To Buy or Not To Buy?

I've been putting some serious thought into getting a body for my School B head all day today. It's pretty much all I could think about at work.

Next Friday is payday and I'm getting extra money in my pay because it was accidentally left out of last month's wages after I did lots of overtime hours. I know I should probably save this money (and I know that's the best option), but I'm tempted to just go for a body and ask my brother to pay a little towards it for my combined birthday/Christmas present. This way I get to open something on Christmas day that I actually would look forward to opening, (I do like surprises, but I also like knowing what I'm getting too. Knowing what it is and having to wait to get it is part of the Christmas fun for me.)

I've been looking at two options; A brand-new Ariadoll 14 Years Elegance body (without the extra heeled feet to keep costs down) is $348 (£220) including shipping, but there's a Volks SD10 body on the DoA Marketplace for $298 (£188) including shipping. It's a difference of £32. Is it better to go for the cheaper option (used, slightly yellowed body) or just ignore the £32 difference and get the brand new body?

I can't decide. I've been wrestling with it all day. If I'm going to be getting this as a combined birthday/Christmas present, it'll only look credible to my parents if it's in an official company box and looks brand new (point to the Ariadoll body)...but if my family find out how much it cost, £188 sounds a lot better than £220, (point to the Volks body.)

The other thing is, how yellowed is partial yellowing? Do I take a gamble on something that might not work out and might be difficult to sell (Volks body) or do I spend a little more on something that (should) be factory-fresh and have no flaws? Hmm.

I know what I probably should do is ignore the Volks body on the Marketplace and unbookmark my Ariadoll links and forget about this whole thing until after Christmas. Being able to unwrap a BJD at Christmas would be wonderful though :( Torn.


GOOD NEWS though - I checked back on the Viridian House website and Deryn's head is 30% done according to the info. Perhaps she'll be home sooner than I thought!