The most reliable test is whether a seller will photograph your doll before she ships. A seller who has the doll in front of them will say yes right away. A seller who passes your order on to a factory and never touches it can't say yes, because their only quality check is a tracking number.
We are a seller, and you should know that before you read the rest. This page is written by the side that takes the money, and in the last section we answer all seven of our own checks. Use them on us.
1 · Is this sex doll seller a real company?
Look for a company name, a registration or file number, and a physical address. A contact form isn't enough. You want a real, registered business.
Then check it in the official business register. Most places have a free public register, and it takes about two minutes.
Warning signs: a terms page that is empty · terms copied from another brand, with that brand's name still in the text · a clause saying the contract falls under the law of a country the company is clearly not in · a hidden domain owner, with no company named anywhere on the site.
Why this matters more here than in most industries: this business is full of anonymous companies, because payment processing is hard to get and hard to keep. Shops appear, sell for a season under a name nobody can trace, lose their payment processor and come back under a new name. If you can't find out who you are buying from, you have no warranty you can enforce and no real way to get help. Everything else on this list matters less than that.
2 · Will they photograph your doll before she ships?
Ask this exact question: "Before you ship, will you send me photographs of the actual doll you are sending me?"
This question separates good sellers from the rest. Almost nothing in this business is kept in stock, because a custom doll is built after you pay. So either your doll passes through the seller's hands, or the order goes from the factory to a freight company to your door, and the seller never sees it. The second way is common, and it isn't dishonest on its own. But it does mean nobody checked your doll against your order before she was packed.
A seller who handles the dolls will say yes immediately. A seller who just passes orders on will answer with something like "we only ship quality-checked items". That is a different answer, and it is worth noticing.
The wait is why this matters. You pay a few thousand dollars and then wait for weeks with nothing to look at. That is the typical setup for a dispute over a custom order, and photos before shipping are the only thing that prevents it. They turn "I hope it's right" into "I approved that." We do it on every order for exactly this reason. It protects you as much as it reassures you.
3 · Do a reverse image search on the product photos
Right-click a product image, search by image, and see where else it shows up.
If the same doll appears on a dozen sites, you are looking at factory photos that were sent to many stores. This is how most of this business works, including ours in places, and it isn't automatically dishonest. A store is not a photo studio.
What it does tell you is that this seller hasn't photographed the doll you would receive. Put that together with check 2, and the picture is clear.
The real warning sign is photos that belong to a completely different manufacturer, or that were taken from a competitor's own photo shoot. Both happen, and both are plainly dishonest.
4 · Is the price far lower than everyone else's?
There is a wholesale price list behind this industry, and it includes minimum prices set by contract. The manufacturer sets the lowest price a store is allowed to advertise, and going below it breaks the agreement. It isn't just a smaller profit. That is why prices at real stores are so similar, and why no serious store runs a real 60% sale.
So a price far below everyone else's means something. It is usually one of these:
- Gray-market or factory-seconds stock, with no warranty you can use
- A different material from the one advertised, such as TPE sold as silicone
- A smaller or lower-quality build than the photos show
- Shipping and customs fees that will suddenly appear at checkout
- A business that won't exist in six months, which is the version that costs you everything
A permanent "60% off" is not a discount. A price that is always discounted is the real price, and presenting it as a sale is an unfair business practice in most countries. If a store has been 60% off every day for a year, you are looking at a price list, not a sale.
5 · Where are the reviews?
Be wary if the reviews are only on the seller's own site, and they are all five stars, all short, all recent and not marked as verified purchases.
Look for: reviews on sites the seller doesn't control · owners talking about the store in forums and online communities · negative reviews that are still visible · a company that responds to criticism instead of deleting it.
A page full of five-star reviews tells you the company edits its reviews. It doesn't tell you it has happy customers. And because buyers in this market are usually private about it, a store with hundreds of reviews and no discussion anywhere else deserves a closer look.
6 · Ask a hard question before you pay
Send a question that needs real product knowledge to answer, and see what comes back:
- "Which silicone is this, and how is it different from the one in your cheaper range?"
- "How much does this exact build weigh?"
