Architect Archive
Thread: LowBalling Archs I just have to know?
Ifind it's not so much they "lowball" as they are deserate to get money to pay for their harvestors to get more resources to make more structures and get the exp they need to get to master.
If you find someone selling for very cheap, ask them if they know what they could be getting. They just might not know or might be doing the above. One solution is to supply resources and have them craft walls for you. They get free exp and you get things made. Just a thought.
It's all about how you play the game. Some people can figure it out, some people can't. But just because someone can undercut you, don't start assuming they are duping or they are stupid.
I sell my stuff at the price that I think is fair.
Most things I sell at 3:1 or 4:1 because I mine almost all of my own resources and it only costs me about 1.5:1 to get them out of the ground myself.
I just charge what I think is fair, I am pretty new still to operating my architect business and I dont think 150k for a heavy is fair at all.
Well I have been a Master Architect for a long time and have made decent, but not tons of money. I am on the lower end of the price scale because I have 45 harvesters in my PA to use. I don't understand why everybody thinks harvesting your own resources costs so much, I am always below 1.0 cr/u from my harvesters. Currently after moving a few harvesters with this last resource shift, I am paying 0.564 cr/u and that includes the re-deed fee every 7 days and my 5 fusion generators. Somebody please explain to me how you can be paying over 1.0 cr/u coming out of your harvesters.
I try to sell items at 3 cr/u but have little problem going down to 2 cr/u because that is still 50% profit. At the same time I don't let "crazy" people talk me down on price but simply try to give quantity and repeat customer discounts.
I am Master Architect Onica from the Bloodfin server, i have been a master architect from the get go. Was the first thing i started working on, i set my prices then and they have always remained the same, I have never dropped nor raised my prices with the market and i found that now that a lot of the original master architects are gone or have rerolled into something else, my prices are standard on the server, i see a lot of other architects and new architects using my pricelist as a guide to go by. I have always stated to anyone buying from me 2 things.
1) My prices dont change, you can either buy it from me, or go to your buddy who seels large houses at 10k, i dont care
2) I dont do deals on large orders i do deals for repeat customers, i would rather have 5 people who come to me everytime they need something, than have 50 people who visit me once. Why you may ask? Because i know EVERY time those 5 people need a structure (and structures do degrade) that they come to me.
It also helps to keep a very firm but fair attitude about things. I have never tried to rip anyone off nor have i left anyone rip me off. I might have lost some business from this next attitude i have, but i feel its fair. I dont work with other peoples materials, i will buy their materials at market price and they can purchase the structure from me at my price (which does not change). I personally dont see anything wrong with this and as long as you keep the firm but fair attitude business should be good. I dont want for anything and supply 4 other accounts with Credits plus my PA expenses and still have 4mil cr in my bank at all times 
A tactic I have used when I do not have the item in stock and have to make it is this. If a customer asks if I can make a "factory" for example I tell them sure. They then ask how much it costs. This is the point where I am blunt and straightforward with them and ask. How much would u pay for something that costs 20k resources to make?
Normally the reply is "HOLY **edit**". Then I simply nod and say yeah it is not cheap. After that they usually wind up giving me 2 - 2.5 cpu used and they also have a better understanding of what we architects go through.
Laotan2 wrote:
i believe in affordable housing. i'm a non-for-profit architecht, subisidized by the empire. my plan is to eradicate homelessness by making it real easy for everyone to have a home...
So you only lowball housing right? You still charge over 3cpu for installations since no one can live in a harvesters correct?
I am sure there are as many explanations for low-balling prices as there are flavors of icecream. I honestly think many of these players are novices trying to race up the skill trees and are grinding away. They sell cheap for quick sales to keep harvesters running and/or buying resources. Most of the low prices I hear about are the small and a few medium houses. This represents a lot of the 0-0-4-1 players.
