Do you buy things that you need or things that you want?
Drogo Nazhur
Posts: 1,164
in The Commons
If I need something, I will pay full price for it. If I want something, I'll only buy it if it is on sale.
How about you?
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That's usually how I operate, too. It's frustrating to put a scene together and realize you need an asset, go to the store and find it's full price, and not inexpensive either. This helps fuel my spending mentality during sales; "I don't need this now but someday I definitely might, so better to get it now."
My imagination loves that, my bank account surely doesn't.
And for anything in the purely want category, if I feel it's a good price, I'll get it.
To be truthful, I don't really feel that I need anything in the store, it's all a case of want. I'm only a hobbyist, with no commercial purpose to my purchases.
I've don't believe I ever paid full price for anything except my first Annual PC membership back in 2010. I buy more shinies than I probably ought to at the simple 30% Intro price, but mostly I wait for a good deep discount in a sale. Sometimes More often than I should I will buy things I have almost no use for if it's at a really really deep discount (I'm talking 85% off or better and/or under $2) - but only if it looks pretty! (I usually find a use for these eventually)
I have no commercial interest either but I author online digital comics (always FREE of charge ... hint, hint) and sometimes I need something for a particular story arc.
I don't often get hit with a *need* anymore. Sometimes there are things holding me up, and I'll put them on a bookmark in a folder as a Priority 1 asset and wait for a sale. The thing is, at this point most things holding me up are only holding me up from a certain idea or subset of ideas, and because I'm a hobyist I can go "meh, I'll work on something else until it comes down."
When I was first starting out I paid higher prices than I was comfortable with for several things, but, like... I had no hair, and my characters needed hair. And appropriate outfits. And without that G9 add-on that gives you the adjustment sliders to customize your characters, I was utterly dead in the water.
Nowadays if I pay more for something, it's most likely because I was struggling with something in particular that was impacting my workflow or ability to get things to turn out... lighting, for example. But it's something where the price to me was worth the reduction in frustration it would bring.
I try to focus on things I know or suspect I'll use. No matter how pretty something is, if I can't see how it would ever fit in my narrative, it doesn't go in the cart. However, I have a lot of utilities I haven't used yet because they were a good price and I know at some point I'm going to do snow/rain/fog/whatever. And food, I probably have way too much food, but it's nice to have choices when I suddenly need to stock the fridge or set out a dinner.
As a hobbyist, I don't need anything. As a collector of items that spark joy in my heart or a treasured PA's work, well I have a habit of buying when they arrive in the store. Or I did. Right now, my retirement incomes are subject to the whims of minions, so I am restricting my appreciation to wishlisting. (This includes buying necessities now too. Especially eggs.) If a DAZ+ freebie is released that is not a duplicate of five other versions, I will download it.
For extremely expensive items I will hold off for a good deal in normal times.
For me, too, the concept of me needing that asset is more about the fact I must finish the scene I've enjoyed working on. As I'm also a hobbyist, it's all about scratching that creative itch. Same with @Silvergirl where I used to spend a lot more in the beginning because of a lack of stuff in general. Now I have all sorts of things and I prioritize uniqueness. Sometimes I look at a product and I see what I can do with it, or how I can use it to really add to a scene I already have. To quote The Big Lebowski, "It really tied the room together, man."
So in a technical sense, to satisfy an artistic impulse, I NEED it.
It's a hobby for me, so it's always a matter of wanting a luxury.
As to prices and the purchase/wait decision: Given Daz's pricing strategy and business model, it makes little sense to pay full price for anything. That assumes the concept of "full price" is meaningful with Daz's constant stream of coupon codes, bundles, flash sales, freebies, etc., which undermine the significance of "full price". Generally, I have the patience to avoid big ticket (by Daz standard) purchases, and wait until items are deeply discounted in some way. Most months, my average spend per item (even including the Premier subscription) is under $4.00.
I have mastered the art of convincing myself that - If there's something I want bad enoiugh, it's a need.
When I first stumbled across the Daz Store, I had no idea about sales and how they work. I would just search for an item and (usually) buy the one at the highest discount.
I have the bad habit of looking at stuff and thinking, "There's a random single scene somewhere in this vast tome that I am writing where that could be used..." OK, no, that's the reality - that's not the thought that crosses my mind at the time I put it in my cart. I can literally picture that paragraph, that tiny moment somewhere, and there's a little tingle of enthusiasm about illustrating the moment, if it's already written, or writing that scene, if it still only exists in my imagination. And then, I have more stuff to test, to add to the already large pile of new stuff that I haven't tested yet, so in the end I neither get that moment illustrated nor written.
But yeah, it seemed like a "need" at the time.
To be fair to myself, I am pretty good at separating "needs" from "wants" the closer it gets to retail price. But when there's a crazy sale, I suddenly find myself blurring the line between "want" and "need."
I've been locked into a single fictional universe for a few years now, so I try to restrict my purchases to things that would fit in with that universe, but occasionally I do see something I just have to have for the right price.
I don't know the distinction between need and want with DAZ. I suppose I only bought things I wanted. But now I don't buy anything at all. I guess I have everything I want. On the other hand, I want HID Ginger but I won't buy it. Maybe I bought what I needed. I know all of this made sense.
