The Internet has become the "primo" spot to acquire those necessary things in life that bring a spark of wonder into our lives and
certainly Beautiful Crissy and family are at the top on most of our "want lists"

The Doll Show used to hold that place of esteem and surely there are still good deals to be had at them. Both online auctions and
the shows have their Pros & Cons. Armchair acquisition by watching the monitor and banging on the keyboard, then just waiting for
Mr. Postman bring us a dream is pretty nice. But then you don't have the benefits of making a in person, hands-on purchase
either...with an online purchase sometimes what you see, isn't exactly what you get, and sometimes you get somebody else's
wonderful item -- or worse, nuttin at all!

While there is no way to guarantee 100% success in all your auction purchases there are quite a few safeguards and good old
common sense-using your noodle practices that if faithfully applied to your auction buying habits, just might lessen your chances
of getting burned.

So with nearly a decade's worth of experience behind us here are a few tips from us, to you to consider...
Numero Uno and this can't be stressed enough...

Look at the Sellers feedback.
No, we didn't say look at that misleading percentage point beside the
rating (unless they have 100% positive) because, fer instance a User with
a rating of around 550 with a 97.x percentage can have a lot of
NEGATIVE feedback (Yes, Virginia even if they are a POWwER SELLER!!)

NOW take a little time and go read some of those entries and see WHY
they have negatives.

Are all the negatives from BUYERS or SELLERS or BOTH?
What about the comments? Are there many similar comments
from the Buyers? How does the Seller reply? Now you are better
armed to make a decision, if you are one of those folks who
think IT only happens to the other guy, you didn't go and really
look at the feedback comments anyway, so good luck!

But after really inspecting the comments you might decide the
item is common enough to wait for the next one. And how many
buyers WERE not happy and satisfied with this Sellers wares,
but too afraid to really say anything about it for fear of retaliation?
Makes you wonder.

For our money the moral of this story is this: A repetitive PATTERN of bad
feedback comments means 95% of the time we go elsewhere...what about
the other 5%? The deal is too good to be true -- they don't know what they
have and are GIVING it away with a BIN price (we may be careful but we
ain't dumb!) :)
Mint... MISUSED! ...What is Mint and what is NOT.

Aside from "rare" the most MISUSED word in collectibles auctions has to be
the word MINT or Mint in Box (MIB). Just what is MINT? It is not one of those
little candies you get for free at the restaurant.

Claiming a doll to be MINT is a very serious statement, but many Sellers
toss the word around very lightly and very seldom accurately either!

The kind of MINT we are speaking of is a term that comes from age old and
revered hobby of Coin Collecting, and also can apply to Stamps as well. To
these collectors, MINT can only mean ONE THING, and the difference
between MINT and NEAR MINT could be Thousands of Dollars!

MINT refers to a coin as freshly struck, perfect and untouched by human
hands. For a doll to be MINT then the doll should be absolutely unplayed
with, that doesnt particullay mean "untouched" but the less handling the
better!

A MINT doll is a NEW DOLL in store shelf condition..You will certainly know
the difference! Most MINT Crissy family dolls will have hair wrappings
present, box enclosures may also all be present and accounted for.

In other words "she is MINT except for this or that flaw" is incorrect as a
description. ANY light play wear, any flaw to clothing, hair, or face
disqualifies the doll from being MINT.  An exception would be tiny inclusions
in the vinyl or plastic caused at the factory, seen as dark specks usually. If a
factory flaw is glaring - it should be disclosed as well.

Worse, claiming a doll to be MINT and not disclosing it's flaws is nothing
but a SCAM !! Why? Because doing so artificially raises the bids on the
so-called MINT item. We don't know of any nicer way to put it, folks. How
many dolls have you purchased at auction to find they were NOT described
accurately? Had the description been more to the doll's true condition...
Would the bids have gone as high?

These are all questions bidders should be asking themselves, no one is
immune to this type of scam and it's is no better than putting a replacement
grow pony in a Crissy doll and not disclosing it in the description - it is
cheating and scamming.

Of course, a seller should be given the benefit of the doubt, they might have
overlooked something -- if you think you have been scammed by the MINT
word and it's not MINT then contact the seller, in a very nice and humble
way...their response and attitude will usually let you know and you may get a
refund or replacement.

