Value of Skins + Ressurection

[viblym]

I've seen a few posts discussing the business practices of Klei's Merchandising and the impact of resurrected skins so I wanted to go into a complete tangent about it. It's not a hate rant or even an angry one so please don't be dissuaded from reading if you're worried about that sort of thing.

Merch and Additional Goodies
Klei has been selling merchandise for several years at this point and it is becoming more common among new physical products they release that they come alongside things like Spools, Klei Points, and even unique Skins. These are meant to act as "bonuses" to your initial purchase, like a unique Deerclops backpack skin that comes with a Deerclops plush. These Proof of Purchase skins are / were exclusive to purchasing a physical product and not available elsewhere (Be that in game via spools, purchasable via online shop, etc.).

Resurrected Skins and Accessibility
As of the past handful of years a few products on the Klei Store with Proof of Purchase skins attached have been retired, meaning that the product itself and the skin it comes with are completely unavailable. In order to remedy this Klei has opted to introduce a new rarity and method of obtaining these Proof of Purchase skins called "Resurrected" skins. I do wholly believe that this is a good decision Klei has made. There is no fabricated limited supply of these skins, and they will continue to be available. For a variety of reasons many people could not purchase physical merchandise- Sometimes the product itself is too expensive, sometimes the shipping rates are too high, sometimes the product cannot be shipped to certain regions at all. Having a completely digital alternative that is not bound by the limitations and costs of transit allows people who may not of been able to get the Skin, to Get The Skin. It is sad that many people have to miss out on physical merchandise in the first place, but that is a different topic entirely. A skin sold for a fraction of the price of the initial "bundle" it came with is far more affordable to people.

Resale Value
Even before certain products went out of stock, and before they were retired entirely, there has always been a market for reselling products. People buy things for different reasons, some people may have wanted a Plushie, some people may have just wanted the Skin, and because these come together, people have taken the opportunity to sell their "excess". Often times someone would resell the skin / plush on their own at a reduced price from the initial Klei Store value, and because the price is already discounted- this may inadvertently create a more "affordable" option for people, should they want only one of the items. Purchasing a Spider Plush being resold on a website like Ebay for 60% of the initial price might put it in in a more accessible range for people to purchase, especially if they have no interest in the skin. It might even create a scenario where someone might purchase the product exclusively to resell its components at over 50% of the products initial value for profit (not that it is effective or a common occurrence of course).

Thanks to the limited nature of retired physical products, this means that the product is far more finite- and it is entirely within the hands of resellers to decide what they want to price this now limited product at, inflating the price significantly for profit. This puts people who wanted either object involved in a situation where they will have to fork out significantly more money for something they want just because it is not being manufactured anymore, and their desire to own said product is being used as a price point against them. 

In Corey's own words (Klei Developer):

Quote

"...Basically if you can't buy the thing at the original MSRP price any more, we are looking for a way to bring back the digital component when there are no plans to make more of the physical product it was tied to. This is important to me to figure out. I don't want people buying physical things at crazy prices on the grey market / eBay, just to get a digital thing and maybe get scammed in the process." 

(Link to the whole comment since it's a good read and also has additional info on some upcoming Merch as well as the decision to collaborate with Youtooz)

Value as a Consumer
When it comes to ANY product, the value is completely within the hands of the consumer. A vendor can set a price, but if a consumer does not purchase it, then it is clear that it is not worth the price that it was listed for, if it had value to the consumer that was worth the money spent on it- it would've been purchased. The greatest amount of control and input YOU have as a consumer is your money, product approval is evident in how profitable it is- They say "put your money where your mouth is" for a reason. This is not exclusive to big corporations, those people on second-hand websites reselling products at an increased value are expecting you to justify making that exchange. They can list prices all day but if nobody is willing to purchase it for that much, then it does not have that much value.

Individualistic value is also important to take into account- some people have more money, some people can justify making larger purchases because everything is a matter of perspective. If you have chosen to purchase one of these products second-hand, that is how much money you have decided to associate with the product. This is where the "Crabs in a Bucket" allegory starts to come in- people that have spent more money buying one of these products as resale might find themselves upset when their perception of their product's value is estimated to be lower than what they spent on it. It may be a sore topic to imagine that they could have saved their money, then they start to become insistent that they were right- that however much money they decided to spend on the product is the "correct" amount, which simply isn't the case. 

