The Doll Forum

Often people think they are being clever saving a vendor's profit and risking getting a fake by going through non TDF sources, Alibaba, Amazon and the rest. This thread is testimony as to why it's really important to go through a TDF approved vendor, and buy from a TDF approved brand.

There was recently a non-approved brand doll sold by a TDF vendor. It was defective. The non-approved manufacturer was footdragging in offering a replacement and causing horrible embarrassment to the TDF approved vendor. Thanks to the appropriately high expectations that doll enthusiasts can have of TDF accredited vendors, thanks to TDF and thanks to manufacturers connected by people with TDF links who value their reputation, it was possible to armtwist an appropriate solution and the buyer was able to have bought through that umbrella of safety that TDF provides.

Manufacturers must live in fear and quake in their shoes at possible bad publicity on the public forum and this results in all the swifter solutions where a doll might have got through the net of quality control at the factory. And knowledgeable members with experience of a number of dolls know the norms we can expect from a doll in manufacture, and those with half an idea of the processes at the factory can identify particular manufacturing issues. In contrast buying through a non-accredited vendor would lead to having bought a pup with no resolution nor recourse.

Buy through a non-approved vendor and of course, wherever the doll came from genuine or not, it's a fake! Even if genuine, it might just as well have been a fake as there's no way of proving it. Buy through a non-approved vendor and whether or not it's a fake the manufacturer will say that it is . . .

So when people ask "Is it OK to buy through . . . XYZ" being a clever-dick, the answer is firmly NO.

Or rather, TDF approved vendors' profits, which are thin, and the higher price that manufacturers might charge for dolls intended for the international market build in the higher costs of replacing a faulty doll. Faulty dolls do happen, and TDF provides that umbrella of protection to ensure replacement where necessary. By from non-TDF approved sources and you're basically self insuring. If you're wealthy and can afford to to that and shoulder all risks, great, even if those risks might not surface until some months down the line. But the chances are that being made to lower cost the likelihood of being made to lower quality is higher.

There's actually a good reason why you can expect to pay more for a TDF approved manufacturer brand. The quality of TPE is dependant upon proper mixing of the materials, proper heating through of the granules and that takes time, and the length of time held at a high temperature and slow cooling. The reward for slower cooling, and therefore ability to churn out fewer dolls per day, is that during the cooling cross-linking of the molecules is built up, so that slower cooled TPE is better quality than fast cooled TPE. Fewer dolls made per day means more expensive dolls. . .

Whilst I haven't been to a TDF factory personally, two or three years ago I started helping the representative of a new manufacturer and became involved in helping to enforce quality control at the new factory. As I received one after another prototype doll I got to see TPE from the worst quality and manufacturing processes and as a result of that experience I'm able to assist in making a judgment of whether damage seen is likely to be as a result of inexperience and treatment of a doll by a customer or whether a manufacturing fault. No manufacturer can hide behind a shield of "it's the customer's fault" as a result.

It all goes to build a collection of aspects of TDF that make TDF a most valuable fulcrum among doll enthusiasts, vendors and manufacturers alike to ensure that dolls are of the highest quality and lead to people's lives being the happier as a result of the presence of a doll in their home.

matt gloss wrote:Hi, do any of these type of traders sell 'ahem' cheap silicone?
Matt

haremlover wrote:Possibly the cheapest silicone is JM and they are very good for the money. The 156 silicone knocks a TPE doll into a cocked hat.

Best wishes

Harem