The Doll Forum

I ordered my doll from the-doll-house.com and need to post here big thanks to Phil, which helped me in every way .. there has been little problem about VAT when importing my doll to Czech Republic (dunno about other countries), but Phil covered everything (I still cannot believe his approach compared with current fake world).

the-doll-house.com is 100 % solid vendor and you will receive quality product.

OK Midbus, you should have enough posts now to go to 'full editor' in the reply box and submit your photos in your own thread. We look forward to seeing your pictures!

Hi, the-doll-house. I had a question, do european customers have to expect import duties of any sort?

Sorry for the late reply, you know how busy the weekends can be.

With respect to the idea of a place to see and feel the girls, I am working on a showroom, which will double up as a photo-studio also.

The main reasons being: while many of the images from the manufacturers are very pretty, they can lack substance in terms of what the customer is purchasing - great clothes, make-up, and poses, but the freshly purchased doll will not look like that.
So initial images (to be useful to customers) should be straight out-of-the-box, and bereft of any clothing, ideally with at least a height measure behind her, to give an idea of the scale of the girl (or guy.)

Once these images are in place as standard, we will be in a good position to judge how these girls relate to one another in terms of height and width. After that we should have a few pretty images to give us ideas of our own as to how to dress and pose them.

If anyone has any ideas for standards for the imagery, I would be grateful to hear them.

That covers the photo-studio part.
As for the showroom, at the moment, I am awaiting the arrival of two DS ladies for the European Doll Meet (2016), and have been offered the chance of purchasing a WM 168cm Nava doll for the meet, and expect to have a WM 161cm with head #51 (Portia).
All of which, once shown at the meet, will be placed up for sale with a nice discount, and so will effectively be 'in stock' and ready for the showroom.

Eric of YL-Dolls (we speak daily) has offered me a discount to take a YL-Doll to the meet also, we were talking about a 148cm as that is their biggest selling line, but I do like their 155cm Leslie, so we shall see.

I agree on the points made regarding customer service and communications, and do intend to carry on this way, although sometimes manufacturers (I will not name) make this hard by sending out late tracking numbers, or just not communicating at all.
This makes all of us look bad, and if there is something we need in this industry, it is dependability/confidence.

So if anyone has any ideas, The-Doll-house has large ears 4 ideas!

NB. with respect to EU import taxes, we've adopted the Graeme/love-doll.co.uk approach, of having all dolls delivered to the premises first to ensure all taxes get paid, and we can correct the sometimes vigorous handling from Customs and Excise. Previously we would ship the doll straight to the customer, and then cover any import taxes, vat etc using PayPal, but this does not help the customer when (for example) an eyelash/fingernail has come off during inspection. We can now correct this prior to delivery.

Stay cool!

Superb philosophy Phil. I can say that a showroom is what is needed for many members (especially 'newbies') as we are generally spending quite a lot of money (for most of us anyway) as virtually a 'blind' purchase! Which brings me to the pictures you say you are going to take. Brilliant idea! I would think a side-by-side shot of a range of dolls would help enormously perhaps pairing them up.
I remember when first looking at the DS mini on line. Both Eva and Eve looked far bigger in pictures than in real life! If they had been shot next to say a DS 145, I may well have made a different choice (although I do love my Eva dolls). I also found out recently that DS measure their dolls from head to toe, not head to heel, so they are slightly shorter than other 'brands' of the same height description!
I am not saying pair different brands together but you can see what I mean! If a 145 (any make) is put with a 155 of the same make there is only 10cm height difference but a huge difference in body shape and size and a 155 is still only 5ft 1in! If you had a normal size (say 5ft 10in) male mannekin (not a male doll!) next to some of the female dolls as a shoot that would be a huge comparison benefit!
My tuppence worth!
Keep up the good work, Hollows.

thanks for the reply. i appreciate the professionality and the efforts you are putting in your job

with regard to standards in photography, i think the male mannequin is a good idea for height reference.
I struggle with choosing skin tones. Photographs often look yellowish and to get a balanced white balance (you can make a good white balance in photoshop) you need a reference of 50% grey, solid white, and solid black. With these colors one can adjust the white balance to correct this yellowing effect of the lightsource. A picture with dolls with different skin colors next to each other is also helpful, to see how they relate.

Hi, I can't find anywhere on your website saying anything about what's included in the box such as cleaning kit, clothes etc
Does the price include vat etc to the uk

Hi Beast,

Thanks for the input - we must make this easier to find.
As a standard, we request the care kit for Jinsan (WM, YL, & OR Dolls,) and this usually contains:

• Vaginal Douche
• Handling Gloves
• USB Warmer - these have been known to malfunction and damage dolls, so use at your own risk.

We have to add the Stain remover as EU customs will remove this (as well as a mini lipstick).

There is usually a pink night-dress type garment with matching thong that goes with it.
This is usually supplied with all Jinsan dolls (this can vary.)

Yes, all VAT and import duties are included in the price - there are no hidden costs with The-Doll-House.
Do let us know of any questions that you may have, and we will help you in any way that we can.
Please have a pleasant evening.

The-Doll-House wrote: Yes, all VAT and import duties are included in the price - there are no hidden costs with The-Doll-House.
Do let us know of any questions that you may have, and we will help you in any way that we can.
Please have a pleasant evening.

Is this still valid after the brexit? I've read import/export taxes from the UK towards Europe (Belgium in my case) might change in a bad way.

Hi M00zes,

Yes, we do expect changes once Brexit actually takes effect.
It will come down to what is negotiated for the UK to access the EU VAT trade agreement.

The import duty is negligible and will not effect pricing for the EU sales,
So it will come down to how the VAT is managed for EU sales.

• If access is granted to the UK to access the EU VAT trade agreement, then it may cost more in terms of VAT payments, but if this is £50 or less, we will absorb the cost.
• If the UK is treated as a foreign country (with regards to VAT) to the EU, then the VAT that would normally be charged for an EU sale (as it is now), would not be chargeable, and this could be used to accept the responsibility for the import VAT charges to the EU. So that may balance out the costs, and hopefully this may result in more paperwork, but a net no-change to the cost to the end customer.

I hope that may shine some light on the immediate future.
That said, as soon as anything is declared from the powers that be in the UK, then we would announce this on the website.

If you have any questions,,,

Hi Phil,

I'm assuming you have the showroom set up now since you seem to have a few dolls in stock and photos as well.

The Sanhui 165+ with Svetlana head and silver hair on your website looks pretty impressive.

Hi JustOnePot,

Thanks for the praise.
The dolls - mainly incorrect deliveries from China (eg. 160cm doll with fixed, rather than removable vagina) were beginning to mount up. So I had to make the decision to do the work, and start doing some half decent photos, and get these dolls sold, and out from under my feet (so to speak.) There will be a couple of Pre-Owned dolls to go up too.

I do have a number more to do, so keep an eye on the Dolls in Stock page for more deals to come.

Hi - First contribution from me. I've ordered a WM 140 A cup from Phil at the Doll-house so in a couple of weeks time (hopefully)I will join you all as a doll owner. This is a very good post. My intention is to submit a post of my "journey" to purchase and beyond. I just wished to add my two penneth worth in that Phil/TDH has been one of the best companies I have EVER had dealings with in any subject. He is free with his time and actually replies to your specific questions(I'm sure he's answered them multiple times) First class, really first class so far goes above and beyond in my experience to date.

welcome Chumples. you chose well and you'll find nothing but good spoken about phil. top bloke.

Look forward to seeing some photos when she arrives.