Limited Luxuries
As they are not a necessity, all of this merchandise is considered a Luxury- something that you do not need that is exclusively to provide a sense of joy or satisfaction. The only difference between a Luxury Watch and a Luxury Figurine is the price point. The thing about these Luxuries is that they can get expensive, especially when the exclusivity of it is brought into the equation. It is a common misconception that people may make that just because something is limited, that it has more value. If you have gone out of your way to purchase something second-hand and you believe that whatever price it will be in a few months or years should increase from when you have purchased it- you have made a monetary investment. And much like an Expensive Watch or the Stock Market- you can only make educated guesses on what the value of that object is going to be. You are never going to reliably be correct, because the actual value of what you buy is always going to be in the hands of the consumer. If someone does not want it, it will not have value. If purchasing limited objects and reselling them for a higher price point was reliable, everyone would be doing it, and everyone would be making a LOT of money, but it's not. Especially not on a small scale when it comes to video game figurines, plushes, and skins. 

Why are you buying it?
Are you buying it with the intents to generate profit? Are you buying it to look cool? Are you buying it to feel included? Or are you buying it to make yourself happy. Are you buying it because you know that it is something you want to have, and are willing to spend the money you think it's worth to have. If seeing someone purchase something for 10$ that you estimated to be worth 60$ upsets you when it makes them happy, what are you doing for yourself? Was it really for you or was it for your own profit. Do you really think at the end of the day that something should be made inaccessible for others just because you want to line your pockets? If you really care so much about looking cool with limited products- Proof of Purchase skins still have a unique rarity, and you can always put a Item Showcase on your Steam profile. But really, why do things that make you happy have to be expensive?

The Plushes are still limited
At the end of the day Klei is not manufacturing things like the Crabbit or the Mandrake plush. The resurrected skins are just an alternative, and by nature of being a digital product, they aren't going to be around forever either. Klei could very easily create and manipulate their own market of merchandise for their community just to generate profits, but they don't, because they don't make these products just to make money. I feel like people take how communicative Klei are as developers for granted, and this isn't me being a suck-up or anything, I can tell that somebody cares. 

It's your money
That being said- if you don't like the Youtooz, don't feel pressured to buy them just to get the skin. Don't buy a Funko Pop just to get the skin, don't make poor financial decisions just because you're scared of missing out, don't do it for profit. Just do it for yourself- or maybe even a friend. Everyone is a consumer no matter what, you decide your emotional stakes in this. Peace and love forever 🌈🧑‍🤝‍🧑☀️💞

Edited July 7, 2025 by viblym

[Evelo]

Hell yeah! I got my plushies and winter hats because I wanted them. I wear my winter hats now that I actually live in a climate with proper winters and I love them dearly. The pink/purple one matches my hoodie perfectly. 

I don't like the hard plastic of YouTooz or Funkos so I didn't get them, no biggie. Focus on the physical product imo, not the digital thing. Artificial scarcity isn't something to fret about.

[gaymime]

you said it better than i ever could!

[RexySeven]

15 hours ago, viblym said:

But really, why do things that make you happy have to be expensive?

Some people just do be like that, you gotta brag about how expensive your inventory is to elevate yourself socially among other players (most people don't even care about your items). 

Good and very informative post on the subject. 

[cybers2001]

7 hours ago, RexySeven said:

Some people just do be like that, you gotta brag about how expensive your inventory is to elevate yourself socially among other players (most people don't even care about your items). 

Good and very informative post on the subject. 

I don’t think that’s what it is. I think people like collections with scarcity. If every skin in the game costed $0, then everyone would have every skin, and it wouldn’t be a thing to collect anymore.

[hhh2]

On 7/7/2025 at 4:21 PM, viblym said:

Do you really think at the end of the day that something should be made inaccessible for others just because you want to line your pockets? If you really care so much about looking cool with limited products- Proof of Purchase skins still have a unique rarity, and you can always put a Item Showcase on your Steam profile. But really, why do things that make you happy have to be expensive?

