January 2009 Archives

Since today seems to be the day for picking on the Tonner Company (and yes, I do admit I am picking on them), I'll state I think it's ridiculous they're calling some of their dolls "character figures".  Puh-leeze. They're just trying to relabel dolls as 'not-dolls' so that 15 year old nerd-boys can tell their mommies they're collecting "character figures" (with bodacious boobs!) instead of Wonder Woman or Lara Croft dolls, for example.

But we all know the truth, don't we?? Sorry, lady, your son is just playing with dolls. Dolls with boobs, or packages. But they're DOLLS.

Thanks to those who wrote expressing sympathy at the loss of Guido. We are still missing him every day, but are comforted by knowing he is chasing the dogs who are chasing tennis balls at the Rainbow Bridge. Someday, we will be together again.

Time for a serving of fresh snark. It is my humble opinion that the "breakout events" to be held in conjunction with the Tonner Convention are nothing short of nauseating,especially Tyler's wedding. I asked Leo if he'd like to attend, and he mentioned something about finding a quiet corner there in which to vomit...but at $165 a person, it would be quite a pricey corner. This seems like a misguided attempt by the Tonner Co. to not only squeeze a few more bucks out of the convention attendees, but also to try to revive the flagging interest in Tyler and friends. I predict that quite of few of the limited dolls will be sold on eBay or privately posthaste after the event by folks who don't want yet another 16" fashion doll added to their Tonner collection.

But, I could be wrong. What do you think?

On Sunday we had our much loved corgi Guido put to sleep. He was 13, but in many ways still had the spirit of a puppy.

Over the last 3 years or so of his life, Guido had gone from being hell-on-four-legs, to being weak in his hind end, to being in a cart, and then being unable to walk at all for about the last year. We carried him wherever he had to go. For outside rides he had his own "buggy", a modified jogging stroller. We took him for walks in the neighborhood in it, and on other outings. Of course we got more than one strange look from folks-there just aren't that many dogs being pushed around on wheels. Most people were very supportive. Guido didn't care what they thought as long as they petted him, and he was quite vocal in making sure they did.

We're not sure if his paralysis was due to degenerative myelopathy (roughly similar to MS in humans) or a blown disk in his back placing pressure on his spinal cord. In the long run, it didn't matter as the care needed was the same for either. Neither caused his demise-it was his increasing, uncontrollable intestinal pain that led us to make the horrible decision every loving pet owner dreads having to make. We've been down that road with other pets before. It never gets any easier. The only comfort is in knowing you are doing what is best for your pet, despite the emotional cost to you.

Back in the day, Guido was all about running and playing. He gleefully herded other dogs as they chased after tennis balls, ran agility courses, and  played with the hose and his wading pool. If he thought our other dogs were being too rowdy, he'd act as the "fun police" to break the party up. He was always also a cuddler. We called him our "love sponge"-he soaked up every bit of attention he was given, and asked for more. He had to have lap time every afternoon. When I had to lay on the couch for a week after surgery on a detached retina, he was there with me. Every visitor to the house or doll store was enthusiastically greeted; he especially liked to hold your hand or sleeve in his mouth and take you for a walk.

I like to think he brought out the best in us as he became less mobile. We patiently encouraged him to use his cart for the 6 months it took him to finally accept and start using it. Over the last year, as he became more dependent, his daily care took up more and more time. There was never any question we would do what was necessary for him, no matter how much time it took,  what gross things we had to do, or how many trips to the vet we had to make. He was ours, we loved him, and we would never have betrayed his trust. It meant never leaving him alone for more than a few hours at a time, never taking trips together-somebody always had to stay home to take care of him-and especially over the last year, often not sleeping through the night. We'd never had human kids, but we faithfully changed Guido's belly band when he became incontinent, and cleaned up his accidents.

Suddenly we no longer have to do any of those things for him, and it hurts like hell. There is a hole in our hearts, and we are devastated. We would much rather have him around to do all those things for, but not at the cost of his suffering.

We like to think he was met at the Rainbow Bridge by Leo's parents and other pets who have gone before him, and that we will all be together again someday. In the meantime, Helen and Jerome the corgis, and Lurch and Zak the cats need us, and there will be other pets in the future.

We'd like to give special thanks to a few people who contributed so much to Guido's life: Kathi, the breeder who trusted us with him, Dr. G., who thought outside the box when it came to caring for Guido, Cindy at La Paw Spa, who loved Guido as if he were her own and called him her "boyfriend", and Linda, who was always happy to babysit Guido for a few hours so we could have the occasional break and who patiently spent hours keeping him comfortable on the couch. Thanks also to Jean and  other corgi friends who supported us and helped us learn how to care for him.

There's more, including pictures and links to pictures here.

