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A bit hard to understand some one what your saying, but i may have the gist of it.

By shape, I’m assuming you mean the shape of the cutting head. All side cutters have the angled side, which leads into the cutter edge. The other side can either be flat, or curved. Flat style cutters will let you get as close the piece as you can when removing gates. The curved side can help prevent you from accidentally cutting off to much too much plastic when removing gates.

You can use a single pair of side cutters for years, so long as you take care of them. I have my pair I use for removing parts from trees, a pair for cutting Plexiglas, and another pair for cutting metal rods. The only one i’ve had to replace is the one for cutting metal. My plexiglas one will need replacement eventually, however the one i use for cutting our parts is still nearly brand new, and it’s several years old.

How long have you been using nail clippers to cut out parts? Some nail clippers can work, but they’re not built for doing this, nor will they last as long. Nail clippers will also run you a much greater risk of damaging parts.

There are many types of side cutters, which make it difficult to explain.
Some brands state the hardness of the blade, the higher the number, the harder the blades, the longer they stay sharp, therefor the longer the lifespan.
Other brands state how sharp the blade is, again, the higher the number, the sharper the blade. This will not give you the estimated lifespan of the blade, but you can take it that the sharper the blade, the better it will cut and therefor the longer it will take for the blades to get dull.
Some brands state trough how thick of plastic they can cut. The thicker they indicate, the longer they can cut, as most times the plastic connecting the parts to the runners are substantially thinner.
And some brands don’t state any of the above…
In average you can do at least 10 kits with a side cutter. But this also depends on the plastic used, the number of parts contained in the kit and even the thickness of the gates.
You could say, a rule of thumb is, the more expensive a side cutter is, the sharper and harder the blades are. But this isn’t always true. Some retailers will charge different amounts for the same side cutter.
In any case, there are too much variables in getting the best side cutter. The best way to go about it, is getting experience in the different side cutters on the market. One that works good for me, doesn’t mean it works for you as you want it to.
In conclusion, I can only tell you which is the most recommended brand by most modelers. And that is God Hand side cutters. And if you are prepared to spend a big amount of money and can find one, I’d go for the God Hand Ultimate Nipper 5.0, part number SPN-120
Hope this answers your question the way that you hoped it would