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This is going to be slightly different from my usual post, so I hope my readers will excuse me. I was hoping to write a review on my new Blythe doll, but unfortunately I believe that the seller I ordered my doll from is a scammer. In this post I will discuss why I believe thisisblythe.com is a scam website and why I do not recommend their services. I do not benefit from making this post in any way. This blog is a passion project and I don’t make any income from it. This post is purely to warn other people who are looking to buy a Blythe doll so that they don’t end up in the situation that I did.
Shopping for Blythe
I have always loved the look of Blythe dolls, especially ones that have been customized. That’s why I was searching for customized Blythes on Etsy, and I came across this cute girl:
When I first saw the doll on ThisIsBlytheCom (the Etsy store owned by thisisblythe.com), it was priced at $173 USD. You can call me naive, but I had thought this was a decent price. The other customs I had seen were over $200 USD, but those usually had very detailed face-ups and I preferred the more simple style of this doll. Plus, she came with a cute outfit.
This was not an impulse buy for me. I checked the reviews of the shop and found only positive reviews. I sat on it for about 2 months until the price came down to $138, and then I placed my order.
Where is my doll?
2 weeks after the estimated delivery date, the doll still hadn’t arrived. I never heard from the seller on any shipping updates, either. I checked the shipping status on Etsy and that’s when I noticed something strange. The package was marked as “Pre-Transit”, and it had a Chinese tracking number. I thought it was strange that it would have a Chinese tracking number when the seller was from Vancouver, Canada.
That is when I decided to do a reverse image search of the doll…
I found the same doll I had ordered on AliExpress, for less than half the price I had paid. Also, rather than being described as a “Custom Neo Blythe” like on ThisIsBlythe, it was called an ICY Blyth doll. Fake Blythes go by a few different names: ICY, Blyth, Factory Blythe, are some common ones, but no matter what they’re called, one thing they are for sure is fake. They are mass-produced copies of the original product by Takara, and to refer to them as “Custom Neo Blythe” is misleading.
I know what you may be thinking: Maybe this AliExpress seller stole the pictures from ThisIsBlythe, rather than the other way around? I will explain why I don’t think this is the case:
1.) While these may be fake Blythe products, they are really good fakes. There are video reviews of dolls from this AliExpress seller, and they look identical to the stock photos:
2.) If the dolls being sold on ThisIsBlythe are original products, why did they give me a Chinese tracking number?
Naturally, I had some concerns that I wanted to contact the seller about, but when I went to their shop on Etsy, the store had been deleted.
Even though their Etsy store was gone (either deleted by them, or removed by Etsy itself) there was still one last place I could contact them. They have their own website, thisisblythe.com. (You can still see the doll I bought on their website here)
The site has a live chat feature which I used to talk to a sales representative. They were prompt at responding until I brought up getting a refund, after which they stopped responding altogether.
It has now been over 48 hours since my last message, and I have heard no response from the seller.
At this point my only hope was the case I opened with Etsy. 5 days after you open a case with a seller, you can escalate the case with Etsy’s support team. Luckily, Etsy was very quick to give me a full refund after I escalated the case. I am lucky that I made my purchase through Etsy, because if I bought directly from thisisblythe.com I may never have received a refund.
Other sketchy stuff
I will detail some other strange things I noticed about this seller. They aren’t directly related to my purchase, but they provide more evidence why they may not be very trustworthy.
Lists other artists’ dolls on their site for 2x the price
Sadly it appears that not only do they sell mass-produced dolls at a marked-up price, they also sell other artists’ custom work. In my opinion this is even more insidious because it is capitalizing off of others’ hard work for a quick buck.
Links: Exhibit A
Doll from This is Blythe : $630.00
Same doll from Etsy: $350.00 (EDIT: This doll is now sold out, but the price was originally $350 as shown in the screenshot above)
Links: Exhibit B
Doll from This is Blythe: $870.00
Same doll from Etsy: $443.37
Hides negative reviews
First of all, if you Google “ThisIsBlythe reviews”, you will find a review page on their website:
There are 19,116 reviews, every single one of which gives 5 stars. I don’t think I need to explain how unlikely this is.
