American Girl - should I invest in Mia?

[castleview]

Given how much Nicki (last year's AG girl of the year) is selling for on ebay, I'm wondering if I should buy a few Mia dolls and save them until next year. Has anyone ever done this?

 

[Toby'sFriend]

did you remember to put your flame suit on?


btw, if I was going to speculate in Mia's, I wouldn't pull the trigger just yet. Mia won't sell out until much later in the year. There is no point in giving them your money now.

 

[castleview]

did you remember to put your flame suit on?


btw, if I was going to speculate in Mia's, I wouldn't pull the trigger just yet. Mia won't sell out until much later in the year. There is no point in giving them your money now.

I wasn't sure how people would react. It was a genuine question, I'm just courious if anyone else has done it. Plus, maybe I could afford two Mia dolls right now anyway.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Two words: beanie babies

I would buy the doll right now if there's a child in your life that wants the doll (or an inner child that does). I'm not sure that I would speculate that the price is going to skyrocket on eBay. You may be disappointed in the long run.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

I don't know about buying for resell, but I will be getting Mia for my dd. One of my friends net about $6000 from reselling Nikki and accessories.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Nicki is a blonde who lives on a horse ranch and raises guide dog puppies in her spare time ... a dream life to a lot of little girls.

Jess, 2006's doll of the year, was a brunette world traveler. A dream to a lot of adults, but perhaps not so many little girls. She did not sell out and sells for less than Nicki on ebay.

I'm guessing that red headed Mia just won't be as popular as Nicki either ... ice hockey is not a dream of a lot of little girls. Yes, she is a figure skater as well ... still.

Just sayin'.

 

[cats mom]

It's certainly a gamble.

While the girl of the year is a limited edition, it's not necessarily limited by the number produced, but by the length of the run.
They could conceivably produce a lot more this year than they did last year. Plus I'm guessing you're not the only one with the idea.

Should work out very well for AG though.

Edited to add:

After reading the above post I did a quick search on completed girl of the year auctions on e-bay
Not only is Jess not selling for all that much niether is Marisol and I would have thought she would be pretty popular too as there are lots of young dancers out there.

 

[IDoDis]

My DD is a figure skater and even though she's pretty much done playing with AG dolls, we were excited when we found out the next AG doll was going to be a figure skater. Well, once Mia arrived on the shelves, we (and other figure skaters and moms) were disappointed in the doll, her skating attire and accessories. It's not really realistic (what she wears) and when have you ever seen purple skates?

Ok, so having said that, you might make $50 or $100 next January after Mia is retired, but why wait that long to make such a small amount? You'd be better off finding a Wii and listing it. DH went to Best Buy on Sunday, saw they had 20 Wii's bought one, listed it with Buy It Now and sold it by the next morning netting $100.00. Not a huge profit, but it took less than 24 hours altogether to make the money.

 

[Dancemom03]

There's plenty of time to buy Mia, especially for resale. The ebay prices typically are highest in the first few weeks after something introduced and the month or so after it sells out. There's no way that I'd tie up money right now on Mia for resale but I know some are.

I counted on Nicki repeating Marisol & Jess' sales patterns and procrastinated ordering until December. Nicki sold out in the late morning of the same day. My order was in but hadn't been processed yet by AG and I was worried about getting one for DD7 and DGD6 so I quickly bought one on ebay with a buy it now of $119. just to be sure and another from AGPlace when my personal shopper returned my panicked first message. By late that afternoon Nicki prices on ebay were topping 300 easy but over the next 2-3 days they dropped to maybe 199-225 due to an abundance of dolls listed that sellers bought for just that purpose.
I know of one seller who says she put $20,000 in mostly Nicki on her credit card in November, prompting me to wonder if Nicki really sold out due to popularity or because ebay sellers bought so many on speculation. Only time will tell...

 

[NMW]

Given how much Nicki (last year's AG girl of the year) is selling for on ebay, I'm wondering if I should buy a few Mia dolls and save them until next year. Has anyone ever done this?

Well, I can't help you with the ebay thing. My friends and I really hate ebay and have never bought or sold anything on there. I can tell you that I would only buy something if my child really wanted it, and for no other reason. My daughter has Jess and Marisol (previous girls of the year). I wanted to buy her Nicki last year for her birthday and she wanted Elizabeth. I tried to tell her over and over that Nicki was only here for one year, was she sure, etc, etc. Finally, I thought to myself "Is the doll for you or her?" I bought her Elizabeth. She now wants Mia. I can't figure her out-why Mia and not Nicki? I don't think you'll ever be able to predict how popular a girl of the year is. Or, for that matter how much she would resell for.

 

[littlemermaid95]

I agree that Nicki was more popular because of the whole horse ranch, guide dog thing. My daughter decided she wanted her the end of December, and it was too late. She chose Julie instead, and is quite happy doing Julie's long hair. I thought about buying a Mia doll too and reselling it next year, but I need to save my money for this Disney trip!!

 

[shirleyb]

My DD wanted Nicki - because her name is Nicole, but we left it go too late and missed getting her.

She now has enough money saved to buy a doll and she's also considering Elizabeth, because that's her middle name.

