I have decided to set a rule for myself... After spending an insane amount of money on items for Poser, including some things I wish I hadn't bought, I am going to stop purchasing anything over 10 bucks unless it is such exceptional quality I know I couldn't possibly ever find anything similar. I find it insane to purchase anything "virtual" that costs almost as much as the real thing! I've found that there are so many low cost and free items out there that are of equal or better quality than the high-priced stuff that buying expensive in the 3D community just isn't worth it. Would others agree?

I think people should spend money (if they have the money to spend) on what makes them reasonably happy. Poser shopping isn't the worst addiction to have. There are a lot of high quality free models, but not everything is available for free, and I like to support those providing free models by buying from them if they have a merchant's store. Having written that, I have to admit, I was just thinking that I am spending far too much money on Poser. I am to the point where I am not creating graphics...I'm just buying for the sake of buying. Some people buy shoes, some people buy electronics,I buy virtual stuff by the truckload for no good reason other than it's there and it's new, and what everyone else is doing is so cool, and I'm afraid it may be gone if I don't get now and I may need it later. But there's no proof I'll do that much with it later, so why the compulsion to wear my credit card out? Fortunately, I'm not interested in the majority of the stuff available in the land of Poser, but there's enough that I have sunk a modest fortune into models for no good reason than impulse buying. Don't get me started on how much free stuff I download and let sit. Definitely an addiction. Haven't decided if I want to do anything about it.

The merchants must experience some sort of lull in buying at the last of the month from the time that people get their credit card billing statements to the next paycheck when people feel richer.

Milla: ponder this thought for a moment.. if everyone adopted your idea for not buying anything over $10. the quality of products would take a nose dive and eventually merchants would give up, and then renderosity would cease to exist... Not just Poser products in general but overall I think that the price for most models here are fairly modest compared to other places.... anyway just food for thought.... :-)

Milla, why don't you create some items for sell then use the profit to buy other items? Learning how to create products would fill your time (instead of spending $) and help you realize why people charge more than $10 for an item. Never know unless you try. Tim

well I am in the same boat as dialyn. I am spending wayyyy to much and haven't produced one graphic lately. If it works for Milla then that's what he/she should do. With me..... well, I am now looking REAL close at what I am thinking of buying. I now ponder a while and usually don't buy it. I do have a list of merchants I usually buy everything from but I am looking real close at those too. Sheesh........... I spend more time unzipping, placing, deleting etc than I do producing. Addiction? UHHH.......... yeah, slightly.

I didn't post this to knock a merchant or complain about high prices. I feel an artist has the right to charge whatever they want for their merchandise. But, the truth of it all is that I am not made of money, so this is the plan I am going to try to follow through on. My main point was, with all the expensive stuff out there at 25 bucks and over, I've found equally good stuff for free! And as I said, if I were to find an item of such quality that I knew it was exceptional, I'd pay for it. Take Mike 3 for example, I know when he comes out it's going to total out much more than ten bucks, but I really need it, and I will buy it. I just think that maybe there's too much of the same thing out there, and some people sell it at a bargain and some don't.

I don't think it's about price or setting a limit of X bucks. You should ask yourself the following questions before buying anything. Do I need this? Is it unique? Is it worth the price? Can I find anything similar for free? If the item in question costs over $20 or $30 (like Mike 3 probably will), these questions become even more relevant. Everything you buy has a value in currency. It's up to you to get that value back out of it after you've bought it. Or not buy it at all. mac

If it looks good & I "think" I need it I'll buy it....I've attempted modelling myself & quite frankly I don't have the time or patience right now to strive on in that arena. I have my hands full with Poser....I still haven't learned Vue or MojoWorld yet :O:O...They are loaded on my puter but have not had the time...so spending cash on models to me is no biggy yet...The key word is "yet".....My husband will have to kill me or he will have to become unemployed before I stop shopping LMAO!!!!! But I do have a $$$$ limit on what I buy...mine is around 40.00 for people models & 25-30 for other stuffs. Of course like any other woman I do look for sales ;)

