Zelex SLE UK

[pixelpixel86]

Asked different vendors why they don't sell Zelex SLE dolls in the UK even though they sell other ones. Apparently Cloud Climax is the exclusive vendor in the UK and no one else is allowed to sell them here. I would be even okay with that but they sell them for £300-£700 higher than other vendors. I guess taking advantage of this exclusivity? Well, I guess I'm going to have to go with another brand. Even though my current doll is a Zelex silicone and I'm loving it.

[Commish]

If true that's some shady business practice

[pixelpixel86]

If true that's some shady business practice

Here is the reply from Tenderdolls. Covered my name obviously. Also I know there is import tax for the UK but I don't want to believe the import tax is so much the dolls have to cost £300 to £700 more. I mean I actually know it is not that much because my current doll had to be imported as well obviously. And how do I know it is CC even if the email doesn't say it? Pretty obvious. They are UK based and you can buy the dolls on their site.
Tenderdolls has them for £1400. They are not allowed to sell them in the UK. Silicone Lovers has them for £1600. They are allowed to sell them in Europe but can't in the UK. Cloud Climax has them for between £1900 and £2100...
CC has a used one for the same price as the brand new ones on TD.

[pixelpixel86]

Also asked another vendor that I don't want to name that officially doesn't sell the SLE in the UK but they sell everything else. They said they asked and they can sell one for $320 more. So I guess Zelex lets them sell it for that much more? And again the import tax isn't that much, unless it drastically increased since January. The whole thing is so shady

[LOD]

They may well take some advantage, I don't know. But I do know that after all duties and taxes, any doll will greatly increase in cost getting to UK.

20% value added tax, import duty, sales tax, shipped horizontal tax, (made that one up but probably won't be long), everything is extortionate here.

[skra-snarker]

I think partly why SLE dolls are cheaper is that they are not configurable and the vendors can save shipping cost by bringing them in, in bulk. Since the UK left the EU customs zone and is now a relatively small market, I would imagine it makes sense to ship via a single vendor. Also if you were to get the doll through a vendor that has shipped to the EU you would probably have to pay both EU import duty and UK import duty as the paper work to avoid it would be too much trouble.

[anonymousdfuser]

If true that's some shady business practice

Here is the reply from Tenderdolls. Covered my name obviously. Also I know there is import tax for the UK but I don't want to believe the import tax is so much the dolls have to cost £300 to £700 more. I mean I actually know it is not that much because my current doll had to be imported as well obviously. And how do I know it is CC even if the email doesn't say it? Pretty obvious. They are UK based and you can buy the dolls on their site.
Tenderdolls has them for £1400. They are not allowed to sell them in the UK. Silicone Lovers has them for £1600. They are allowed to sell them in Europe but can't in the UK. Cloud Climax has them for between £1900 and £2100...
CC has a used one for the same price as the brand new ones on TD.

Wow, that's quite the price difference. Zelex's Inspiration Series dolls are around the same price, and you get customization with those.

[Lestat]

If true that's some shady business practice

Here is the reply from Tenderdolls. Covered my name obviously. Also I know there is import tax for the UK but I don't want to believe the import tax is so much the dolls have to cost £300 to £700 more. I mean I actually know it is not that much because my current doll had to be imported as well obviously. And how do I know it is CC even if the email doesn't say it? Pretty obvious. They are UK based and you can buy the dolls on their site.
Tenderdolls has them for £1400. They are not allowed to sell them in the UK. Silicone Lovers has them for £1600. They are allowed to sell them in Europe but can't in the UK. Cloud Climax has them for between £1900 and £2100...
CC has a used one for the same price as the brand new ones on TD.

Wow, that's quite the price difference. Zelex's Inspiration Series dolls are around the same price, and you get customization with those.

The inspiration series does indeed offer a great deal of customization options, the only problem at the moment is that the current lineup of bodies available is not to everyone's liking.
While the SLE series does not offer customizations the range of body types available is greater.

[Jugo]

Buy it from a EU vendor in France or Netherlands, take a car and go pick it up yourself at the vendor office.

[Zephyrus]

It's not just import taxes. CC's added value is that imports go directly to them, to their warehouse; it makes them the importer and means they can become expert importers in the field. As such they have greater influence on the Chinese factories in that if something goes wrong and the factory refuses to do anything about it, losing CC as an importer is a substantial threat. They inspect the dolls before delivering them to customers, as a local (within the UK) dispatch rather than an international dispatch. And if the inspection shows the dolls are not of sufficient quality then CC have much greater sway over the factories than you or I would.

This is partly why you can't get CLSDs from CC. As the importer they would be on the hook. TD's TCs OTOH state they have "no control over [... the] legality of the Products advertised on the Website". Not that I think TD sell them (although IMHO there are some that might be considered somewhat borderline), but if Border Force decide a doll is childlike then it's the customer getting investigated while TD hide behind their legalese, and of course not being subject to UK law anyway. CC shields you from this worry.

TD on the other hand take orders, pass them onto factories, who then post the dolls directly to the end customer ("drop shipping"). This makes the customer the importer, who in most cases won't be an expert that is importing dozens of dolls weekly; if something goes wrong and the sellers refuse to do anything about it, what are you going to do? TD are agents only, and their TCs list a whole load of "we do not..." which for the most part, CC do.

For myself I consider CC's added value to be worth the extra you have to pay. Although I'm not too sure about there being no consumer choice about getting SLE's from a different vendor who might offer drop shipping; monopolies are not usually good for consumers. Maybe the solution is for CC to offer a drop-shipping option at a lower cost with none of their usual protection - except obviously if something did go wrong then the customer would inevitably blame CC no matter what they signed.

[nicvncnt]

Maybe the solution is for CC to offer a drop-shipping option at a lower cost with none of their usual protection - except obviously if something did go wrong then the customer would inevitably blame CC no matter what they signed.

And they would be right to do so - the customer's contract is with the retailer, not the manufacturer, regardless of how the retailer chooses to arrange delivery. CC did start to offer a drop-shipping option a few years back but then withdrew it...AFAIK no explanation was ever given as to why.

[Zephyrus]

Maybe that was the problem. They have no control over what drop-shippers send. So it's likely more trouble than it's worth.

[anonymousdfuser]

The inspiration series does indeed offer a great deal of customization options, the only problem at the moment is that the current lineup of bodies available is not to everyone's liking.
While the SLE series does not offer customizations the range of body types available is greater.

Yes, that's true.