BEWARE CHINESE KNOCKOFF "SILICONE-VINYL" DOLL KITS!
Open letter to anyone who buys cheap or "wholesale" advertised reborn doll kits from such sites as Alibaba, Aliexpress, dhgate.com, or any of the myriad Chinese doll manufacturers popping up on eBay or on the Internet.
If you are new to the reborn doll world, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. Please.
YOU ARE BUYING STOLEN COUNTERFEITED COPIES. YOU ARE PAYING AND ENCOURAGING UNSCRUPULOUS THIEVES WHO HAVE NO MORAL OR BUSINESS ETHICS.
You're supporting an evil industry that takes money out of my pocket, my family's pocket and every hard-working and talented doll kit sculptor and doll dealer in the world.
What are they doing, you ask?
There are Chinese doll companies that take original vinyl doll kits sculpted by talented sculptors around the world (such as Natalie Scholl, Natali Blick, Bonnie Brown, Adrie Stoete, Ping Lau, Cassie Brace, Tina Kewy, Laura Tuzio Ross, and many, others too numerous to name), and creating NEW molds without permission and selling them. PIRATED COUNTERFEITS! They even steal the promotional photos of talented reborn artists to market these counterfeited copies.
Here's another clue: so-called "silicone vinyl" is NOT a real thing! That's the buzzword they use. It's your signal to run the other way. Silicone is chemically incompatible with vinyl, period. With the recent craze in the dolly world of dolls poured in real silicone and selling for thousands of dollars, it's not hard to figure out why unscrupulous people would try to cash in on that band wagon.
I've been involved extensively in the reborn doll industry since 2002. I'm not some johnny-come-lately hysterical fear monger. I've had my own dolls copied in China and show up on sketchy "reborn doll kit" sites. It's time we got the message out so that honest reborn artists won't get sucked into buying and supporting (and thereby encouraging) this practice.
I know reborning is expensive, but you'd better realize that savvy collectors are going to be looking for certificates of authenticity and sculptors marks on the doll YOU sell them. If it's not there, guess what? You are in collusion with the Chinese scam artists. Don't be that person.
Here's just one site that describes the problem (and it's not just dolls, it's happening with just about everything!)
"Unfortunately, much of the world’s problem with intellectual property theft can be traced to one country: China. Eighty-five percent of the counterfeit goods seized in the European Union in 2010 were were believed to come from China. In the United States, the 14,841 seizures of counterfeit goods and unlicensed knockoffs had a domestic value of more than $260 million and accounted for 76 percent of all counterfeit goods. Almost 8 percent of China’s gross domestic product comes from the counterfeiting of creative works, consumer goods and industrial products, and software.
One recent newspaper report recently disputed the common belief that counterfeit products are turned out by small-time counterfeiters who “reverse engineer” products developed and manufactured in the United States. Rather, the report said, “sophisticated counterfeiters go straight to the source and steal design files and software code from the manufacturer.”
If you are new to the reborn doll world, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. Please.
YOU ARE BUYING STOLEN COUNTERFEITED COPIES. YOU ARE PAYING AND ENCOURAGING UNSCRUPULOUS THIEVES WHO HAVE NO MORAL OR BUSINESS ETHICS.
You're supporting an evil industry that takes money out of my pocket, my family's pocket and every hard-working and talented doll kit sculptor and doll dealer in the world.
What are they doing, you ask?
There are Chinese doll companies that take original vinyl doll kits sculpted by talented sculptors around the world (such as Natalie Scholl, Natali Blick, Bonnie Brown, Adrie Stoete, Ping Lau, Cassie Brace, Tina Kewy, Laura Tuzio Ross, and many, others too numerous to name), and creating NEW molds without permission and selling them. PIRATED COUNTERFEITS! They even steal the promotional photos of talented reborn artists to market these counterfeited copies.
