[Dark Kanine]

This may be just me but I found a few items a bit over-priced. For example, the My little pony plushies were being sold $100 each, which seemed WAY over-priced to me. There were items decently priced but seeing that there are a lot of teens out there or just people who want to buy something and not have enough money, like I was only left with $30 spent half of it on lunch of all things, then I was lucky enough to get a Death Note with 2 quills and a soundtrack to go with it for $15. It seems that some items are better than others even if they are simple items, like the skylanders were 3 times retail price.

[Washu Takahashi]

I got a bunch of manga for 3 bucks a pop. 30 manga for 90 bucks? That's a steal in my book xD

And I did notice some overpriced items, but for the most part things seemed pretty fair. I was hoping to buy the Fairy Tail blu ray for cheaper than I've seen it online, but all the ones I saw were almost double the price And there was one seller in AA whose art was gorgeous, but not so much moreso than any of the other great artists there, who sold his stuff for like twice as much. He had an Ariel poster I want soooo bad, but I wasn't willing to spend that much on it.

[Kyofishie]

MLP plushies like that can go on ebay for over 200$ when bidding wars begin. So I didn't really see it to be that over priced.

[Ekqo]

Were they handmade plushies or official ones? I know handmade goods are expensive because they're seriously worth that much.

I thought some things were over-priced, but most weren't. I've been wanting a Wild Tiger figure from Tiger & Bunny for a while, and while I didn't have the cash, I did see him there, and $20 cheaper than the listing on Amazon. The Bandai booth also marked down another character $10 less on another day. Their little boxes seemed good to me too; I saw them being sold at other tables for a few dollars more, so at least there was some competition and I didn't feel like I had to buy from one particular vendor. I was a little disappointed in the Kpop vendor; they didn't have much variety, mostly buttons and keychains, and what they did have was pretty pricey, but I guess that's all you can expect from a Korean music vendor in a mostly Japanese anime/manga convention, so I suppose I can understand.

[sweetbeanpaste]

The MLP dealers were making serious bank

[sockie]

Most of the MLP plushies--especially the ones I remember seeing listed for bout $90 were really well made. It sounds expensive, but you need to realize the time and money that goes into hand-making such things. That price is very fair considering how many hours it probably took to make each one. More people need to understand and appreciate the craftsmanship of the items in AA and feel good supporting the talented artists who actually charge fair prices. I know it sucks for a poor student--I struggle with that, too--but you shouldn't feel entitled to your specific budget to be catered to.

I was actually shocked at how many were undercharging! A friend of mine was going around pricing commission sketches and one very talented artist only wanted $5 for a sketch of 3 characters!! We were like "Girl, no. I'm giving you $20, at least."

I was really happy with the variety of price points I saw, to be honest.

[Ekqo]

sockie, on 30 April 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Most of the MLP plushies--especially the ones I remember seeing listed for bout $90 were really well made. It sounds expensive, but you need to realize the time and money that goes into hand-making such things. That price is very fair considering how many hours it probably took to make each one. More people need to understand and appreciate the craftsmanship of the items in AA and feel good supporting the talented artists who actually charge fair prices. I know it sucks for a poor student--I struggle with that, too--but you shouldn't feel entitled to your specific budget to be catered to.

I was actually shocked at how many were undercharging! A friend of mine was going around pricing commission sketches and one very talented artist only wanted $5 for a sketch of 3 characters!! We were like "Girl, no. I'm giving you $20, at least."

I was really happy with the variety of price points I saw, to be honest.

$5 omg. O - O Glad you paid her more for it!

[myrla]

It's a con. It's more a miracle if things aren't overpriced.

With that said, i got some serious, serious deals this year. I spent under $100 through all my 3 days and the most expensive thing I got was $15 (aside from the planned cosplay buys)

Handmaking plushes can be very time consuming, but I would not buy a $100 plushie unless it needed its own seat on the airplane.

