Ouch. These prices.
3Diva
Posts: 11,287
Is it just me or are the prices going up on new items?
Texture and morph for "top model" ...separately sold? $18 (base price) just for the texture alone? $20 (base price) for a bra and panty set? I can get a set in real life for that price or even cheaper than that. $30 (base price) for a hair do? $30? Really? And an additional $15 (base price) for the texture pack? So if someone wants the hair do and the textures it's a base price of $45. That's, imo, pretty nuts.
I hope that this isn't a trend. If that's the case, I'm going to have to seriously rethink this as a hobby. I'm really kind of surprised at the prices today.
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Comments
It's good to be the King
bailing out
Uhhh yeah, except everyone is not happy because it's not just the professionals that pay your bills. The forum is filled with people who do this for a hobby and spend a ton of money on it every month. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss us hobbyists...
LOL just makes it easier not to buy.
Nobody has a gun to our heads, I grabbed myself a free copy of AC3 from Ubisoft instead!
https://club.ubisoft.com/en-us/ubi30
That's it wendy I'm joining as I can't afford to buy it !!!!
PA's are entitled to set their own prices.. if these are outside of your budget, that's unfortunate but I wouldn't try to assume an upward trend on the basis of a handful of new releases :)
Raiya makes the best characters morphs, in my opinion.
Yeah I agree. Her Stuff and OOT´s products are top notch. I think the price is justified because the quality is excellent IMO.
Snarky, tongue in cheek mode on: It's the circle of sale... hobbyists say "I only buy at 80% discount", PA says "That leaves me with 80 cents per sold item!". PA says "Next new release, with all the discounts, I have to add a few more dollars so I will get at least 5 dollars out of each sale.". Hobbyist screams "OHNOES, prices are up! I will only buy at 90% off!"
Rinse, leather and repeat.
Snarky, tongue in cheek mode off.
Honestly, prices here are still really moderate, compared to other stuff. Even smoking is more expensive than buying content, and that cigarette is gone after you smoke it, while the content is still there.
Doesn't really matter as the amount of work nvolved with the small size of this community already make it hard to get a return on investment. I find it very hard to justify hobbyists prices on professional quailty assets. Take a look at any non DS/poser 3D store and the prices are usually 3-5 times higher than here and that is for unrigged assets.
I learned to make my own items and clothes. Saves a ton of money and is great fun too.
I think Daz is in a bit of a precarious position at the moment as it seems to be trying really hard to get more industry" professionals"
to Adopt its products.
But still having to cater to "hobbyists" who likely make up a large portion of their regular buyers on this site
They correctly realize that the future is not in Still render internet gallery "art" but the moving pictures of gaming and movie CGI
this I believe was the impetus behind the partnership with NVIDIA
And while poser is likely Doomed at this point,
DAZ still has up and coming competion from alternatives like
Iclone.
It will be most interesting to see what this market will look like around the year 2020.
Like Jack said, we have a choice; mine is to not buy at those prices, as much as I like the products they produce.
How relevant is that? What percentage of buyers will ever pay that? My view is that we should examine the price in our carts.
The Topmodel bundle sits in my cart now at £28.33. If these high quality items interested me (painted modelles and slinky undies not my 3D thing) I would consider that a bargain and buy. If it's too much for me now, I can wait until March (or some other blowout time) where I'll likely be able to acquire the bundle for around twenty bucks. Laughin'.
Market pricing is an ongoing balancing act, and in the longer run they are set by consumers rather than sellers.
One Must remember that places like turbosquid etc. are exclusivley for professionals buying assests for a budgeted project
Thus it is not really fair to compare thier pricing to the DAZ/ poser business model.
As an example a few years ago I was commisioned by a funded indie film client to create about 40 seconds of an animated skate boarderperforming several "curb tricks" for a faked video game sequence
that was to appear on screen in a live movie.
I though it would be fine to use any freebie skateboard from the poser/Daz markets for this animation but the client insisted on having the highest detail skateboard with every wheel mount & screw head that one would find on a real skate board.