She already has Nellie.

 

[castleview]

Well, I can't help you with the ebay thing. My friends and I really hate ebay and have never bought or sold anything on there. I can tell you that I would only buy something if my child really wanted it, and for no other reason. My daughter has Jess and Marisol (previous girls of the year). I wanted to buy her Nicki last year for her birthday and she wanted Elizabeth. I tried to tell her over and over that Nicki was only here for one year, was she sure, etc, etc. Finally, I thought to myself "Is the doll for you or her?" I bought her Elizabeth. She now wants Mia. I can't figure her out-why Mia and not Nicki? I don't think you'll ever be able to predict how popular a girl of the year is. Or, for that matter how much she would resell for.

DD8 has had Elizabeth for a few years and loves her! She had wanted Nicki from the beginning of last year, but changed her mind when Julie came out. I had already ordered Nicki. Fortunately DD6, the animal lover, saw Nicki and wanted her. I thought it was crazy having two similar blonde dolls, but she loves and plays with both all the time. She's even had the two dolls dressed each morning and in their pajamas at night.

 

[MrsPete]

Two words: beanie babies

I was thinking the same thing! It's usually the first-year item that becomes "valuable" -- after that, more people start to jump on the bandwagon and buy them as an "investment", and the result is a glut on the market. I don't think you'd lose money, but I don't think you'd make enough to justify tying up your cash for the year or two that you'd have to wait to sell these dolls.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Nicki is a blonde who lives on a horse ranch and raises guide dog puppies in her spare time ... a dream life to a lot of little girls.

Jess, 2006's doll of the year, was a brunette world traveler. A dream to a lot of adults, but perhaps not so many little girls. She did not sell out and sells for less than Nicki on ebay.

I'm guessing that red headed Mia just won't be as popular as Nicki either ... ice hockey is not a dream of a lot of little girls. Yes, she is a figure skater as well ... still.

Just sayin'.

Interest in certain lifestyles may be a regional thing. I know several little girls up here in the Northeast who liked Nicki because of her hair, but honestly couldn't have cared that she lived on a ranch. They have much more interest Mia who skates.

Every little girl is different, which is why the girl of the years are so nice.

I beleive that Jess did sell out, but only at the very end of the year. (My sister in law picked one up right at the end of the year). Marisol and her accessories where very hard to find and expensive at the end of that year on ebay too. Now less so. It's all a timing issue.

 

[Dancemom03]

DD8 has had Elizabeth for a few years and loves her! She had wanted Nicki from the beginning of last year, but changed her mind when Julie came out. I had already ordered Nicki. Fortunately DD6, the animal lover, saw Nicki and wanted her. I thought it was crazy having two similar blonde dolls, but she loves and plays with both all the time. She's even had the two dolls dressed each morning and in their pajamas at night.

I thought that too, DD7 got Julie for her birthday and we have a Kailey put away for her. The hair is so similar - even a braid - that I'm wondering if we need to even open the Kailey. Wondering also if the similarity will affect Kailey's resale price.

Nicki's dog is just too cute. No wonder he sold so much earlier than everything else. The dogs sold out before I ordered but luckily I had gotten one in a larger ebay lot earlier in the year. Like to find another for DGD though. If you could actually predict what would sell out early you'd make a bundle but it's always what you don't expect and put off buying.

FYI - For anyone who missed Nicki, Jess or Marisol mark your calendars for the Madison Children's Museum Sale in July. They'll have all the dolls and accessories. Probably few or no Kaileys and definitely no Lindseys but should have most others. On Sunday last year Josefina, Kaya and Today dolls still left were $35. They had so many Jess dolls that she was $65. Normally the retired girl of the year dolls are catalog price but all the current items are really marked down. Think super-walmart size building full of AG stuff cheap...

 

[shirleyb]

FYI - For anyone who missed Nicki, Jess or Marisol mark your calendars for the Madison Children's Museum Sale in July. They'll have all the dolls and accessories. Probably few or no Kaileys and definitely no Lindseys but should have most others. On Sunday last year Josefina, Kaya and Today dolls still left were $35. They had so many Jess dolls that she was $65. Normally the retired girl of the year dolls are catalog price but all the current items are really marked down. Think super-walmart size building full of AG stuff cheap...

Where is this? Is this something you have to go to in person, or is it also online?

 

[Kitzka]

Shirley: if you google madison children's musuem benefit sale you shoudl be able to find info on it.

it's every year in Madison WI. All of the returns that people send to AG are given to the children's musuem and they have tons of volunteers each year who fix up the dolls and man the sale. tickets go on sale about a month before the sale through ticketmaster. there are 15 minute intervals. i think the first tickets are 7am entrance. once you are in you can stay in as long as you like but once you leave thats it.

i can tell you from experience that it is a MAD HOUSE. it's really hot and most people that have 7am tickets start lining upa t about 4am. it can be fun but not for everyone. i don't recommend taking children with you as it is just as bad as the filene's basement annual bridal dress sale. you also have to carry your own stuff around and that can be irritating. esp if you are trying to find just the right doll or trunk.

Lara