Poserworld subscription, Poserstyle subscription, Daz Pclub subscription, Travler Propclub subscription. I get lost of items each month for nothing or close to it. I rarely buy packs unless it's just something that is way to good to pass up. I usually buy models, not textures because freebies show up, or I can try and texture them myself. quality does not go down just cause price does. $600 basketball on turbosquid if anybody needs it haha! Oh well, my poser budget gets blown out every week by the must have model of the week and I just can't help myself. If I can ever figure out how to model with lightwave and I made soemthing I think I'd set my prices low just so that people could afford them, plus I have a full time job, it would not be my source of income. There are vendors out there that I would buy their items in a minute if they would drop their price, but they don't so I just keep dreaming about their products. there is no right or wrong, I think dialyn put it best, if it's not hurting you and it makes you happy go for it. There are a lot worse things to be doing or spending money on than sitting at home playing with poser. been there done that, much happier now.

Well....at least I'm not alone ;) My mood just gets such a boost when I find an item that 'speaks' to me and then buy it. Thinking back to my pre-Poser era (when I can remember that far back ;) the $$ used to get spent on plants for my garden and books and beads. I still spend on all those things, but I've cut way back on them so that I have more Poser Bucks to spend. Sometimes I look at the dozens and dozens of CDs full of STUFF that surround my work area and feel a qualm or two, but most of the time I just love having high-quality textures and models to play with...many times, the model will actually spark an idea for an image. OTOH, I work so slowly that I sometimes wonder if I'll live long enough to use all the cool stuff I've bought and collected!

I have mixed feelings, too. Yes, I'm addicted. Yes, I spend money on stuff that sits. (what dialyn said). But, without trying to ruffle any feathers, there are two sides to the coin (ugh! a cliche'): I don't know how long it takes to make items. Then texture them. And I don't know how much time goes into testing before release. Finally, how much time is taken up by supporting the item for people with questions. Also, how many sales are lost due to warez. I DO know that prices haven't done anything but come down since I was hooked. The competiton is fierce now and times are tough for people who either make a living doing this sort of thing or supplement their living doing this sort of thing. So, I'm not going to complain about prices. Some things I pass up, some things I don't. Vendors don't set prices to make sure that everyone can buy their products. They use other calculations. On the other side of that coin, I'm not here to keep vendors in business. They know that, too. And price according to what the market will bear. So, I couldn't, in clear conscience, post a message that sounds like some sort of ultimatum for pricing even though it might be a buyer's market at the time. I certainly wouldn't like it if all the vendors got together and decided to all raise their prices together. So, to finish on a "dialyn" note, it's your money. Spend it how you want to. But, I don't think you'll be making many friends complaining about prices when they're as low as I've ever seen them.

'If I can ever figure out how to model with lightwave and I made soemthing I think I'd set my prices low just so that people could afford them' It's a nice thought, MC, and I think you'll find that most merchants try to do just that. But it isn't just a question of saying 'Oh, I can sell this for $5. It cost me nothing' What most people don't seem to realise is that the modelling part of a project is usually the easiest. I spent a month designing my current project and another month modelling it. The 3 months since then have been spent uv mapping, making templates, making morphs for dozens of body parts, doing the textures, making MAT files (ever tried making nice MAT thumbnails with text for 180+ MATs? LOL), camera views, light sets and writing the Help File. Not to mention testing, testing and re-testing. I'm not saying 'poor me' or anything. Mine happens to be a pretty big and complex project. All I'm saying is that modelling is probably the easiest part of any project. It's the rest of the stuff you have to do that drives you nuts. (Argh! I still have to do the promo pics!) But I'll still sell it at the lowest possible price, bearing in mind that I pay 50% in royalties, and that it will be on sale at 30% discount for about 6 months out of 12. (Poor me! LOL.) Not that buyers need to give a hoot about what it took to make an item. Does it work good or doesn't it, and what does it cost? That's the bottom line. I still think my comments above (post #8) sum up what buyers should ask themselves. mac

I, too, am a Poser addict - the Renderosity and DAZ people have seen more of my money buying virtual clothing than actual, real-world clothing stores have seen buying the real thing! The worst part is, I just collect and collect - roaming all the sites for the newest freebies, occasionally buying something that catches my eye, loading it into my gigantic Runtime - and not doing a darned thing with it! Someday I suppose I'll render some great renders - but I'm just collecting the stuff now. Kinda like plastic models - I've purchased a bunch to do "someday", but seldom actually DO one!

