The Cost of Customs
(or Why I Rarely Sell My Work)

I am often told, by fellow enthusiasts and “muggles” alike, that I should sell my customized toys and creations. “You could make a lot of money,” they say.

No disrespect, but anyone saying this has no idea what they are talking about.

If I have achieved my goal, any project I complete should look as clean as something factory-made and sold at retail. Hitting that level of quality is no easy task. Many hours of labor go into it. But the average person sees what looks like a store-bought toy and thinks “I pay $20 for similar at Walmart, so this should be the same price.” So you’re telling me time is worth about 50 cents an hour. No thanks.

A person slightly more aware of what goes into these projects might even think “I’d pay $50. Maybe even $100.” My friend, you are not even close to what went into this project. And my time is worth more than $5 an hour.

Let’s break down a recent example: My “White Knight” Harley Noir 2.0.

First let’s consider the cost of the base figure. In this case, it’s a DC Direct Essentials Harley Quinn. As of this writing, replacing that on the secondary market would cost roughly $50. Given the two offers above, I’d already be in the hole!

The 3D file of Harley’s head was purchased via a Patreon subscription. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but can’t be ignored. Let’s call that $5. If I bought that file outside of Patreon, it would likely be closer to $20.

The belt was also a purchased 3D file. After tax that was roughly $8.

The hammers were 3D designed by me, and that takes time. I am not particularly skilled or fast at 3D design, so let’s call that 2 hours.

The head, hammers, belt, and hood were all 3D printed. Most were printed in regular resin, probably using less than $2 worth. The belt was a more expensive, flexible resin. Probably $3-4.

The actual customizing of physical parts is entirely dependent on the design. This Harley didn’t require too much beyond some adjustments to her shoes and gloves. In this case, that might be 2-3 hours. Other designs could be dozens of hours.

Then there’s the paint and painting. Calculating paint and brush consumption is difficult. It’s best to just roll that cost into the hours spent. This design is mostly black and white. By comparison, she’s an easy paint job. But there’s also priming and prep work. At minimum this requires 4 hours of paint work. And that’s just the body. Heads are always a minimum of 1 hour, often more. So let’s call this 5 hours.

The diamonds were printed on vinyl “paper.” Can’t forget that cost. At least $2 a sheet.

And finally, my time is worth more than a few bucks an hour. Let’s be generous and call it $30 an hour in this example. (In reality it’s more.)

Result:

Parts and supplies: $70 more or less

Time: at least 10 hours x $30/hour = $300

Total: $370. Round up for a whopping $30 of profit and it’s $400.

Despite the 3D printing aspect, this Harley is really an uncomplicated piece. Something with more detail would take even more time, resulting in a higher cost. And this ignores the included box completely.

To say nothing of dealing with some people that are less than pleasant customers.

So please, unless you know of a sub-group of fans willing to fork over $400 minimum per figure on the regular, don’t tell me I should sell my stuff.

(To be clear, this means that if I have made a figure for you, there’s something special about you.)