So far, my limit is $135 plus shipping from Eugene, Oregon.
My performance needs can be met by a multitude of yo-yos below $50. I’ve happily spent double that or more on a yo-yo because the seller/designer thought it was cool for a variety of reasons and I agreed.
$1000, probably. But it has to be something special to push into the upper 3 digits. I’ve never spent 1k on a single throw, but if the right one came along, I would add it to my collection.
It really depends. Back when I threw a lot more and collected, I would have said $50 was impulse buy territory, $80 for monometals, $130ish for bimetals, and $200 cap overall.
Nowadays, I would really have to want the throw to even think about throwing down money (and also be confident that I wouldn’t see it listed on the BST for much cheaper in 6 months). I think my break points are as follows:
$0-65 - Do I really need this? How is this different from my other sub-$65 throws? Honestly I’d probably skip
$65-160 - Yeah I’d buy very specific throws (OD Saturday Markets, throws that looked really compelling)
$160+ - Nah I’m good
Edit: Upped to $160 because the YYF Evo and Miracle are kinda tempting…
I have been blessed that I haven’t spent more than $100 on any one yoyo in my collection, there may be one that might have cost a little more but I don’t know for sure. That being said, my limit for a new yoyo is somewhere in the $75 ballpark. I try to stay below that mark which is why I haven’t bought many expensive brand new yoyos in quite a while, the last one being a $50 YYF Switchblade which was my favorite purchase in months.
I’m thankful for the high end YYF stuff I’ve purchased because it gave me such a bad impression of the $200+ range that I likely won’t ever spend that on a yoyo again.
I don’t have a hard limit, but I’m trying to learn how to be happy with the things I have. I have a few daily throws that would be difficult to improve upon, and I’ve determined that wading through myriad new releases to find something that I’m marginally happier with is generally not worth it. The collection I’ve amassed includes a few yoyos that have such unique attributes that they are capable of shifting my perspective on the rest of my collection. When I need a “new” feel, I throw one of those and then a few others in succession. It usually works.
$75. That’s enough to get many YYF, One Drops, and mid range bi metals. I’m not good enough to justify a $100 yoyo. 2 $50 throws a week apart though 
My most expensive is a bimetal shutter, and if I remember correctly, I bought it with a sale discount. My limit is around $100, and it has to be really special for me to go above $100, but there are exceptions.
I am only limited by how much is in the “Play” fund. Sometimes there is not much in there, other times, its whatever I want.
I look at hobbys as entertainment. At least with Yoyo there is something tangible with the purchases. Unlike in game currency.
As long as the value for entertainment is met, I could be “wasting” that money on other things that I would not have anything to show for it.
However; there is something to be said about collecting Memories not things though.
Like anything in life, Balance and Moderation is the key.
Have fun.
Plenty have low limits. 12 or so years ago when I first got the bug I would see small offerings go away quickly. I was new to the whole scene hadn’t seen that many in person. I saw many could sell well if I didn’t like them. Some I really liked the feel and how they looked. Found myself a handful of Generals- Thanks Ernie, Then I tried the Northern spin Aurora Titanium and could feel/hear the difference. Now I must have a dozen epic Ti throws. The Magnum was released and it seemed so unique so I snagged that, Peak, Marmots and such all seemed like a good bet. Since, Ive found some amazing Ti and odd Jeffery Pang designs 000’s, tundra +. If I recall correctly Jeffrey had his hands in the aurora design years back. A tiss in the group. Some epic ILLY from Frank. One drop always delivers excellent quality goods typically at a lower price point. I figure if you can get it and enjoy it how can you put a price on that?
My limit right now is around the $120 mark. Unless it is something I have been looking for and it is really special, I am not willing to spend more than that. Most I ever spent on one yoyo is $300 and that was for the Ti888 which came with a whole bunch of extra goodies and an extra well-regarded yoyo model to boot at no extra cost. I have slowed down on my purchases over the years and learning to enjoy what I have more and share the fun with others. Still love how this hobby does not require a high barrier of entry to get started.
The most I’ve ever paid for a yoyo is $80. At this point in my career I’m more in the $50 range unless something really nice comes along which would be rare.
String - $10-$12 for 100 count bulk string does it for me.
What kind of string do you get at $12?
This is surprisingly honest and probably smart advice. I respect the humility of your response.
Haven’t found mine yet. I try to vote with my dollars and be selective about who I support and what models I’m voicing my support for by purchasing them. There are also a ton of manufacturers that need support and deserve it so that can’t be my only criteria. I didn’t think I would go above 130$ish but then I saw the tp hades at 80g and had to vote for more of that. Doubt I’ll go that high in price rarely ever. Definitely worth it this time.
I gravitate toward cheaper yoyos and don’t have anything more than 80 at this time. can’t imagine ill buy anything over $100. I try to keep my spending to no more than a hundred a month in frivolous things so that’s my yoyos as well…
$500 for a brand new release and $1000 for something og like a painted peak or og the end
Unless it’s rare or a special edition I absolutely can’t live without, $50-60 for a mono, 100-ish for a bimetal. And even that’s kinda steep for me. The problem or at least what I think is a problem in modern yoyo, is that there are too many cheap or “affordable” yo-yos that play really well on the market, thus killing the value or desire to buy something more expensive. I got a Barracuda the other week for like 30 bucks. Thing is dead smooth, spins forever, stable etc etc. I have a pretty good job and everything and it’s not really about affordability for me, but I’m gonna need a lot more reasoning and research when it comes to buying expensive throws. Just my two cents! 
And before anyone says anything, yes I do think it’s great that most yo-yos are affordable and available to the majority of the community. I just think it hurts the value and justification for the more expensive companies.
I think that from a perspective of having access to a variety of perfectly playable yoyos, this is true. However, I suspect that relatively few companies can sell on the scale necessary to hit the really low price points.
From a purely functional/utilitarian standpoint, this may not matter. But there is also the standpoint of making yoyos a market where smaller producers and individuals can find an audience to support their specific vision.
I’m not trying to make a value judgement here. Currently, the market seems diverse enough to support a lot of different priorities.
For sure, I’m mostly talking about that first part you mentioned but I agree with the other two as well! The market is definitely diverse, which is a good thing for companies and to us consumers