- "What does the warranty cover, what does it not cover, and how do I make a claim?"
- "What happens if it arrives damaged, and how long do I have to tell you?"
- "Who makes it?"
What you are testing: whether someone who knows the product answers, how long it takes, and whether the answer is specific or vague. The last question tells you the most. A seller who can't tell you who builds their dolls either doesn't know, which is worse, or doesn't want you to know.
A vague answer before they have your money is a good sign of the answer you will get afterward.
7 · What happens when something goes wrong?
Find out these answers before you order, not after:
- How many months is the warranty, and what does it not cover?
- How long do I have to report damage on arrival?
- What is the returns policy, and does it explain the reasons?
- Is there a real address I could send something back to?
- Does the seller mention my legal rights, or only their own short warranty?
A returns policy that sounds generous should make you suspicious here, not reassured. This is an intimate hygiene product. A store that advertises no-questions-asked returns on a used doll is either not honoring it or reselling what comes back. Our policy says no returns once she has been used, and explains why. A policy that gives its reasons is worth more than one that promises everything.
That last question tells you a lot. Wherever you live, you have consumer rights beyond whatever warranty a seller offers. In the EU and UK you have a legal right to goods that match what you bought, and most US states give you an implied warranty of merchantability. A seller who only mentions their own short warranty and says nothing about the rest either doesn't know the law or is hoping you don't.
If you have already paid a sex doll scammer
- Contact the seller in writing and keep everything. The next steps depend on written records.
- Ask your card company for a chargeback. This is usually available if the item never arrived or is very different from what was described. There are time limits, so start early instead of waiting politely.
- Use PayPal or a similar service's buyer protection, if you paid that way.
- Contact your national consumer protection agency. It is free, and it works well against sellers it can reach.
- Post about it, sticking to the facts, in owner communities. Clear, calm accounts are the main thing protecting the next buyer, and people do read them.
Now use all seven checks on us
Here are our own answers, in order:
- 1 · Who we are: FAPTIC CORP, a Delaware corporation, at 8 The Green, Ste A, Dover, Kent County, Delaware 19901. Our file number and registered address are on our about page, and you can check them in the Delaware business entity search without asking us.
- 2 · Photos before shipping: yes, on every order, with no exceptions. Nothing ships until you have seen photos of your own doll and approved them. See how an order works.
- 3 · Our photos: we use factory photos to show the range, and we take our own photos of your actual doll before she ships.
- 4 · Pricing: always at or above the manufacturer's minimum prices set by contract. We have no permanent fake discount, no countdown timer and no "was" price we never charged.
- 5 · Reviews: from verified buyers, published exactly as written, both good and bad.
- 6 · Hard questions: ask us one. A real person answers, and questions about specifications or materials go to a person, not a script.
- 7 · When something goes wrong: six months of warranty, and five months on electrical parts, on top of your local legal rights. See the details for your country. For damage on arrival, tell us within 48 hours. For warranty claims, contact us in writing within 7 days with a photo, or a short video for electrical parts. There are no returns once she has been used, because of what she is. All of this is written down before you buy, not made up afterward.
Common questions
Are all cheap sex dolls scams?
No. A cheap doll that is honestly described and honestly priced is an honest product. The scam is a cheap price combined with claims that don't match what comes out of the crate, and that gap is where almost all the harm in this market happens.
Is buying from a marketplace safer?
Sometimes disputes are handled better, but you are often still buying from a seller you can't identify. Most marketplaces also ban sex dolls completely, which is why the listings that stay up there are often labeled as something else.
What if the same photos are on many sites?
That is common, and it isn't dishonest by itself, because they are factory photos. Use check 2 instead. It is the one that separates good sellers from bad ones.
Is it safe to pay by bank transfer?
It takes away your chargeback protection completely. Pay by card, or with a payment service that has buyer protection. A seller who pushes hard for a bank transfer is telling you something about how their last dispute went.
Should I pay a deposit and the rest when it's finished?
Paying in two parts sounds safer, but it usually isn't. The second payment is taken before you have seen anything, and the protection period on the first payment has already started. What protects you is getting photos of your doll before she ships, however you pay.