Mostly what I need, when I have an idea for a project. I have already, what I want. Content creators' ideas and my ideas of content, that I want, are usually lightyears apart.
yes
I tend to buy stuff I can't create or find for free on legitimate sites (so free stuff sources are largely limited to DAZ & Renderosity to be on the safe side).
I can't say I ever 'need' anything, to me that implies a risk to life or limb due to an absence. So, it's all a matter of 'want'. If the product is utterly captivating, then I'm more likely to pay at a high price. In the right scene almost anything can look wonderful, it's simply a matter of having the right inspiration and having a great deal of imagination - and it's the latter where I so often fail. DS is so incredibly capable that the supply of 'imagination' need not be in such abundance as it did in Poser 3 or 4 days, with the gap being filled by products.
Basically, I will often baulk at buying props, because I can often create them. I find some amazing characters & clothes are available for free, and a tiny amount of hair. So, purchases tend to fill the gaps not filled by freebies. But 'buying' is a bit of a hard word in my dictionary.
Regards,
Richard
Obviuously, I buy things that I want...
Same as you, I bought a lot of stuff that I thought would come in handy. But in reality, I don’t have enough time to use it, and I change my mind in the end, so the things I bought are not useful.
But what you really don't need to buy are the things you buy for special discounts, such as punch cards for every day in December...
For the question isn't "want or need" but "is it worth it for me", as rendering is just a hobby for me and I am on a small monthly budget for this hobby. Makes the choices easier, imho, at least for me.
The last few years before AI took my animation job, I was buying anything that I thought I could potentially need if it was at a good price, but also if I just wanted it. Now, I'm only buying things I know I'm going to need for my personal projects, which I have the majority of that anyways from the previous few years of buying a lot of random things on sale that were potentially needed.
I buy the stuff I like, think I can use, hope I can use, would like to use - And I usually buy it when it's a good deal!
At this point it's all want, but the shader materials qualities are better than ever, and the base models all the morphs are based on too.
Back in 2016 it was a need that brought me here. Then the purchases muddled and included wants. Then it resorted back to need with a mindzone of: I don't have a need, but I will create one to justify the purchase. But these pastm few years, more times than not, after the newness wore off, it was for a need. BUT i still buy what I don't need if I absolutely love it.
100% of my purchases have been what I wanted on the spot. If it looked irresistable to me, I bought it. Every single time.
I rarely NEED anything, unless I have a render concept in my head and I can't find anything I can use that works for my concept. But largely my spending is all want. Often I'll see a cool piece of costume and immediately have an idea how I want to use it. Sometimes I grab something that fits my definition of "cool" and then try to get around to doing a render with it. And then there are my few favorite artists. Anything new from them immediately goes into the wishlist and if it goes on sale at a decent price I nab it. I tend to be patient for the most part, but sometimes I see something I find so awesome I gotta get it. I've been at this over 20 years, I remember the days when new products came out at $2 for a few days to spur interest. Man I miss that. I splurge when I can, but I'm still cautious. The Install Manager makes it really easy to grab something, install it, throw it on a character, and see where it takes me. So that has spurred extra spending every so often, the idea that I can buy something, and have it ready for use in seconds can be like being a kid in a candy store.
I buy what I think I'll use. Like someone mentioned further up, that may not be an immediate need but more of a "I don't want to pay full price when I come to need this". I've a clear story in my head - and settings for that story down on paper - and I'm grinding towards rendering those into a series of visual novels. It will take me a long time to complete my work, but the majority of my purchases fit somewhere onto my production timeline.
Sometimes, I'll also make purchases because I'm curious about a product or for some downtime playing and having fun. I'm more likely to buy those items at small discounts, but the items that are useful for my story universe would bankrupt me if I didn't play the store game as if I were running a business.
I always buy stuff that I think looks cool, is well done, with the back-riding thought of the type of render I can use them in. A lot of stuff I buy for the props that can be used in many situations, same with clothes. BUT- check my signature
+1000, this exactly. If I can't get the things I need (defined as: required to make the story pictures happen) at a significant discount, there'd be no point in my doing this at all because I wouldn't have the money to pull it off.
If I ever get independently wealthy someday, though, I'd buy whatever caught my eye the second it caught it. And it would be glorious.
...you win the thread.
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For myself, being retired and on a meagre pension, "need" wins over want, and sometimes those "needs" end up stashed on the wishlist until I can get them at a decent discount. Like most here I am a hobbyist but I do a few commissions now and then for "pocket change". as well as for my story projects and tabletop RP gaming. If there is something really interesting that is a "new release" (rare) I will snap it up as long as it isn't over 20 USD (which is my usual cart limit).
Unfortunately It seems that when I had more money, items here were much less expensive than today Even then I was somewhat "choosy" as I was in a job that didn't pay very well. When my Daz+ membership finally gives out in July, not sure what I'll do. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
The other deciding issue is that I really need to upgrade my 13 (going on 14) year old system (to Win 11 requirements) which is a "big ticket" expense on my income. With RL costs continually going up, it has been more and more difficult to put anything aside so maybe letting my Daz+ membership lapse might help.
but do you ALSO need them?
I'm a hobbiest and a collector; if there's an artist that I like and does great work.. I want to collect everything they create....I think too that one day, I will use it when I have my own side gig...maybe gaming or novels