Why are Custom Commissioned Props so Expensive? The Answer is Below....

DtailedREPLICAS

DtailedREPLICAS

Active Member
Hi RPF,

Not sure if this has already been linked to but I thought Id share it. Not sure about the rules with posting links, but I'll try anyway....

Why Are Custom Commissioned Props So Expensive?! - YouTube

Follow this link to see Bill Doran, the guy behind Punished Props, explain why custom commissions are so expensive. Theres some valuable lessons in the video.

I dont know Bill, but Im sure that as a Prop Replica Site, this information is valid.

Thanks Guys and Girls.

Sean
Dtailed REPLCIAS
 
Well, that's all fine and good, but everyone forgets one key aspect of small business: Until your business is established, your time has no value. None. Zero. Your product should be priced based on fair market value, and not some deluded sense of self worth or desire to be paid for time invested. Otherwise, you're not likely to make a living at it, at least not for very long.
 
Tan Djarka said:
Well, that's all fine and good, but everyone forgets one key aspect of small business: Until your business is established, your time has no value. None. Zero. Your product should be priced based on fair market value, and not some deluded sense of self worth or desire to be paid for time invested. Otherwise, you're not likely to make a living at it, at least not for very long.
Click to expand...

Time invested should always be factored in. Do you work for free?
 
Tan Djarka said:
Well, that's all fine and good, but everyone forgets one key aspect of small business: Until your business is established, your time has no value. None. Zero. Your product should be priced based on fair market value, and not some deluded sense of self worth or desire to be paid for time invested. Otherwise, you're not likely to make a living at it, at least not for very long.
Click to expand...

im confused how would you price a unique movie/game replica by fair market value... being that commissions tend to be unique items of which there are no others for sale anywhere
 
Kevin Gossett said:
Time invested should always be factored in. Do you work for free?
Click to expand...

I recently sold a completely handcrafted Obi ANH saber. It was a piece several years in the making, during which I refined, revised, and rebuilt it until I was finally happy with it. A co-worker learned I make sabers (as a hobby) and wanted one for his son. Since time was short, and I didn't have time to build another piece that was fairly representative of my work, I bit the bullet and sold him what was "ready to go". Should I have charged him for years of research, development, and labor for what was effectively a one of a kind, never to be repeated, "prototype", or charge him for materials and the labor of a one time build?
 
Tan Djarka said:
Well, that's all fine and good, but everyone forgets one key aspect of small business: Until your business is established, your time has no value. None. Zero. Your product should be priced based on fair market value, and not some deluded sense of self worth or desire to be paid for time invested. Otherwise, you're not likely to make a living at it, at least not for very long.
Click to expand...

What is established? One sale on eBay? A thousand filed orders? A million Facebook likes? A tax filling?

My time had value before I made costume stuff.

A high school kid with a free summer may make a prop for very little money because he has the time. A professional with a day job and a family may have a point where he says well its worth 100 bucks in my pocket but for 50, I'll watch the game instead.

We do this with eBay. We will take best offers. If my day job is down for a couple weeks, I ll accept a low offer because I am just around the house anyway. If I am at capacity or staying extra at the day job I won't take the offer. If we get really busy, I'll stop making somethings entirely.

At the end of the day, you are doing to die someday. We all are. How much cash do you want to trade your life away? That answer is different for different people and they prices their wares accordingly.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
 
i plan to offer my TOS AGONIZERS , but they will not be cheap, due to the time , aggrivation and expense it too make them .... i understand custom stuff is expensive and agree with the video
 
Tan Djarka said:
Should I have charged him for years of research, development, and labor for what was effectively a one of a kind, never to be repeated, "prototype", or charge him for materials and the labor of a one time build?
Click to expand...

Depends on whether you wanted to sell it or not. I don't think that is the point he's trying to make though.

If you've spent years learning how to do something, why should you not be paid appropriately for your skills and expertise? Your time is worth inherently more (in terms of fulfilling the commission) than someone who has no experience, whether your business is established or not. That is why most people will start as hobbyists and do commissions on the side, rather than jump right into trying to do it full time.
 
