Do Buyers (vs. makers) Get Ripped Off On Price?

[AtlantisDreamer]

I noticed something peculiar in terms of pricing for tails... Let's say you buy a tail at AquaTails. You'll spend $500+ for a 2mm Neoprene tail with a Finis monofin. You won't pay tax or shipping though. Now, if we take a look at The Mer Tailor, we see his tails are only about $2500, or so we think, right? He charges the same, if not MORE for the tax! And he charges for shipping as well. What's with all this? Neither what either of these two sellers are doing makes much sense. I went and looked up bulk purchasing prices for Silicone and and $2500 of tax plus the cost of tail is EXORBITANT! I can't be the first person to have noticed this, right?

[AtlantisDreamer]

I just looked at Neoprene sheets and even bought a couple samples of different material and the sites do not charge any tax, even for multiple 7ft sheets. So Mr. Mer Tailor, as lovely as his tails are, probably do not actually have a tax cost nor should us ladies be paying him thousands of dollars of tax... Sheesh. Here's a link to an example by the way - the price and tax is up in the right hand corner: https://themertailor.com/silicone-mermaid-tail

[Jessica]

Silicone tails are very expensive because they extremely labor intensive to make and make well. They require so many skills and a high level of competence. I think $2500 is a fair price considering the work involved. Unless you have made a silicone or latex tail, you really can't appreciate how much work they truly are. I'm just finishing my second silicone tail tonight and I've worked on it for two months. Furthermore, unless you are making a lot of tails at once, most tail makers are probably not buying silicone in bulk. It has an expiration date and fresh silicone is best.

At at a first glance, it does seem like a really high markup. You're really paying for skill here because it's not something that just anyone can do. Also, when you're thinking about cost don't forget the cost of molds, paintbrushes, buckets, paper towels, pigment, clay, clamps.....I could go on and on! You wouldn't believe how much money you spend on random supplies!

[Jessica]

I just looked at Neoprene sheets and even bought a couple samples of different material and the sites do not charge any tax, even for multiple 7ft sheets. So Mr. Mer Tailor, as lovely as his tails are, probably do not actually have a tax cost nor should us ladies be paying him thousands of dollars of tax... Sheesh. Here's a link to an example by the way - the price and tax is up in the right hand corner: https://themertailor.com/silicone-mermaid-tail

You wouldn't be paying thousands in tax. He charges state sales tax. The "ex tax $2575" means excluding tax. The price is $2729.50 including tax as I understand it.

[AtlantisDreamer]

OH! Well that would awesome then because I'd like to order one, I just don't want to pay a $2000 tax along with everything else.

[PearlieMae]

I just posted a question on his facebook asking what "ex tax" was. It's outrageous, whatever it is.

BUT...Far be it from me to sound like I am defending mertailor, you absolutely cannot judge the price of a tail based on the cost of silicone alone! I have nearly a hundred hours into making the sculpt of my tail fluke alone, and if I were charging someone an hourly wage to make this thing, it would be over five thousand dollars already, and I haven't even started on the body of the tail! For full silicone tailmaking, there is a significant investment in time, supplies, tools, etc., not to mention the learning curve in using all of these advanced materials and tools. Then you have to take into consideration the artistic ability of the tailmaker. If you think making a scale sheet is just gluing down some foam circles and making a fluke is dragging a fork through some clay, then by all means, save yourself a few bucks and splash around in a crappy tail. But if your are willing to compensate an artist to help realize your vision, then you never even factor in the cost if making a dream come true. There is a LOT more to a beautiful tail than slopping around a couple of buckets of silicone.

PS: EXCLUDING TAX makes sense! Too bad he didn't include the letter C, then I would have understood the abbreviation.

[Seatan]

Yeah tax will never be equal to the cost of an item--if it is then they are lying about it being tax, because no place has 100% tax. As for Mertailors prices, you are also paying for the "brand". Though he is not the favorite around here, he is well known and I know people who aren't into mermaids who know about him. So he can charge a little more for being well known. Even if his work is not always fabulous.