Multiple unfulfilled orders
You may also find a link to their TrustPilot profile. At first glance, it looks alright, with a 4.4 star average. However, if you keep looking you will find several 1 star reviews. Several reviews mention their orders never arriving, with no contact from the seller.
Uses someone else’s photo
Here is the photo This Is Blythe / Jenna Anderson uses, both on their Etsy shop and the ThisIsBlythe Youtube channel:
Reverse image searching the above leads to several results of various companies’ “About Us” page. It appears to be a very common stock/placeholder image. Examples here, here, and here.
Domain history
My last point is that the seller uses the fact that their website has existed for 20 years to try to add to their credibility. It is true that the domain thisisblythe.com has been online for 20 years. However, a look into the history of the domain will show that it appears to have been under different ownership up until a couple of years ago.
Take a look at the website’s history at the Wayback Machine. From 2000 through 2015 the website was managed by Gina Garan, who wrote the book “This Is Blythe” in 2000. It was a fan site for Blythe and didn’t appear to sell any dolls. Looking at the archives from 2017 onwards it appears to be a completely different website, shifting focus from a Blythe fansite to a (supposed) Blythe manufacturer. Also, any mentions of Gina have been removed from the website, which now appears to be managed by Jenna Anderson.
Conclusion
The only way to 100% confirm my suspicions that they are reselling AliExpress products would be to order a doll from ThisIsBlythe and compare it with one from AliExpress, but that’s not something I’m interested in doing even if I had the resources. However, I believe I already have enough evidence to be suspicious of the seller.
In conclusion, I do not recommend ThisIsBlythe and would strongly encourage anyone to think carefully before buying their products. Like with any online purchase, especially an expensive one, I strongly encourage everyone to do as much research as possible beforehand. Especially on Etsy where reselling AliExpress items is common, you should do a reverse image search to make sure the product is original.
Updates
10/24/2020: I finally received my order yesterday, some weeks after the original estimated delivery date. The doll came in a plain cardboard box with, lo-and-behold, an AliExpress shipping label.
If you like the look of the dolls on thisisblythe.com, I strongly suggest saving your money and ordering directly from AliExpress instead. To the best of my knowledge, they sell the same products for a much lower price.
12/10/2020: Added photos of the box the doll arrived in, so you can clearly see the AliExpress labels mentioned above.
6/11/2022: Another blogger wrote this great article about ThisIsBlythe that gives more details of the scam. I highly recommend reading it as a supplement to this post.
10/10/2023: The author of the article in my previous update created an entire website chronicling the history and details of this scam. They have multiple pages devoted to exposing TIB’s fraudulent business, in much greater detail than I have done in this post. If you are still considering purchasing from TIB or are just curious, I cannot recommend their website highly enough.
Oh no! That’s so unfortunate ;-; Do you have any tips for people looking for reputable sellers of Blythes? I take it from this post that Aliexpress is just knockoffs of them?
It’s okay, I got my money back in the end, and now I just want to warn other people so they don’t have the same thing happen to them!
Yes, the ones from AliExpress are knockoffs. They are really cute though, and actually very nice quality considering the price point. For official Blythe dolls, the official international Blythe shop is juniemoonshop.com. I also found this list https://blythopia.com/2015/09/04/reliable-shops-selling-authentic-blythe-dolls/ it’s a few years old, but still seems like a good resource ^_^
Looks like I am dealing with the same thing right now. My tracking number has no details and looks like it is stuck somewhere for the pst two weeks, no one is answering my emails.
After reading your review I know I have been scammed too, I hope to get my money back.
Hi Anna,
I’m so sorry that this happened to you.
What I recommend for you to do is post a review on Trustpilot. It is a surefire way to get Jenna/Brenda’s attention. Don’t let them intimidate you into taking the review down. They’ve reported my review 4 times, and sent me a long email threatening to sue me for defamation (don’t worry, they are bluffing); that’s how desperate they are to hide this information. However, very soon after I posted my review I noticed my tracking information was updated all of a sudden. Maybe the same thing will happen to you.