Do I need this?
Is it unique?
Is it worth the price?
Can I find anything similar for free?

Those questions are too logical for the poser users. ;-)

First off, I don't NEED anything. LOL

Unique? I'm usually a sucker for yet another set of faery wings.

Worth the price? depends on what I'm planning for supper. Seriously.

Free items often don't let you use them commercially.

My main criteria:

Does it talk to me?
Has my hubby gotten over his last fit yet?
Is it a texture or addon for something I actually have?

Almost Freestuff

I hear you. You may find something on my site that falls well within your budget.

ROTF@spit.

'Those questions are too logical for the poser users'

I think you mean female poser users. Ha-ha! Seriously though, I think you might be closer to the mark than me.

mac

I think you mean female poser users. Was that crack really necessary? The fact is that no one needs Poser unless they are using it to make a living. For the rest of us, MEN AND WOMEN, it is a "want." There's nothing wrong with that as long as you're not taking away from the things you need in order to support what you want. I'll give up Poser and all the neat stuff as soon as it stops being fun or interesting to me. I have to admit, I may be nearly there since I haven't done a graphic in a month. But that's a me thing, not a female thing.

Attached Link: Sixus1.com

Nah dialyn, I was only joking. Since spit is female and gave those criteria, I had to tease. Just ignore my infantile sense of humor. Funnily enough, I was thinking the other day that poser users must be the most democratic bunch on the net, since it's split pretty evenly between male/female users. I find that a healthy sign. mac

I don't agree I don't have that much to spend but I rather buy one thing that's $20,00 and a quality item then 2 things from $10,00 with less quality. I do that with everything I buy I want quality products and want to pay for it. I don't have much poser stuff for $5.00 or less just some things. Angel

What I find fascinating is that the demographics of Poser must be spread quite wide over age groups too. I love the international feel as well. It makes it more interesting. But it doesn't help my credit card. ;)

Like everybody else seems to find, I'm finding I'm doing more collecting than creating and spending too much to have it sit on a disk, not to mention the time! I try to limit my purchases to classic, timeless and realistic clothing that will continue to remain useable. I tend to think long and hard on any of the more expensive items even though the work may warrant it. Is it a one time thing? Is it something that can be used over and over again? I leave the sci-fi and cutesy characters to others. There are a few vendors that catch my eye without fail and I'm hard pressed not to purchase their products.

For me the more I can aquire the more something will speak to me. Also, ya never know when you'll need it. I've had things for more then a year before the spirit moved me to use it, or gotten one thing then need the other. What we're doing is aquiring the real world in 3D.

Does anyone find themselves in a collecting mode? Sometimes I find myself buying buildings, other times I'll go on a streak of buying furniture, then I want clothes, recently I went into a hair frenzy, and now I'm getting landscapes like mad. It's as if, when I buy one of something, then I want the whole collection of whatever it is. I am not this way with anything else. I don't know why I do this with Poser stuff.

Could they be using subliminal advertising on us? Maybe we should take a good look under a magnifying glass on the textures. Just kidding! (kind of)

Hmmm.... another thing that's fascinating is how we all love to talk about our 'habit'. LOL. Every time one of these threads comes up, it's a mile long. We must be a sick bunch of poser-holics. Ah well.... at least we're not hanging on street corners.... mac

Isn't this a virtual street corner???

"Does anyone find themselves in a collecting mode?" [raises hand waving frenetically] That's me, that's me! I went through a backgrouond phase-- then a backgrounds I can fiddle with in photoshopphase. Then, heaven help me after a year of resisting, a gonzo fairy phase! How many fairy renders have I done? 2! They were some of my best but still! My last Poser render in my gallery here is in June?? I did some later ones at Rdna. But nothing like even one a week. I have almost everything I can find on V3M and I've done, again, 2 renders without the morph pak. There are a few excuses, it's way too hot here to compute safely in Poser. My fracta programs are much more forgiving. And I'm losing the use of my right hand. But I'm typing with it now. I've been trying to make a rule of don't buy anything more till you render at least a vacuous Vicki in new outfit, sheesh! That worked for one week. Part of me is scared that I'm losing the will for Poser. It is a struggle-- I work out of 5. Every crash or setback and I want to quit completely. Yeah, overall stress is probably doing this-- my health is not good in the Summer. Still. Emily