In the end, none of that really matters. You can believe what you want, but an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it (or what the insurance company appraises it at).
 
Thus the phrase "starving artist".

There is always going to be disagreement between what *you* think your time is worth and what others think it is worth, until you have a portfolio of work and a long backlog of satisfied customers.
 
Tan Djarka said:
In the end, none of that really matters. You can believe what you want, but an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it (or what the insurance company appraises it at).
Click to expand...

True, but that wasn't exactly your original argument. If you start out in business, whether small or large without having a very clear idea of how you are going to price things, what you will charge for your time, why you will charge that much and what the market is usually prepared to pay for such things, then you are likely to have a very hard time of it. Underpricing or overpricing your stuff amounts to the same thing. You will go out of business.
 
You should never sell your prototype! Number one mistake for anyone who hand builds a prop!!!
Now all you are left with is your memory of what the piece looked like as far as all the small details.
Your left with a memory and what I hope is some HD photos.
When someone commissions a piece they must understand immediately, that it will take time to build, if they don't have the patience to wait for it to be built they should head off and find something at a toy store or online. The word commission alone conveys the point that there is a build time estimated. (3-6 months)
You can not charge him for your years of time spent nit picking at the piece to make it perfect, tho with the prototype you could have simply had molds made.
Learn from your mistakes and give your buyer all the info he needs to understand why there is a wait on build time.
Like any job keep tabs of the hours you spend working on the piece. Understanding your time is key to being a seller of anything hand made.
Make your friend an offer. Buy your prototype back if possible and build him another one.
Your prototype is special. It contains so much information for you as the builder, that what you have lost will bite you in the ass years later!
I should know! I made that mistake years ago and lost about $1200.00 because of that mistake.
PS. If you make renderings or blueprints or molds. NEVER SHARE THEM!
 
selling a prototype is not good , id contact your friend and see if u can barter it back somehow - but how can one stop someone from simply recasting your work once you part with a resin copy ? im in that boat now , i want to sell a few agonizers to recover my mold cost , but afraid it will be recast and end up being whored out and poorly produced on ebay ...making profit for some pirate , off my work ....i never understood that in the past , but now that i am making a step into the world of producing my own versions of prop items , it makes me shy to sell any ...sad really..

after seeing some of the junk ive bought on ebay thru the years , i want to provide a better product
 
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I think if its a single piece charge whatever the hell you want.

if you're going to cast it and sell two or tens or hundreds or thousands, price them reasonably, you spent ages making it but if you have the capcity to sell more than that single item sell them at a reasonable price.
 
It is indeed, an interesting conundrum. I think the video hits the proverbial nail on the head. When you approach someone to commission a piece, you have already decided that their work has value. You can reasonably do due diligence with respect to the artisans work, the skills they have and quality of the product. You can then decide whether the value you place upon their work matches their assessment.

I have toyed with the idea of producing custom props, and have even been approached a few of times, with respect to making another sonic like this.

IMG_3399.JPG

It has also been suggested that I start to do this for a living. But how do you place a value upon the sonic screwdriver above, or the next one. It is a purely custom item, no canon or provenance only literally hundreds of hours of work. One is unique, is the third, fourth or fifth of less value, even though the same amount of time, care and effort went into its production. It is not just the materials, perhaps $80.00 altogether, nor just the time. There is also the 15-20 years, or many more in my case :darnkids, spent developing the skills needed.
 
but how does one set a " reasonable price " ?? - i cant make these in large numbers , not set up for that , and i perfer to offer only finished copies with display case and numbered signed plaque, ect ... a nice collectible , not a cheap hunk of unfinished resin tossed an an envelope
 
ranallace said:
but how does one set a " reasonable price " ?? - i cant make these in large numbers , not set up for that , and i perfer to offer only finished copies with display case and numbered signed plaque, ect ... a nice collectible , not a cheap hunk of unfinished resin tossed an an envelope
Click to expand...