[laceyarsenic]

I'm not answering the poll....cause I'm a little torn.
Manga wise I did really well and a few anime titles I was able to get really cheap ($25 for whole set of Nabari no ou!)
Otherwise I noticed a lot were overpriced and I could've gotten cheaper online.
Were there less anime vendors this year? Felt like it, but maybe I'm wrong.
Took me forever to find NIS stall...I know they're just starting out and were sharing, but their set up was hard to find and not a lot of their titles were there and easily accessible (bummer)

[Kikai]

This is what I've been saying as an artist for years... Why go in to the Dealer's Room when you can find 90% of that stuff online for half the price or less when you can come to the Artist Alley and get something original and unique?

[Ohki]

I disagree re; the MLP plushies. The ones that were $100 were HUGE. I paid $85 for a Nightmare Moon plushie at a different vendor, and it was absolutely gorgeously made, pretty big, and I'm sure the fabric and other materials used weren't cheap. When someone is making a handmade plushie and it's that big and that well-made, it's going to be expensive.

That said, I definitely think some merchandise was overpriced. Anyone who wanted any of those rubber straps that have been really popular lately would be shelling out $15 to get one unboxed. In blind boxes they were $9, at least for the Madoka ones at Toyslogic, which I considered reasonable, but $15 a piece for unboxed? No.

PVC Figures in general were ridiculous yet again, too. I saw vendors charging $150+ for figures that just came out this year and were nowhere near that much money. I saw barely any that were under $100, which is absurd since the normal price is like $80-$90. I used to buy figures at ACen, but ever since the vendors started doing that, I stopped. I was okay with paying $130 for a figure of Rider from Fate/Stay Night that was made in 2007, but that is rare merchandise. Something that just came out and can still be found online for like $120 including shipping being priced at $150+ at con? lolno.

Also, the vendors who sell unboxed trading figures and mark more popular characters way up are just. Ew. I think it's absurd that I paid $20 just to get a matching Kyoko petit nendoroid for my Sayaka that I'd gotten in a blind box, while they were charging $12 for Sayaka. I did it in the end because I'm just that much of a shipper, but. Yeah. Also last year I saw the Prussia one coin figure marked up to like $30. That is just plain gross. idk if any Hetalia stuff was overpriced like that again this year since I have pretty much everything from APH that I want now so I wasn't paying much attention to it, but if that happened again, shame on you, dealers.

[Ekqo]

Ohki, on 30 April 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

I disagree re; the MLP plushies. The ones that were $100 were HUGE. I paid $85 for a Nightmare Moon plushie at a different vendor, and it was absolutely gorgeously made, pretty big, and I'm sure the fabric and other materials used weren't cheap. When someone is making a handmade plushie and it's that big and that well-made, it's going to be expensive.

That said, I definitely think some merchandise was overpriced. Anyone who wanted any of those rubber straps that have been really popular lately would be shelling out $15 to get one unboxed. In blind boxes they were $9, at least for the Madoka ones at Toyslogic, which I considered reasonable, but $15 a piece for unboxed? No.

PVC Figures in general were ridiculous yet again, too. I saw vendors charging $150+ for figures that just came out this year and were nowhere near that much money. I saw barely any that were under $100, which is absurd since the normal price is like $80-$90. I used to buy figures at ACen, but ever since the vendors started doing that, I stopped. I was okay with paying $130 for a figure of Rider from Fate/Stay Night that was made in 2007, but that is rare merchandise. Something that just came out and can still be found online for like $120 including shipping being priced at $150+ at con? lolno.

Also, the vendors who sell unboxed trading figures and mark more popular characters way up are just. Ew. I think it's absurd that I paid $20 just to get a matching Kyoko petit nendoroid for my Sayaka that I'd gotten in a blind box, while they were charging $12 for Sayaka. I did it in the end because I'm just that much of a shipper, but. Yeah. Also last year I saw the Prussia one coin figure marked up to like $30. That is just plain gross. idk if any Hetalia stuff was overpriced like that again this year since I have pretty much everything from APH that I want now so I wasn't paying much attention to it, but if that happened again, shame on you, dealers.