bookmark

From a merchant standpoint, $10 or less is not always feasable..... For instance, I work on a peice for a week, sometimes 2..sometimes a lot longer....Virtual items require the same kinds of steps in creation as real world items.. Design, modeling (hardest part), texturing (a pain as well) and for some things we have to get it to bend and move along with a character, which can sometimes be a pain.. Once we've done that and are figuring our price, we also have to keep in mind the brokering fees for having our stuff available here... So I think that most of the pricing in mp seems reasonable...but if ya can't afford it, do what I do and save up for something :)

Has anyone else hit DAZ 20 times today (no exaggeration) just to see if there's anything new?..EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T BUY ANYTHING MORE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. LOLOL

Oh wow...make that 21 times! Awful Soul has something at DAZ!

I'm always in collecting mode...right now, I'm in skies, backgrounds/plants/trees...You could look in any major sites I shop at & see...I started out with the characters, then textures, then fairies, then props...I'm winding down on "outside" stuff & getting ready to move into animal mode. You now if you think about, one never has enough stuff. You start to think of a scene, then damn I need this or that...with me if I don't have an item I just stop, rather than using what I have & trying to think of new scene....That's ridiculous, I know...but I shop that way in real life. If I see a shirt a like I buy in all colors. I guess, like one person above stated I'm just afraid the item will go away/web site shut down then I'm screwed down the road. Debby

Rule #1 about purchasing Poser items: NEVER buy them right away unless you have no other choice. Put them into your wishlist & look at each item on your list every few days for a month. By the end of the month you're going to find yourself wondering why you put some of the items on the list in the first place. Avoid the impulse buy or kiss your credit card goodbye. :)

I look at Daz daily.....make that about 4 or 5 times LMAO

Hi, my name is Compiler and I am a Poser addict. When I was a boy I used to collect plastic soldiers. I had quite a lot, but I always needed others. As a teenager I bought many model kits and filled my room with planes hung on strings or dioramas on the shelves. Then I went on collecting role-playing games, many more than I ever will play with in my whole life. And there were the mini figures, tin and lead representations of heroes, monsters and armies, that I won't ever have time to paint even if I should start right now as a full time occupation. After that, I started collecting girlfriends, and this was the most expensive hobby I ever had, but it prevented me from falling into the "Magic" madness. Today I have a respectable day job and a family that I love. At night I often feel the urge to buy things that don't even exist, virtual representations of latex lingerie, medieval stone building or futuristic robots and aliens. I sometimes produce a picture that can pass for vaguely artistic, but the modest quality of it is no justification for the sheer amount of money I invested. It can barely pass as an excuse. It would take me half an eternity to make an image with each and every item that resides on my computer, provided that I don't lose them all in a hard drive crash. And you know what ? I'm happy.

Oops...let's not forget Holiday mode...already stocked up for Halloween...waiting on Thanksgiving & Christmas items to come out :O

$10 or less with the intent on making enough money to show a profit isn't really too possible. Sometimes hundreds of houes goes into a single project. Often, you rework something a dozen times just to get it right. That said, most of the merchants aren't here to make a lot of money. They're here to make enough so they can buy what others make. Or for the strokes it gives you seeing something you made being used in the galleries. Or sometimes just to avoid server costs for freestuff. They don't make the money on their time is they were charging their going rate. $10 or less is just not realistic. That said, I'm uploading an Ichiro pack to the MP here this weekend. If it gets approved, it'll be $5 for 15 clothing items, 6 props, at least a dozen textures with mat files, visibility poses... and a partridge in a pear tree...... Just kidding about the bird and tree. I just hope sometone buys it.

oh gewd! you mean I have to do another 12 steps?! (runs off to Daz to hit refresh 12 times)

there are three modes to the Poser-holic
one
you create art
two
you hoard and try to obtain every free item on the NET
which means you spend hours searching the various sites
(my bookmark is three pages long and it include two sites with two pages of bookmarks)
three
you but everything NEW so that you can stay ahead of the "JONES"
Me I overdue two
try to control myself on three
only if i am going to use the item within 30 days
or it is a great sale like the Megellan from IW43D
could'nt pass that up
even though I have plenty of ship parts to create an Armada
of space crafts
But
I am Stallion and I am a Poser-holic
I produce little art
but I have almost everything on the NET ;-)

What compiler said.