There are the PA backed architects that are so financially backed and sitting on umpteen lots and can afford to undersellstructures. I read about how there is still a profit with selfmined materials when selling structures less than 3cr/u.. Well that is all fine and dandy, but there is still more of a profit selling the raw materials straightout, especiallyany high quality materials. I see talk of actual cost of mined materials, but I see nothing addressing the time and risks it takes an architect to do his/her work. Too bad the weaponsmiths do not follow that reasoning!
What is a fair price? It is what ever price the market will bear. Too high and it will not move, and too low one will burn through resources at little profit (and be a slave to the vender or orders). My structure prices are middle of the road. The prices are nonnegotiable. There is nothing wrong for me to allow myself a small profit for not only my resources, but my time.
I just dont understand why people sell themselfs short in the achitect business. You are selling Houses, Guild Halls, factoriesand havisters (that can make people their money back in less then a week). I dont do missions, I dont really hunt, Im an architect making the stuff that takes the most resourses in the game.
People say that I have really high prices, and after seeing posts and people screaming in town at such low prices, I will be the first to tell you that yes, I do have higher prices. But, I can tell you that I sell on a daily basis. I sell to people comming from large guilds, small guilds and un-guilded. Why? because I make enough money to keep my vendor stocked with anything that someone would need from an architect. I have about 2 of everything in my vendor at all times. I run around the galaxy and look in other peoples vendors and see nothing but small items and a factory.
With my prices, my customers are happy because they can buy it on the spot, my suppliers are happy because I buy in bulks of 100k + of resources on a daily basis and im making a desent living on the game. Im doing my job and getting paid for it.
Something to think about....
If I lowball, it's for two reasons:
1. What's the proper price? You can't look on the bazaar to find out (unless people are charging 3k or less). I don't keep track of how many resources I use to build stuff, or how much it costs me to find them, since I have several harvesters and usually plenty of resources. In essence, I don't know what lowballing is unless I seek out other people's prices, which doesn't interest me.
2. I'm not in it for the money. All I need is enough money to keep making stuff, and I get plenty by selling resources. So I give houses and harvesters away to people who do me favors, or trade them for wind energy or somesuch.
I wonder if there will be an "Architect's Union" some day that mandates prices, and if you ignore them, makes you pay da price for your insolence...
Ok, as what you would call a lowballer ( some of my items go for less than 3 cr a unit ) I can answer the question.
First off resources are NOT set at 3 cr per. Most of the resources I use to build houses that I have sold ( as a test ) will sit on the market several days at 3 cr per and not sell, some have falle off after 7 days and never sold. I do not take 3 cr per as any kind of market value for resources because it simply isn’t. Resources sell at a fluctuating rate depending on the item and the availability of it.
Secondly I am not interested in just making the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time. I am interested in running a successful and profitable architect business in a declining market, a tough market, one that challenges me.
I have herd many people on my server complain that no one will buy the big stuff from them. Some are not complaining and doing well. Personally I sold 3 PA halls 1 large house 2 Medium houses and 4 small houses and several extractors this weekend, totally depleting my small inventory and resource bank. Some I could not make on the spot and have the orders pushed out for a couple of days. I was surprised that they wanted to pay me up front anyway even though I cant deliver that last PA hall until tonight.
3 out of every 4 cr in our small PA's treasury was placed in there by me, ( That does not bother me ) and our treasury is currently approaching 2 million cr, We also have over 2 million in equipment ( 2 mil at my prices not yours ) . I only made master architect 3 weeks ago.
There is no doubt and no argument can be made that my business is not successful selling at the prices I sell at. ( which is generally 10 - 20% lower than the going rate ) and sometimes ( not always ) lower than 3 cr per unit.
The reason I sell for less is to service my customers, my customers remember me, they return to me to buy other things, they send their friends to me. Could I have made more money by selling for what others sell for.... probably, but I don’t think I would have the name I do with my customers, and their friends who swear they will buy from no one else but me.( not that I actually believe that, but it is flattering ). I do not believe I would have the volume of sales that I expect to continue to have for some time.
My business is successful in this environment selling for less, of that there can be no doubt. If your prices are working for you then good for you too. I don’t mind others selling for more than I do, in fact... I depend on it.