I saw that too, a vendor was selling unboxed Tiger & Bunny figures for $20 when you could buy the box for $8 at the Bandai booth. OUCH. I wanted a Kotetsu, but not THAT badly! I just stuck with buying the box and trying my luck. (My brother wound up getting him from the last box they had - 3 - but I wound up with 3 cute characters, all different, so I'm happy) The Tiger & Bunny figures were the only ones I paid attention to, but they seemed reasonably priced to me, all under $100, but then again, they've been coming out one at a time or so since last fall, so....?

[sockie]

Re: the poll. Dealer's room merch is usually overpriced. Artist Alley? Not in my experience! I was very happy with the cost of everything I was interested in.

[Audri]

Ohki, on 30 April 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

PVC Figures in general were ridiculous yet again, too. I saw vendors charging $150+ for figures that just came out this year and were nowhere near that much money. I saw barely any that were under $100, which is absurd since the normal price is like $80-$90. I used to buy figures at ACen, but ever since the vendors started doing that, I stopped. I was okay with paying $130 for a figure of Rider from Fate/Stay Night that was made in 2007, but that is rare merchandise. Something that just came out and can still be found online for like $120 including shipping being priced at $150+ at con? lolno.

What your not noticing is how much quality is going up in the figures. Generally your lower end figures are pretty basic, but for the most part that is not what the figures market generally wants. They want large pieces of art. So with that said I think the "lower end" figures are being phased out of the market and being replaced with the higher end, more artistic ones.

[Goldeneyeuro]

I actually thought that the pricing was very reasonable for the items in the dealers room. Yes, you can get some of the figurines for a lower price in the online stores. But IMO you do have to take into account that the vendors have to get the merchandise, transport it to the con, most likely pay a fee for the vendor space, and price it to obtain a profit, then I can see where the markups go. I'm not a figurine fanatic and only purchase a few here and there, but one example I did see of reasonableness: T+B figurines of both hero characters going for $70 or so each at one vendor- the exact price my friend paid for each figurine on Ebay.

Otherwise, I found that the plushies this year, though, (and this may be just me not having bought plushies in a while) had great prices- snapped up Kyuubei and Ein plushies each for an extremely reasonable price, and I wish I didn't buy the miniature Nyanko-sensei plush. Because there was one about 3-4 times larger at a different vendor for only twice the price. Heh I should have gotten both.

[excel excel]

Kikai, on 30 April 2012 - 09:40 AM, said:

This is what I've been saying as an artist for years... Why go in to the Dealer's Room when you can find 90% of that stuff online for half the price or less when you can come to the Artist Alley and get something original and unique?

I agree! I got some very nice charm bracelets for $5. I ended up getting two for my mother. My sis spent $18 for a nyan cat mug which I thought was waaaay overpriced. And don't get me started on the gundams. I can get those online cheap with a promo code. But I often find myself supporting AA because of their hard work and they are not overpriced. Expect MLP plushies to be $$ because of the hard work they make into designing them. Im not hatin. I wish I had mad skills to do something like that..AND I BUILD ROBOTS FOR A LIVING

[Voltaire30]

Since this isn't about ACen merchandising, could a global mod or above move it to the exhibithall forum?

[Grimby]

So, bring on the hate... I'm the one with the $100 MLP plushies.

I completely understand how that can be seen as unreasonable--It is a lot of money. That being said, I put a lot of time, soul, love, and effort into each and every pony I make. I've been selling them online for a while now and for much more than $100. I was just trying to bring my plushies to the con in hopes that people who may have been outbid online could buy one for cheaper at-con.

If you think my prices were outrageous, I saw many people carrying around MLP plushies about half the size of mine, which were not as nicely finished as mine (unfinished edges on manes/tails, etc) and those were selling for $75--a mere $25 less than mine. Or how about a pillow I went to buy from the dealers room only to find out it was $65? While I agree $100 is a lot to drop on a plush, I also noticed some items in the dealers room that were just as expensive even though they weren't handmade.

