The best kind of pwn is when you can be a completely polite professional and still make the other party look like an idiot. This one was fairly short, but very sweet!
Background: I make plush (and sometimes costume, but right now just plush) and I've produced another rather epic creation this week. (Link in my sig will lead you to where you can view it if you want.) I've gotten a lot of comments on it, and most have been entirely lovely. A few dillwads have turned up, but not too many.
This guy though... he comments saying he'd like a similar one, but a different character, and how much would that be? I reply by saying that depending on the size and the style the price varies, and link to my price list.
He doesn't follow the link, he just says that he wants the exact same size as the one I just made, and how much will it be?
So I answer with the three-figures price. That he could have found without even scrolling down at that link, but whatever.
His response is to tell me that he could make one just like it for a two-figures cost! He totally could, he insists, just as good, the only reason he doesn't is that he hasn't got the time to do so.
At this point I honestly laughed out loud. And sweetly, politely, with utmost professionalism I refrained from saying "no shit Sherlock" and instead told him that yes, he was quite correct that the two-figure price he had named was what my materials cost, but of course this is my job and so of course I need to be paid for my time as well.
I would be FLOORED if I actually get a sale out of this.
Also it's probably a little arrogant of me, but I would also be pretty floored if he could actually make a plush as good as this. They are not as easy as they look, and I've had years of experience with getting to this skill level. There are certainly plush makers who are better than I am, (and many who do specific things that I fail completely at, like wire posed, or clothing for them, or whatever) but there aren't really that many of 'em.
Edit: I got a response that apologized if he had offended me (+1) and then explained that when he makes things, he charges just barely more than the cost of materials, because he likes to make people happy. With the charming subtext that I am a horrible, money-grubbing troll for not wanting people to be happy. (-100)
Look, pumpkin-sweetie-pie. It's nice that somebody else obviously pays your rent. That's lovely. Nobody else pays mine, I have to cover it myself. And my food, and all my medical expenses too, since this gig doesn't come with insurance. It would be lovely* if I could just charge the cost of things and make people happy, but this is the real world and I need to eat food, have a roof over my head, and get myself seen to when I'm sick. So I have to charge money for my time. This is how the world works.
Second edit: Now he is asking me for advice about how to make real money sewing. I guess on second thought he'd like in on that money-grubbing trollish action! I really can't give much advice to somebody who hasn't got any examples of their work visible, and who doesn't have any specific questions, other than "behave like a professional, and advertise." Probably not the kind of instant-business-success tips he was looking for.
*Actually while part of me would REALLY love to be able to just give my work away and make people happy, I'm not sure that's a good idea. My experience with giving away sketches leads me to believe that people don't value what they get for free, and if I handed plushes out to whoever asks, half of them would end up in a dumpster somewhere, or otherwise mistreated, because who cares, it was free. So even if I were wealthy I probably would still charge for them. I'd just make a lot more as presents for the friends I know do appreciate my work even when it's free, and a lot fewer for annoying customers.
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