Buying & Selling

 Avoiding Scams & Curating A Shopping List

 

1. Where can I get a Reborn Doll? There are several avenues of acquiring a Reborn doll, some of which are more "affordable" than others. The main way of obtaining a Reborn doll is heading over to a site like Reborns.com or perhaps a specific nursery's (many Reborn doll artists identify themselves online as 'nurseries' as a sort of roleplay aspect in the hobby) website, such as Marianne's Reborn Dolls. From there, on some sites, you can browse babies that have already been created and who are posted for sale by their artists or you can directly contact an artist to have them custom create a baby for you, usually using a blank kit that has been designed and sold by an individual sculptor. Be prepared though, as this can be an expensive choice, with some dolls, depending on the materials they are made from and the artists' discretion, selling for $500 or higher. Another method which may be slightly less expensive is attempting to become a Reborn Doll artist yourself. Plenty of tutorials for painting, rooting and assembling these dolls exist on YouTube, Reborns.com and Etsy and most of the materials can be found at your local craft store, with the exception that you may need to venture over to Macpherson's or Bountiful Baby to acquire a blank kit from a sculptor. The most affordable ways of acquiring Reborn dolls though are both pure luck. You can either go on YouTube or Facebook and search "Reborn Doll Waffle" to see if any artists or collectors are offering a raffle to win one of their dolls or if you have any friends who are themselves an artist or a collector, you might have the luck of them gifting you a doll (but never beg or ask for this, it is considered extremely rude in the community). Alternatively, if the price is too high, you do not feel confident in your art skills, there are no waffles and you do not have a friend that would gift you a doll, there are still a few things you can try. One is eBay, though it is strongly recommended to watch out for scams on that site especially when it comes to these dolls. Many artists and collectors sell dolls for a much lower price range on eBay but it is also swarmed with companies from China that have cheaply duplicated sculptor's kits and refused to pay for the rights to do so, so many collectors strongly do not recommend buying from them. (Personally, to me, as long as the doll makes you happy, that's what matters. I'm just providing you with a bit of the social climate in case you are preparing to enter the hobby.) Another viable option is to acquire a doll that, may not exactly be considered a Reborn Doll by some but can still be fairly realistic and serve the same therapeutic purposes, usually at places like Paradise Galleries or Ashton Drake.
2. I am looking for an artist-made doll. How do I avoid getting scammed? The first step to avoiding scams is sticking to websites that are considered to be more reputable within the hobby. Reborns.com, Etsy and individual artist's sites like Marianne's Reborn Dolls, Dove's Nursery, Irresistables or My Heart Is In Vermont are your best bet for this. The next step is, no matter what site you are searching for dolls on, you need to try to locate or ask the artist or collector if you can see a "safety photo". A "safety photo" is a photo of the doll in question, with a piece of paper stating the kit name, the artist or collector (optional) and the date that the photo was taken. Be mindful as well of the listing's title and description, as well as seller rating and feedback. If the title of the item says it is made from "silicone vinyl", it is a scam that is trying to sell you a vinyl doll under the claim that it will be like silicone. Finally, you're going to want to see the doll's identification. That is, the doll's COA or Certificate of Authenticity. This is a little slip of paper that gets issued with the purchase of a blank doll kit from a sculptor and features information, such as the sculptor's name, the kit name and the kit's identification or serial number, as well as whether or not the kit is part of a limited number release. Fun fact, I myself have a doll that was limited to a total of 1,200 kits ever produced worldwide and one that was limited to just 750!
3.  Which is more expensive, vinyl or silicone dolls? I know the vinyls are looking more expensive now than ever but they are still generally the lower priced option of the two. A silicone doll is like paying for a new car in the hobby. Most vinyls range now from $350 to $1,500 but a silicone, which is usually what gets used in TV and movies to create realistic baby props, can be $2,000 or higher. In fact, I saw one the other day that was priced at $13,000. I think it had been done by a well known artist in the Hollywood industry. 
