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Post by Roadie on Jan 25, 2013 15:09:07 GMT -5
Customisers - Does anyone have any help/advice or any good/bad experiences to share that would help myself and anyone else also seeking to offer a commission? (other than vastly improving your work)?  tell me about your first commission! Please comment or PM if you prefer  |
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Post by elee0031 on Jan 25, 2013 15:34:00 GMT -5
What....? Advice.... Um 1.) Always take the money up front first. (Then you can purchase the figure(s) necessary to do the project. Make sure to cover all the cost plus your time.) 2.) Set up a deadline on completion time. (Let buyer know when you are expected to be done or if it takes longer than stated). 3.) Cover cost of shipping. (Make sure you are aware of postage rates to other countries and final weight of project. Don't want to under charge or overcharge.) 4.) Never take a project on without payment. You waste alot of time and money. But do consider setting up a payment plan if they choose that route. So once all the money is collected you can ship the item out. 5.) Make sure buyer is happy before you send anything. Sending items back and forth can get costly. 6.) Be aware of Paypal or 2nd party payment services and know there fees and adjust the charge so that the buyer is covering the fee. My first commission was for one of my earlier works (Jennifer Garner in the Marvel Movie Elektra.) Buyer saw my two versions of her and wanted to buy them. I took the project on without payment - it was an international buyer. I set the deadline and the cost to cover the material plus a small commission for time and materials. Didn't hear back from them. Had to do several e-mails and set a final notice. After that eBay took over and I sold the black version for about average price. It went over seas. The other one I kept, the red version in bag. Here's some pictures:      |
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Post by smiler on Jan 26, 2013 4:37:13 GMT -5
Try selling a couple on EBay first and see what people will pay for your work! Even if they don't sell this time, it still gets your name out there and gives you some ideas. Have you yourself ever bought others customs to see how yours compare finish wise, sculpt, paint apps etc?.
When I first started customising the best thing I did was to buy a couple of Msbigs , Jess and Willowswarlock customs to learn from. It really helped me improve and go to that next level before I even thought about selling my own! There have been some offered by both here recently at really good prices. It's my best advice - look at the 'competition' and see where your work fits. Or go with the playsets angle. People love to put their figures within an environment. Your cafe is superb. You could make alleys, bars etc. There's no hurry to offer commissions, just keep making customs because you love to and the rest will fall into place. It took me about 2 years before I started to sell mine!
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Post by elee0031 on Jan 26, 2013 5:01:04 GMT -5
I kind of get what smiler is saying. The better the custom the better the price you can get. However I believe there's plenty of people out there who can't afford the price of custom figures, me being one of them. I originally wanted a charmed prue season 3 but everyone rejected my offer and I was even willing to supply a base figure. So maybe about 2 figures and the wrong type of paint I started to get a little better. I started looking at base figures and let them speak to me. Lord n behold I made my own prue and all it cost me was time paint and the figures I scored on eBay. All well below what customizers were going to charge me. I'll say this if you can pull a figure off and get $30 that's about average $50 that's pretty good $100 is better. It's like an investment.
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Post by smiler on Jan 26, 2013 16:10:57 GMT -5
No, Elee's right, customs don't always come cheap so you have to be careful with your prices but also not leave yourself short. After fodder, sculpey, paint, postage and TIME put in, you can sometimes leave yourself with hardly anything left. That's why I suggest that you just make customs because you love it. Anything else is a bonus. If people like what you do and want them then you are very lucky if it can help fund your passion! Above all have fun!!
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Post by elee0031 on Jan 26, 2013 16:46:45 GMT -5
Well customizing I guess would either be a job or for hobby. Maybe mix n' match. Me and Roadie were chatting and it seems we both like doing customs, but it does run up on cash payout leaving us broke. I haven't resorted to selling mines yet, because the ones I have I like and I wanted them in my collection. So Roadie I hope you at least make a little extra on the side to get more figures to work with in the future.
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tell me about your first commission!
