Architect Archive
Thread: Do new architects have difficulty competing with established architects?
Crimsonsplat
Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:09 am
#27
Pawlin wrote:
Any of us can figure out how to make a small house. The difference between success and failure is figuring out how to sell the small house. So the real key to success is finding customers and building up a customer base.
Actually, I sold one I remember, maybe threeor foursmall houses on the way up. My guild supplies anyone who joins and moves to the city with one (total paid guild commisions for career: 175k).
Giving away my secrets here, heh. The majority of my sales were: Vehicles, speed/damage ranged powerups by the crate(they sell really well off the bazaar on adventure planets), furniture with custom names, backpacks, and personal harvesters. I didn't emphasize selling houses much because I was turning all my structure modules into harvesters and factories for myself and a couple of close friends, and I got resources, lots, and bodyguards when I needed them in return (plus money and resources running combat missions with them).When they weren't around,I ran lots of artisan missions to gainthe money I needed, until sales picked up. I ran them until I was sick of them. I ran them until I wanted to quit, but logged on the next night to do it again.
I failed at things too, and I made mistakes. My first attempt at setting up an off-planet vendor was a dismal flop.
Why am I successful? I won't argue that benifiting from the retirment of an established architect didn't do anything. He'd already closed his shop and told his customers he retired about three weeks before he handed me what he did. I got no stock and few of his customers from him, but I did get a prime spot on a heavily traveled path. Then I capitalized on it by making my shop and my wares memorable.
Pawlin
Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:20 am
#28
I kind of picked the small houses out of thin air just as an example item we make.
Maybe thats not such a good example item in a way cause there is such a poor market for small houses nowadays. But on the other hand selling an item in a poor market is particuarly hard. I think if you can do sell selling small houses then you should be able to sell just about anything we make as well as anyone.
Buddhistic
Sun Aug 15, 2004 1:08 am
#29
It was a pain breaking into arch in late June this year, but now i'm making about 5-12 million a week.
THE ONLY WAY I WAS ABLE TO DO THIS was my initial investment of bout 10-15 million into my business, which few new architects have. Without this kind of capital, i'm not sure how any arch can manage.
For arch too, I find myself buying millions of units of ore EVERY WEEK (sometimes twice a week) from every big miner on Tarquinas, so I wonder how other architects can compete when they don't have these types of connections.
Overall, the secret is a stocked vendor and quick customer service. My Arch business takes me maybe 1-2 hours a day to manage keeping 300+ deeds on the vendor.
- seraphine
THE ONLY WAY I WAS ABLE TO DO THIS was my initial investment of bout 10-15 million into my business, which few new architects have. Without this kind of capital, i'm not sure how any arch can manage.
For arch too, I find myself buying millions of units of ore EVERY WEEK (sometimes twice a week) from every big miner on Tarquinas, so I wonder how other architects can compete when they don't have these types of connections.
Overall, the secret is a stocked vendor and quick customer service. My Arch business takes me maybe 1-2 hours a day to manage keeping 300+ deeds on the vendor.
- seraphine
Message Edited by Buddhistic on 08-15-2004 04:11 AM
Pawlin
Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:19 pm
#30
Buddhistic wrote:
...THE ONLY WAY I WAS ABLE TO DO THIS was my initial investment of bout 10-15 million into my business, which few new architects have. Without this kind of capital, i'm not sure how any arch can manage.
...
Its certainly quicker to get going if you have a large amount of capital to start out with.
But even if you start out at zero, it is just more work and more time required to get to where you are now.How long would it take to go from Zero to 10M? You went from 10-15M to selling 5M+ a week. Say if you'd started with ZERO then you could have worked hard scrapping by for a while till you made the first 10M. Then from there it woudl be the same path more or less to making 5M a week.
ZenDragonMLS
Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:26 pm
#31
You can start with nothing and work up. My typical advice to someone starting architect (as a profession - not just to hit master) is to spend 1-3 weeks creating a harvester fleet and selling resources. Once you have a fleet of 8-10 BER10s (or better) going then you are in great shape to start skimming some/all of those resources to craft for the architect xp.
Zanholo
Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:44 am
#32
"After mastering the profession? None.Thehouse I make is just as good asthe house you make. I can be just as nice as you (well maybe not YOU, but nice enough). My price will be about the same as your price. Is there a reason I shouldn't be competative with you? Does new master rifleman make less on missions than one that mastered the profession six months ago? Does he have to wait longer at the mission terminal for a mission to turn up?"
