Store Price Rises
morph6877
Posts: 8
in The Commons
I have been surprised by the price rises in the Daz store recently. Many items are now being sold at over $20 where previously these same items were around the $13 mark. I have been a good customer for Daz over the years and have a well stocked folder of their products but I can no longer justify paying the new prices and will be buying from Renderosity where like for like many of the products are significantly less in price.
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Considering the amount of work that goes into creating many items and the limited number usually sold, plus the huge discounts that are often given, it's still cheap in general IMO. What I see as a bigger problem is that many items are heavily underpriced and others heavily overpriced, compared to the amount of time and work it takes to create them.
Well, the base price has to be higher to sustain the insane discounts you get. What do you expect? Rendo has lower base prices but also lower discounts. If you compare the end result, you're paying the same.
I agree. Think of it as you're supporting DAZ and the PA's. They're giving you an awesome free software, and they have to get revenue to pay the developers and keep everything running. So you need to pay them or else they'll go away and you won't have DAZ Studio anymore. It's a good thing.
And put yourself in the PA's shoes. They spend many many hours putting this stuff together, and have to pay the bills, just like you and I do. Money doesn't grow on trees as my Mom used to say
The discounts are usualy on the older products that aren't selling very well. I'm not saying that Daz products do not have a right to be higher than Rosity because of the reasons you have mentioned, but the price hike is far too much. I could understand a couple of dollors but in many products have risen by at least $6.00.
Think of it this way...
How many hours of enjoyment do you get over the years for each item you buy? 10? 100? 1,000? So divide the price by the number of hours of enjoyment, and you'll probably realize how cheap they are even at higher prices.
No, you have sales that get you 60% off for a PA's stuff during flassh sales, for anything that's older than two months. They're no unpopoular PAs, either. And even higher discounts during are possible through things like the other sales.
Also, can you give me some examples for the 6$ price rise, and a compartible cheaper product before that?
The base price does appear to have risen but that is nicely offset by the seriously deep discounts we have seen in the big sales. Also we are seeing some really lovely “loyalty discounts” when new figure bundles are released. So really it all balances out. Since I, like many others here, am on a budget, I watch the new releases closely, make use of my wishlist to see when things I want are on sale, leverage my PC+ membership to its full advantage, and when I do have extra funds at the end of my budget I sometimes put that into a gift card so that when some product I just have to buy right NOW is released, I can purchase it.
if the PA’s can’t make a living wage, they won’t be able to make anything for us to use and if DAZ3D can’t make enough to pay it’s employees and “keep the lights on” it will have to shut down. Then where would we be?
I thought i'd throw my 2c in here for what its worth. I understand your frustrations, money doesn't grow in trees and you want to allocate your pennies sensibly. However, as users above have quite rightly guessed, vendors have been slowly pushing base prices to adjust for steep sales. I don't think this is a case of big bad daz doing everything wrong, they try very hard to reach a sweet spot between what the consumer will pay, and what will net the most for the PA, making everyone happy. Sometimes though, very steep stacking sales can throw a wrench in the works, so vendors try and adjust. If you worked diligently on a project for two weeks, modeling, texturing, rigging, packing and marketing, i don't think you'd be pleased that someone picked up your item for $3, even though you charged $20 for it. Users are being very savvy with their purchases, which is fine, but we still need to cut a pay check. When all is said and done however, Daz themselves can overrule on price, and if they feel it will damage the products success, or upset customers, they obviously won't sell it at that price. It's all about fairness, and i think we're all being fair.
I hope you'll find the extra few dollars worth it
I personally DO find the extra few dollars to be well worth it. Out of all the sites that sell 3D content for my hobby, DAZ3D and the PA’s that market through DAZ3D strike the best quality/price balance. Couple that with DAZ Studio being given to us for free and it’s a win all around for me.
Yes, I have to be savvy with my purchases. That’s part of life and it applies to everything in my daily life and not just my hobby. This it SHOULD be. The mortgage payment and other necessities and bills come before the hobbies. That’s the way it should be for all adults. That also includes the PA‘s and everyone at DAZ3D. They all have mortgages and bills and families to support also.
So yes prices go up. That happens everywhere. My recommendation would be to get a PC+ membership, utilize your wishlist and “get savvy” along with the rest of us.
I think my only off putting thing about the higher prices is the new D-Force stuff. Allot of the times these are more SIMPLE garmets as you can't have super high details as it would be a nightmare to get all the buttons and bows to cooperate when draping. So these pretty gowns and what not that have been released for around $18.00 really should come with a pair of shoes to make the purchase well worth it. I know one gown came with jewelry and that's a nice extra but some are just the garmet. Perhaps I don't understand fully how time consuming setting up D-Force is.... from what I know about it so far it seems fairly easy to add in the weight mapped sections with the stroke of a brush and then drape...
