BASTARDY BASTARDS

BASTARDLY DASTARDS 

• probably doesn't work
• Isn't guaranteed to continue to work in any capacity that it currently does (if it works at all)
• Costs $7 per skin talk about expensive trial and error.
• Is in no way demo-able prior to use.

• Poorly made skins.
• No way to demo skins.
• No guarantee of skin quality or continued functionality.
• Arrogant assholes in the forums who think they have the right to silence disagreement.
• A lack of skins.
• Increasing prices of skins as the community degrades and people leave, further driving more people to leave and preventing new people from coming.

Again, do enjoy your dying community. I was not the first person to complain about how ridiculous the prices and lack of skins were and I will not be the last.

I'll leave your comments...

...and post mine....---->

Go away.

Consider yourself 'silenced'.

Good bye .

I'm not a Master Skinner but......I DO KNOW! (exclamation intentional) that the skins work. Next month I'll be here 10 years. In 10 years I have had exactly....exactly one issue with a Master WB I skinned for. The very same day the problem was solved. You're here less than a year and you don't know anyone...not really. Throwing obscenities around only hurts your position. Give it some time, run all the skins you want...or not...but begrudging those who have earned they're position is wrong. No one is twisting your arm dude.  

RaymondLC92, you seem really disturbed and evidently have a lot of mental issues. Have you thought of seeing a Psychologist, a Counselor, someone who could help you? It is quite evident that you really need to. 

I get were he is coming from, to bad most of you can't, nor can you seem to carry on a constructive conversation about the pricing. You all resort to ignoring what is said and post the same "it's art" mantra all the while insulting anyone who questions the individual value of these skins. Maybe you all are the ones that need to go see a therapist.. It's pretty clear we are dealing with a bunch of Apple like elitist types here which means they are unreachable. Guess what boys, your shit sticks just like all everyone else..

might as well give up on trying to have an adult conversation about it Raymond as it will never happen.. I get your frustration.

I really wish someone would delete or lock this thread.

I will only add this because of your statement.

Did you happen to see your friend Raymond's first post on this thread? reply #56. I call that as far away from an adult conversation one can have and that was his first post on here as I said.

A Master can't sell a skin for a dollar if they wanted to. Read reply 24 and 31. That just about explains it all. Also there are overhead cost to Stardock. That is why the Master Skinner doesn't receive the full selling price. SD has to have accounting keep track of the downloads, send out checks, do the paper work necessary at the end of the year in order to send out W2 forms. Now the skinner has to add the years total sales amount to their income. If they are at the amount where they have to pay taxes then the skin total also gets taxed.

So, it's not as cut and dry as many may think. I'm pretty sure I said this in an adult way. 

Well said Dave, very well said! 

Stardock and Wincustomize.com [and the skinners, Masters included] WELCOME "adult conversations".  In fact not only do we encourage them...we REQUIRE them.

What we do have in this thread, however, are decidedly IMMATURE [not just naive] comments and contributors who have paid the price of failing to comply with Stardock's T.O.U. and are thus no longer welcome.

Getting back to basics.... yes...mass market price-points can see low prices for volume.  Japan proved that, and subsequently Taiwan and next China.  People like Harley Davidson in the US had to appeal to the US Govt for protection for low-priced mass-volume imports..... proves there is more than one side to 'volume pricing'.

Skins, like it or not are an art-form.  Something 'created' by man whose intrinsic value is GREATER than the material used in its manufacture, just like a painting.

They are also a commodity that has the potential to be sold, that like all other commodities actually does have overheads.

Saying something is NOT worth the price asked for it is simply the consumers' "freedom of choice".  No amount of argument/complaint or even facile abuse is going to affect the situation.  I personally think anything made by Apple is over-priced crap compared to the alternatives.  That's my opinion...and my choice...so I do not buy Apple products.

That's my exertion of my influence on the status quo of current commercialism.

It hasn't and never will affect/upset Apple...not one bit.

Are the Master skins too expensive?  Yes, they are...for some people.  Others are willing to pay for them as they appreciate the effort involved and/or intrinsic quality... or they simply want to give something back to those in this community who do more than just bitch-and-moan because it's kewl to bitch-and-moan.

Currently Stardock considers the Master Skin pricing to be about right.  If there were a 'magic switch' that could be flipped to make both the skinners and Stardock a shit-load of dosh and we could all retire to the French Riviera I'm pretty sure it would have been flipped long ago...

the prices of course look ridiculous in 2016 if you compare them to prices of other software, particularly on mobile platforms.

people need to keep in mind that the market for payskins is not small but tiny. the revenue is far too small to implement a micropayment solution. if Windowblinds would be popular then some kind of "in-game-currency" as deviantArt points could be considered. it is not though, and it is not going to grow.

from a business perspective it would be a waste of resources to even hold a meeting to think about changes. 

I want to emphasize that an important part of an adult conversation is treating others with respect.  That means not insulting people with "four letter" words among other things.  On many forums RaymondLC92's posts would have been immediately deleted and his account banned, and that's exactly what should happen IMHO.

...

Best reply to date.. Might help with some. An explanation that makes sense..

Don't know Raymond either, nor have i read every post in this thread.. Just a dev putting his two cents in. I get the value of the work, I styled sites like Futuremark and Guru3d. The pay is never enough for the seemingly endless amount of work involve with styling a product. It is the the reason I brought up the "sweet spot" for pricing and tried to have a discussion about it but was met with disdain instead.. I want you guys to get the most out of the effort you have put in, that's all.

I don't keep up on this forum or the members and what you are getting from me is pretty much a good take on what any new member might perceive after a short time on the site.

Yes, there's a very long history regarding the 'drama' that is paid-for skins...not quite as long as there has been a money/bata system, but roughly as long as there has been skinning itself.

Some went ballistic when Skinners actually achieved commercial success....there are a few.  The very first of them all to face the wrath was Frogboy and Stardock itself.  That was last Century....Millennium even.

Then it was a pair of skinners who formed 'Pixtudio'.

The oldest/first skinning site had a supreme hissy-fit that saw many people leave in disgust [over the fit, not the issue].

20 years later [almost] and nothing has changed.  People still do not understand the simple reality that purchase is always optional as there are, and always will be freely released skin options.

Moshi is right, though.  There's no commercial benefit to anyone to 'have a meeting to discuss pricing revision'....

The income Masters receive is simply a small opportunity for others to say 'Thank you for your contributions to skinning.'

Well to keep it simple.. At $3 I would buy 5 of them but at the average of $6 I don't buy any. Because of this I have only purchased 2 of them and 1 icon suite. At $3 I would have bought just about everyone of them by now. look at when I joined the site, I'm not exactly a new guy.. I believe this can be said of most of the members here as well.

And no, this should not be discussed between the members and stylers for the most part but it is a discussion you all should be having among yourselves.

Also, using "supporting the artist" price bit falls flat.. If that's the case then you all should just add a donate button for the skinners and not use it as an excuse to try and justify the pricing as it has no substance. It makes for a good one liner though..