Buying your first Blythe

Today I was contacted by someone who came across my Etsy shop and wanted to find out how to buy her first Blythe. I had already half finished writing a post on this, and revisited it intending to complete and publish it, but after a quick read through I realised that it was far too long and confusing and a simpler approach was needed. So, welcome to "Buying your first Blythe", version 2. For followers of my blog who undoubtably have bought many Blythes, I apologise, but I so wished that I could have found all this information more easily when I was shopping for my first. Hopefully someone will be able to benefit from it.

Buying your first Blythe is a bit of a voyage into the unknown. Neo Blythes, the ones most commonly collected, are very rarely found in shops outside of Asia. For someone buying their very first Blythe, there are a few different ways you can get your hands on one. The first and easiest way (although sometimes the most expensive), is Ebay.


CWC seem to release a new Blythe about once a month. Asian sellers buy up on the new dolls and then resell them through Ebay. Naturally you will pay a little bit more for these and there are always the usual risks that come as part and parcel of buying from Ebay. Buying a doll NRFB (never removed from box) is the best way to avoid getting a nasty surprise and buying a new release doll (with the exception of the limited or aniversary dolls) is usually the cheapest. At the moment, the cheapest NRFB Blythes are Simply Mango and Simply Guava. CWC make a lot more of the "Simply" girls than regular and limited releases, and this is reflected in their lower price. There are quite a few reputable Blythe sellers on Ebay, I like to use Mimiwoo. I've bought everything from Blythes to shoes and bodies from her and she is always reliable.


If you have your heart set on a particular Blythe or just don't like the current releases, I'd recommend joining the Blythe forums. As well as getting loads of helpful information, they have very active sales threads where you can buy and sell everything from Blythes to wigs to shoes, mostly pre-used by other collectors. The advantage of buying from within the community is that most Blythe owners will go out of their way to show you every little flaw and mark on the doll that is likely to be an issue for a collector, and are happy to answer any questions that you might have. Most will have links to their Flickr accounts in their sales threads so you can see a lot more photos of the doll you wish to buy than you could from an Ebay seller. It's also highly unlikely that you will encounter somebody trying to pass clones off as Blythes and you are also likely to get a fair price and cheaper shipping if you are lucky enough to find the doll you want in the same country you live in.

These are my favourite Blythe forums (you can find me on there as princesspea...If I'd known that I'd be so badly hooked I'd have chosen my username more carefully!):

Plastic Paradise
This Is Blythe
We Play With Dolls

You can also buy Blythe through some asian online stores, like Hobby Link Japan, but stock can be sold out in the blink on an eye on the more popular girls and language can sometimes be a barrier.

Things to keep in mind before purchasing:



Blythe has lots of imitators known as clones. You are most likely to find these on Ebay and some unscrupulous sellers will try to pass them off as Blythe dolls with Blythe sized Buy It Now prices. If the listing mentions CCE, Blybe, Basaak or Changing Colour Eyes you are probably looking at a clone. An easy way to tell is to look at the scalp. Clones have a wider space between the faceplate and the beginning of the hairline. Some sellers are aware of this and will angle photographs so you can't tell. If it isn't listed, ask them what kind of Blythe the doll is - CWC/Takara Blythes all have names "Baby's Breath, Tarts and Tea" etc, clones don't. If they can't give you a name it may be a clone.

There is another kind of Blythe out there that was released by Ashton Drake Gallery (ADG) that is slightly different to the Neo. A lot of Neo collectors dislike them and consider them to be inferior. Initially they were much cheaper than the Neos but as they are no longer being made, the price is inflating. Just be aware that there are differences between them - do some research on the Blythe forums.

Ask if the doll has had any customisations or haircuts. It may not make a difference to your end decision, but it's important information to have.

Check that the eye mech works smoothly.

When buying on Ebay, it often pays to ask if the doll has come from a non-smoking environment or has any odours. Sounds silly, but I have heard of lots of people who have inadvertantly bought a smelly doll.

