Sanui Website vs Product Detail (Product Detail Loses)

[the Datchi Waifu]

So I've spent the past half year or so admiring and researching dolls and I've decided to go with a Sanhui 145A. Ordering direct from Sanhui seems to be the way to go, I've read others have had good experiences and from what I've seen it's cheaper than going through a vendor.

But wow, some of the product detail on the Sanhui site is seriously lacking - every detail is critical so how are we supposed to make informed decisions when the pictures to choose from lack detail or are too similar to tell the difference? I've found multiple posts from others in this forum saying the same things. So I decided to reach out to Mike to see if I can get some answers. Well, after making contact with him, it's been a week and I still dont have a concrete resolution to any of the questions or requests I had. A little disconcerting, given I've essentially told him that this is a big deal to me (will be my first doll) and that all he's gotta do is get back to me and I'll drop USD ~2.5k buying what I'd like.

So I've spent even more time tracking down images scattered about in this forum to help me decide on exactly what I want. There are two issues which I dont think I can get resolved before I actually make a purchase.

1 - I was looking for additional photos for head #19 and wanted to see that head on the smaller 145 body to see how it looked. Was told that #19 is not popular and there was difficulty finding me pictures (also, good luck searching for #19 on the forum, guess what pops up? every covid thread ever in the history of EVER). I was able to track down more photos on SDG's website but seeing it on a 145 is probably out of the question at this point. Might be SOL here before i place an order :/ (but I did see pgargon's Lara thread and the proportions there look really good, imo)

2 - Had a specific question about a custom option, just havent had a reply. Not a huge deal i guess.

I'm hoping you all will be able to help me in finding better photos (and their corresponding number codes) for the rotatable eyes Sanhui offers. Below is a screeny of the options on their website and I gotta be honest, I got no clue what some of these are supposed to be. I've gathered 6 is the purple (one i do want), 8 is probably green, but I'd really like to see these options in more detail because I know that what is shown is not what they actually look like.

Bottom line - Sanhui's website is easy to use (imo) but needs some upgrades when it comes to factory photos / product detail shown. Also, despite a lot of comments I've seen on this thread, I have not had a quick back and forth with Sanhui. Given that I dont have any real answers to what I've asked, it could take a month or more for these basic questions to get answered. Last thing I wanted to do was shoot from the hip when I order.

[HornedPear]

I think Sanhui has one of the best sites among doll manufacturers but that isn't really saying much because most manufacturer sites are terrible.

When buying a doll, especially your first doll, one of the most frustrating things is trying to figure out what your doll would look like with various options. You are doing the right thing by searching for photos on TDF, I have found that is often the best you can do. But you never seem able to find a picture that has exactly the options you want. To some degree, you just have to roll the dice and see how she turns out.

When your doll first arrives, the things you don't like may stick out. But as you bond with your doll, you probably won't notice the imperfect details and grow to appreciate her as she is.

If you have any specific questions or are looking for a specific photo, feel free to post it here. Most people on the forum would be happy to help if they can. I have a 145A myself so if you have any questions about that doll in particular, feel free to ask.

[Nord]

Oh the timing. I was just planning today on making a thread for owners to contribute pictures of Sanhui eyes. I have two sets myself and will take some pictures with measurements of the complete module (2020) as soon as I get some daylight in here again.

I can relate to the difficulties with options and the many bad pictures on their site. I have criticized it a lot myself too and had to ask for more and advice before finally placing my order last year. They have showed off a photo studio at their factory and they make dolls all the time, so it seems to me they have all the possibilities but no one to make it happen. Their site was upgraded last year and is great in every other way.

Either way it's always good to ask and look around on the forums first too, so you'll likely end up here anyway

What eye color are you interested in? I have not seen head #19 much unfortunately. It's very pretty though, so I'm surprised it's not more popular, but people seem to prefer the "cuter" ones.

[the Datchi Waifu]

When your doll first arrives, the things you don't like may stick out. But as you bond with your doll, you probably won't notice the imperfect details and grow to appreciate her as she is.

^ This definitely helps, thanks for your reply. I've narrowed most of it down and nothing is perfect right?

What eye color are you interested in? I have not seen head #19 much unfortunately. It's very pretty though, so I'm surprised it's not more popular, but people seem to prefer the "cuter" ones.

