I purchased my first vendor item in 2000 and I dread to think of the money I have spent on vendor items in the fourteen years since then.  There are I couple of vendors I have purchased from only once but that is small fry compared with the vendors I go back to time and time again.  I must have almost a full catalogue from some venders, 3-d-c, Fabiana, Ironman13, Mihrelle, and Fugazi 1968 all fall in to that category.  Out of those I only had one product that had an issue and, that was a compatibility issue with another script I used in Poser, it was sorted in 48 hours in a very helpful manner.  Other venders such as Marforno and Danie, Exnem and the Toyman all produce products that regularly fall into my cart.  All of my purchases from these and others are used on a regular basis not just sat in a runtime waiting to be used.   I do sometimes play with the textures, not because those supplied are bad but to add a touch of conformity to my renders.

If I dread the thought of how much I paid for all this then the thought of the hours spent creating this stuff is even more terrifying.  For the money they make on each individual sale I think vendors should be applauded not criticised.  I cannot put a percentage on it but the vast majority of the items in my runtime have worked out of the box and to my satisfaction and have done so for 14 years.  I wonder how many other industries can match that.

You don't want to total up what you have spent.  Trust me on this one.  I stopped counted once I crossed the $10,000 barrier a number of years back.  I just look at it as a better investment than spending it down at the local "gentleman's"  clubs....