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Okay let me explain what this is all about. On the Star Wars the Old Republic forums under fan art someone is making custom action figures and selling them, but I feel people are not getting there moneys worth.
Here is the forum. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=305682 Note: My name is BishopMiles. I would also like to add he does have a point I may or may not have the skills to do what he does, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to judge.
Here is his website. http://www.starwarsgeek.net/ Look under Commissions for pricing info and Custom to view some of his work or you could look at Forum above.

This is from his commission page.
"About Pricing: I base the prices for my custom figure work on several factors. I have to take into consideration what materials I need to use, which can include the base figure or figures and any parts that may be needed. Sometimes I may need to use 4 or 5 different figures, sometimes more. One figure that I made contained parts from 13 different action figures. The price also includes any 'raw' materials that will be used, such as paint (I only use high quality paints like Reaper, Vallejo, Tamiya and Citadel) or sculpting medium (the only sculpting material I use nowadays is Aves' Fixit Sculpt). Then, of course, is the labor - my time that I will spend on the actual creation of your figure. Figures that require custom sculpting or fabrication of parts will be more labor intensive, and therefore cost more. Figures that are mainly just part swaps and paint work will be less expensive.

I can't really give a real 'average' price, since every figure is different, but the closest I can get would be this - the breakdown that I use to generate a price for each figure:

I start with a $20 base price - that includes all base figures that are needed to assemble the figure, along with any materials that I need to use - paint, clay, tools, etc. as well as the time it will take to disassemble all the required figures and re-assemble them into the figure I am making, as I rarely just take an existing figure and re-paint it. Then I add $10 per hour for the work that I feel needs to be done and how long I feel it will take me. I generally take anywhere from 4 - 6 hours to work on each figure, outside of simple repaints and such. So I guess you can say that the "average" price for a figure that I create is around $75. But again, this varies from project to project. A figure that requires custom sculpting or fabricaton can require 10 - 12 hours or more or work."

So what do you think?

It sounds reasonable to me. $10 an hour isn't a high rate, then there are tools and materials.

It's a luxury good and there's no coercion involed, so if someone is willing to pay that price then you're justified in charging it.

sebster wrote:It's a luxury good and there's no coercion involed, so if someone is willing to pay that price then you're justified in charging it.

This, pretty much.

If people are willing to pay it the price is justifiable. We´re talking about custom made collector´s items here. Whether or not the buyer "gets his money´s worth" is entirely depending on the buyer in question.
If he buys it and is willing to pay the price he got his money´s worth.
If he didn´t consider them worth his money and he bought them anyway, why did he buy it?

You all have a point, but do you think he should improve on some of his skills some? His painting isn't greatest I have seen and I think that plays a big factor. They are meant for display or whatever the costumer chooses to do with them, but I think its more of a display item.

Seems reasonable, I usually charge in that area for custom artwork.

As for improving, if people are willing to buy it now... nothing wrong selling it while he improves, lol.

Yea that doesnt seem to far off really. And you cant bash his paint skills, they seem decent enough. Never hear people complain about TodMcFarlane toys paint jobs

I know I have made probably 300 custom Star Wars Miniatures in the last few years. I charged anywhere from $20.00-$50.00 so I think his pricing is pretty fair.

$20.00 an hour was what I charged, since I could reposition, sculpt on and paint a mini in about an hour. Of course it wasn't done all at one time, since stuff needed time to cure and dry. I would work on about 15 at a time and spend a few days on them.

Action figures are little tougher to do, especially if painting is involved. You can't just paint over the joints, because the paint will rub off when the joint is moved.

I should rephrase the question. How about... Would you buy one? And instead of still being ignorant (me) and looking at other peoples action figures I guess the paint job is "fine" , but the whole point I was trying to get a cross is if Im going to pay $75+ I would like a better paint job then what he can offer.

If it's what he's charging, at least he's telling people.
I mean, I personally wouldn't (at least, not for the quality that he has on his site. I've seen far better for $75), but some will.