Where is better to buy: Directly or Dealer?

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Yeesh, that's...expensive.


On the original topic, I've actually just bought my first doll direct from the company, before I've just gotten from the dealer. I've bought from JS and DDE, both from their in-stock items and their preorders.

Preordering:
JS: The one time I did it was nice. I could customize my RS order and I got some nice extras. I actually got Ridley earlier than expected, which was really nice, but a fluke (I had sent an email asking if the order was possible before he had put up a preorder and Emory ended up putting him in to an earlier order)

DDE: Realizing my DDE preorder was cheaper than Ridley was (an RS Pixiu), I had tried to buy her direct, but for some reason the website kept messing up my order form, so I went through DDE instead as they already had the preorder up at that point (this was like the day after the sculpt came out). It was nice because I could do a layaway option and pay off a little bit here and there, and I got my little blue Pixiu, it just took a bit longer than I thought it would, as they don't have dates for when they send out preorders (versus, say, a JS preorder that closes on X day or MoC always having the date they're sending out an order to a company on the doll's page), so it got stuck during Chinese New Year.

Direct: I've only done direct through Resinsoul (it's funny that all my preorders so far are RS, even though Mohana is definitely my last RS doll for a while), and I did it via email this time instead of through their website. It went much better, and Sun is a wonderful person to work with. It took a couple of days to finalize everything and send my payment due to the time difference, but everything went smoothly.

In-stock:
JS: I've bought most of my new dolls through JS. It's great, fast, and you get fun extras. I was very happy with how fast everything went, and it's great to know that what you're getting is in stock. I have to admit that when I bought Fox I had the choice of going through Emory or DDE (they both had the sculpt in stock) and I chose Emory because I just love working with him.

DDE: I've bought one doll through DDE in-stock, and it went fine. I had a problem with my credit card, and they messaged me the day after I made the order, asking me to call them to put the order on another card and were very nice and helpful.

[Rosinha]

It's different for each doll. Every time I buy a doll brand new, I compare all my options.I have to keep customs fees in mind. Sometimes getting a doll from the company is cheaper, but I already calculated that getting an IMPLdoll would be cheaper through Think Pink. The extra waiting sucks for an impatient person like me though. Figures that most of my dolls are second hand buys

Do you happen to know more dolls that are cheaper or not more expensive to buy from Dutch dealers? Most dolls I compared prices of, turned out to be cheaper when ordered from dealers directly. It would be nice to order locally, though.

[Evelien]

You're right, most are cheaper - and shipped faster too, which is important to me as well - ordered directly from the company. IMPLdoll is one of those rare cases where ordering from TP is cheaper, but I only found out because I was interested in one and was exploring my options... I wouldn't know which other companies are cheaper through TP, frankly