The prices are getting out of hand
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This thread is fascinating. Also quite comical. Continue please.
I think that it takes time for people to realize what the actual costs of things are around here. If other people are anything like myself, when I first got going I was getting so much stuff at PC discount...$2 per item no matter how amazing. But after a couple of years I realized I'd already bought up everything PC related that I had interest in. It was then that I started purchasing from individual PA's and that's when I noticed what felt like a jump, but really, I was only just getting onto the real pricing bandwagon.
If anything, I'd say there seems to be less DAz original content than in previous years, so we are forced to purchase from PA's who naturally must charge more than a Daz original would. Where are the regular and incredible value Daz Originals? Not that ther are none, but I feel like there used to be a lot more.
Do the $2 items for PC discount still exist? Been so long since I checked on any of that.
The true mark of success for a vendor at Daz3d seems to be if Daz likes your product enough to buy it from you and claim it as a Daz original and turn around and sell it for $2 but know that at such a low price it will sell continuously even if not prolfically, it will eventually earn back the money they spent buying out the PA.
Buyouts seem optimal. PA's get paid right away. Daz3d from then on assumes all the risk with this product. Consumers get the opportunity to become familiar with a vendors style before committing to $30 purchases, increasing the PA's customer base to people they wouldn't normally reach. Stonemason and Mec4d are excellelnt examples of this principle.
..same here and it is extremely fixed.
So now that I have Hexagon running "relatively" stable I can turn my attention to actually getting somewhere with modelling. Still wish I could find a decent free UV mapping tool. Also wish I could afford a few more of the Iray shader resources. Being dyslexic, the Shader Mixer looks like a bowl of spaghetti that a two year old spilled on the floor.
BTW does the Cube 7 Pro Bundle include Iray shaders or are those extra?
As far as good uv mapping tools, I started out using the free version of UV Mapper... then moved up to pro... probably one of the best tools I invested in along side Filterforge which is also usefull as heck, though a tad pricey...
The Pro Bundle Cube includes not only Iray shaders but shaders for a number of other renderers as well... all optimised for each individual customers tastes... Also watch for the coming release of Sphere Bundle Pro with stacks of extra features to "round out" the pack... ;) LMAO
I find the prices high but that's because I live on an extremely tight budget. But, if I'm willing to wait for something, that something is inevitably included in a sale. Wait long enough and - like Lilith Pro for $7 - real bargains can be had.
On the other hand, I try not to buy things just becuase they are on sale. I skipped Lilith, even at such a low price, because there was nothing in the bundle that appealed to me. I try not to be too cynical but sometimes the marketing cycle makes it difficult: New Victoria -> new wardrobe -> buy a product that can fit old clothes to new Victoria (but they never do fit quite so well as the clothes designed for new Vicky). I keep swearing that I won't buy into the new model but then they put her in an insane sale and I can't resist. The clothing naturally follows, of course.
That's also the true meaning of overpriced, IMO. Like charging $50 for an apple which you can buy elsewhere for 50 cent.
Which is the only one that includes the "geometrical elements"...
That's not how buyouts work.
Buyouts remove risk of selling it yourself but you sometimes (most likely most times) get paid lower than what you expect if you sold it yourself and it sold well and adds nothing to your catalog. It's simply a fast sale, sometimes without the bells and whistles you get when it is sold by a PA. I don't sell because if I look at my sales I can make something that sells well initially and also sells throughout the year because it is part of my catalog, often without sales so it makes way more to me than selling to DAZ. So no it isn't optimal to a PA.
This is why you hear PAs talk about watching their sales trends rather than forum requests, because those give the actual figures of what is being demanded in the market.
The PA releases are really a bit high-priced for people on average wage, and with all those very reasonable DO-, PC+ and RDNA deep freeze items otoh Daz ran into a pricing system which lacks the middle range. Give us some more medium priced items (as a certain other shop does…), and everything is fine :-D
Some of the not so obvious things you can expect to pay for as a customer either directly or indirectly, not just for 3D content but for other goods and services as well...
