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Originally Posted by jedi_don
OC
I think you need to bump up your cost estimates. Re-usable cases need to be shipped from Sideshow HQ to the printers (assuming that Sideshow is not doing these in house) and to the artist and back to Sidehsow. Plus you make no mention of compensating the artist for their time. No reason for the artist to sign these for free as time is money. I'd say double your high end estimate is probably about what it will take.
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First off, I can absolutely guarantee that Sideshow is printing these prints in house. Again, that much I can absolutely guarantee. They have MORE than enough artistic talent there to be able to pull off printing that has become so easy that a first year art student could learn how to do it in a couple of hours tops. Hell, they could get the guy mopping the floor at night to do it if they really wanted. Outsourcing the printing would be very expensive and given how much it would cut into thier profit margins, it would be one of the single dumbest decisions Sideshow has ever made, even if they didn't have the massive amount of talent that they currently have in house and especially given how cheap high end digital giclee printers have become these days. 10 years ago, Sideshow would likely have outsourced the printing. Today? Not a chance. And my initial estimate in regards to shipping cost was already a bit on the high side.
And the whole issue regarding the artists and thier time is not a big issue at all because if Sideshow was going to go with a print model that had real signatures, that would all be worked out in the initial contract for making the print and adding a signature would not add much to the cost of the prints. If it did, there is no way you would see companies like Aspen or Elysium Treasures selling prints for as little as they do at shows. Adding a real signature would simply be part of the deal and I would actually be shocked if it altered the cost at all. 99% of the limited edition prints on the market come with real signatures so its simply expected by the vast majority of artists that produce them anyways.
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Originally Posted by Tbolt
So if you double the estimate OC gave, you are talking, what, $8 a print? Make it a cool $10 for additional artist comp. You are telling me folks wouldn't pay $100 instead of $90 for these prints with a real signature? I would have about 10 more of them if they cost more but had a real sig, instead of regretting the ones I already have and not buying any others..
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Even if it was $8-$10 a print, which I guarantee it wouldn't be, Sideshow is making such a MASSIVE profit margin on these prints that they could simply keep the price the same and they would still be making a HUGE profit off of these prints.
And again, the one thing people are failing to incorporate into this discussion is the fact that if Sideshow decided to change course and go with real signatures, thier sales would increase by a signfiicant margin as many of the people, like myself, that stopped buying thier prints due to the fake signature would start buying again. Remember, Sideshow slowly raised the edition sizes from the very start and were at 600-750 by the time the news broke about the fake signatures and even at the 600-750 levels, the prints were still selling out incredibly fast. I firmly believe that had this issue never come to light or had Sideshow gone with real signatures from the start, its very likely Sideshow could have gotten as high as 1000 with edition sizes before reaching the market cap.
So again, even if it was $8-$10 per print and Sideshow decided to cover the cost and not raise the price, they would still likely see a significant rise in profits simply from the increase in sales they would see from people like myself coming back and buying prints again.
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OC might be a lot of things, long winded, wordy, verbose, but on this, he is also 100% correct. Mind boggling that SS won't see that collectors demand/crave an actual signature, and that the facsimile's mere presence cheapens the product.
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You forgot handsome, bold, unique, gracious, spirited, charming, and amazing, but I forgive you.
In all seriousness, whats even more mind boggling is the idea that Sideshow believes an automated/fake siganture makes Sideshow's prints unique, in a positive way. At least thats what 2 different CS reps told me. Since words can't adequately describe just how crazy that opinion really is and they say a picture is worth a thousand words, well....