I thought this thread was unbiased until I read this.

[NoKrampusSack]

Great post honestly.

Thing is I get where people coming from because my collectibles dont do much besides just sit there
However the quality on the tenth anniversary t-shirt is awesome I wear it like all the time

So it’s like “oh I kinda feel invalidated because 40% of the reason I bought these was the skins” 
But on the other hand I just have glommer in my room at all times that I can just mess around with

But with Klei merch you also get awesome skins and a great product too
I guess I can feel a little insulted about people getting skins for much cheaper since I have the actual crab pack 
But at the same time, funko pop skins 

genuinely never again and i do hope that going forward klei start releasing resurrected skin packs at reasonable times (minus the funko ones for obvious reasons)
because waiting like 5 years for like the new youtooz skins to be purchasable isnt fun and does genuinely add to the FOMO mindset 

the Wurt and Webber youtooz are already sold out and the new figurines are Chinese exclusive meaning you cant get them at all unless you go to/are in China

with that being said, I'm glad klei is doing resurrected skins seriously they are a great alternative to those who want the digital product but aren't willing to spend a lot more money to get the physical ones included.

[Valase]

Klei annoucing the Wickerbottom figurine after all those threads breaks my knees

[Johnny_Waffles]

56 minutes ago, Valase said:

Klei annoucing the Wickerbottom figurine after all those threads breaks my knees

There's also a wx figure as well.

[Kaioh]

On 7/7/2025 at 5:21 PM, viblym said:

Why are you buying it?
Are you buying it with the intents to generate profit? Are you buying it to look cool? Are you buying it to feel included? Or are you buying it to make yourself happy. Are you buying it because you know that it is something you want to have, and are willing to spend the money you think it's worth to have. If seeing someone purchase something for 10$ that you estimated to be worth 60$ upsets you when it makes them happy, what are you doing for yourself? Was it really for you or was it for your own profit. Do you really think at the end of the day that something should be made inaccessible for others just because you want to line your pockets? If you really care so much about looking cool with limited products- Proof of Purchase skins still have a unique rarity, and you can always put a Item Showcase on your Steam profile. But really, why do things that make you happy have to be expensive?

Umm, what? Nobody really cares that proof of purchase skins got resurrected and thus made available to the wider audience, but many people care about the fact that something they had to pay excessive amounts of money for to have is now available for essentially peanuts (or even for free if you beg your favorite content creator for codes enough), they feel betrayed and alienated by this move because it was done carelessly and while breaking a few promises (such as the fact that the prices were supposed to be based on a % of the MSRP of the original product, yet here we are with nonsensically standardized prices, disregarding MSRP completely, that vary wildly depending on your region, apparently even hitting as low as $2.5 in China, which is an insult, especially if Klei starts throwing 50% discounts on them during sales eventually).

The "Proof of Purchase skins still have a unique rarity" is a very overrated argument, it's just a unique label and that's it. People don't care about tags, they care about unique cool looking skins. Also, Timeless rarity at least has a better looking shade of green than its lesser Loyal rarity variant, and those weren't even paywalled, Proof of Purchase and Resurrected rarity have the same exact rarity color, which makes this situation even sadder. Klei marketed these skins as exclusive to the merch to boost sales (several, though not all, physical merch cards you get with your purchases literally refer to them as exclusive digital items, and even JoeW stated they were meant to be exclusive), and now you're telling me only the proof of purchase tag is exclusive? Laughable.

What us, the people complaining, really want is either a price ramp up for the resurrected skins to satisfy the OG buyers while remaining fair to the others by keeping the prices below 100% MSRP, or a unique perk for the OG Proof of Purchase skins like a glowing effect in game or something.

[lowercase skye]

1 hour ago, Kaioh said:

 a price ramp up for the resurrected skins to satisfy the OG buyers

OG buyer here: I do not want this, Klei please do not do this.

[Kaioh]

18 minutes ago, lowercase skye said:

OG buyer here: I do not want this, Klei please do not do this.