1. R&D (Research And Developement) - If people weren't able to get compensated for the process of creating new ideas there wouldn't be any. Trial and error comes along with devising different processes, as well as using new software or technology.
2. Experience - The times it takes you to learn or master a skill set needs to be reflected through income to justify what's been invested. It's the reason higher paying jobs come with higher learning and schooling, why you can expect pay raises with promotions.
3. Equipment And Material Costs - Hardware, software and resources. Travel costs if applicable. New technology is often expensive and is always needed to stay relevant as well as competetive. The obvious requirements aren't usually the only ones, utilities like electricity and internet that computer based services need have serious costs.
4. Promotional Material - Creating attention grabbing advertisements and explanations takes time, usually a lot of it. It also requires the three previous investments to be at it's best. R&D factors into marketing tactics and knowing what type of promotion sells to who, experience is needed to create compelling imagery that captivates at first glance and equipment is needed to produce the material in reasonable time frames.
5. Customer Serivce - Any time put into helping customers should be considered. Instructions and tutorials take more effort than is often expected. Being able to communicate your ideas and intentions in a clear way to a widely varied audience is something else that takes research, experience and often equipment.
Keep in mind that as PAs we take on the same requirements as individual people that larger businesses have whole divisons dedicated to. The person who makes the models usually is the same person doing the promotional material and creating documentation for it after coming up with the initial ideas and paying for materials out of their own pocket.
Reading that, @DT, I find myself wondering what exactly DAZ does for its considerable cut? Surely they do provide R&D, some software resources, promotional resources (a store front, for example) and customer service? I don't know this first hand because I have never sold anything but that would be my impression.
On a releated point, some of the promo images are incentives not to buy - and that is true both here and at Rendo. Some really good products are under-sold because of poor renders on the promo page.
Rashad, are you saying that Stonemason and Mec4D have items in the PC+, anonymously or under a different name? Without that being the case your notion has no internal logic. Similarly, if buyouts were optimal there would be more of them.
I feel DAZ does earn its fair share, whether that should be 50%, or a bit more or less is hard to say. Do not forget that DAZ has to pay for the not inconsiderable costs of developing DAZ Studio, and the Genesis base figures for free. These alone will cost many thousands per year (maybe more than a million annually), and must be paid for from the 50% cut DAZ receive. A number of PAs have earned some good money making iRay shaders, but would not have earned a cent if DAZ had not worked with nVidia to get iRay integrated into DS. It is not unreasonable for DAZ to get a generous cut of this money.
I develop mobile apps, and I work with Google and Apple to host my apps on their platforms. Their cut is 30%, which is less than DAZ, but then Google Play Store and Apple Store earn billions a year, so the economies of scale allow these huge companies to give their publishers a larger share. DAZ has a far smaller user base than smart phone apps, but still considerable costs, so I think 50% is justified.
Oh, please don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting DAZ does nothing or does not earn their cut. What I am suggesting is that DAZ does provide some of the resources and back-up that the independent PA might need which was not clear from the list provided by @DimensionTheory.
I belive in the end the higher MSRP is the downside of DAZs "High Price, High Discount" Strategy (that probably drives a lot of sales)
I'm no PA but if I ever become one for me the MSRP finding would be simple: Find the prce I would like to earn per sale and take it x4. x 2 For assuming that it will sell on average for 50% Discount and x2 for DAZ share. If I calculate this backward, for the most Items I think the prices are set very reasonable.
Down side is, that i very rarely buy stuff at release even if I would like to do to show support to the PA. But i just cant justify to buy something that i don't need right away (or that triggers an otherwise very lucrative discount) when i know that I will be able to buy it for half the price in 2-4 month.
Just previous poster First Bastion allone allready has added 2 new Items in my wishlist since March Madness ended...
We have locked this thread as the various points of view have been thoroughly set forth and the commenst are starting to get personal.