Architect Archive
Thread: 3cpu
Lol.......People who sell for 3cpu wouldn't do that well in real life? Umm, tell that to the Walton Family. Yeah, the Walton family......They own that discount store chain...........Wal Mart. If you check out last years fortune 500, they were 2, 3, 4, and I think 5......Right behind BIll Gates. They made their money on quantity, not by jacking up prices. You sell 4 medium mineral harvesters at 25k, I sell 7 at 15k. we both still make around 100k. Except I sell lots more because PEOPLE ARE CHEAP, just like real life.......lol. People will drive 20 miles to save 3 cents a gallon on gasoline, negating any savings they make on the gas itself. People on the game are the same way (EXCEPT on armor and weapons). Well, since this is the architect board, quality doesn't matter, it's the price.
Anyway, that's just my opinion.
Shyvek Acculia-Driving Architects out of business for 3 months......lol
***** You sell 4 medium mineral harvesters at 25k, I sell 7 at 15k. we both still make around 100k. Except I sell lots more because PEOPLE ARE CHEAP, just like real life ****
Yup - you also put in almost twice the work, too So, taking into account the amount of time spent putting things together, if you figure up the same amount/hour (or minute, or whatever), you actually may have made less that someone selling 4 @ 25k each compared to your 7 @ 15k each...
Quantity doesn't necessarily mean you make more.
Marthis - Bria
What it boils down to is this.
Player Adoes hisown harvesting can sell at 3CPU and make a decent profit.
Player B buyshis resources from a miner has to sell at 4-5 and makes a small profit.
Now, is Player A shafting Player B by selling at 3CPU? Not really. He can just sell at a decent profit by doing all the work himself. He is just in a better position to offer his customer a decent price because he does his own mining.
Now, is Player B wrong in selling for 4-5+ CPU? No, he is also trying to make a profit. He just has a hard time making a profit and competing with the person that does ALL the work in making structures.
If you look at it, player B is actually putting in less work and thus gets paid based on that work. He runs to the bazaar, clicks buy buy buy, goes and makes his structure.
Player A runs all over the place and works to keep his harvesters running and has to find the new resource spots when they change, etc. While he can sell for less, he also has the cost of the harvester maint. etc but, it's still cheaper than buying from the bazaar.
After all is said and done, I make about 2.3 CPU profit by mining it all myself. Actually a tad less as I do buy small stuff on bazaar now and then.
So, if the person buying everything from the bazaar buys it all at 3CPU, he would have to sell at 5.3 - 5.5 CPU to come out with the same profits as I do at 2.3 - 2.5 CPU.
Now, who is going to get more business?
Sure, Player A puts in more work tending his own harvesters but, he can sell for less and still make a profit and get business.
It's the same difference of Wal-Mart versus Local shop. While Wal-Mart may sell for less, they sell more items. It cost them less to begin with because they get good deals. It cost Player A's customers less money to buy from them because Player A gets a better deal doing all his own work. Player A passes on the savings to his customers.
Unless you have unlimited resources, you will quickly outsell your capacity if people on your server are in the buying mood.
***** Wal Mart comparisons:
Can't compare to Wal Mart, because Wal Mart has near infinite suppliers willing to sell them their wares at just above cost. In this game, we're limited both by the number of suppliers, the amount of resources, and the price.
By Player A doing all his own work though and pulling in all his own resources, you cut out the middleman and can pass that savings onto your customers.
If I need extra resources to fill an order, I have baught some from Bazaar but that is rare.
Can we quit with this walmart analogy already? Fine, if some architect has the VAST quanity of resources available to make the same VAST quanity of stock that Walmart holds.. Walmart makes tons of money but thye sell TONS of things.. unless you are running a billion harvesters you just cant meet the demand like Walmarts bazillion inventory stock can.
And the other more expensive stores do stay in business with regular customers who like the customer service they get.. Ie, more personalized service, less waiting in line. Time is MONEY to people when they are purchasing harvesters.. Heck, i sell houses at the same price as harvesters.. if the person doesnt like that price well they can go buy from a novice since my materials are better spent catering towards the people who want to make money, like I do 
You may save 50k on a heavy buying from someone else, but is 50k worth the wait? you wait 4 days to get it and lose 40k of materials you could have had in hand to craft or sell... do the math... my customers certainly do
Marthis wrote:
***** You sell 4 medium mineral harvesters at 25k, I sell 7 at 15k. we both still make around 100k. Except I sell lots more because PEOPLE ARE CHEAP, just like real life ****
Yup - you also put in almost twice the work, too So, taking into account the amount of time spent putting things together, if you figure up the same amount/hour (or minute, or whatever), you actually may have made less that someone selling 4 @ 25k each compared to your 7 @ 15k each...
Quantity doesn't necessarily mean you make more.
Marthis - Bria
Go back to school.. you are not selling more.. you are working harder and making less..
He sold 4 at 25k you sold 7 at 15k
He now has about the same money you made but used LESS resources and worked LESS.. This just shows how stupid undercutters are..
Sorry replied to wrong post.. lol *smacks forehead* still we are right
Sedryn wrote:
Marthis wrote:
***** You sell 4 medium mineral harvesters at 25k, I sell 7 at 15k. we both still make around 100k. Except I sell lots more because PEOPLE ARE CHEAP, just like real life ****
Yup - you also put in almost twice the work, too So, taking into account the amount of time spent putting things together, if you figure up the same amount/hour (or minute, or whatever), you actually may have made less that someone selling 4 @ 25k each compared to your 7 @ 15k each...
Quantity doesn't necessarily mean you make more.
Marthis - Bria
Go back to school.. you are not selling more.. you are working harder and making less..
He sold 4 at 25k you sold 7 at 15k
He now has about the same money you made but used LESS resources and worked LESS.. This just shows how stupid undercutters are..
Of course the other advantage is, you teach the customer to accept only your lower price, Not only do you defeat the higher prices guys for this sale, but for future sales as well.
Of course they hate us, but that is the nature of business, if my competition loved me, then I would know for sure I was doing it wrong.
Hey, aren't you the guy that said you shouldn't try to teach the customer?
I'm starting to think that the cut-price sellers are actualy good for my business.
I sell at 5cpu (give or take a little), and I have never had a problem selling.
I run 20 heavies all the time, and still have to buy alot of material to keep up.
I buy from miners, and sell alot through a merchant. I think thats how SOE were hoping things would work.
From what I have seen, most of the cut-price architects can't come close to filling their orders. I try to buy stuff from them, and so do others i know, and they rarely deliver.. and it's almost always after a considerable wait and many emails.
When I get an order, I almost always deliver same day, often immediately. I dont hold pre-build items, I assemble to order. I make a point of buying materials if im running low, so that I ALWAYS have parts available to build.
Customers who know anything about buying large structures LOVE to get them immediately without any screwing around. At 5cpu I am not expensive, and the extra 1cpu or so gets you something you can put to use straight away... which is almost always worth alot more than saving 10-20K on the structure.
There is a customer base for both types of seller. I think the only problem we will all have is that the market will at some point dry up for us all, unless SOE does something to give us a renewable income.
The great thing about actualy making a reasonable profit from each item you sell is that you can build a bank balance. Having the cash available gives you alot of flexibility. If i pass someone selling a fusion cheap I can buy it up without even having to think about it. I can also go to the market and buy 250K ore without blinking. If you arent in that position, I can tell you it makes the game alot more enjoyable... never wondering where the next maintenance payment is coming from (and trust me, Ive been there).
Positronic
Master Architect, PosiTec Inc