To anyone I offended with my pricing, I'm sorry. I don't blame you for passing on a plush that is $100... But considering I spend about 10 hours on each plush(plus materials), I just felt that I had to stick up for my prices. It really hurt my feelings at how many people were incredibly rude to me--even to my face--at the con just because they had already spent all of their money in the dealers room.

That being said, for everyone who was rude there were even more people who (even though they couldn't/didn't want to buy one) admired my time and effort, and I appreciate the feedback. The biggest reason I love doing AAs is because of the smiles I see on people's faces when they see what I've created. I don't care if they make a purchase or not... just knowing that someone likes something I've created and it can put a smile on their face makes the hard work all worthwhile.. So when someone goes above and beyond to compliment one of my creations, it really stands out to me. A big thanks to everyone who compliments artists' works (even if they don't buy anything)!

With as much as we made this past weekend, I did my best to go out into the alley and support my fellow artists. I believe in giving back to those who's work is above and beyond average, and much of my profit I actually turned around and spent on other artists who may or may not have been doing as well. I just love knowing that I can buy a piece that I love and support the artist behind the work. I was very happy to have won a piece from the art show which is now proudly hanging on my wall. Expensive? Yes. But I would rather part with a few extra bucks knowing I'm supporting an artist--someone with a face--than get a deal in the dealers room or online, with my money going to a faceless organization.

I just hope people can understand why some hand-made items are more expensive than what you can find elsewhere.

This post has been edited by Grimby: 30 April 2012 - 02:24 PM

[Ohki]

Audri, on 30 April 2012 - 10:24 AM, said:

What your not noticing is how much quality is going up in the figures. Generally your lower end figures are pretty basic, but for the most part that is not what the figures market generally wants. They want large pieces of art. So with that said I think the "lower end" figures are being phased out of the market and being replaced with the higher end, more artistic ones.

....Um, no, you're not following what I'm talking about at all, actually. I'm a huge figure collector, and I regularly preorder figures from AmiAmi, Hobby Search, etc. I'm talking about seeing figures that I bought within the past year for $120 or less including shipping from Japan being priced at $150+ at the con. That is garbage, quite frankly. There was no reason for a dealer to be charging $150 for a figure of Panty that I got just this past January for like $120 after shipping, and $165 for the matching Stocking that came out at around the same time. There was no reason for a dealer to have a Fate/Extra!Saber figure that just came out that I missed out on the $90 +shipping preorder for priced at $160.

The high quality "large pieces of art" you speak of are what I collect, and I typically pay about $80-$100 + shipping for them. Even when calculating in the price of shipping from Japan, ACen's dealers were still charging way too much.

[Dark Kanine]

Grimby, on 30 April 2012 - 01:53 PM, said:

So, bring on the hate... I'm the one with the $100 MLP plushies.

I completely understand how that can be seen as unreasonable--It is a lot of money. That being said, I put a lot of time, soul, love, and effort into each and every pony I make. I've been selling them online for a while now and for much more than $100. I was just trying to bring my plushies to the con in hopes that people who may have been outbid online could buy one for cheaper at-con.

To anyone I offended with my pricing, I'm sorry. I don't blame you for passing on a plush that is $100... But considering I spend about 10 hours on each plush(plus materials), I just felt that I had to stick up for my prices. It really hurt my feelings at how many people were incredibly rude to me--even to my face--at the con just because they had already spent all of their money in the dealers room.

I just thought $100 was a lot, I loved how it looked but it wasn't only the plushie, someone sold skylanders 3 times retail as well or anything game related was over charged.

[Ohki]

Grimby, on 30 April 2012 - 01:53 PM, said:

So, bring on the hate... I'm the one with the $100 MLP plushies.

I completely understand how that can be seen as unreasonable--It is a lot of money. That being said, I put a lot of time, soul, love, and effort into each and every pony I make. I've been selling them online for a while now and for much more than $100. I was just trying to bring my plushies to the con in hopes that people who may have been outbid online could buy one for cheaper at-con.