^ Purple is a definite but I'd like to see what they all look like so I can make a decision on a second or third option. I've considered just buying them all tbh, I mean it wouldnt be that big of a relative $$ sink compared to the total price... But I'm also surprised I havent been able to find #19 on the forum, its quite elegant, imo.

So any eye photos anyone may have (in addition to its ordering #) and any photos ppl have of the 'larger' heads on 145 bodies would help me at this point. Basically the last hurdle before I'm comfortable enough to hit that buy button.

[Wight]

Hi, 145 A has petite less voluptuous upper body so a big head certainly could look heavy. However #19 that you were looking, has delicate smallish face compared to #17, #6 or #32 with eyes wider apart that make the "big" appearance. #19 has also delicate jaw and bone structure, classy. Playing with the wig and shadowing on her cheeks also makes the face smaller.

[Goblinkun]

You raise a very good and valid point. I'm talking about Head and Body Proportions. On real humans, head size varies depending on the height of the person as well because it's part of what grows as humans mature. A head that fits perfectly on a 5'5" doll might look disproportionate on a smaller doll around the 4'8" to 5' variety, giving it a "Bobble Head" effect.

It would be good if companies showed even at least one example head on each body size so that we'll be able to determine if our head choice would look good on a certain body size or not.

[Nord]

Grabbed some pictures. Here's eye #6 and #4, as well as a look at the rotatable module. Not sure if the module look exactly the same for the smaller 145-heads though.

Note that the purple eyes are actually pretty dark. This picture is untouched, but she got daylight straight on her face for the color and iris detail to pop. Most pictures I've taken so far I've had to enhance the eyes a bit for the purple to be noticeable.

As for #4 I was looking for a mix between blue and green, and this was probably the most natural looking result I could wish for. Very nice detail. But looking at Sanhui's site now I see they have changed images since I did my final order in January. #4 doesn't look anything like how it used to or how mine does Ffs Sanhui...

SH_eye_6.jpg (597.13 KiB) Viewed 2867 times

SH_eye_4.jpg (778.69 KiB) Viewed 2867 times

[the Datchi Waifu]

145 A has petite less voluptuous upper body so a big head certainly could look heavy. However #19 that you were looking, has delicate smallish face

^ This is what i'm banking on, I dont see myself deviating from #19 or the 145A so I hope this helps to mitigate. Thanks for your tips on making the head 'look' smaller as well.

It would be good if companies showed even at least one example head on each body size so that we'll be able to determine if our head choice would look good on a certain body size or not.

^ I agree with this - I dont expect companies to overbuild a website, but for instances like this, examples would go a long way. I've reached out to Sanhui to see #19 on a 145A (as stated in my original post), but last i heard they were still trying to track down more photos of the head.

Grabbed some pictures. Here's eye #6 and #4

^ Thanks so much! #6 is my main choice and I was able to find better pictures of it on Sanhui's site, I just had to deduce myself that it was #6. The options of rotatable eyes I have in my original post is a snip from Sanhui's website. Your #6 and #4 pictures look immensely better than what is shown on Sanhui's ordering page.

Anyone else able to track down some eye pictures/numbers for me?

Also - Labia color options all look the same as well. I've put a screenshot below. I assume these numbers would match up with the areola color numbers (even though areola has a 4th option), but im just not sure if that's actually true. When I order, I will be matching the labia/areola numbers just to try to play it safe.

[Fryevia]

I LOL'd when I read this. I couldn't agree more with everything you said, and I'm glad I'm not the only one that find their site's option page lacking in quality pictures to show the details/differences in some areas and Mike's response speed leaving a lot to be desired.

It's no surprise that #19 head is "not popular" when she is not shown on the complete dolls on their product page. If you don't show it, you don't sell it.

But my biggest gripe with their website is the false pricing for their 156, 158, and 160cm dolls. If the Flexi skeleton (+$150) is the ONLY skeleton for these bodies, just price the doll at $2349 instead of $2199 since it's not an option. This makes them look like the car dealership that advertises the deal on a base model car that they will never carry and compel you to buy the higher tiered ones that are in stock. Just my thought.

[Nord]

But my biggest gripe with their website is the false pricing for their 156, 158, and 160cm dolls. If the Flexi skeleton (+$150) is the ONLY skeleton for these bodies, just price the doll at $2349 instead of $2199 since it's not an option. This makes them look like the car dealership that advertises the deal on a base model car that they will never carry and compel you to buy the higher tiered ones that are in stock. Just my thought.

