Architect Archive

I actually had a guy send me an email to order afactory and 5 medium floras.

I was right in the middle of rearranging some things, so I let him know it'd be a day. Normally I don't make mediums except by request.

So I started laboring over this order. No, it didn't take me all that long. But I did have 3 failures during experimentation, and so I had to make a total of 8 medium floras to get 5 at rate 10 for this guy.

I finished everything up, and told him it was done... he came to pick it up. I normally charge 80k each for the medium floras, and 50k for the factory. I gave him a discount, and only charged 70k each and 42k.... I figured he had given me business before, and seemed a good customer.

When I told him the price, he balked. Hemmed and hawed, but then he paid it and left.

The following day, he sends me an email telling me about how he found those same medium floras at a vendor for 40k each. He told me it wasn't right that I charged almost 2x as much as someone else, and he wants me to buy back the 5 floras that I made him.

I tried explaining to him that I don't compete with the big big guys who have a PA to harvest their resources and can sell stuff at 40k and still make a profit. I further went to tell him that I normally don't make mediums, and they would not sell if I took them back. He kept saying, "I paid almost twice as much by going to you! You have to see where I'm coming from!"

Well, truthfully, I did not. I would never dream of asking for my money back if I found something cheaper AFTER I had purchased something from someone.

Oh yeah, and on top of that, I had also given this guy some free gifts (some crates of 50 high quality med supplies) just because I felt like it.

To make a long story a little longer.. I ended up buying back the harvestors from him. For two reasons. First, because I was sick of his nagging. And second, because I didn't want him to use something that I had made.

There's my rude story of the day.

I have never had a rude customer, but I have had a few "order thiefs". It is a fairly common practice to put orders is packs with the buyer's name on it. Most people have some sense of fairness and will leave these alone, but I guess a pack with 15 items in it for 5k on an architect vendor is just too good of a deal to pass up no matter the name on it. Imho this is the height of rudeness, not only to me but to the person who placed the order. As to how I deal with these folks, I asked a few BH's in my city to find out where they live, for a fee of course. There is not much I can do about getting the items back or even having them whacked. None of the thieves have been found yet, but when they are I plan on stopping by thier home. Hopefully they are not in a city and I can drop something next to it named "A Thief Lives HERE --->".

Now I put all orders on the vendor in my house. Live and learn.

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LadyLeala wrote:

I actually had a guy send me an email to order afactory and 5 medium floras.

I was right in the middle of rearranging some things, so I let him know it'd be a day. Normally I don't make mediums except by request.

So I started laboring over this order. No, it didn't take me all that long. But I did have 3 failures during experimentation, and so I had to make a total of 8 medium floras to get 5 at rate 10 for this guy.

I finished everything up, and told him it was done... he came to pick it up. I normally charge 80k each for the medium floras, and 50k for the factory. I gave him a discount, and only charged 70k each and 42k.... I figured he had given me business before, and seemed a good customer.

When I told him the price, he balked. Hemmed and hawed, but then he paid it and left.

The following day, he sends me an email telling me about how he found those same medium floras at a vendor for 40k each. He told me it wasn't right that I charged almost 2x as much as someone else, and he wants me to buy back the 5 floras that I made him.

I tried explaining to him that I don't compete with the big big guys who have a PA to harvest their resources and can sell stuff at 40k and still make a profit. I further went to tell him that I normally don't make mediums, and they would not sell if I took them back. He kept saying, "I paid almost twice as much by going to you! You have to see where I'm coming from!"

Well, truthfully, I did not. I would never dream of asking for my money back if I found something cheaper AFTER I had purchased something from someone.

Oh yeah, and on top of that, I had also given this guy some free gifts (some crates of 50 high quality med supplies) just because I felt like it.

To make a long story a little longer.. I ended up buying back the harvestors from him. For two reasons. First, because I was sick of his nagging. And second, because I didn't want him to use something that I had made.

There's my rude story of the day.

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This is why I always, always, always tell people my price up front when they want a custom order.

I bury them in the sand, set off a nuke over their head, which results in them being encased in glass.

Oh, I almost forgot, you can just throw them in the Sarlac pit with the rest of these guys...

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=9543

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DeepProgress wrote:

Here's how I deal with people complaining about prices:

Them: "How much for a factory?"

Me: "45K"

Them: "Wow, you charge way too much. I could get it much cheaper somewhere else!"

Me: "Okay, 60K."

I figure they should pay more for wasting my time at that point.

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lol! I love that!

And on the same token... I have a lot of very good customers who go like this:

Customer says, "I need 5 harvestors."

I say, "Ok, they'll be ready in an hour."

Customer says, "Ok."

I say, "Do you want to know the price?"

Customer says, "Nah."

I say, "kk"

Then I sell them way less than I normally would.

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sqrl wrote:
I have never had a rude customer, but I have had a few "order thiefs". It is a fairly common practice to put orders is packs with the buyer's name on it. Most people have some sense of fairness and will leave these alone, but I guess a pack with 15 items in it for 5k on an architect vendor is just too good of a deal to pass up no matter the name on it. Imho this is the height of rudeness, not only to me but to the person who placed the order. As to how I deal with these folks, I asked a few BH's in my city to find out where they live, for a fee of course. There is not much I can do about getting the items back or even having them whacked. None of the thieves have been found yet, but when they are I plan on stopping by thier home. Hopefully they are not in a city and I can drop something next to it named "A Thief Lives HERE --->".

Now I put all orders on the vendor in my house. Live and learn.

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Here's a trick that some people on my server are doing or at least talked about to combat special order theives. Make a few travel packs and fill it with useless junk. Literally. Broken viewscreens and the like, or just really cheap 2 credit items that you don't mind loosing.(name them way to go dumbass for an extra level)Put them on your vendor with a random name on it for hte order and charge 10k for them. If people buy it then you get a near free 10k and they learn a lesson. If the same person does it a few times then just ban them of course, but I felt it's an inventive solution to the problem.

Earlier I used to say: "Oh, then i might be able to lower my price a little. I wouldn't want to rip you off".

Now I am rude enough to just tell them the following: "This is the price I sell Item X for all the time at a constant rate. If your friend/guild/MisterX can sell it for less then why even bother asking me? If you can't/wont pay my price then I suggest you take your business elsewhere."