Well I'm also an OG buyer and I want changes, status quo is unacceptable

Edited July 21, 2025 by Kaioh

[lowercase skye]

11 minutes ago, Kaioh said:

Well I'm also an OG buyer and I want changes

Cool. My point is that saying one specific thing will "satisfy the OG buyers" is just simply not going to be accurate. Every thread about this matter always has several people like myself saying that they are fine with the current prices, or even want them to be cheaper, and would be upset if those prices were raised.

[Kaioh]

30 minutes ago, lowercase skye said:

Cool. My point is that saying one specific thing will "satisfy the OG buyers" is just simply not going to be accurate. Every thread about this matter always has several people like myself saying that they are fine with the current prices, or even want them to be cheaper, and would be upset if those prices were raised.

Actually, quite the opposite. The people complaining about the current status of resurrected skins are primarily OG buyers who were directly harmed by this, so my statement is accurate. It would only be inaccurate in the context if I said all OG buyers, which I didn't do on purpose since I know there are people out there who just buy merch for merch and not skins. Ultimately though it is on Klei if they want to be seen as financially irresponsible or not. We gave them the chance, but only they can act on it

[Bumber64]

We're still doing this?

[gaymime]

2 hours ago, Kaioh said:

Actually, quite the opposite. The people complaining about the current status of resurrected skins are primarily OG buyers who were directly harmed by this, so my statement is accurate. It would only be inaccurate in the context if I said all OG buyers, which I didn't do on purpose since I know there are people out there who just buy merch for merch and not skins. Ultimately though it is on Klei if they want to be seen as financially irresponsible or not. We gave them the chance, but only they can act on it

i'm an og buyer and i am against ramping up the price, in truth i am a bit irate it is so ridiculously pricy. also; don't use "we". you are the slimmest minority of people in this conversation and no, you gave them no "chance" whatever that limp threat is supposed to imply.

Edited July 21, 2025 by gaymime

[RexySeven]

7 hours ago, Kaioh said:

Umm, what? Nobody really cares that proof of purchase skins got resurrected and thus made available to the wider audience, but many people care about the fact that something they had to pay excessive amounts of money for to have is now available for essentially peanuts (or even for free if you beg your favorite content creator for codes enough), they feel betrayed and alienated by this move because it was done carelessly and while breaking a few promises (such as the fact that the prices were supposed to be based on a % of the MSRP of the original product, yet here we are with nonsensically standardized prices, disregarding MSRP completely, that vary wildly depending on your region, apparently even hitting as low as $2.5 in China, which is an insult, especially if Klei starts throwing 50% discounts on them during sales eventually).

The "Proof of Purchase skins still have a unique rarity" is a very overrated argument, it's just a unique label and that's it. People don't care about tags, they care about unique cool looking skins. Also, Timeless rarity at least has a better looking shade of green than its lesser Loyal rarity variant, and those weren't even paywalled, Proof of Purchase and Resurrected rarity have the same exact rarity color, which makes this situation even sadder. Klei marketed these skins as exclusive to the merch to boost sales (several, though not all, physical merch cards you get with your purchases literally refer to them as exclusive digital items, and even JoeW stated they were meant to be exclusive), and now you're telling me only the proof of purchase tag is exclusive? Laughable.

What us, the people complaining, really want is either a price ramp up for the resurrected skins to satisfy the OG buyers while remaining fair to the others by keeping the prices below 100% MSRP, or a unique perk for the OG Proof of Purchase skins like a glowing effect in game or something.

That might be the most egocentric, entitled and delusional take on resurrected skins I have ever read and probably will be ever written in human history.

[POOH_LY]

I remember that the bamboo spear was one of the most expensive skins (at least for me) on the Steam market back in the day as it was the only spear skin at the time. I saved up for weeks just to get it, but now, it's essentially worthless, lmao. I don't regret it, though. I got to enjoy it for long enough that I think it's worth its cost. But I do understand if people will get mad if their originally "exclusive" skins become easily accessible. Maybe a way to fix this is to make a variant of Proof of Purchase skins? Like, just alter the shade or color a little bit. That way, people can still enjoy these skins, while the OG Proof of Purchase skins still remain somewhat exclusive.

[Kaioh]

3 hours ago, gaymime said:

i'm an og buyer and i am against ramping up the price, in truth i am a bit irate it is so ridiculously pricy. also; don't use "we". you are the slimmest minority of people in this conversation and no, you gave them no "chance" whatever that limp threat is supposed to imply.