Standard Skeleton should be back now as far as I can see? They took out that option late last year on taller dolls probably due to the whole drama revolving broken backs. I'd want to assume they fixed it by now, but I have not seen any statements about it. If interested I suggest you send them an email about it for clarification.

Flexi Skeleton is highly recommended though and should be first priority of all the options available.

[Doll Master]

additional photos for head #19

SH #19 .png (2.88 MiB) Viewed 2514 times

SH #19.png (2.49 MiB) Viewed 2514 times

SH #19_.png (2.28 MiB) Viewed 2514 times

They have so many great heads, it's hard to
choose. Also, just recently, I noticed that the
new adjustable mouth can make the faces
look different (see pic).

adjustable mouth face.png (2.49 MiB) Viewed 2514 times

[Fryevia]

But my biggest gripe with their website is the false pricing for their 156, 158, and 160cm dolls. If the Flexi skeleton (+$150) is the ONLY skeleton for these bodies, just price the doll at $2349 instead of $2199 since it's not an option. This makes them look like the car dealership that advertises the deal on a base model car that they will never carry and compel you to buy the higher tiered ones that are in stock. Just my thought.

Standard Skeleton should be back now as far as I can see? They took out that option late last year on taller dolls probably due to the whole drama revolving broken backs. I'd want to assume they fixed it by now, but I have not seen any statements about it. If interested I suggest you send them an email about it for clarification.

Flexi Skeleton is highly recommended though and should be first priority of all the options available.

It states the Flexi Edition as the only option in their doll customisation page, and I checked with Live chat function on their website to confirm that the regular skeleton is no longer available for these sizes and we have to pay $150 extra as standard now. The chat did mention that this was to address the issue of the back problems their ladies were having, so it is good to hear they are fixed. I have no doubt the Flexi Skeleton is great, but at the same time as a customer I see it as an extra $150. I perceive this as deceiving so the doll has a lower list price. Since they know it is the only option available they can easily update the pricing on their website with a few clicks, but decided not. Just my two pennies for what it's worth, and I may be the only one out there who cares about this at all.

[Nord]

It states the Flexi Edition as the only option in their doll customisation page, and I checked with Live chat function on their website to confirm that the regular skeleton is no longer available for these sizes and we have to pay $150 extra as standard now. The chat did mention that this was to address the issue of the back problems their ladies were having, so it is good to hear they are fixed. I have no doubt the Flexi Skeleton is great, but at the same time as a customer I see it as an extra $150. I perceive this as deceiving so the doll has a lower list price. Since they know it is the only option available they can easily update the pricing on their website with a few clicks, but decided not. Just my two pennies for what it's worth, and I may be the only one out there who cares about this at all.

Oh I completely missed that big red box lol. It used to look different and not be possible to choose the standard skeleton at all.

But yea then I agree they should definitely update things. I noticed the vendor DolltoChina does the exact same thing for Sanhui dolls, but with an even higher price ($200). They adopted the same website platform too when they updated their site recently. This can't be a coincidence Seems they share the same webmaster or something.

[Mike+Sanhui]

Hey the Datchi Waifu,

Sorry for the late reply, things are a little bit messy on our end with the previous holiday and stuff related. I'm one of the guys in charge of the website and we really tried to offer you a very clear perspective when you are ready to take the leap and place your order. I'm aware of the lack of detailed information as well, that's not what we had in mind either, believe it or not I'm frustrated too, I don't like it when the customers have to reach out to us for more information instead of getting it off our website straightaway. I had problems getting the photos I needed as well, the eye colors are not ideal, it's hard to tell the difference. The good thing is we're actually working on these problems and we sure hope we'll be able to solve them soon, please have patience with us.

Mike.

[the Datchi Waifu]

additional photos for head #19

^ Thanks for this - They do have great heads to choose from. But for me, #19 is the only one I see :]

I'm aware of the lack of detailed information as well, that's not what we had in mind either, believe it or not I'm frustrated too

^ Appreciate your reply, Mike. My purpose for this thread was simply to raise what I saw as an issue so I could ask the members for better pictures before I made my decisions. (overall you guys do have a good website)

I did end up placing an order 7 days ago, was told 7-10 days for production / factory photos. Excited and anxious, considering posting on the 'Brutal Wait' thread once I got factory photos - but now I'm just plain worried. See below :[