Here's another clue: so-called "silicone vinyl" is NOT a real thing! That's the buzzword they use. It's your signal to run the other way. Silicone is chemically incompatible with vinyl, period. With the recent craze in the dolly world of dolls poured in real silicone and selling for thousands of dollars, it's not hard to figure out why unscrupulous people would try to cash in on that band wagon.
I've been involved extensively in the reborn doll industry since 2002. I'm not some johnny-come-lately hysterical fear monger. I've had my own dolls copied in China and show up on sketchy "reborn doll kit" sites. It's time we got the message out so that honest reborn artists won't get sucked into buying and supporting (and thereby encouraging) this practice.
I know reborning is expensive, but you'd better realize that savvy collectors are going to be looking for certificates of authenticity and sculptors marks on the doll YOU sell them. If it's not there, guess what? You are in collusion with the Chinese scam artists. Don't be that person.
Here's just one site that describes the problem (and it's not just dolls, it's happening with just about everything!)
"Unfortunately, much of the world’s problem with intellectual property theft can be traced to one country: China. Eighty-five percent of the counterfeit goods seized in the European Union in 2010 were were believed to come from China. In the United States, the 14,841 seizures of counterfeit goods and unlicensed knockoffs had a domestic value of more than $260 million and accounted for 76 percent of all counterfeit goods. Almost 8 percent of China’s gross domestic product comes from the counterfeiting of creative works, consumer goods and industrial products, and software.
One recent newspaper report recently disputed the common belief that counterfeit products are turned out by small-time counterfeiters who “reverse engineer” products developed and manufactured in the United States. Rather, the report said, “sophisticated counterfeiters go straight to the source and steal design files and software code from the manufacturer.”
So what can you do to protect yourself and the rest of the doll world from this thievery?
If you buy from eBay, ask questions, and require proof that you are purchasing a doll kit that has identifying marks from the original sculptor. UNDER NO circumstances buy a kit direct from a Chinese seller.
Do not search the web for "cheap doll kits". You'll just get a page full of the Chinese scammers I listed above.
Buy your doll kits from established American and European Doll Dealers. There are quite a few to choose from, and it's pretty easy to vet the ones whose websites you may find in a Google search. Here's a hint...none of them are in China.
To get you started, here are some dealers I personally know and trust:
Irresistables
MacPherson Arts & Crafts (Canada)
Dolls By Sandie
Bountiful Baby
HunnyBuns Dolls & Reborn Supply
Dolls So Real
S&T (formerly Secrist Dolls)
Creative Impressions Nursery
DollDreams
KiddiesKorners Reborn Supply (Ireland UK)
Rebornshop.at (Austria)
Tinkerbell Creations (UK)
This isn't an exhaustive list by any means. If you want to know if someone is reputable you can ask in the comments section and I'll try to give you a fair answer. If you'd like your doll shop listed here, drop me an email at hunnybunmama@gmail.com
4 comments:
Yo compre un kit en doll so Real, y la verdad me asuste, cuando vi que en la factura ponía lugar de procedencia china, nunca he comprado un kit en o a china, todos los kits q he renacido han sido comprados por mu en tiendas de confianza, pero porque dice en este caso lugar de procedencia china cuando yo lo he comprado a EEUU?????
Yo compre un kit en doll so Real, y la verdad me asuste, cuando vi que en la factura ponía lugar de procedencia china, nunca he comprado un kit en o a china, todos los kits q he renacido han sido comprados por mu en tiendas de confianza, pero porque dice en este caso lugar de procedencia china cuando yo lo he comprado a EEUU?????
If you bought a doll kit from Dolls So Real, it's ok. Most of the doll kits are being manufactured in China by the sculptors themselves. This is not the same thing as Chinese doll factories stealing molds and making their own copies of them.
Every one of These Chinese corporations who distribute counterfeit products tick me off. I noticed that they have a copied & stolen the berenguer (jctoys) La'Newborn doll mold also
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