If you think my prices were outrageous, I saw many people carrying around MLP plushies about half the size of mine, which were not as nicely finished as mine (unfinished edges on manes/tails, etc) and those were selling for $75--a mere $25 less than mine. Or how about a pillow I went to buy from the dealers room only to find out it was $65? While I agree $100 is a lot to drop on a plush, I also noticed some items in the dealers room that were just as expensive even though they weren't handmade.

To anyone I offended with my pricing, I'm sorry. I don't blame you for passing on a plush that is $100... But considering I spend about 10 hours on each plush(plus materials), I just felt that I had to stick up for my prices. It really hurt my feelings at how many people were incredibly rude to me--even to my face--at the con just because they had already spent all of their money in the dealers room.

That being said, for everyone who was rude there were even more people who (even though they couldn't/didn't want to buy one) admired my time and effort, and I appreciate the feedback. The biggest reason I love doing AAs is because of the smiles I see on people's faces when they see what I've created. I don't care if they make a purchase or not... just knowing that someone likes something I've created and it can put a smile on their face makes the hard work all worthwhile.. So when someone goes above and beyond to compliment one of my creations, it really stands out to me. A big thanks to everyone who compliments artists' works (even if they don't buy anything)!

With as much as we made this past weekend, I did my best to go out into the alley and support my fellow artists. I believe in giving back to those who's work is above and beyond average, and much of my profit I actually turned around and spent on other artists who may or may not have been doing as well. I just love knowing that I can buy a piece that I love and support the artist behind the work. I was very happy to have won a piece from the art show which is now proudly hanging on my wall. Expensive? Yes. But I would rather part with a few extra bucks knowing I'm supporting an artist--someone with a face--than get a deal in the dealers room or online, with my money going to a faceless organization.

I just hope people can understand why some hand-made items are more expensive than what you can find elsewhere.

You know, I really do feel for you, but was taking a shot at the other plushie seller really necessary? Also $25 isn't really a small amount of money. That's enough for a pizza from Giordano's, or a couple CDs from the Hardcore Synergy table, or a couple trading figures, or a shirt, etc. Just a thought; to some people that is a big enough price difference to get them to pick that seller's plushies over yours. That and that table had a huge selection of characters that the other two tables I saw with more pricey pony plushies (yours and a table with plushies made entirely out of wool) didn't have. So just...yeah, it's awful that people were jerks to you about your pricing, but knocking that other seller was kind of uncalled for imo. (Also for the record the Nightmare Moon I bought from them does have finished edges on her mane, tail, and wings). I get that you're upset that some people were rude to you, but that's not exactly the other plushie sellers' faults, so singling one out to say their work was inferior to yours truthfully kind of puts me off.

That said, there's no excuse for people being rude to you over it. I can understand people not wanting to spend that much on a plushie because it is a lot of money so you have to really like the piece and really be into the show and the character to justify it, but deciding that something is too expensive for you and being a jerk to the person over the pricing are not the same thing.

[Ohki]

Ekqo, on 30 April 2012 - 09:52 AM, said:

I saw that too, a vendor was selling unboxed Tiger & Bunny figures for $20 when you could buy the box for $8 at the Bandai booth. OUCH. I wanted a Kotetsu, but not THAT badly! I just stuck with buying the box and trying my luck. (My brother wound up getting him from the last box they had - 3 - but I wound up with 3 cute characters, all different, so I'm happy) The Tiger & Bunny figures were the only ones I paid attention to, but they seemed reasonably priced to me, all under $100, but then again, they've been coming out one at a time or so since last fall, so....?

Yeah, I don't really mind that they mark up unboxed trading figures a little, since if they didn't the blind boxes wouldn't sell at all, but I find it really kind of off-putting when I go to a booth that has unboxed trading figures and they mark up the most popular characters by a lot, then less popular ones are a lot cheaper. Oddly though, though, in my anecdote about the Kyoko and Sayaka one coins, I think Sayaka being only $12 bothered me more than Kyoko being $20. $12 was less than what most people were charging for the blind boxes of those petit nendos in the first place, so as a Sayaka fan it just made me sad that apparently that's all that vendor thought she was worth. This is really silly of me, though, I know.