Lol, "slimmest minority", please. Just because there are only a few people actively arguing on the forums doesn't mean it's just a minuscule number of people affected. I will use "we" as I please, it doesn't mean I'm talking about you or anyone else fine with the poor treatment of the skins and the buyers. Indeed we gave Klei a fair chance by giving them ideas how to fix the problem, you just don't want to see it that way because you prefer status quo over a reasonable solution and would even prefer making the problem worse by making the prices even lower, even if that will upset some of the most willing people to spend large sums of money on the game.

1 hour ago, RexySeven said:

That might be the most egocentric, entitled and delusional take on resurrected skins I have ever read and probably will be ever written in human history.

Ah, just like how entitled it is to demand for something previously prohibitively expensive and rare to be extremely cheap and common because you want it too, right?

[00petar00]

53 minutes ago, Kaioh said:

Ah, just like how entitled it is to demand for something previously prohibitively expensive and rare to be extremely cheap and common because you want it too, right?

While I completely disagree with everything else you say about this topic, this is probably the only thing I partially agree with and it is klei's fault for releasing expensive skins to begin with but to be more reasonable about it even the current prices are too much and skins are tied to merch so the value of the skins being like 5-10% was probably the point but in actuality it is the opposite, merch is worthless to most people that buy it and they only buy it for the skin so we are in this situation where a minority of players will complain to keep them expensive just so they are not at a loss. 

Though it is worth mentioning that you probably wouldn't even care about loss that much from what I've read about your arguments, it is mostly about keeping them rare and exclusive so you can show off or for steam market which is a detriment to the players because of resellers.

I don't understand why should developers keep the prices on steam market the same so that DST players get taken advantage of by a small minority of players that want to profit, this isn't in the best interest of developers and it only brings negative publicity as prices are brought up in discussions on the forums.

There doesn't exist a good reason to keep tesla coil lantern and other items so expensive compared to the game cost.

[RexySeven]

9 minutes ago, Kaioh said:

Ah, just like how entitled it is to demand for something previously prohibitively expensive and rare to be extremely cheap and common because you want it too, right?

All this time you've been gatekeeping lousy backpack skin, demanding 30+ bucks price tag and Scorching Flames unusual effect on top of that for no reason but to elevate your imaginary artificial skin value and play elitist while being explained for 50th time in every possible excruciating detail why resurrected skins are a good thing and you still completely ignore everything what is being said.  

25 minutes ago, 00petar00 said:

There doesn't exist a good reason to keep tesla coil lantern and other items so expensive compared to the game cost.

iirc all current code activations of tesla lantern grants you "proof of purchase" un-tradable version of the item. Ones on the market are the relics of the time when all items were steam market tradable until Klei decided to move away from that system completely.

[Kaioh]

39 minutes ago, 00petar00 said:

While I completely disagree with everything else you say about this topic, this is probably the only thing I partially agree with and it is klei's fault for releasing expensive skins to begin with but to be more reasonable about it even the current prices are too much and skins are tied to merch so the value of the skins being like 5-10% was probably the point but in actuality it is the opposite, merch is worthless to most people that buy it and they only buy it for the skin so we are in this situation where a minority of players will complain to keep them expensive just so they are not at a loss. 

Though it is worth mentioning that you probably wouldn't even care about loss that much from what I've read about your arguments, it is mostly about keeping them rare and exclusive so you can show off or for steam market which is a detriment to the players because of resellers.

I don't understand why should developers keep the prices on steam market the same so that DST players get taken advantage of by a small minority of players that want to profit, this isn't in the best interest of developers and it only brings negative publicity as prices are brought up in discussions on the forums.

There doesn't exist a good reason to keep tesla coil lantern and other items so expensive compared to the game cost.

Well, I'm glad at least you acknowledge that Klei is at fault here, everyone else defending the current system seems extremely afraid to admit that for some reason.