Even though the animation did NOT involve any close up shots
that would show these ridiculous details.
In a subtle attempt to deter him, I went to turbosquid and picked the
most detailed and $$Expensive$ Skateboard I could find ($330 USD)
and told the client to front me the money so I can use this 3D model
in the animation.
This cost was in addition to the thousands I was already charging for the custom animation work
The client handed over the money without flinching and to this day I have a 3D model of a skate board archived somewhere that cost more than my Flat screen TV.
divamakeup, all that happened was that Raiya, one vendor, released a morph package separate from the texture. That is all. This IS a trend, but not the one you fear. During Genesis 2, Raiya also released Male Model Textures for Michael 6 separately from Male Model Morphs. You see? Yes, they were much cheaper, but that was over two years ago. The base prices of clothing items are not meant to be paid; they are merely the mechanism of mandate for PC+. The sky IS falling, but ever so slowly as to be imperceptible to us proverbial boiling frogs. Plus, the wine (of the excellent product line) takes the edge off. ;) Daz is quite accustomed to the alarmist tendencies of its clientele, and the answers offered on this thread are the stock answers for all chicken littles. So, don't sweat it: Everything's gonna be all right. Besides, you know you ain't goin' nowhere. You belong to Daz now, sister. Resistance is futile. You have been assimilated.
lol! Yes, resistance is futile;)
I agree, and I would add that, imo, she also makes the most photorealistic skin textures (albeit with fierce competition from Daz Core characters, which she has also done in the past).
Number one rule of life in general. "You can't please everyone".
Besides, it's not dismissing hobbyists, it's following the same pattern most successful businesses follow. As example do you notice when technology first comes out it is inordinately expensive, and over time those high end items soon become available to the general public at reasonable prices? That's because manufacturers know there is a market of people that are willing to pay any price for the newest tech. Why wouldn't you tap that market first?
Also most of us in the hobbyist category (even those of us that dream of someday becoming good enough to get paid for our work) probably have more than enough items in our possession that we could easily do most of the stuff we wanted until the price on anything we had our eye on eventually went on sale.
here are few thoughs:
- about the top model price: at first, I sayd wow, big pile of money....but I looked closer: the char is almost 4 chars. the hair, wow, just wow, so many possibilities, this is more than just one pack of heir, updo, tail, fronts etc... many options. So, all in all, I think that the price is reasonable, daz wise. And quality is there (those PA are top noch).
- about the hobby. well, the past few month show that daz has moved his strategy. I'm here only for 2 years, and what I've seen the past 3 month seems to never have happened before. Super cheap bundles, big (huge) sales on (relatively) recent bundles/items, super sales on RDNA (bundles less than 1.70)... lets look closer: G2 themed bundles at 2$, G2 pro bundles 7$ and even free, G3, yes G3!!!!, G3 bundles pro at less than 7$ even free (yes g3), rdna things (and even big bundles) at 1.70$, many items at few cents etc... That means that in less than 3 month, you can have for a reasonable budget TONS of things, up to date covering almost every styles.
That means that now, I try (it is difficult when PA release so beautiful things) to resist and wait patiently for nice deals. For me, mei lin, wich is one of my fav, will wait until it is super cheap (lets say less than 12$) and you know what? I'm pretty sure that it'll be soon. not daz soon. me soon, really soon. With the upcoming sale at the end of the year, I'd grab again super cheap thing. I'm not in a hurry because I have soooooooooo many things to play with.
This is the "Really Real" world ....prices for things will go up. That is true everywhere. Sure it would be nice if things never went up in price, especcially fun hobby products. But they are all part of the same economic cycle as everything. DAZ does try to offset this with some really great sales though.
It does not really matter if the market is geared for professional or hobbiest. Even among hobbiests, the price range of what people can afford or what they want to pay for things will be hugely different for different people. What is expensive for some may be pocket change for others. DAZ tries hard to be aware as much as they can of the demographics of the marketplace they are selling to. So they price according to their studies, and they do well, becaue sales are constantly increasing not decreasing. This does not mean it will be good for everyone, but it will be fair to the majority.