The bottom WORD is this -- if the doll is described as MINT, be wary, ask
questions -- if you get no answers, run away there will be another doll,
another day. It is time for Buyers to start holding these sellers feet to the fire
if they want to claim their auction treasure is really MINT.

And Sellers, look your doll over from head to toe - if she has light play wear
you are going to see it, look over the clothing too, missing snaps and ripped
out hems are not found on MINT dolls. Please describe such dolls as Near
Mint, Excellent, Nearly New, etc... And disclose the small faults and do every
one a favor.

A TRULY MINT or MIB doll is a special treasure that deserves a worthy bid
price and should never be esteemed with lesser quality examples!

HAPPY HUNTING!  
What is Rare? Tell me, tell me if you
really wanna know...
Beware the "rare" word
Rare, Scarce and Hard to Find -- the three most misused terms at online auctions.
The word rare should really rarely be USED as far as Crissy family merchandise is
concerned. When something is rare, really rare the chances are you would not see
more than a couple of instances of it in your whole lifetime! So that rules out about
99.99% of stuff made for Crissy - it was ALL mass manufactured except for any
prototypes, etc... The materials: drawings, tools and dies used to make the dolls
are probably rare -- good luck finding any of that. With some of the wild prices
some things Crissy-related are going for these days it wouldn't be surprising to
see anything from her production sell for 10-20X it's real worth.

In our opinion online auctions like eBay have distorted the values of the
collectibles market. You can't look at one auction for a MIB that sells for $800.00
and then say that article now has the value of $800.

The next time around it may sell for less - maybe more.
Values of collectibles should be based on what LARGE numbers of collector's are
willing to pay in a median range -- and what we see on eBay Crissy auctions is a
small handful of "deep pocketed" collectors,
most always the same half-a-dozen Users competing for the same scarce items -
this is not by any means a true representation of the value of the items  This is not
meant to slight any of the bidders involved, we don't care how they wish spend
their money. But as a final thought for those more inclined to thrift...remember that
"good things come to those that wait". The eBay mentality of "buy it now" "want it
now" and gotta have it -- have caused prices to skyrocket on many, many
occasions - and doubtless will continue to do so much to eBay's delight.  :)

Scarce and Hard to Find

These are terms that are more fitting to the Crissy family items that you will see
come around less often in online auctions. For the purposes of this article we will
assume both terms to have the equivalent meaning. Some HTF Crissy family
items are:

Sear's Exclusive Gown (1st edition - lined, gold metallic threads)
Crissy's Hair and Styling set
Crissy Velvet Fashion Tote (complete)
Miss Tressy Look-Alikes luggage
Black Tressy
Blue-eyed Cricket
Six phrase Talky Crissy (although more of these are popping up)
Brown-hair Crissy (more of these are popping up too)
Flea Market Finds, Second-hand Stores, Doll Shows
& More -- Versus Online Auctions

Do you tend to always buy online? Think twice! CrissyTown encourages you
to check locally for doll buys also.  Many sought-after doll items can be
found in your local area.  Utilize your yellow pages to search for other
"places" to buy dolls and doll-related items for your collection also.

Our collection is full of items that have been obtained locally - even
hard-to-find items.  Remember there's NO shipping charges either. ;)

Good luck in your hunting!
Wrapped or Unwrapped Dolls?

Remember to do your research when you are chosing an auction to bid on or
purchasing a doll locally.  Do you want a wrapped or Mint in Box (MIB) doll? Make
sure that you know what a wrapped doll is and what attributes that a wrapped doll
would have before you bid or buy.  A Crissy doll would have her ponytail wrapped
and her entire head wrapped, while a Velvet doll would not only have her entire
head wrapped but she would have small curlers and bobby pins still in her
foundation hair with a wrapped pony tail also.  

Remember an educated buyer is a happy buyer.  ;)
Here's a few examples of  
wrapped dolls
BACK

iCrissy is THE PLACE for all you
fans and admirers of Crissy to
participate in the growth of our
little town on the web devoted only
to the Crissy Family of Dolls.

There is so much to do, just look
around and click the links to jump
to your favorite activity!
And if you think of something new
and exciting to add on iCrissy, just
contact us as we will most certain
give everyone's ideas
consideration!
And Above all...Have FUN!