4. I see some Reborn doll collectors using bottles with fake formula and pacifiers that stick. Where are they getting these accessories? Oh, that depends. Not many actual stores sell such accessories to scale with Reborn dolls. If you were to purchase a doll bottle on Amazon for example, it likely will not be to scale with a Reborn doll. More than likely, the collectors or artists that you have seen with these props probably fashioned the props themselves out of real baby bottles and pacifiers. For a bottle, all you have to do is buy a regular baby bottle and seal the nipple with silicone caulking or stretch some ceram wrap over the "neck" of the bottle, screw the nipple cap back on and cut off the excess wrap with a pair of scissors (after you have filled the bottle with fake formula). To make fake formula, you can use fabric softener, a little water and some food coloring, you can use fabric softener or water and lotion with food coloring or you can cook up a corn starch recipe. If you decide to use a fake formula though, make sure your bottle is well sealed before you use it with your dolls. As for the pacifiers, well... Those are a little tougher to do than the fake bottles, on account of how difficult it is to completely and smoothly remove the silicone nipple from the plastic guard. There are very few manufacturers that sell just the plastic guard and handle parts, so most collectors probably just use a pair of scissors to snip off the nipple and try to remove as much of the silicone as they possibly can. Then, they either cut a small cotton round in half or they take some light colored fabric, cut out a small circular pocket and sew or fabric glue the two halves together. Finally, they glue the cut round or fabric pocket to the spot where the silicone nipple used to be, let that set for at least 1 to 3 days and then place a magnet inside the pocket if their doll has a magnet in its mouth. For dolls that do not have magnetized mouths, collecters often remove the silicone pacifier nipple and stick on glue dots or vinyl-safe putty but the more recommended route is likely to partially disassemble your doll, use a wire and some E6000 glue to attach a magnet to the inside of your doll's head, let it set and in the meantime, purchase or create a magnetized pacifier. After the magnet has set inside of your doll's head, use a ziptie and some scissors to reattach the head to the body and there- now your doll should take a magnetic pacifier, which is generally regarded, I think, as safer to use on their paintwork and vinyl than glue dots or putty. If you have a silicone doll though, you may also have to use corn starch, baby powder or silicone matting powder on a bottle nipple or a pacifier nipple to safely get it in and out of your silicone doll's mouth. Alternatively, you can also snip off just a portion of the nipple for most silicones with functioning mouths.
5. Do Reborn Dolls fit regular baby doll clothing? Generally, no. Most manufactured baby dolls are not only made with less realistic proportions than a Reborn doll but they are also usually made in smaller sizes as well, so that they fit easier into little children's arms for playtime. Instead, if you want to dress your Reborn dolls up cute, you'll have to shop for actual baby clothing and if you're a first time Reborn collector with no parental experience, this is going to be confusing at first, so I will try to help here and be as clear as possible. Generally, if a Reborn doll says it is usually a 19" to 23" doll in length when assembled, that doll will fit in 0-1 months (NB or Newborn) sized baby clothing and their shoe size, depending on where you are purchasing, should be 0-1 month, NB or Newborn if you are shopping at a well known store like Walmart or Target but if you are shopping online in places like Amazon or SHEIN, their closest shoe size is going to be around 3.5". A 17" to 19" inch doll can usually fit 'preemie' clothing sizes and their shoe size can go up to 3.5" but will often be smaller. A 24" to 26" long doll will most likely fit 0-3 months and 3-6 months clothing sizes and may have a shoe size up to 3.9" on those other sites. To give a rough example, my William is a 17" long baby who only barely fits preemie clothing, my Christopher is a 19" long baby who fits snugly in preemie and perfectly in 0-1 months or Newborn (with a 3.5" shoe size) and my Cain is a 26" long baby who fits perfectly into 3-6 months sized clothing, with a shoe size of around 3.9".
6. What should I look for when purchasing my first Reborn doll? When it comes to the dolls themselves, assuming you have already read question number 2 on this page, you may want to check the listing photos carefully for paint rubs, cracks or chewed up parts. For some people, a small spot of missing paint is enough to disrupt the doll's realism, while for others, that is no issue (I personally have a doll with a paint rub, but it is so subtle to my eyes that it does not disrupt the realism for me). If you instead are wondering what sorts of accessories you will need to look for while purchasing your first doll, see question 8.
7. Why do prices vary so dramatically? Prices of Reborn dolls vary based on the prices of materials, taxes from country to country and the individual artist's idea of how much their work should cost based on their skill level. So most vinyl Reborns range from around $300 to $700 at this point in time and silicones, being more expensive due to their main material, range from $1,300 to sometimes upwards of $5,000. 
8.  More Q's coming soon!