Best time to buy?

[Matthewlondon]

Hey was just curious for those who had to catch up and buy their dolls on the secondary market,
did you notice a certain time of year to buy?

I'm asking because, a few months ago their was hundreds of limited edition Cinderella dolls on eBay and at the moment their isn't one in the Uk! Do people not sell them as much this time of year? Also have you found it's better to wait to January to buy the dolls or are they just the same price as they were in December .

 

[Polaris]

Generally the best time to buy the dolls is after the doll and holiday season when things quieten down a bit.

So around Apr-Jun when there is a generally not much going on in terms of dolls and the hype for the dolls to be released during doll season (Aug-Nov) hasn't built up yet. Then again it is getting harder to tell due to the increase in popularity of these dolls.

I think it is definitely harder to find them on the secondary market in the UK, you will have a better chance finding it in the US but sometimes you will get a few in the UK and usually closer to retail as the market is a lot smaller so the seller cannot really demand much. Good luck! Are their certain dolls you are trying to get? Or are you trying to complete the entire set? As I will tell you now they take up a lot of space. I have a room that is full of the dolls and I have no idea where I am going to put any future released dolls unless I buy another two book shelves :S

 

[Shivatopia]

There are certainly a lot of factors to consider when catching up with past doll releases. The time of the year, as you and Polaris mentioned is a major factor. The holiday season means more buying competition and not necessarily more available stock to buy on the secondary market, depending on the item in question. This means that prices can reach higher amounts on auction-type listings. I would actually say that the holiday season probably sees lower prices for the more recently released dolls (i.e. the 2013 autumn releases), because resellers that bought a whole bunch and could not sell them initially for highly inflated prices are most likely just trying to get rid of them (re: LE Ariel, LE Ursula, and LE Prince Eric). Even though these are incredibly fantastic dolls, long-time collectors already have them and new collectors may have a few of them but have turned their attention to the past releases, which are harder to find (and therefore more expensive).

Do I think that prices will go down after the holiday season? It depends. Based on the trends with LE Belle and LE Tiana, which I finally remember that I bought last holiday season , their prices did not go down. At this point they are now consistently selling for $50-$100+ more than last year, which was then seeing a $50-$75 increase from 2011... As the older dolls are settling into more permanent collections, the limited supply will generally keep their prices higher. I agree the more recent releases may see a price decrease a few months post-holiday season when things quiet down (as Polaris mentioned, maybe April-June?), but the sales from the holiday season seem to only raise the bar for older releases that show up on the secondary market less often.

A particular doll's desirability and edition size is another factor to consider. I'll be the first to admit that I was surprised that LE Lady Tremaine ever hit the near the $200 mark on eBay, because until the 2013 DS doll season, she was selling for only a little more than cost. And let's face it: Lady Tremaine is not a popular character in the Disney roster, but there are collectors of Cinderella collectibles as well as new 17" LE doll collectors out there, and her edition size of 1500 plays to her favor. LE Cinderella on the other hand is more numerous, is a more popular character, but has been compared often to prom Barbie, and her resale prices are all over the map mostly in the $100-$150 range with a few one-offs, but still averaging less than LE Lady Tremaine.

Then there are some dolls that you just cannot catch much of a break (i.e. the "grail" dolls). LE Snow White has seen sold eBay prices ranging from $500-$900 in the past 2 months, with the lower prices being in October during doll season. Meanwhile, LE Alice has only seen two sales (both in November) for no less than $1000. She's becoming something of a unicorn at LE 500.

So, unfortunately, I don't know if there is a particular buying trend that we can use to blanket all of the Disney Store collectible dolls, as it really depends on the numerous factors of: desirability, availability, public interest, and luck as they pertain to each particular doll. By the way, I would not really consider most of the Designer Villain dolls into any trend observations, because their constant reduced prices on DS.com in order to get rid of the seemingly high edition stock skews the data for the types of dolls that you are most likely considering to buy (most of which were sold out before release day through pre-orders or practically instantaneously for the surprise releases).

2013 was also a bit of an odd year that there were no collectible doll releases in the spring other than LE China Girl, who is a different type of doll in her materials and box presentation. If there is a spring doll release, and there is a high likelihood of one for Frozen's DVD release, public interest may not see a decline in the spring-summer season, as each major doll release rekindles interest and hype.

 

[Matthewlondon]

Thanks for your detailed input I am kind of glad Snow whites not one of my favourite characters so I'm not even going to try to get her( she is beautiful though) now and evil queen LE I would have to have! At least next year I shall be able to get my favourite Maleficent and Aurora at retail( hopefully).

The reason I am asking this is because last month or even a fortnight ago I could get Cinderella for around £100 in the uk but now their are no Cinderellas on the uk site and the only ones available are from the US and they are around $250 plus $30 postage and then $80 import charges, so she works out pricey.

Do you always have to pay import charges buying from the US?

 

[Polaris]

I agree with Shiva, it is hard to tell when there will be highs and lows due to the growing popularity of these dolls. Also the older dolls are getting harder to buy at a reasonable price whereas with the newer dolls during the initial release and sell out they will sell at ridiculous prices but after the hype this eventually dies down and the prices settle at close to retail. If you notice Eric has reduced in price to be selling at retain on the secondary market which is rather funny, similar to the Merida and Elinor set.

In relation to import fees I am not sure how it works in the UK but here in Australia there are no import fees. Whenever I buy something from the US the only costs that I incur are:
- cost of item
- shipping
There are no taxes or import fees unless the declared value of the item is greater than AUD$1,000 seeing that the UK and Aus are similar this may be the case for the UK as well but this is something you might want to check first on google or something.

 

[Mali]

I agree with Polaris on the import fees, you may want to check, the government website has information for myself, maybe you can start there In Canada, we have to pay duty for items over $20 (or at least in BC) (or $60 if the item is marked as a gift). For a doll it's 12% tax +8% duty (so an extra 20%). But the amount of duty varies depending on the item, like clothing and shoes are 18% (+12% tax, so an extra 30%).

 

[Mali]

Hope you find the dolls you're looking for!

 

[Matthewlondon]

Many thanks iv actually found Wedding Rapunzel, just looking out for cinderella

 

[Tinkerboy]

I feel ya! I'm trying to track down ones I've missed as well. Hoping prices drop a little after the holidays

 

[mel4616]

Well I have 2 of everything and debating to sell them as I'm running out of space , so if I decide I will let you know

 

[AmandaAutumn]

I'm wanting to get LE Elsa. It seems each week on ebay, she increases. I'm not sure if I should wait till after Christmas or get her when my money clears Paypal next week. I'm getting nervous that she will increase so much that I wont be able to get her at all.