Getting priced out of this hobby
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JC Penny tried something like that a few years ago and they've never really recovered. From that Forbes article:
"JC Penney’s woes began with a change in the retailer’s pricing strategy --replacement of coupon sales with everyday low prices.
The old pricing strategy has been popular among retailers, because it hypes shoppers, making them feel smart and encouraging them to talk with other consumers about it. That’s how hype and buzz for merchandise begins and spreads in the shopper community.
Clearly, Mr. Johnson assumed that a revamped J. C. Penney with steady prices would attract customer crowds to its stores, as is the case with Apple. But the strategy didn’t work, as evidenced by the company’s string of disappointing sales and earnings and sales reports"
...waiting on the full update of Hexagon before going back to learning how to model. Frequent crashes in the middle of what one is working on are just too bloody discouraging. I believe some of the instability is due to the fact it still is 32 bit software with that 2 GB memory ceiling (even LAA allows a for only about an extra GB). Add a bit of subdivision and smoothing, and *crash*.
maybe if they kept a running banner ad stating so. WE LOVE OUR CUSTOMERS. ALL PRICES CUT 60% ! but even then, if its something not needed, i wouldn't buy it no matter, and after awhile it would just be day to day and a lot of folks would wait until the 2 year sales begin. Like over at rendo, they have a lot of stuff going with big cuts. I dont buy the majority of it ... i dont buy most skimpwear, so that cuts off 80% of the products right away.
After awhile, how many characters can you "use". Now its wait until s really great skin texture shows up, or hair. Most of them are very similar or rehash per generation.
Overall, I think DAZ and even the other sites, are much more attractive to new buyers. Those that don't already have tons of products.
The dynamics of this business are very broad. The prices are increasing though.
..and if you have skin creation/building as well as morph kit merchant resources, the need for different character skins and morphs is not as great unless they are very unique.
When Beautiful Skins and Skin Builder Pro3 were released that was when I finally was able to do something with G3F. Now with Slosh's G3 M/F UV swapping tool I can use skins I create on G3M.
Not unless something has changed recently.
A couple years back, when you still had to purchase game licensing per PA, one such product showed up in the top slot. (I think it was Sickleyield, but I'm not sure.) In any event, the product was purchased at full price of $2000. And the one purchase was all it took. (Sadly, it was a fraudulent credit card purchase.) There was a lot of discussion about it, and we were told the top sellers are based on gross sales, not quantity.
Like you, I don't know the "What's Hot" formula is, but it is not based on total unit sales alone, otherwise the list would hardly ever change. It is certainly based on money, rather than units, otherwise the PC+ items would always be at the top, however I suspect that the sales over the last few days get a much bigger weighting than total sales over time. You can see that by the number of items that shoot up to the top on release, and quickly drop down again over the following 2-3 days.
People love a bargain and they love a sale. Obviously, I have no data to back this up, but I'm willing to bet that if they did lower their prices by 60% but never had another sale, there would be far fewer people buying content. For many people, the hunt for the best deals and the best sales is what keeps them coming back. It's a bit of bargain hunting fun and getting deep discounts is a rush. I think that many people shop here are like that (myself included - I love a good sale lol).
No one is being priced out of this hobby. They meant to convey that they will be Priced Out of Their Current Comfortable Level of Buying Practices.
I will try and put this another way so my posts can stay around longer than 4 minutes. If the favorite SOURCE of your 3D assets went away today, no one would have to quit their 3D fun.
This hobby isn't dead-locked into one "place to buy stuffs". So let's stop talking as if adding $3 to $4 dollars to the newest items means I'm done.
They meant to convey that they will be Priced Out of Their Current Comfortable Level of Buying Practices.
the answer everyone hates but is the obvious solution is to model your own stuff
Please, please, please can we stop with these extremes of perspective. It is NEVER these two poles. And that is NOT a solution for anybody and has never been.
1) The time divide slashes whatever you were trying to do with the assets as you (mathematically-based-fact) subtract MAKING them from the time you used to spend USING them.
