Sounds like an interesting plan. Hopefully it goes well, I'm sure some folks will like this idea. :o

Spread the word :)

Awesome. I know someone who'd want to be informed - so I sent him the info. Plus the price difference is fair. If I were to say 'nuu, I already ordered!', I'd almost ask that the new price be higher than $630. In my estimation, you are keeping costs as low as you can, and passing that on to us. :)

Well, we're not out to gouge people. We really marked the price up to make pre-ordering cheaper and to encourage folks to do so. We're not going to be doing direct sales like this for each project. Just the big ones, really.

How is it that people can buy these things at a seriously high price, its insane!

I don't see why $620 for our labor, materials and other costs is insane. These take a lot of work to concoct, build and all that. Fursuits cost $2000, so, lets put $620 in context. Fur and materials for your average suit is about $300 in cost. Where does that $1700+ markup come from? What are you paying for? You're paying for the builders creativity and ability. Can we not ask the same?

Sorry, I'm just saying thats all

Oh, well, it depends on the priority those who buy them put on it. That's why some of us pay what may seem to be outrageous prices. For me, the most expensive inflatable I bought was a one-off - that's bigger than this dragon, but not nearly as strong. It died a couple years ago, and I brought it to Puffy with it in my arms where he told me, "It's dead, Jim." The one-off wasn't even an original design, and was $900 before S&H. The prices are very high, compared to say pool toys or advertising inflatables. For custom inflatables though, the prices are kept as low as they can be. :)

That sounds so sad! I'm sorry. :'(

I totally agree with this--some fursuit builders (no names!) are making an undue killing on their products. D:

I'd be surprised if their hourly works out anywhere near what a plumber or mechanic (Or I) would charge you per hour for their time. Building something to someone's specifications is time-consuming and difficult work. There are plenty of risks involved, and people are unpredictable. I wouldn't begrudge anyone their living. If a businessman isn't fair, competition will move in and eat his lunch.

Speaking from my personal experience with Puffy, having the chance to make something I thought would never be possible was a priceless opportunity. Turns out not only could someone put a price on it, it was quite a reasonable one at that.

PuffyPaws is not the only company that can do just that, you know.

He's the only one I've done business with. I read up on the various people providing that service and decided on him largely for his excellent reputation. I can't speak to the others, but it was great doing business with him, which is why I'm doing my next project through him too.

It's a shame that Merek gets the bad rap that he does--if you can overcome the hurdle of waiting for email responses, it's easy to work with him.

This is just me, but I greatly prefer Merek's (Alexia's) designs over Puffy and Rawr's.

I haven't talked to him, and hope my comments are not taken as a personal slight or insult. I did my research and I picked the company that I thought would meet my specific requirements the best. I'd encourage anyone looking to have a custom toy made to do the same, perhaps their choice would be different, perhaps not. I'm also not ruling out doing business with anyone at any particular point in the future.

It seems to me that everyone competing in this space right now could stand some improvement in their business processes. Some things may not be possible to control, but many variables are. A good company must learn from its mistakes and its past experiences in order to provide better service to their customers. Ultimately, happy customers are the key to continued survival in a marketplace. My tech support training in the '90's taught me that unhappy customers will have 10 times more of a negative impact on your company than happy customers will have a positive impact.

I could take an analytical look at this particular market and highlight the problems. Some you just have to live with, like the turn around time from design submission to toy delivery. Some maybe you can solve, for example by making smaller toys that are more generally appealing so you can drive the price down with larger runs and fewer materials. You can skimp on quality to drive the price down, too, but I wouldn't want to do that. My anthro fox was significantly less expensive than this dragon (being significantly smaller) but it's still a lot more expensive than some $20 Wal-mart pool toy, and its quality reflects that.

At some point in the future it'd be interesting to try to get a design down to a price-point closer to $100, but the turn-around time discourages experimenting. That's why you're not likely to ever see a house-sized inflatable anime tentacle monster from me, as much fun as THAT would be to design and market...

I agree with you; I think the market for custom inflatable toys as a whole needs improvement. Merek needs better advertising, PuffyPaws could try some 'Buy It Now' listings on eBay, etc...the list goes on. I think the community should focus more on the positive aspects of having the ability to get these toys, rather than constantly criticizing the two major providers. With the project that I am working on (Inflatable Balto), we're shooting for a price of less than $200 per toy, though Balto will be smaller than the seemingly industry-standard six and seven foot sizes, at actual life size for a wolf. Hopefully, if I can ever get a decent job and save up some dough, I will be creating (and marketing) a toy based on my own character.

i think it's pretty cheap actually. i can't afford it, but after you figure in all the materials, the research and development, design, and then actual construction it's a pretty decently priced item.

and puffypaws took the words right out of my mouth :x

I once bought something more expensive once and it was due to working hard and saving cash.

I sent in my form.

It's worth every penny of that price for a serious quality product. This dragon is immense. It is majestic. It demands to be ridden. I could never do that with inflatables before. But I can climb aboard this guy and not worry that he'll pop because my fat ass it on top.

Get it. If you've always wanted a huge ride-on inflatable beast and you've never gotten one before, this is the one for you.

These will sell like hotcakes! If they're not gone already. xD

glad you reopened ordering! Placed my order! These look freaking amazing Puffy!

Thanks! ^_^

Would if i had the cash x3 ah well, good luck with this new thing. hope it works out

Can you make payments on it it? or it has to be paid in full?

We prefer full payment..we can wait a week for payment though.

Ok...as long as work doesn't screw me over...

Order sent.

Thanks for making this offer - I think you'll get plenty of interest from people. Let's just hope that they pay attention! I'll do my best to spread the word to anyone I know who wanted one.

I'll be notifying others about it!

If I had the spare cash, I'd pick one up myself! EF calls, though :)

I have placed another order, hoping it's not too late.