That said, though, I did feel like a lot of things were reasonably priced, too. I bought a pair of fluffy blue legwarmers and a black choker from Pawstar and I'm very impressed with the quality of the products for what I paid. The legwarmers were $35, and I feel like I got a lot for the quality. I wore them to the rave and they didn't slip down my legs much at all, and they're so soft and nice. They're really breathable, too, so I didn't feel like I was going to melt. Then well, $15 for a nice, well made leather choker is pretty hard to argue with. I'm always impressed with Pawstar for their quality, prices, and how friendly their staff are.

I felt like blind boxed trading figures were reasonably priced as well. $9 for one of those rubber straps in particular was a good deal IMO. And, though I was out of money and couldn't buy any, I was happy with the prices on the CDs from the Hardcore Synergy table. Oh, also some years I feel like they can get to be a bit too high, but this year I felt like the doujinshi was all very reasonably priced. Doujinshi is always going to be a fairly expensive hobby because of the importing aspect, but I think this year Hen Da Ne and all of the other sellers with doujins did a good job at keeping the prices around where they should be based on the quality and length of the books.

Also re; artist alley, I was quite happy to see nice mini tophats for as low as $18. That's what I paid for the one I got, which I felt was about right since it was nice but not super elaborate. The fancier ones were more of course, but that's reasonable.

[Grimby]

Ohki, on 30 April 2012 - 03:29 PM, said:

You know, I really do feel for you, but was taking a shot at the other plushie seller really necessary? Also $25 isn't really a small amount of money. That's enough for a pizza from Giordano's, or a couple CDs from the Hardcore Synergy table, or a couple trading figures, or a shirt, etc. Just a thought; to some people that is a big enough price difference to get them to pick that seller's plushies over yours. That and that table had a huge selection of characters that the other two tables I saw with more pricey pony plushies (yours and a table with plushies made entirely out of wool) didn't have. So just...yeah, it's awful that people were jerks to you about your pricing, but knocking that other seller was kind of uncalled for imo. (Also for the record the Nightmare Moon I bought from them does have finished edges on her mane, tail, and wings). I get that you're upset that some people were rude to you, but that's not exactly the other plushie sellers' faults, so singling one out to say their work was inferior to yours truthfully kind of puts me off.

I'm sorry if it was taken as a jab at the other plushie maker. I honestly thought they were adorable. All I was trying to say is that unstuffed tails/manes and unfinished edges don't take as much time to do(which may explain why they would have had a bigger selection), plus a size difference of about 50% doesn't add add up to a $25 difference in my book. I'm actually in the process of making similar sized ponies, with the same type of manes and tails and I was only planning on charging $30 for them, so I guess I was just a bit confused.

Also, I see what you mean about $25 being a decent chunk of money... but if I were on a budget where $25 is a big deal, I probably would decide to skip on a plush that was so expensive and opt for one of the less expensive ones(which were only about $40 and still super cute) in the AA instead.

I'm honestly really happy that there were other plushie makers doing ponies at different price points. The girl behind me also had plush ponies which were much smaller and done in a completely different style than mine, which I was really happy about. I know that I sent some customers who didn't have enough to spend on my ponies over to her, because hers were at a lower price point which was more affordable to most people. The variety of plushies gives fans the option of choosing which price/style they like most.

Again, sorry if it was construed as some kind of insult as that really wasn't my intention. I think text can sometimes be read in a different tone than it was meant. xD

This post has been edited by Grimby: 30 April 2012 - 03:57 PM

[JediNight]

One thing to remember about merchandise costs: (Speaking about Dealers Room, not Artists Alley)

There is a lot of overhead involved for a Dealer to bring you merchandise at a convention. And, of course, the convenience of having it right there.
They import the merchandise from Japan, then have to pay for the gas to drive it in their low MPG van to the convention (sometimes 1000+ miles), then they have to rent a hotel room for the weekend for all their staff.
Then they have to pay for the Dealer room booth, a power drop from the convention center, sometimes load-in/load-out fees from the con center union, etc. (And these union fees are EXPENSIVE.)

