Bridal Bliss –Oscar De La Renta Barbie

The doll was $175, edition size 10,000 units worldwide. I didn’t believe that Barbie had such capacity to sell 10,000 units at $175 when the doll was released.

Last week the price went down to $52,   so I ordered one, I must confess I wouldn’t have ordered her if her original price was $52.  it was a different story when the price dropped from $175 to $52— it felt like a crime if I missed such  a great deal.  I am sure many people have the same shopping behaviors,  the big sales always does its tricks.

I don’t know how expensive the “license Fee” is, but the doll is not a $175 doll,  The plain face and  simple dress with ruffled train make her just another “Barbie” that you wont miss her if you don’t have her.

 

The Box is nicer than the regular Barbie Box, it comes with a lacer cut sleeve– its not really practical if you intend to display your doll.   The similar boxes are retailed for  $7.99 in the stores near me, so I don’t think  the box cost Mattel a lot to make.   however, the shipping charges  (both international & domestic) cost a lot more.  The little doll itself is 4 OZ, but  its nearly 5 lbs  if you count the box & its shipper.  Mattel shipped the doll with the shipper and a carton,  the whole package is 6 Lbs –I shipped a 6 lbs package last week from NY to AZ, the postage was $23.51.

 

you perhaps remember that   I made the dress in  last  April

 

PS: My Favorite  Barbie Bride is Reem Acro Barbie,

 

Ever After High Birthday Ball Duchess Swan

I like Ever After High dolls better than Monster High.
if these dolls didn’t have Glue in their heads, I would have bought tons of them. but most of them have glues, so I leave them in the stores.

this Doll, Birthday Ball Duchess Swan has a clean head & silky hair, she does not have glue. so she came home to live with me:

Purple is my favorite color:

All my purple girls:
The doll in the center has a glue-head,  not only her hair feels sticky & greasy, her white &  purple highlights have turned into yellow,  her face is also turning yellow—
that’s what the harm Glue can do.

I think both Monster High & Ever After High design teams at Mattel are so much smarter than “Barbie Collector” designers.  these High dolls’ design concepts are interesting,  their costumes  are “easy-to-make”  but still look petty & trendy —why is this so important? b/c it can avoid complications in the production and effectively keep the quality in control.  Some Collectible Barbie dolls’  quality issues are caused by design defect,  you cant really blame the Factory for it.

White Chiffon Gown

Michelle Obama Inauguration Dress 2008

 

My blog is nearly dead, I don’t post often, but the Spammers are incredibly active.  This Russian Robot “Michaelreido” posts a spam comment every 2 hours—hoping my blog visitors would buy cheap stuffs through the links he posted (good luck on that) — -this spammer was reported to the stopspam forum for more than 1,500 times -Wordpress should block him permanently and not to fill up my spam folder.. 😠

TokiDoki-Space Place 2017 Barbie Convention Raffle Doll

besides creating a doll for our club, I was asked to make a personal donation to the raffle room. so here goes, Barbie is blasting off with her all-star TokiDoki Spaceship Crew.

Initially, I chose an AA doll with Mbili face mold, then I changed my mind, I selected Lea instead, she looks more like a Japanese girl.

The Whole Package:

 

No, I’m not going to the convention. but Happy Convention to everyone who is going.

URBFC 2017 Barbie Convention Raffle Doll

Here is our club donation to the 2017 Barbie Convention Raffle Room. it took me a week to finish the whole project.

I’m not sure if its worth all the trouble making this backdrop, it was very hard to cut the cardboard—my hands blistered.

The background is hand-painted, then I pasted some planets & rockets on it, sort like 3D –only you can’t tell just by looking at the pictures:

the Star Tiara makes the doll taller than 12″, so she does not fit her original box. I found a silkstone Ken doll box for her. she has star earrings, diamond necklace, wristlet & self-fabric purse.

the dress is made of custom-designed fabric featuring Barbie’s dreams of exploring the planets.

less and less of our club members go to the convention each year, So the donation isn’t as big as it used to be. but anyone wins this doll should be happy, as she makes a perfect souvenir doll

the Wonder of July

The Wonder Woman is having some Beach Fun on July 4th.

