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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 5998376" data-attributes="member: 336">The cost of the minis and the shipping is peanuts compared to the cost of producing the molds for plastic.That is where Reaper will recoup all their costs, and make their money.  The molds for plastic are not like the ones for metal.  The rubber molds for metal have a limited amount of uses, before they have to be remade, but they are somewhat "cheap" to produce.  With plastic that is not the case, basically making the molds is very expensive, relatively, but you can use them almost indefinitely.The problem right now is that the price of tin, used for the casting of pewter miniatures, has gone through the roof.  This makes the manufacturing of metal miniatures expensive, and the consumer eats that cost almost directly.  When the consumer is presented with an option for a cheaper alternative at the same quality level, it's almost a no-brainer to go for the cheaper alternative.  Enter plastic.  The problem with plastic is that the initial up front cost is very expensive, so the consumer eats that cost and plastic does not drop in price until a later time.However, if Reaper is able to subsidize the cost of mold production then they can produce miniatures at a much cheaper cost, and pass that to the consumer/investor.  Right now the people putting their money on the Kickstarter are basically investing in the future of Reaper Plastic.  Their return on investment is being payed out in miniatures, which Reaper will be able to mass produce at a relatively cheap price because the cost of the molds has been subsidized by the investors.For the foreseeable future Reaper does not have to pay to produce new molds for the Bones line, and they get to produce a much more extensive line of quality plastic miniatures that the consumer wants.  They make their money in volume and time.  The upfront cost of the molds (the expensive investment) is covered.  From that point on, the production costs start getting much cheaper.  They can also capitalize in volume because they get to put larger orders for plastic, which drops the price even more.  When they eventually move the production to their own facilities they make even more.It's good to be on the "ground floor" of an opportunity like this.  Reaper wanted enough money to produce molds for 30 additional miniatures.  They were only asking for $30K.  They have blown the doors of that by an incredibly significant factor.Even though there's a large amount of people that are investing right now does not mean that there is not an even more significant amount of people that are not investing and will continue to buy Reaper Plastic for years to come, and over time the market continues to be refreshed with retail consumers.</blockquote>

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