All that can add a significant overhead, on top of trying to turn a profit on the item.

Also: Anime/Manga merch is expensive in general. I went to Akihabara on my trip to Japan a few summers ago, and little plushies were about $30-40. Half-sized wallscrolls were $35. Figmas are $40-60. Nendos are $15 or so.

[Ohki]

Grimby, on 30 April 2012 - 03:45 PM, said:

I'm sorry if it was taken as a jab at the other plushie maker. I honestly thought they were adorable. All I was trying to say is that unstuffed tails/manes and unfinished edges don't take as much time to do(which may explain why they would have had a bigger selection), plus a size difference of about 50% doesn't add add up to a $25 difference in my book. I'm actually in the process of making similar sized ponies, with the same type of manes and tails and I was only planning on charging $30 for them, so I guess I was just a bit confused.

Also, I see what you mean about $25 being a decent chunk of money... but if I were on a budget where $25 is a big deal, I probably would decide to skip on a plush that was so expensive and opt for one of the less expensive ones(which were only about $40 and still super cute) in the AA instead.

I'm honestly really happy that there were other plushie makers doing ponies at different price points. The girl behind me also had plush ponies which were much smaller and done in a completely different style than mine, which I was really happy about. I know that I sent some customers who didn't have enough to spend on my ponies over to her, because hers were at a lower price point which was more affordable to most people. The variety of plushies gives fans the option of choosing which price/style they like most.

Again, sorry if it was construed as some kind of insult as that really wasn't my intention. I think text can sometimes be read in a different tone than it was meant. xD

Oh, okay, thanks for the clarification! Because yeah that did kind of sound like an insult at the other seller, I read it as "people were okay with THAT person's plushies and they weren't as nice as mine!", which...you can understand why that'd put me off. I'm glad to hear that isn't how you meant it.

For the record, I thought your plushies were quite nice! I liked the style of the other artist a little bit more than you and the wool plushie artist, personally (and the selection of characters didn't hurt either!), but yours were quite nice as well, something that I would definitely consider to be worth the money if I could've afforded more than one item in that price range. So yeah that's pretty uncool re; anyone being jerks about it, that's just totally unnecessary. Also I saw the ones behind you and I liked them a lot too. I think all of the MLP plushies I saw were very nice, very well made, and very much worth what each seller was charging for them. That includes yours :3

Well, to be fair re; the $25, it's kind of a matter of maximizing how much you can get for your money at the con, too. I typically have a moderate con budget. I usually get at least one $70-$100 or so ranged item and a bunch of smaller things, and I generally try to be as broad as possible with my purchases to get as many different kinds of things as possible and from as many of my fandoms as possible. So, while I'm okay with dropping that much on a plushie if I really like it, I only really have the funds to do that on one thing and I want to try to maximize how much I get for my money overall. The big deciding factor re; which of the three expensive pony plush sellers that I went to ultimately was that you and the other one in the artist alley with the wool ones pretty much just had the mane 6, while that other one had Nightmare Moon, who happens to be my favorite because I'm weird. But if that seller had less of a selection and I was just comparing between the three of you for one of Rarity, the $25 difference probably would've come into play in my decision. The things that I listed as examples were all things I either bought or wanted to buy during the weekend. So it's not necessarily a low budget where $25 is a big difference.

[SprinklePuff]

Well, I bought a Gloomy Bear plush that's around $28-35 online for $27 including tax, and grabbed the Eureka Seven movie for $10 when it's $19 on Amazon. A lot of stuff is indeed overpriced... I didn't have much time to browse the vendor's room this year. Sucks.

