wouldn't see why they would want to later trade one like snow for a doll that they wouldn't have wanted in the past hence why it is still easier to just sell the dolls that you are willing to sell and use those funds to buy the one you want. Even if they were to change their mind the Snow is by far one of the higher value LEs along with Alice as I pointed out earlier hence would be less likely to be traded for any others.
 
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I think it all comes down to the individual and what doll(s) is the most important to them. It may be possible to find someone to trade, but I do think it could be quite a challenge and I think Polaris' advice on selling some of the ones I don't particular want is my best bet right now. That being said, I do think I will hold on to Ariel for a bit longer and see what transpires.
 
Oh and also, if you are planning on selling some of your collection Jacko this would actually be the best time to do it. Since it is getting closer to Christmas you are more than likely to sell your dolls. However, you might have to sell three dolls to get Snow White depending on how much you want to sell them for and if you are going to use eBay. However, there is also a section on DPF where you can do a listing for a trade and see if anyone wants to trade. It is always possible! Because I know personally for me, I would trade Snow White 17" for a designer Ariel because I prefer Ariel to Snow White. Unfortunately, I do not have a Snow White 17" so I can't trade! Darn!!!
 
I wonder if anyone would be interested in trading me pins for my 17" Ariel doll I pre-ordered for next month. Does anyone else trade dolls for pins or pins for dolls?
 
What are your opinions about trading the older princess 17" dolls for Snow White? Such as Belle, Rapunzel and Tiana. I do have a 17" Tiana that I was considering for a trade, but unsure about the value; if it would be considered a fair trade for Snow White.
 

Good point, thanks for the tip! I am going to try selling some of my designer dolls here first because I personally hate selling items on eBay, plus I would rather give someone else on these boards a chance to get them first if they are interested

SetAlone said:
I wonder if anyone would be interested in trading me pins for my 17" Ariel doll I pre-ordered for next month. Does anyone else trade dolls for pins or pins for dolls?
Click to expand...

I don't see why not, I think there is a possibility to do trading on just about anything, but it's all dependant on finding the right person to make the trade. That's the tricky part.
 
SetAlone: I know people have traded dolls for pins before. One person awhile back had a 17" Alice doll and she did an auction type deal of DPF. Basically people would offer her a set of pins, then the next person would try to match that and add in other pins. You might be able to do something like that.

Jacko: If you have a Designer Rapunzel you want to sell, I might be interested in her. Just depends on what you are asking because I can't afford what they are asking on eBay that's for sure!
 

I won that auction!

There is NO WAY I would own LE 17" Alice right now if it wasn't for that auction. I could not afford the prices on eBay for her, but luckily the person that was auctioning her wanted many of the pins I had available. I ended up trading like 7 PODMs, Designer Tiana (pin not doll), an Artist Proof Tinker Bell pin, and a hard-to-find Alice pin for that doll...and it was totally worth it.

It isn't common to auction off dolls for pins, but you never know what someone is looking for. There are many pins I would trade for certain dolls, and there are many dolls I would give up for certain pins.
 
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