Ask about stains on the body. A lot of dark or brightly coloured clothes can stain the Takara bodies. If you have your heart set on a particular doll and she has a few stains, it's really no big deal to get a new body for her. They are usually around $10 - $15 plus postage and can often be found on the forums.

Ask about scratches on the face.

Ask if the head has been opened. Older facemolds were quite difficult to open and will sometimes have pry marks at the sides of faceplaces and the neck. If the head has been opened, it's worth checking that there is no gap between the scalp and the faceplate.

A lot to think about? You betcha. And we haven't even gone into facemolds, Kenners, Prototypes and different customisations that your Blythe might have. I'll cover that in another post, it's too much information to take on at once. If you found this post helpful I'd love it if you could leave me a comment.

Factory Girls on Ebay

It's a scary thing buying your first Blythe, and now it looks as though there are even more pitfalls for a new collector to avoid with the arrival of the latest fakes (that are sometimes incorrectly listed as being Blythes) and now the "factory girls".

The Factory girls are a bit of a mystery - nobody knows exactly where they come from and there are several theories. I've heard that they are prototypes of new Blythes that Takara are considering making (some don't make it to production), that they are made of stolen parts, that they are made of parts rescued from bins (which would account for some of the very bad scalps I've seen). While I don't know for certain which theory is true, what I can tell you is that they seem to be made from a mix of parts from different dolls. You might get Mango's face plates, an eye mech from Nostalgic Pop and hair and body from Simply Peppermint. When all the parts are in good shape and the skin tones match, you can find some really beautiful and unusual girls for a good price.

Lately though, I've been seeing a lot of Blythes from a certain ebay seller that are clearly very poor quality and I considered how easy it would be for a new collector to be ripped off. Unfortunately, until you have a bit of knowledge about these dolls they all tend to look much the same and many of the Blythes on offer at the moment for bargain basement prices have some really bad faults that are sneakily disclosed by photo only, not in the text of the listing. Unless you knew what to look for, it would be all too easy to hit the Buy It Now button while you were all excited about the seemingly too good to be true price and end up with a bit of a misfit as your first Blythe.

These are a few things that I've noticed in these listings:

1. Really really bad hair. Knots, frizzies, melted(!), no thatching (partline), lots of missing plugs, very odd colour (greenish streaks), extremely thin (ie you can clearly see the scalp), very bad and uneven haircuts.

2. The scalp is a different skin tone to the face.

3. Grab bag of body skin tones. Arms, torso, pelvis and legs - a lot of the time there is more than one skin tone mixed up, often they are not the same colour as the face. Sometimes both arms or both legs are different colours.

4. Front and back face plates are different skin tones. Not always obvious in the pics - look closely.

5. Obvious downward gaze - would require repair.

6. Big gaps between joins on body.

7. Sneaky photos. One seller in particular has two sets of photos on some of their listings. One is the actual set (the top left hand ones), the other is in the text of the listing and are photos of a lovely freshly deboxed stock Blythe. Be careful to note that the doll you are bidding on is the one at the top, not the one in the description.

8. You may not even get the doll you think you are bidding on. One seller states that you will get a doll with the hair and makeup of his choosing. This means that he will send you a Blythe, but not necessarily the one in the photos. Given that most of his stock appear to be flawed, this means that the doll you receive may have flaws that you find unacceptable.

That said, I've heard of people getting some really beautiful and unique dolls this way. Many have received perfect Blythes, others were happy to get a doll suitable to customise at a great price (which is what I'm hoping will be the case with mine), or even just a source of parts for other customs or repairs.

If you are at all unsure, ask around in the Blythe forums or on Flickr to see if others have had good experiences buying from the particular seller you are thinking of purchasing from. You might get a bargain, but there is always an element of risk involved in purchasing items that don't pass through quality assurance.