In her letter to Elfdoll customers, DK claimed that Elfdoll was "not about the money" and that dolls would continue to be made even if nobody bought them.
As a former Elfdoll retailer, I have to say au contraire.That was nowhere near close to my experience.
I was constantly pushed by Elfdoll to order more dolls, more fashions, more of everything they had to sell. And of course it all had to be paid for up front. I couldn't just order one of a particular outfit, I had to order at least 3. There were minimums for dolls too. Eventually, when DK kept threatening to cut off the retailers, she and Ms. Cholong worked out an agreement: each retailer was to order at least $3,000 worth of merchandise every month or risk being dropped. When retail items aren't selling quickly, having to shell out $3,000 a month can be painful.
When I made the decision to go out of business, I was asked by Elfdoll not to sell off my remaining stock at a discount. Not unreasonable - Elfdoll wanted to both protect the value of its dolls and the other retailers. A deal was struck: I would send my remaining stock back to Ms. Cholong in L.A., and Elfdoll would reimburse me for it within a couple of months.
In early December 2008 when we closed I sent my remaining stock, just under $17,000 in value, to L.A. And then I waited - and waited - and waited some more to be reimbursed. So much for rapid repayment. I'm sure that if I had owed DK even a few thousand dollars, I would have been the recipient of a lot of grief until I paid up.
My understanding is that part of the reason Ms. Cholong went to IDEX and had a salesroom earlier this year was so that Elfdoll could begin to pay me back. That was agreed upon by DK. Unfortunately though, after IDEX DK demanded the money go into Elfdoll's account instead. I was asked to again please be patient. More months went by. There was always some reason, even though US retailers were ordering exclusives and paying for them in full, why I could not be paid back. Finally in late spring, I got a small payment. In late summer, another small payment. Finally, earlier this month - nearly a year later - thanks to the work and insistence of both Ms. Cholong and Pasu Lau of Dollheart, I was reimbursed the final amount.
To me this was all just ridiculous, unprofessional, and particularly after recent events very, very hypocritical.
Let this be a warning for other retailers.
