Very expensive?
John Sims
Posts: 360
I haven't posted in the forum for some time, and appologise if this is a topic done to death, but felt compelled to comment.
I have been a DAZ user for many years, perhaps at the infancy of Victoria 4, and a Platinum Club member for almost as long. There was a time when I would buy content almost daily (my library is well in excess of 2000 products) where as now my purchases are very far and few. This is not because I have everything I need, or don't fancy the new content, it is because everything is so damn expensive, even with the added Platinum Club discounts. Or so it seems.
I appreciate inflation will mean things increase in price and, being a global market, prices are relative to the various ecconomies of the different Countries but it just seems that prices have increased a lot more over the last few years even to the point I am questioning the merits of my Platinum mebembership; I don't save anything if I don't buy anything and am just paying out for a discount I'm not using.
Has anyone else come to the same conclusion?
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Comments
well with 12K products and must save my money I probably need to know your secret
Not true.
Not buying you save 100% of your cash; only items that are 100% discounted offer a similar deal, except for getting something (you may or may not want) for no cash outlay.
I think we have come to the same conclusion. There is no point in paying for Platinum Club membership if I still think, even with the discount, things are too expensive. And I also tend to agree that very few of the Platimum Club free items are actually worth the disc space in downloading.
Ignorning any discounts through Platinum Club, back in the day, there were premium priced items but on the whole most items seemed affordable. These days, unless it appears in Fast Grab, almost everything seems to attract a premium price tag.
I made precisely the argument you are making a while ago (made myself quite unpopular with the PC+ enthusiasts in doing so, I think). However, yesterday I saw that the annual PC+ membership had a 40% discount and I just happened to have a bit of store credit available so I ate my words and joined for a year. As it was the last day of the month I looked to use my coupons and immediately found a few items that were already on sale and that were further discounted using the coupons. It could be argued that I offset a big chunk of my membership fee by taking advantage of those savings. On the other hand, I probably would not have bought those items had it not been for the PC+ coupons so it could be counter-argued that, rather than saving me money, it cost me more. I guess the only way to judge is to look back in a year's time and assess whether I have filled out my wishlist more economically than I would have without that membership.
Having taken the plunge, I now look forward to all those PC only sales I complained about before. But I do agree - and I also made this point previously - that so much of the PC marked content would not tempt me even as freebies.
It's a bit of a balancing act though. Artists won't make content if it has to sell cheaply relative to the volume. I'm sure there's a curve of that and the price has to sit at the optimal point (it's not always the case that the lower price will attract more purchases, or that premium quality items will sell at a higher price). The main reason I don't buy much isn't cost so much, it's knowing that it won't get used and I'm probably buying it because I thought the store renders looked great. Once it gets into my hands, well, the renders don't look so great!
Yes, our eyes are bigger than our available time .. that's for sure.
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however, the old plat club at 1.99 .. I bought almost everything .. when it went up, a lot less, and now I try not to buy any until I need it in a scene ... once it's up to 2.99 or 3.99 it's a stop and think not a knee jerk by it.
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As for the overall priceing .. Just throw stuff in the wish list and wait until it's in one of the sales.... I think I've gotten a couple of AMs things at 30% of list.. but anything else... even 50% is so what.
This is what I've done. I throw it in my wishlist, and then I check it every now and then. A few weeks ago I logged in and was "PC+ for a day" and I got Dain 8 Pro for 70% off and couple Shader packs for about $6/each. As others have mentioned, it's a balance of self control and realizing "will I actually use this". This is basically how I operate, I check it, if it's 50% or more off and I have the discretionary, I'll buy. If not, I'll wait till the next time.
Its not so much the cost of 3d products, but rather the lack of funds to buy new releases for me. Covid has really hit me in the pocket book with my work hours being cut . my 3d budget is need for other things now. maybe someday daz will have a Covid suffers fire sale . with a 70% off discounts, other wise I forget buying new releases for now. its just not in my budget. Luckily I have been at this a very long time and have more than enough content to occupy my l needs. Hopping for better days.
They kinda did back when lockdowns started. I think they gave everyone PC+ for whole month of April. I got quite a bit of stuff as I've been fortunate not to have my "day job" affected.
I would keep an eye for Black Friday. That's what I'm saving up for now. I'm sure they'll have some good sales that weekend.
I have a couple of year's worth of membership, however, imo, membership is to Daz's benefit more than mine; it keeps me looking, interested and giving them cash.
I would buy far less, and only partly because of the increase in cost of items, if I didn't have membership.
Whilst I'm a collector, these last few months (probably since Daz Central made it's unwelcome appearance), I find myself buying less and being far, far more critical of what I buy; I don't put up with issues any longer, and I invariably take the time to see if they have any.
I did a price analysis about two years ago, and for me The Platinum Club is well worth it. However, I primarily buy legacy items and very little new content. So, the deep discounts on the old stuff more than pays for the cost of the PC+ Membership. (BTW: My purchasing habits are driven by the fact that I use Poser almost exclusively, so all the expensive new stuff is pretty much unusable to me.)
Not a Daz Studio topic so, belatefdly, moved to the Commons.