As an OG buyer myself, I actually care about the value loss because it's too steep. Actually I would say skins being expensive are the reason why you rarely see them on public servers to begin with, even when the option to buy them is there (e.g. funko pop skins, pax items, although these are admittedly hamstrung by dwindling supplies also and not just price, so there are more factors at play in their case), so rarity/exclusivity go hand in hand with price I'd say, I mean they'd certainly be a much rarer sight than your average 3 cent backpack skin, that's for sure. I am not opposed to the resurrection system itself, as this potentially benefits me as well, but when it undercuts my investments this much, that is where I have an issue.

25 minutes ago, RexySeven said:

All this time you've been gatekeeping lousy backpack skin, demanding 30+ bucks price tag and Scorching Flames unusual effect on top of that for no reason but to elevate your imaginary artificial skin value and play elitist while being explained for 50th time in every possible excruciating detail why resurrected skins are a good thing and you still completely ignore everything what is being said.  

A bit ironic again considering this proves you never actually bothered to read my comments to understand them, I never argued for the skins being a flat $30+ price tag just because, I only argued for a fair treatment of these skins so they aren't sold for too cheap but also not at 100% MSRP either (so logically, for winter hats which cost only $25 at base, their skins can't cost $30+ based on this principle). I also never said the idea of resurrected skins is bad, quite the opposite actually, all I've been saying is that the current solution is lackluster and needs improvements.

Edited July 21, 2025 by Kaioh

[POOH_LY]

I thought they were Proof of Purchase before. Then Klei changed them to Elegant for some reasons. I remember that there's a backlash on this move as well. So, are they now back to Proof of Purchase? I'm kinda confused. I thought mine was changed from Proof of Purchase to Elegant. So now, they turned them back to Proof of Purchase??

 

2 hours ago, RexySeven said:

iirc all current code activations of tesla lantern grants you "proof of purchase" un-tradable version of the item. Ones on the market are the relics of the time when all items were steam market tradable until Klei decided to move away from that system completely.

Forgot to quote.

Edited July 21, 2025 by POOH_LY

[Kaioh]

24 minutes ago, POOH_LY said:

I thought they were Proof of Purchase before. Then Klei changed them to Elegant for some reasons. I remember that there's a backlash on this move as well. So, are they now back to Proof of Purchase? I'm kinda confused. I thought mine was changed from Proof of Purchase to Elegant. So now, they turned them back to Proof of Purchase??

 

They are still elegant. They were indeed proof of purchase before, but because funko pop supplies were limited, future players were locked out of their skins once the supplies ran out, as proof of purchase is not tradable. The solution was to demote them to make them tradable so future players would have at least a chance to get them, which was a standard Klei practice at the time as seen with PAX items, which were exclusive to visiting Klei PAX booth, but were made tradable to allow people to get them somehow if they couldn't go to the PAX event to get them. I think the silliest aspect of this is that because these skins are elegant, they can be unraveled for 450 spools each, which is a bit ridiculous, they shouldn't be unravelable at all imo. PAX items are unravelable for a chump change too, that shouldn't be the case either

[RexySeven]

4 hours ago, Kaioh said:

I never argued for the skins being a flat $30+ price tag just because, I only argued for a fair treatment of these skins so they aren't sold for too cheap but also not at 100% MSRP either

Currently they are about 20-28% of the original merch value. (10 $ to 35-40 $). Klei do decide what pricing items should have while regional pricing in Russia/China (or in general) are usually regulated by publisher, currently Tencent. 

• Publishers adjust prices based on local economic conditions and currency exchange rates to ensure affordability and competitiveness in different markets.

If we were hypothetically demand skin price increase it'd go two ways: publisher increases pricing in the region which leads to more expensive items in general for that region (which would affect everyone there) or Klei raises prices on resurrected skins (to meet demanded hypothetical 10$ in China, they'd have to make it thrice as expensive in Europe - up to 40$ dollars, which is ridiculous to even think about as it rockets them far beyond original MSRP of some merch items). 
My point is, no matter how expensive the item is, it's still gonna be sold down to 75% of it's original value due to regional pricing which is regulated outside the company this product is being sold from.

And if you are suggesting tiny price increase then don't you find this whole price argument really petty over this measly price increase of 2-3 dollars or something. Do these couple of dollars really so crucial to go between "it's worthless and cheap now" to "it still holds value"?

Edited July 21, 2025 by RexySeven