You'd stand a better chance of getting rich by winning the lottery than by opening a doll store.

I kid you not. Most people just do not realize how little money there is to be made in the doll business, especially when you're dealing with BJDs.

The reason is, most BJD manufacturers just do not give retailers very big wholesale discounts on the dolls. Manufacturers claim their costs are simply too high. But that's a topic for another day...

By the time the retailer pays the wholesale price for the doll, then pays EMS shipping here (and EMS is the only way most Korean companies want to ship their dolls), there is not a lot of margin left. Out of that margin has to come a share for necessities such as rent if there's a storefront, employees, business and occupation taxes, the ISP, telephone lines, any advertising, conventions, and no doubt stuff I am totally forgetting about. Most BJD manufacturers do not let their retailers mark up the dolls to cover shipping and other costs. Retailers have to sell the dolls for the same price as the manufacturers sell them on their own websites. Profit? What profit? Very little, unfortunately. Unlike you, the retailers have to pay for their dolls in full when they order them. No layaways available, no 30 or 60 day terms. It's cash up front, usually by wire transfer, which costs $20-$30 for each transaction. Youch.

Wholesale discounts for things like outfits from the BJD companies were often even worse than for the dolls themselves. That is why we turned to other items from other companies, such as Dollheart. The outfits, wigs, shoes and other accessories from places like Dollheart and Monique basically helped us compensate for the money we weren't making on the dolls.

I never, ever drew a salary from Dolls and Friends, nor did Leo. Thank heaven Leo could do all the software for both the cash register and the website, as well as the bookkeeping. And if we'd had to eat from the store profits, we'd both be a lot thinner than we are. Diet by low profit margin...hmm..potential there.

Wondering why we did it for so long if it wasn't all that profitable? Some days we did too. What it boiled down to for me was plain and simple. I love dolls. Always have, always will. I really meant it when I said I started out as a doll collector run amok. Opening a doll store is what you do when you run out of room in your house for dolls.  Why did Leo do it? Because he loved me, loves me and hopefully always will love me. I've been very blessed in having him as both a business and a life partner. He has made my life rich in so many ways.

I was recently asked to write about the BJD companies that have been easy to deal with, both personally and professionally.

The last time I wrote about how I felt about a company, they dropped my account with a loud thud. This time, I don't have that to worry about. Yay.

Truthfully, with one possible exception, none of them have been easy. There were many reasons for the difficulties, and to be fair, the language barrier played a huge part. No one's at fault for that, it was just inherent in dealing with folks who don't know English very well. And I sure don't know Korean or Chinese. Most of the people I dealt with know far more English than I know Korean. :)

There was one company that was way more fun to deal with than the rest, and that was Elfdoll. Who can resist the charms of Ms. Cholong? Certainly not I. Over time as we worked together we became friends, then family. Ms. Cholong smoothed the rough waters Elfdoll occasionally created and made dealing with them a pleasurable experience. It's not easy to balance the needs of both the retail stores and the manufacturer, and Ms. Cholong has become an expert at it. I can truthfully say I wish every company had had a Ms. Cholong equivalent to work with. 

I can point out good qualities for pretty much every company I dealt with. For example, Souldoll was generous with replacement parts and that made handling their dolls easier. Unidoll was the same. Pipos improved their production time dramatically over the years and did a beautiful job preparing their dolls for shipping. Those little critters were wrapped and packed to within an inch of their little resin lives. Dollzone gave us all good quality for very reasonable prices. Dollmore was impressive in just the variety of stuff it sold. Elfdoll BJDs were excellent in quality. And so on...

Pretty much all of the BJD companies had the same drawback: lack of, or slow communication. Sometimes it would take days to hear back after I'd sent email asking questions or with special requests. It could take weeks to get a definite decisions on issues. It was frustrating and frankly not helpful when I was trying to get answers for my customers. It wouldn't surprise me if this were a common problem for many types of businesses.

When ordering dolls for myself, I've had the best experience with Iplehouse. I've ordered two dolls from them in the last year and both were sent out in the time frame that was promised. Neither had any defects upon receipt. There were absolutely no problems with either transaction. I both look forward to, and dread what they may introduce in the future-temptation is something I have a hard time resisting. Just ask Leo; he can tell you all about it.

Companies I will try to avoid dealing with: Luts, due to lack of communication. Angelregion, due to the arrogance of the person I had to deal with, and lack of communication. Dollmore, for the rudeness of the person I had to deal with and the awkwardness of the shopping cart. Unless, of course, any or all come out with a doll I can't live without. Then I will place an order, grit my teeth and cross my fingers, or perhaps buy the doll from someone who gets it, then must sell it. I'm just like any other BJD collector; I want what I want and I've never grown up.