[Kasumisty]

Yeah I think there were quite a few things that were overpriced. For example I was looking at some merchandise at one booth that I've seen before online at thinkgeek, and the booth was selling the items for on average $15 more than thinkgeek. I usually end up not buying a lot at the con because I know I can get a lot of it online for a better price, or some handmade things where I know the materials are inexpensive and they're not hard to make so the prices were not justified.
However I saw some other stuff that I've checked out online before that was expensive but the booths' prices were about the same as online.
Some of the plushies were expensive but I know handmade plushies generally are quite expensive, and the MLP ones I saw were really well made so I think the pricing was average/about the same as elsewhere.

[Ashori]

99% of what I bought was manga, and considering most of what I bought was $5 and under per book (one being a 3-in-1 omnibus), I really don't think I was being overcharged at all. Especially since a large majority was also out of print, so I felt like I got a great deal overall.

But honestly, yes, you do expect to pay more at the con for anime, manga, figures, and the like. I don't expect to pay online prices for anything at the con unless I'm buying used or from bargain bins. But again, that's just what I expect.

[rondo]

Willing to spend more for things..but my list gets really picky then. I was ready to pull the trigger on some things but I wound up holding back on most.

[chainedbyroses]

Dark Kanine, on 30 April 2012 - 07:55 AM, said:

This may be just me but I found a few items a bit over-priced. For example, the My little pony plushies were being sold $100 each, which seemed WAY over-priced to me. There were items decently priced but seeing that there are a lot of teens out there or just people who want to buy something and not have enough money, like I was only left with $30 spent half of it on lunch of all things, then I was lucky enough to get a Death Note with 2 quills and a soundtrack to go with it for $15. It seems that some items are better than others even if they are simple items, like the skylanders were 3 times retail price.

I don't mean to be rude, but have you ever hand-made a pattern, purchased the nice fabrics, gotten the strong threads and polyfil, and hand embroidered eyes and faces?

I have, and let me tell you, the work that goes into making custom/handmade plush, as well as the cost of the materials alone, is near that total as it is. A yard of quality soft fabric runs anywhere from $7.99-16.99 per yard, depending where you get it, and to make something of that size, you would need to average 2 yards, then additional colors for other parts and details (and most stores require you to purchase at least a one yard cut). Assuming you need 3 different colors, that can vary from $24 to $51 just for fabric, not even counting the single bag of fluff-filling (they downsized over the years) you'd need for a single plush, then the threads and embroidery floss you need for details, and/or paint for the pony symbols if you're not embroidering them. Considering that's only a profit of either the cost +1x, or the cost +3x, that's actually a lot cheaper than the markup most businesses and factories will charge you. Personally, for the madness that goes into it, and the level of detail I put into my general plush & dolls, I charge around $150 for an 18" creation (give or take, depending on complexity). The ponies in question (assuming we are thinking of the same AA seller) were sturdy & well made, so the cost is understandable for their large size.


I also remember the days of high school and limited funding; overall, it's more a matter of knowing how to manage money & control finances. Nowadays, what with eBay, Yahoo!Japan (via middlemen or friends), Amazon/Amazon.jp, and a ton of other sites, there are literally tons of ways to get the items you see at con throughout the year. Many times the cost online is either comparable or less (yen-dollar rate dependent) than the convention markup, though part of that markup is essentially a "convenience charge" because there is no shipping cost and you can literally walk right out with your newfound prize. What I have learned over time is to take a picture, write down the info, or otherwise make a note of the product you saw that you want to get, and if possible, research before the con what you are hoping to get. If you know the average prices, you can tell right away if/how much you're getting ripped off, or if you're getting a killer deal because a seller doesn't realize just how rare something is (like a vintage plush I got for $10 a few years back, averaging online & in Japan for $50+ plus shipping). There are blogs, sites, and tumblrs online that detail how to find out what going rates/costs of desired items are, what the yen exchange rate is & how it impacts costs, and how to hunt down that thing at a price or means you can manage. I'd be more than willing to help anyone interested out in learning this, by the way, & will look into what I can do besides individual conversations.