Just to repeat what Spit said, some (actually quite a lot) of the free stuff doesn't allow commercial use. I don't download anything that can't be used for either commerical or noncommercial use. If I pay for it, I know I've bought the license to use it in commercial renders. Sometimes I pay more than I should for a single item. I think some of the artists overcharge for some of their stuff, but if I want it badly enough, I'll spring for it. Melanie

Attached Link: http://www.twentyfirstcenturysoftware.com

ONE WORD: WISHLIST Now a bunch o' words: I feel the same way, I find myself buying a bunch of stuff that deep down I know I'll probably never use. "But it's such cool EYE CANDY," and of course the good ol' "But what if ..." I keep giving my parents back-up CD's (in case my house burns down or something else dreadful) that say "Poser Stuff, Vol. XX" every few weeks, and I'm sure they wonder what in the hell it is I'm collecting so much of ... LOL! ANYWAY, I have found that merely adding it to my wishlist (either here or DAZ) works WONDERS. I believe it somewhat fools my mind in to believing I have gotten it. Or that at any time I can get at a moments notice. The nice thing about R'Osity's wish list is, it even saves products which have been removed. You can still usually contact the original artist if you really want it. -Tim

Although I purchase some items just because they are sooo alluring, well done, or unique, my secret to not overspending on Poser (or other) models is only purchasing what is needed for my current project. Right now I'm working on a "samurai" character and that means that items of interest to me are only Japanese, old Japanese. With this limitation, the spurious choices and array of V3 clothing or characters, for instance, becomes more tenable: does it have any relation to my current project? If not, and it is not one of those items first mentioned, I safely (and quickly) pass it by. Personally, I can't rationalize spending gobs of cash on dozens of items just because they're new or trendy. If V3 wants a new wardrobe, she's gonna have to work for it! ;) Kuroyume

I've been spending a LOT less on Poser stuff since I started modelling stuff myself- but not because I'm now making stuff I used to buy. It's because I'm now not finding time to do anything much with Poser other than the modelling! It's funny how I seldom get the impulse to buy something when I haven't got the time to look at what's available grin. While I'm here, can I sympathise/empathise with maclean about the fact that the actual modelling is only a fraction of the creation time. Packaging the product up, with nice thumbnails, MAT poses and the like, is a surprisingly large part of the process. Even Readme files don't write themselves. My customer support worload is minimal to non-existant as well- perhaps because I've only brought out freebie stuff so far (which CAN be used commercially! :^) ), so to those merchants who then manage to add that to their already considerable workload: Thank you and well done.

^ | | | And, of course, thank you and well done to other freestuff providers.

Although, a lot of it is the "evil" tactic DAZ has of releasing stuff at a greatly reduced price. I feel like: If I don't buy it now, I'm going to need it later and have to pay full price. But the reality USUALLY is that I buy stuff, never use, then see it in the "bargain bin" for 1/10th the original price, and then repeatedly kick myself in the head. :) -Tim

Well, I saved some money by not buying the V3 male morphs and V3 catsuit. That saved me from getting a lot of products I couldn't use.

Unfortunately they're both on sale now.

Fortunately the only way I could buy them is if I beg for some cash. But the fact that I went through the food money for May by the middle of that month, not enough time has safely passed for me to pull a trick like that again.

"Oh dear, honey, I seem to have made a mistake in my addition." LOL I love being blond.

Spit reminds me that I just began to try and get out of this addiction : I did not buy V3, not anything elese related to her, and won't buy Mike 3 probably. So that's a hell lot of products I don't even have to look at (unless Daz finally releases the V3 to V2 clothes convertor of Lord Nakagawa...). Anyway, I'm not good enough an artist to make a good use of V3. V2 is good enough for me...