Well I've supported Stardock up to this day for YEARS. So looking at skins.. WOW.. almost every page has 4+ selling. Now go back just 100 pages.. you might see ONE selling. And then most of those were AWESOME skins.. now its just .. not ART just greed. Well windowblinds is NOT what it use to be and seeing skins go for $5 (reg) up to $7+.. its a joke almost a insult. People can sell what ever they want.
Its like people trying to get the last drop of water out of the tap..in the end you just hurt this more then help.
I respect your right to value your work as you see fit. Given the amount of time it takes to create a WB skin the only way to make a decent return is to sell it to enough people. You know the market and have a sense of how many sales you're likely to make. Whether or not you would make significantly more sales by reducing the price and actually come out ahead is something only you can know. You may have already assessed this. All that said if the cost is more than some people want to pay, well, that's part of the equation.
Price should not mater if everything is under $10, and Stardock has a set minimum that a skin can be sold at also. I sell no more skins at $3.95 than I do at higher prices, so price doesn't matter if people just don't want to spend money. Lower prices make no difference at all.
Did not realize that Stardock gets a cut out of this. Very interesting. It all makes more sense now.
Thanks for the additional info; Re lower prices not making a difference I wondered if that might be the case.
Anyway, thank you for the quality skins and for gifting the community occasionally as well (Reddish is really good!)
Lightstar said it all.
-If you have any issues with pricing R E A D what he said (All of it !)
Thanx Tom !
I can see buying a few at $3.95 but to be honest I feel that anything over 3 is to much. I would have bought many had they been 3 and under but the fact that most are 5 and above have kept me to pretty much just the free ones.
I paid 10 for WB8 and 5 to upgrade it to WB10. It seems excessive for the skins to be priced so high and I feel that if the prices were lower that the Skinners would in fact make more money due to many more sales.. I would have bought ten times the amount that I have at this point. It's a value thing for me..
I can see buying a few at $3.95 but to be honest I feel that anything over 3 is to much. I would have bought many had they been 3 and under but the fact that most are 5 and above have kept me to pretty much just the free ones.I paid 10 for WB8 and 5 to upgrade it to WB10. It seems excessive for the skins to be priced so high and I feel that if the prices were lower that the Skinners would in fact make more money due to many more sales.. I would have bought ten times the amount that I have at this point. It's a value thing for me..
Can't be $3 or below, sorry. Stardock's minimum selling amount is just under $4.
Does anyone find it strange that the people who originally post these type threads about Master Skins/Prices, etc. never comment again in the thread? Guess they were just trying to cause a disturbance.
I don't get the 4 dollar selling price bit. Does Stardock taking that much of a cut the reason the price has to be so high? It makes no sense to me..
Ah....the Economics of Commerce.
There is a pricepoint where the mechanics of transaction are actually not covered by a sale - to the point where a sale becomes an actual loss.
Simplistic example....you sell a 'thing' for one cent ....and then 'freely' package it in a brown paper bag that cost you 2 cents.....
You act as if there is overhead involved in creating these styles. Time is the the only investment when creating these so there really is no out of pocket for the most part.. You act as if a product is being physically manufactured. I would get into the economics of sales but I fear that it will mean nothing here..
I create apps and using them as an example, the dollar ones make ten times what those priced at 5 dollars make.. 100 sales at a buck each beats 10 sales at 5 dollars by a long shot.. If you price one at 6 and I won't buy it but will buy 2 at 3, which is better in the long run?
then, if that is your budget restraint....you should not buy them... you should also spell 'to' much...as 'too' much...
well... instead of considering buying 2 or 3 blinds...you should consider which one you want the most and will get the most use out of and tire of the least....and just splash out on....one...
you can talk 'til you're blue in the face... or type until your fingertips are blue...whatever...but you won't change the pricing of the Masterskins as it's up to the Masters and they have been fine tuning their pricing over many years to be able to make it half way feasible to spend the time doing them at all.....and they have been through many, many of these threads over many years... so.. save your breath/fingertips...and go have a coffee... or put aside that money from a cup of coffee to go buy a blind...
I don't get all the 'hype' about prices for WindowBlind skins. Take for example a price of 7.95 US for a skin created by Neone6 or Kitty. It isn't just the skin but a suite that includes an icon pack, a cursor and a wallpaper a steal IMO. Other skins at 3.95 US or 4.95 US or 5.95 US......these are 'high' prices? Give me a break. I exist on a fixed income that doesn't allow for many extras. At the end of the month I have enough left over to purchase several skins. I haven't yet due to certain obligations. Soon though I'll be in a better position to do what I like. So think about it. At 500.00 US from social security every month, which isn't very much, if I can do it and not even feel the pinch then I'm very sure others can also. I'm also very sure that even buying one skin a month isn't going to break the bank. Every meal you eat every day, three times for most people, cost more than that. So please...stop all the nonsense about prices being 'too high'. If you believe they're too expensive don't buy them! Simple. Complaining about them is just another exercise in futility. My two cents.
