Time and Cost….

Several in the past have asked me especially on my Ebay store about cost, and what is reasonable. As a hobby business I, like any other online store are here to make a profit, not lose money, nor give product away. With that said, I’ve seen models listed for purchase on sites for several hundred dollars. What a store owner or artist charges is absolutely their business what they think clients will pay for their services.

I have actually sold some of my models for $125-$150 as well, models that had four to five levels of weathering which took two weeks to produce. Is that reasonable? Well, let’s look at expenses for the artist. And yes, I consider myself an artist at weathering. Weathering models takes a skill and a good eye for detail, much like a painter. It’s almost the same as taking a blank canvas and creating something new.

So again, let’s look at expenses. First, there’s a charge for an online store. Then, there’s a charge for a website and all that’s involved with that, time it takes to set one up, pay for a domain, perhaps a business phone number, etc. Then the time as now it takes to write and post news or new products/projects. Next is a charge for business cards. Now for hobby supplies. As with everything else, hobby supplies have increased in price. Add to this shipping charges, especially for a buyer have also increased. Finally, my time it takes to research my files for a prototype car, my actual time it takes to weather a model, time it takes to carefully pack a model, then the time it takes to run to my local post office. My time is worth money as well.

One last point. I do for contracts weathering multiple cars will give a discount to a modeler, such as my project weathering 64 cars for a local friend and modeler. Be sure to check out my models and prices currently on my Ebay store, and remember time and cost….