2) It is not as if you can model everything. As far as I know, there isn't a vendor that does (everything [well]). A Daz render is more than clothing or a character. It is a combination of so many disciplines, to argue that I should just make all the assets myself is impractical. And again, when you decide to counter me by naming 2 or 3 vendors who do clothing + Buildings or figures + lightning, remember you're saying "Just go out and easily become that high-level vendor because you know, and extra $50 bucks a month is tough for you to squeeze into your 3D-buying budget".
3) Stop using the word hobby or hobbyist. There are only TWO contextual meanings of "Professional" or "Pro" One is you do something for a living and the second is you create a-sellable-product or offer a service worthy of charging for. If a Daz P.A. (Published Artist) is a professional because they make sellable, high quality products then any buyer who sells their Book Covers, does commissions, sells art, makes banners, logos, caricatures, digital works, assets as part of a larger project, and all the various ways to make money based off this interest are also professionals. They are here and complaining about prices too,
And finally- If you mean 'hobbyist" because they don't make my digital life a full-time-job, than many PAs need to be placed in that box too - And then we can stop with these other counter-arguments about what Daz/PAs SELLS MOST to being so heavily tied to the product-variety in the store. Well then, if this isn't YOUR LIVING, you can make more men's clothing, you can make many more products that do NOT HAVE TO SELL A SHED_LOAD because this is not your only source of income. To me, that works both ways.
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Any solution that degrades the quality of my output or lessens it or subtracts from the time I am able to do what I want to do, which is "buy some cool stuff, use some cool stuff" is going to be worthy of complaining about.
This thread is a complaint, which customers are free to do. There is no need to lock it in at the extreme ends of no-one's reality.
It's 100% posable to import or export with out lossing groups or UV maps.
I think you are right about the psychology of sale prices. I know that yet I still follow my impulses and buy sale items. One other thing to consider, however, is that prices here can be comprared with elsewhere - even for this limited market. Compare with TurboSquid and the prices here look good but compare with the other Poser/DAZ content store and perhaps not so good. Still the psychology works and I buy more here than at that other store even though they also have daily sales. When all is said and done, however, I buy things I think I will use and avoid things I think I can create quite easily for myself. The latter includes characters - I would rather spend on morphing and skin utilities and create my own than keep buying an endless stream of similar characters. Obviously my income limits my spending so waiting for those occasional 70-to-80%-off sales is a big part of my buying strategy, as is delaying (or avoiding) adoption of new figures as I have avoided G8.
Absolutely. Human psychology is quite predictable. For example a marketing technique that people use is to ask you to do something huge, because then you are statistically more likely to do something smaller, so for example a political candidate will ask you if you can put a massive billboard on your pavement. You say no, and then they ask you to put a small sign up in your window instead. That's what they wanted all along, but statistically you are more likely to say yes after the big ask. I have pages and pages of items in my account because I can't resist a good deal. Expectation release endorphins, so just looking out for that big deal will keep you coming back day after day, instead of only when you need something. (Case in point how many times have you guys refreshed your browser after those coupon-o-copia deals. I'm probably hitting close to 30x already.) , When you come back all the time, hoping for another bit of excitement, and then you see something is discounted you are far more likely to buy it than if it was always that price.
Actually yeas ago Daz tried a "lower base price, fewer sales" strategy (granted that wasn't 60% lower) for some time. Given that they went back to current model I'd say it wasn't that successful...
Having the same price all the time eliminates the urgency factor in buying. That was one of the problems they had with the original Platinum Club, people had a tendency to wishlist items rather than buy them on release as they'd always be there at the same price...
Well - not sure about DAZ, but J C Penney tried this and it was an epic fail.
Yup. I referenced an article about that a few posts up. They still haven't bounced back from that fiasco.
While we understand, and have every sympathy with, those whose budgets are limiting their ability to purchase what they wish it is clear that this thread has now seen all points of view well aired. It has therefore been closed.