Your ignorance is showing...
Someone hosts the skins.
Someone manages payments.
Someone reimburses the vendor.
Need I go on?
If we get pedantic then the skinner has his/her own 'overheads', and it is not "only time".
What exactly is the fee charged these days for a copy of Photoshop?
Or should it now be an annual subscription fee....
I guess my example was too simplistic for some to comprehend.
Oh...skinners DO 'physically create a product'....just as Authors physically write a book....
I am now anxiously waiting for..."ripping isn't theft...because nothing is taken"
Come on....let's get original here.....
Hint...I've heard the exact same arguments for 20 years.
Master Skin prices skyrocket!:https://forums.wincustomize.com/460532/
Well, it's nice to know that what was once a hobby, and something enthusiasts were into, has turned into full blown job for some. Nice.. I guess I will just just have to start creating my own stuff for Windowblinds, problem solved..
A nice grown up debate on it would have been nice though. The point I was trying to get across is that there is a fine line with pricing and that keeping things withing a certain price range will generate much more sales than if you go above that range. There are all sorts of papers written on it that cover the best price range for a multitude of products and service types. I want the creators to maximize their profits and to do as well as they can for all the effort the put into these. My point being that if you get the pricing correct, and the product is seen as a value buy, you tend to generate sales 10 fold over a price deemed to high.
Yes, the profit margin is lower but the increase in sales far outweigh the reduction in price. There is a fine line between giving something away and on the other hand it being priced so high it generates very little sales. A balance must be found and there is a lot of info out there today to help a dev find the sweet spot.
Solely on Windowblinds part,the market is small therefore slowing the prices does not guarantee sale boost,so to speak.
What I can't understand. If the people that think Master skin prices are to high just don't buy them. Anyone here for a while should know they aren't going to go for a dollar. So just let it go, it's that simple. Why people worry and bitch about things they have no control or can't change is beyond me.
Here is an approx price example for selling a Windowblind for $1.00. At the one dollar price a person selling their skins would have to sell 223 Windowblinds to make the same as they would make selling them at $4.95 and having 42 people purchase them. There aren't 223 people here that would buy them at any price. Now take into account this is based on the actual return for the skin maker.
There are so many important things in life to think and worry about. The price of a Master should not be on that list.
There is always an assumption that if a person thinks a price is too high [for them] then it MUST be wrong.
If you don't like the price, or don't want to pay whatever it is, that does not actually mean the price point is wrong. It simply means you either are ignorant of the costs involved or simply do not value/appreciate the product's worth.
Back to my simple analogy. How pray tell is anything commercially viable when the price is 1 cent but the product's packaging costs 2 cents alone? 3 cents means there is still no 'margin'....so you price it at 4. Along comes someone who claims...but it's only 'worth' one cent....why is it 4?
Answer...
You simply do not see its value...so don't buy it.
....and it is not a commodity...an essential like bread or milk. it's an art form, and anyone who has made a skin will tell you the work involved is worth a damn sight more than the pricing asked.
When I first started skinning my internet access cost me $2 per hour....every hour....at dial-up speed [33.6]. No-one paid me my overheads for publicly making my skins accessible online. My most recent 'skin' is a paint kit for an aircraft in FSX. It has taken several hours per day every day since 15th of Feb, 2016.
The image is per-pixel high resolution....92 layers and PSP6 sees it at 2966 meg. I'd value its 'cost' at around $20,000. I won't be releasing the full version at all, only a 'simplified' version that's a 65 meg file with about 10 layers....so others can skin the aircraft using it. I'd imagine the world-wide market for the full kit would probably be countable on the fingers of one hand, no matter how much was charged for it...so there is no point doing so. Instead, I take requests for skins.
But that's my choice, not dictated to me by people who don't appreciate/value the effort involved....
One of the paints created with my paint kit.
One cool snake. I meant plane. I mean both.
..just thought i would mention here how grateful i am.. Thank YOU to tha artists!! I love windowblinds!
Speaking for myself and I'm sure the others would agree. Thank you.
I enjoyed the early days when there were many more "enthusiast" skinners who offered their skins for free, but it's worth noting that many of those early skins had flaws and I stopped using them fairly quickly. "The devil is in the details" and what distinguishes the best skins (and makes them worth buying) is every aspect works properly; that makes them usable long term instead of just curiosities.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