Using logic and common sense. I do a lot of commission work painting/assembling kits. Yea, at first, you can only guestimate what a new build would cost you, in time and money, but I've found that not even the best laid plans go accordingly.

Sometimes it goes smoothly, other times, you hit a "bump on the road." I always factor in time and materials. The more clean up, the higher it's going to cost and vice versa.

Aside from the amount of basic labor, you have to factor in the complexity. Blasters for me are quick and simple, so I don't charge very much. Helmets or other detailed props, the more complex the detailing is, I charge much more for. There is no "wrong" price but a price that gives you a decent profit margin while being able to retain a client, cause if you're too high unjustifiably, you're going to lose jobs.
 
At what point does a commission command a high dollar price tag, and how popular does one have to be to assume they can charge that much?

I fully respect guys like Harrison and Bill who can turn their hobby into a sustainable business. Those guys have spent thousands upon thousands of hours of handshaking and networking to make their business what it is today, and their portfolio and ethics show a true dedication to their craft. I can see how asking either of them to create a one-off item specifically for you should be worth whatever they decide its worth...

With that said...There are a lot of hobbyists out there, with 9-5 jobs they love, that just really enjoy making stuff in their downtime. People with similar portfolios of things they've made that don't rely on commissions, word of mouth, or casting sales to keep the lights on at home. If they can afford to sell for dimes on the dollar of the career commission based builders, does that mean their work has less worth or it's immediately considered to be of lesser quality even if it's built to the same or better specifications? Should the home hobbyist charge a premium price tag just on principle?



In regards to the video, I personally don't like the idea that an estimate can fluctuate after a 50% down deposit has been placed.
Bill, on the other hand, does incredible work and he's one of the most stand-up people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm sure if he adjusts his final pricing you can rest assured that it's on the up and up. It's his body of work, and he's got to protect his interests. I can respect that even if I don't agree with it.
 
- - - Updated - - -

"You should never sell your prototype! Number one mistake for anyone who hand builds a prop!!!"
"If you make renderings or blueprints or molds. NEVER SHARE THEM!"

But what about one-offs? Not everything is easily mold-able. Or perhaps it's a obscure object that one person is willing to pay a premium for, but you don't believe there is enough demand to make more than one. And while I respect your right to keep your work (blueprints) to yourself, sharing (or selling) them helps foster our hobby and gives people will smaller skill sets a place to start.
 
Bayouwolf said:
At what point does a commission command a high dollar price tag, and how popular does one have to be to assume they can charge that much?

I fully respect guys like Harrison and Bill who can turn their hobby into a sustainable business. Those guys have spent thousands upon thousands of hours of handshaking and networking to make their business what it is today, and their portfolio and ethics show a true dedication to their craft. I can see how asking either of them to create a one-off item specifically for you should be worth whatever they decide its worth...

With that said...There are a lot of hobbyists out there, with 9-5 jobs they love, that just really enjoy making stuff in their downtime. People with similar portfolios of things they've made that don't rely on commissions, word of mouth, or casting sales to keep the lights on at home. If they can afford to sell for dimes on the dollar of the career commission based builders, does that mean their work has less worth or it's immediately considered to be of lesser quality even if it's built to the same or better specifications? Should the home hobbyist charge a premium price tag just on principle?



In regards to the video, I personally don't like the idea that an estimate can fluctuate after a 50% down deposit has been placed.
Bill, on the other hand, does incredible work and he's one of the most stand-up people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm sure if he adjusts his final pricing you can rest assured that it's on the up and up. It's his body of work, and he's got to protect his interests. I can respect that even if I don't agree with it.
Click to expand...


This. If someone here can show their work, prove that it's theirs, those who wish to hire them for a job should not be able to devalue that person's work merely because they're not a "big name" or working as a professional. There is an astounding level of talent on these boards. I'd venture to say that 95% of that talent is all fan based, and these people who can produce the same quality of craftsmanship that is seen by professionals probably will never step into the professional world or even pursue it. So to say someone's value of work is less because of this is really disrespectful IMO unless the guy is known for substandard quality, not necessarily because of a lack of skill, but a lack of effort or care.
 
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