As with most items, you generally get what you pay for. How much you should pay comes down to what you're looking for, and the main barometer for prices is usually the amount of work that's gone into making the item. As you can see, the majority of our picks for purchasable shields come from Etsy: an online marketplace for independent creators. Something like a shield can take a lot of man-hours to produce and, generally, the more detailed you want the piece and the materials you want it to be made from are going to be the biggest determiners of price. If you're a cosplayer, authenticity might be highly important to you. In this case, you'll probably expect to pay a higher price. If you're looking for a model for a child -- where canonical accuracy and detail might not be the most crucial factor -- your options will be decidedly cheaper.