I agree with you on the “nice extras” bit. When a pair of shoes or some interesting jewelry is included in the price of an item (dforce or not) I always feel better about my purchase. Heck I have actually bought outfits just because I liked the shoes.
Or at least some underwears lol. I ended up making a seperate little catagory where I put all the ones I have, so it's not as annoying when I find a miniskrit with none included :P
Higher costs don’t mean I buy more but less. So, unfortunately even though I understand why prices go up that doesn’t mean revenue generation from me will increase, it just forces me to wishlist or be choosier about the items I pick up or wait for sales.
Since I pretty much have stopped buying female content I’m not the stores target audience anyway. I’ll buy a well made men’s clothing outfit or character or morph set. But that’s about all.
I will have to pass on content similar to what I own already. Such as long cargo shorts for men and sandal outfits. I already have 4 of those and won’t be buying more.
I really should categorize like that. It would be lovely to have all like items together. I’m just scared of a) screwing up things beyond repair and having to do a full reinstall b) how long it would take
Higher prices on the dForce clothing means I haven't bought a single item that is marked dForce only. In an industry were physics engines and HW/SW capabilities are taking off in capabilities such a price premiums for marginal improvements and slow calculations isn't going to cut it.
Same goes with the price boosts on non-PC+ items that are your more typical DAZ fare. It means most future items I buy will be PC+.
You can just copy paste the original to a new folder, the duf files are not really so big that it would explode the library size. That's what I do at least. I also copy paste the material options if they exist, so I don't have to jump all over the place looking for it.
Just two examples of large price increases. I paid $13.95 for Chloe G8 on September 28th 2017 according to my invoice. Now it's priced at $19.95. Joanna for Genesis 8 was $13.27 at December 2017 but now is $18.95 It's the amount of increase in such a short time that makes me unhappy. I'll certainly be very choosy about buying from the store with these huge increases.
Are you sure you didn't just buy things on sale, and now they are no longer on sale? We don't retroactively increase prices, i thought you were talking more generally.
The prices are always cheaper on new items for a couple of weeks as that's how they encourage sales.
Everyone has a different threshold of how much they are willing to pay for specific things based on usability and other factors. Something I will use a lot I’m willing to pay more for. Items I may only use for a couple renders don’t have the same value to me personally, It’s not that those items aren’t well made or took hours of time and energy by their creators. But that their value to me is less because they are less useful for what I do on a day to day basis. I will only buy those items when they are priced lower for the niche factor because I will use them only a few times.
Things I will use often like underwear, hairs, certain types of poses and gear I would certainly pay more for if they are well done.
The difference between those prices is quite simply the 30% introductory discount.
Not even any super dooper sale price, just simple 30% Chloe was released on 27th August a
Those are not price increases, those are items back at their regular price now that a limited time sale is over...
I'm beginning to understand the crime scene now Cho.
I'll just be more choosy in what I buy. Nothing wrong with that, but probably not what what Daz was after ;).
Laurie
I'm surprised you talk about the rise of the prices after 3 months of sales.
For example, if I purchase Owen 8 Pro bundle + the 9 Add-ons, the mean is $5 per item.
And if I count the 3 Free Pro bundles (38 items) it falls to $1.77 per item.
Like what? I'm pretty sure Daz does not sell dForce only clothing.
I think they are talking when you want products that are outside the typical Pro Bundle cycle. If they are not PC+ products they are typically more expensive and the price seems to have risen. Hair is the most surprisingly expensive thing in the DAZ Store. Although if you are a PC+ member it makes sense to wait for a sale although the hair typically is still expensive, even on sale. They know their personal economics of sales so they will try and feel out for maximum profit.
Chloe was at $11.97 (40% off) a few weeks ago.
With the Loyalty Reward, this item was certainly at lower price (under $10).
...about the only items over on Rendo I purchase are items I don't see much of in the store here like "real world" vehciles (and particularly) aircraft, along with grungy cyber world/apocalyptic settings and props by Conflek Gnorg.
True that prices here are a bit higher, but again as many have mentioned there are so many opportunities for discounts along with savvy purchasing which help offset the increases. I've been at this for a over decade now while on a fairly slim budget (which has become even tighter since retirement), so my approach is to purchase items that are useful for the projects I am working on rather than just buying whatever is on sale at the moment. The only times I get things that may fall outside this are freebies, and even then I pass on some (primarily ones that are textures for content I don't have nor plan to purchase in the future).
I think if you look at the products themselves you are often getting much more for your money than less. I am often surprised and delighted at how much PAs are putting into the newer products. In many cases (not all) the price increase is justified by the amount of work involved. Most of my shopping decisions aren't based solely on price tag but on value. I don't need more stuff in my runtime, I need more stuff I actually use. Can I use it on multiple generations? What kinds of options does it come with? How much am I actually getting for my money? Sometimes the higher priced item wins.