Now from Taobao

I finally have the outfit for Fyrd! Yey! ... But that's about the extent of my enthusiasm. Well, no, the shirt and tulle vest are lovely, it's just that the whole ordeal of getting them was not.. so lovely.

So what happened?

I did a little GO to Taobao with Velvet, through TaoBaoNow (now they have a new website called SpreeNow, btw). We ordered mostly loli things, but I also did an order of one outfit for Fyrd. The shop was Doll Solo. They have many lovely items, so it's a shame I'm a bit wary of ordering from them now. :(




See, when the order arrived, it was soon obvious that what was intended to fit SD13 boy, and in Fyrd's case (being on a sanded female body) would be loose, was way too small. I'm guessing that they sent me a MSD (1/4) sized in accident, but since I have no MSDs, I cannot say for sure. It's definitely not SD though...

I contacted TaoBaoNow immediately after noticing this, and asked how they wanted to fix this. My only demands were that I would not be going to be repaying them for any handling fees or more shipping. I was suggesting I pay the price for a new outfit, and keep the small one in hopes I could sell it. Well, in the end I got to keep the small one and got the right size for free (no fees/shipping added for this), which is definitely spectacular, but the whole thing still left a bit of a sour taste.

In the beginning it appeared that TaoBaoNow didn't have any incentive to do anything about this. They were asking whether I meant that I would negotiate the outfit's seller to pay out of pocket for both the national and international shipping (I will do none of that, it was not my mistake, I double checked that I clearly wrote the intended size in my order) and seemed overall very reluctant to fix the problem. I also didn't get any confirmation on whether this was a mistake on the TBN or the seller's end. Well ok, this latter I can put down to cultural difference and the Asian save-the-face etc., but it's still miffing to now know which one not to trust anymore...

Well, after a while I got a request to provide them with the measurements of my doll. I did photos of my doll with the shirt to show exactly what size my doll was and what size the clothes were. Then after they asked for it, I also provided them with the extensive measurements. They said it was for the seller so that they could remake the outfit for me in the correct size. Neat for them to ask for such details, but if you're selling clothes for 1/3 size, shouldn't you know what size it is?

I got confirmation of the measurements received on May 23rd. Then after hearing nothing, on June 8th I asked if there was any progress with this. The reply: "This item has arrived at our office." Ok, cool. Then, again, no communication. I was a bit busy myself (and actually didn'y want to have to think about this ordeal at all), so I didn't ask about it until July 17th. and got a reply saying they still had the outfit. They asked if I wanted to do a new order with them so that they could ship the outfit together with that. I had already once refused that arrangement, since what if something went wrong with that order as well and I'd be in a vortex of bad deals with TBN... But now I just wanted this to be over with and did a new GO.



This time everything I got was in order. In the end I have to say:
+ out of three orders I've done through TaoBaoNow, two have been succesful and there was a hiccup with just one item (so I'll let you delibarate if it's worth the 'risk')
+ I got the outfit in perfect condition in the end, fits the doll perfectly and looks just like in the pictures (I also have to note that originally it got to the dealer pretty quickly)
+ I also got to keep the 'defective' outfit
- they couldn't send the correct outfit separately, ex. by air mail
- communication broke down while a solution was still in making, I didn't get any notification of the item arriving to them without asking, neither did they immediately offer any solutions to ship it to me

I think the main problem I have here is that everything is fine and dandy while everything is fine and dandy. But if something goes wrong with the order, then it's bail out time or something. I think they just chech that there is the correct amount of items and they are the right colour. Sure, I don't expect a go-between of a massive market like TaoBao to be experts in every single genre of items people can order from there (and BJD are a niche hobby, after all) and there was also the problem of the seller not really labeling their products properly. There is no note on the package, it's just a clear plastic bag. So this is exactly why I don't know whether not to buy from Doll Solo (or any item from any BJD shop that offers the same items in different size categories) or through TBN.

/rant, make of it what you will

/tl;dr: I ordered a doll outfit, got the wrong size and it took ages and a hassle to get the correct one. But now frills, yey!