Happy July

happy July, and happy Summer!

Someone told me her “Holy Grail” is the 2012 Paris Convention Doll  “La Belle Époque Barbie”.  I took a look at eBay’s listings, the prices are ranged from $850 to $1395.  I don’t think I’d pay that much for a doll

She does look better than the recent year’s Convention dolls.

Borrowing a IRL photo from Pinterest:

A Weekend Project to save $1395.

 

If it seems too good to be true…

 

I believe a group of  scammers has started new plots on eBay to scam buyers.

Last week, there was a listing for 5 brand new NRFB Blush & Gold Silkstone Dolls, the  price was $44.99 each, with free shipping , the seller is brand new with “0” feedback and a strange eBay ID  that the scammer himself wont remember after he pockets buyers money.

3 days ago, a similar listing showed up,  also for 5 brand new NRFB blush & Gold Silkstone Dolls,  the price was $16.99 each with free shipping.

Blush & Gold is a newly released doll, MSRP is $100 each.  so these “Brand New” sellers have no problem to quickly sell off these dolls within hours.

“If it seems too good to be true,  it probably is” ,  buyers  know it, but some of them think “What do I have to lose?  PayPal or eBay will refund my money if I don’t get my doll”

Here is what you will lose:

1. Time: you wait for ages but don’t get the doll, the scammers use your money to run more scams.  you may get a package with a Tracking number but without the doll you paid for.  do you want to open a dispute? sure,  go ahead,  play more waiting game,   eBay or PayPal needs time to decide who is the liar. the scammer say you are, you say the scammer is…
2.  Personal Information:  the Scammers have collected your name, address, phone number and eMail. they will keep selling your information on black market again, again & again… it also could be the beginning of Identity theft. the perpetrators will try to reroute your Mail, hack your eMail accounts… there are a lot of things they can do with these information.

This is not only happening on eBay,  MANY newly opened online stores  do exactly the same.  these scam stores even buy Google ADs, when you buy Barbie, these scammers’ ADs show up on your screen: don’t want to pay more? the same doll is now 50% off on the scam site…

I have found at least a dozen of  such scam stores, here is an example:  there is a phishing  “Barbie Store” website (yep, the website is called “Barbie Store”, I wont post link to boost these Scammers business) –this website copies all Mattel’s webpages,  its prices are 50% off Mattel’s original prices.  shipping is free.  you can find all the collectible Barbie dolls.

I did a little online digging, found the site is newly registered on May 17, 2017, its expiration date is May 17, 2018.  the address listed under “Contact Us” is a vacant residential house in NH, no one lives there.  the contact email is Gmail.

I reported to Mattel via eMail, but Mattel is a big company, my eMail may get lost in thousands of eMails.

I’m warning all the online doll shoppers: Shop Smart.   Use your common sense when you buy from individual sellers.  Be logic: Why would  a newly released doll’s price fall from $100 to $16.99 with free shipping?  $16.99 is not enough to ship this doll from New York to California via Priority Mail.  not to mention 10% eBay Fee and 2.9% PayPal charge the seller has to pay.  so the seller is not selling you anything, you are selling your personal information to the seller.  you don’t get the doll but frustrations.

People who paid $16.99 probably think $16.99 isn’t a big deal, its not even worth fighting with PayPal to get the money back –see, that’s why scammers keep doing it, b/c they know they can get away with it.

 

It’s June!

Its June already? yes, it is.

Happy June.

The next doll in line is Happy Hipster. so she is Miss June.

This “look” is typical street style, one glance catches at least 2 girls wearing the same style on the city streets.

nothing glamorous, it sells if the price is low.