As for the professional market. Generally professionals require specific products, not the general products we sell here. Also the pricing for selling products to a professional market would be MUCH higher. I know I would make more per individual character in a professional market than I get for sales here. BUT, I would have to make what they want, and for me, I enjoy making what I want when I want. So that is more important to me. That is where I get to be the most creative. So I am more than happy working in this market.
Rawn
update / edit: rephrased sentences and removed one paragraph to focus on the prices
@ prices in our carts
+1 on that.
I find the bundle in question is at a very fair price for character, clothes and hair included.
Keep in mind that this holiday season offers a fixed percentage off all purchases until the end of the year for loyal customers.
-> The price displayed in the store may be hugely above the final price in your cart.
- - -
@ higher prices at professional content vendors
Please do not forget that "professional" content sellers offer studio and company licenses for all of their products.
-> This makes it possible that people can work on a project in teams. Each team member specialises on one task and then the project file is handed to the next person.
Working in a team is not at all covered in the current DAZ3D EULA that only offers a personal license for one user.
If you want to hand over the project file to another employee of your company that person needs to buy an additional license for all (!) products in the scene as well.
- - -
It may be priced to factor in the holiday discount many of us have. There are so many sales at DAZ at this point that you really need to look at the sale prices to see what most people are paying. The bundle is showing $26.44 in my cart. That's not so bad.
OOT's hair products' quality have really improved this past year alone (IMHOP) so I really don't mind spending a few more dollars on their hair products. And although their clothing products are also very very good, I tend to be selective and just really buy the ones that I truly catches my attention. As for Raiya's characters....well...I don't buy all of them, but I DO own MOST of their characters. Just two of my favorites. I got the Top Model bundle today for just $28 bucks, so that's basically getting each item at less than $6.00 each
After all the discounts I don't think the prices are so bad. And Raiya's things are a BIG draw for me, I'll admit that ;).
And OOT is a gent. I'm pretty sure ;).
Laurie
It's not really the price, but the lack of G2F support that I find crippling on a hair like that Oo .
Hi Diva. It is what it is and all the complaining about it never changes it. I know this because there was a time when I did a lot of complaining about the prices too. Ive just come to relies That I just have to be patient and wait long enough and everything here eventually goes on sale for 70% or even 80% at some time or another. If I can afford a new relase or if the new release maybe over priced for my budget . I may still buy it if i really really really need it badly for a project. But thats rae these days I usually wishlist a item I need and sit and wait for it to come on sale down the road.
I could not agree more I still prefer genesis 2 over most other characters, I made a conscience decision when genesis 3 came out to not invest in it until genesis 4 comes out and see if g4 breaks compatibility with g3 if so I'll never invest in it. . breaking compatibility with older generations has been the common practice of daz since genesis 1 release., so I'll wait and see. But I totally agree I really wish there where more genesis 2 Items supported.
I've commented before about the high prices, and this is always an unpopular thing to say. I remember one thread I was grilled for using the word over-priced. Now I just say nothing. People in the forums do not represent the actual buying public but just a small portion of it. Whether the prices are worth it depend a lot on how many people will buy at that price.
My new buying method is: I only buy male content. And when I buy female content it has to be deeply discounted. I just don't need stuff for the ladies, and I'll be honest nothing in todays' sale entices me in the least.
Secondly, as prices climb, I am also more discerning. Much content is just rehashed content and skins using marketing resources that I own already. Especially for the guys. As prices climb, I become pickier at what I choose to keep and what I do not.
Ivy: yeah, I made the same decision. I've acquired a few genesis 3 things when on super sale and I can transfer stuff to prior figures.
I might buy a g3 hair piece . only because I can Parent the hair to any character to make it work. But I don't buy g3 clothing or characters, I keeping a wait and see attitude.