How much is too much to pay for a single die?

If it's a complex cover plate die I'll spend that much, especially if it's really versatile and something I love. Probably not much more than that, and I'm less likely to buy anything lately. It would also have to be from a company that I want to support. I just checked the MFT site which I've purchased from before and their "cover up" dies are $28-31. I don't think I have spent that much and don't think I would at this point.

For a flower, probably not.

Personally, I’d look for it on AliExpress. It’s worth the wait for me if I can find it for $4. If I can’t find it there, then I’d make the decision to wait for a sale or buy.  The company selling is a factor too.

What die is it? If it’s something I have, I’d be happy to send you a few.

I would, however I most often put something pricey like that in my wishlist on the company website and wait for a sale. At the very least the sales cover sales tax.

I do have it and I got it at AE.  Here is the link: www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804099142268.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.0.0.4875f19cCjKits&gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt

This is a great reliable store that ships pretty fast.  They recently listed a ton of the SSS dies.  If you pm me your address and what colors you are looking for I will gladly put some in the mail to you.

If you love it and can see using it a lot. Go for it!!!

It doesn't matter how many cheaper versions you buy you will always want this.
Ask me how I know it .

Usually around $20, and that's for a cover plate or a coordinating set with a lot of pieces. I won't buy the single word dies that look like they're made from a font and go for $15 or more.

I have paid more than that for a set of Anna Griffin dies. I only buy them on sale, but even on sale, they're really expensive. I do love them, though!

I've noticed that too - used to be my AliEx orders were ~1.50-3$ Can per item. Now it's more like 3.50-5$ per set. Size doesn't seem to matter as much when it comes to pricing as it did pre-Covid. That is, a tiny set of dies is often a similar price to a medium one, even if they have similar shipping costs.

Some things seem to have come down though? I remember alphabet sets being priced much higher than most other sets of comparable dimensions, just because they were letters. Now they're more in line with everything else. Similarly really big sets haven't gone up much if at all - cover plates and full size nesting sets are still around the 4-6$ mark, which makes them more attractive now.

And it feels like the search feature has gotten far worse. There's no sort by new anymore, and it keeps throwing in a ton of items you've previously viewed even if they're already bought or in your cart. There's some URL trickery that gets around it somewhat but still, I should be able to run a simple search within a category without having to resort to it.

I've had a lot more quality fails too. Just got in a bunch of large orders and I'm having to request refunds for more than the usual ~20% that have some kind of issue. Despite all that it's still by far the better deal especially for international crafters. At least refunds are easy.

I've had fails from both 'new' stores, which aren't actually new just sellers doing the good ol' shell game, and long established ones. Granted I am very exacting about checking everything when a new die arrives.

It gets photographed & compared to the promised dimensions and finished picture, every single edge is examined for flaws like gaps, missing poke holes, and distortions. Then I run it with paper to check the cut quality, and assemble the parts if it's a layering die to make sure they match. Only if it passes every test do I clean up the dies and add them to my collection.

It's frustrating when a seller fights you on a claim, even when you clearly show there's problems with what they've sent. I find that AliExpress almost always finds in my favour though, mostly because the sellers don't have any evidence to counter clear pictures of things that are flaws or don't match what they advertised.

I've had a few quality problems even with PiggyCraft and AddyCraft, but they do tend to be a bit better than an average random store. I'd imagine it's because they pull products that get disputed for quality claims, as they should.

I've wanted to buy a cover plate die for over a year now, but it's $34.99, so I haven't.
That just seems crazy pricing. It's Stampin' Up so it won't ever go on sale.
Maybe when it retired I can get it online for cheaper from a demonstrator needing to sell it.

I would agree that for most designs, especially geometric type ones that no one can claim to have exclusivity on, you can probably find another company selling something similar for less.