Lady Nicole.
– Are you affiliated with Trustpilot?
– Are you a customer of thisisblythe.com?
– Are you affiliated with Aliexpress?
Do you think we will not see this and not reply? We have responded to all of your claims that have no place in our business. Take your business elsewhere and start acting like a real lady if you preach to all these people you are a princess or Lady Nicole. A real lady is smart, educated and understanding. A true lady or real princess will never troll business out there with some spying tools which leads to the fact that you are not interested in Blythe. You have another target which is posting whatever you think and believe and feel good about it after you publish so you can get some traction and love. Such a miserable lifestyle to let your boredom and frustration to attack someone who has no business with you. Good luck with the rest of your life.
Anna, I wanted to take back something I said in my previous comment. I would not recommend you post a review on Trustpilot as this person is very unlikely to refund you directly. Furthermore, posting a review there will open you to harassment from the seller (as you can see from the comment she left, below).
Instead, if you still haven’t gotten a refund, I would open a dispute with Paypal or your credit card company, whichever you used to make the purchase.
Good luck and I hope you will get your money back.
I have been fighting with thisisblythe for a while now trying to get my money back. I have told them they are going to hell and they said they were taking action against me, which I do not believe, but I thought if I am having trouble getting my doll or my money back from them, then they must be doing it to ALOT of folks. So if you are having trouble with this company contact me at stillbecky at yahoo.com for a class action law suit!
Hi Rebecca,
I am so sorry that you have had such a bad experience. I would say not to worry about them taking action against you, as they are trying to intimidate/threaten you into taking your review down.
I don’t really know anything about class action lawsuits but I think it would be difficult in this case, because the seller is not a legitimate business and they are hiding their true identity.
But yes, I have no doubt that we are far from the only people who have lost money at the hands of this scammer. Hopefully this post as well as others’ reviews on Trustpilot will help spread the truth.
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I am so glad I found your review! I have been seriously considering purchasing a Blythe doll. I had come across thisisblythe website, I kept hestitating as I did find a couple of reviews that said there was problems with the doll they received. Flaws that I didn’t want to chance receiving myself, even if they where fixable as implied. But the website kept popping up and the dolls are so adorable. Yesterday, I thought I’m going to go ahead and purchase this doll, thankfully I calmed myself down and decided to wait! Now I am so glad I did! Thank you for your review again as I know it will save me heartbreak. I will only be able to purchase one in my lifetime and I want it to go right.
Hi Debbie, thank you for your kind comment! I’m really glad I was able to help prevent you from making a purchase you’d regret. I really hope you will find the doll of your dreams soon!
sounds like they’ve started going after bloggers for calling out their scam now. So be warned.
Thanks for the warning. Yup, since making this post almost 2 years ago I’ve been subject to all kinds of attempts to take the post down, including the owner doxxing me on another website, sending me legal threats, and multiple fake DMCA claims to my hosting provider. It’s pretty wild the lengths they will go to to try and cover up the hoax.
I wish i had read this before buying on Thisisblythe.com I ordered a doll for 119 dollars plus tax. Description said it came with clothes and with shoes. i got only the doll. When I reached out to them they were rude and never got back to me. My doll was delivered on a Friday, I didn’t check my mail box till Monday morning and they said why didn’t I message them the day i got it. I was so disappointed with their customer service its astonishing how they can still be in business. i will order from aliexpress next time. thank u
Sorry that you had such a bad experience, but I’m glad that my post was helpful for you!
Same happened to me. Thisisblythe is a rip off.
They are currently advertising MY Blythe doll for sale. The artist who customized her contacted me tonight to ask if I had sold her. They are even using the photographs that were taken by the artist who made her. They are certainly a scam.
Thankfully I found in this golden post before I order thank you so much for that. And whether it’s a scam or not well I can only say that from the way that they answered to you here speaking like it 6 year old so no professional demeanor whatsoever.. lol they just confirmed your sayings.
Glad I found this – I was shopping around for Blythe dolls and they look legit. Decided to check them out and found this. What A strange reply she posted here! Will not order their high priced dolls.