pearlie is right, though, about effort and hours--in fact, I am not sure tail makers charge enough. For all that work, all those hours, I would want to make more than fifteen hundred bucks after supplies. I mean, say you spend one week on a tail (after you have done all the original scale sheets and fluke mold). This is based off FinFolk who seem to be getting about four tails a month out right now. Your cost was, say $800. You charged $2500. So that's $1700 a tail. That is $6800 a month or $81,600 a year. Subtract what you have to pay in studio costs, electricity, that kind of stuff... Say $700 a month. That's $71,200 a year. FinFolk is two people, so that's $35,600 a year each. Now this is assuming that you can churn out four tails a month (an exhausting speed!) and that you will have at least 52 clients a year--which is unlikely. This is a TON of work for just $35,600 a year (at best). There are lots of other jobs out there which pay much better and take less work. I work a TON as a teacher, but I get summers off and I make over $50,000 a year. Just for the FinFolk girls to make fifteen thousand less, they would have to work full time churning out tail after tail. When you look at it from a business standpoint, you KNOW they must be doing it out of love for mermaiding, because it's not really worth it from a monetary standpoint, unless you are unable to find another job. So you gotta look at the prices like that--these people work hard and they have to make money!

[AtlantisDreamer]

Good points. Why isn't he very popular? Do his tails not come out as nice looking as his airbrushed, Photoshopped pictures? I might add however that his Photoshopping is quite impressive... Some of the most seamless editing I've ever seen in my experience as a retired professional model.

[Mermaid Oshun]

a tail can not be made in a week by one person though unless you're working 24/7. Anyone who can must be paying several assistants who don't sleep.So all the calculations are completely flawed. A month or 2 of labor does not come for free in this universe. Maybe in an alternate universe...not even in Asia

I have already DONATED hundreds of hours of labor in each of 3 tails Im working on.

[Mermaid Oshun]

Silicone tails are very expensive because they extremely labor intensive to make and make well. They require so many skills and a high level of competence. I think $2500 is a fair price considering the work involved. Unless you have made a silicone or latex tail, you really can't appreciate how much work they truly are. I'm just finishing my second silicone tail tonight and I've worked on it for two months. Furthermore, unless you are making a lot of tails at once, most tail makers are probably not buying silicone in bulk. It has an expiration date and fresh silicone is best.

At at a first glance, it does seem like a really high markup. You're really paying for skill here because it's not something that just anyone can do. Also, when you're thinking about cost don't forget the cost of molds, paintbrushes, buckets, paper towels, pigment, clay, clamps.....I could go on and on! You wouldn't believe how much money you spend on random supplies!
see above.try one week Painting before touchups. Then if you don't have SKILL it's all for naught. AquaTails are fabric tails for $500 btw. Not even latex much less costly silicone

[AtlantisDreamer]

Well it can take him two months to do a full Silicone tail - and with all the extra stuff I want, he said it might take him three months.

[Seatan]

a tail can not be made in a week by one person though unless you're working 24/7. Anyone who can must be paying several assistants who don't sleep.So all the calculations are completely flawed. A month or 2 of labor does not come for free in this universe. Maybe in an alternate universe...not even in Asia

I have already DONATED hundreds of hours of labor in each of 3 tails Im working on.

GP, I am sorry if I offended you, as I said I was basing the calculations off of FinFolk's cost (AFTER the initial investments of time and money) and based on the four tails per month that they are currently churning out. They do manage to do it, probably because the molds are all made. In this case there ARE two people working on their tails and they ARE doing about one a week/ one every week and a half, which is why I divided the amount made in half-- to show what each person makes. The calculations were meant as a DEFENSE for why tailmakers should charge even more than they do, because even in the very best circumstances they don't make a ton of money for the work they put in. That was the point of my calculations, and they are based off a real situation--I am on the waiting list so I've kept a close eye on the timing of the tails they put out-- so I wouldn't say they were flawed (though, like I said, they do not include the initial hours spent making scale sheets and testing methods and making molds). The numbers are meant to show that you guys put a TON in and don't get nearly as much back as you deserve, not the other way around. I am sorry if that didnt come across, I thought I was clear.

[Seatan]

Good points. Why isn't he very popular? Do his tails not come out as nice looking as his airbrushed, Photoshopped pictures? I might add however that his Photoshopping is quite impressive... Some of the most seamless editing I've ever seen in my experience as a retired professional model.

Some people have had some bad experiences (very bad) with his quality. You can find tons about it in the threads on him.

[AtlantisDreamer]

Thanks Seavanna, I'll go do a search.

[Kumori Kitsune]

yeah its way cheaper to make your stuff if you can silicone is harder to work with. all my tails so fare are fabric and I've made all of mine.

[AtlantisDreamer]

Oh that's cool... I wonder if I can find koi fabric. I can use my current skin to do the measurements and either have my mom sew it with the machine or teach me to do it.