I'd have to disagree.
First off, the crafter should be building his business and customer base WHILE grinding to master.
If your 10k house is on a vendor on lok and mine is in high traffic coronet or theed, there is absolutely no 'right' you have that says your house has equal opportunity of being sold, nor should there be.
If you have a place that doesn't invite people to come enjoy their shopping experience while another person has spent 100's of hours decorating their shop with painstaking care, why would you expect some sort of 'right' that people frequent your establishment?
If one rifleman knows what he is doing and goes to the right planets, the right cities and gets a solo group and pulls 40k+ plus per mission while newb rifleman gets 900 cred missions out of coronet, that doesn't mean there is an imbalance or that the experienced rifleman is somehow an evil repressor. It just means the newb rifleman is a NEWB and will have to aquire knowledge and game wealth over time like everyone else.
If I hear another another 'oh whoa are the newbs' commentary....someone's gonna die.
Message Edited by Zanholo on 08-16-2004 10:47 AM
Creadux
Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:22 pm
#33
/shrug I shouldn't think so. If they are it is only because they aren't approaching the thing the right way. I can't tell you how many people I have trained a skill box for in Architect. That being said, not one of them has ever asked if I would be interested in buying components, furniture, small houses, walls, etc. from them.
If one were to ask me I would say "yes" absolutely. Imight evengo so faras to provide them with a factory and materials to pickup some xp on the side while they are crafting other stuff if they proved to be VERY reliable.
The less work I have to do to keep my business up and running full steam the better off I am as far as I am concerned. Taking on an apprentice whois truly interested in being a Master Architect would help me out tremendously with lot help, component help, and other thingsfor which Iwould be happy to pay them. No they aren't going to get rich working for me but no-one ever is going to get rich working for someone else. They will, however, learn and be able to apply their trade once they hit that master box for themselves andrecoup the cost of materialsand maybe even make some dough of they are frugal with buying resources.
It's all in how you approach it. You can sit at a starport and hawk your 5k small houses or sell them all to me for 7k and have me resell them for 10k. In my mind the game was set up for the later and not the former.
Moepple
Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:16 pm
#34
Hi,
to just make a short post in this thread:
From my point of view, there is no business for architects. This simply leads to the conclusion that there is no difference between a new and an old architect.
There is no repetitive business, like DE, Chef or other Professions have, thats the problem from the beginning, and thats the problem today.
I could post several pages with ideas about how to change this, but since the Ore Mining Bug isnt fixed since start, I see no reason why we should expect a change within the next year.
Brantoc-Pax
Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:46 pm
#35
New architects should have trouble competeing with established ones. There is a large number of people who shop me and only me bacause they know the quality. New architects would have to build up a reputation. In many cases they do this by selling items at extreemely low prices to build up a customer base. Just like real companies do in real life. When a BP Gas station opened near here, they had a $1 saturday for gas. Marketing 101.
Pawlin
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:55 pm
#36
Moepple wrote:
Hi,
to just make a short post in this thread:
From my point of view, there is no business for architects. ...
Are you meaning to say that the worse problem we have is the long term prospects?
I don't think you literally mean there is ZERO money to be made in our business today.
Moepple
Tue Aug 17, 2004 11:07 pm
#37
Pawlin wrote:
Moepple wrote:
Hi,
to just make a short post in this thread:
From my point of view, there is no business for architects. ...
Are you meaning to say that the worse problem we have is the long term prospects?
I don't think you literally mean there is ZERO money to be made in our business today.
Hi Pawlin,
well, not Zero, but its a waste of the ressources. The Harvesters are still selling below the ressource price, in cpu, which makes the business pointless. Harvester-Prices were better shortly after they changed them, but now everybody has more Harvs he needs. I cant even sell BER 10 Meds at 20k, which would have been a very good price some months ago.
I dont waste Ressources on harvesters I could sell to a ws for more than I would get for a harv, house, furniture.
I focused on my Merchant sind the end of the last year, and to restock harvesters two months ago was the biggest mistake I could make, it was a waste of 20 million credits.
Shubashi/Gorath
bluejanus
Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:53 am
#38
Here are my thoughts about being successful as an architect.
First off you need to have a business plan. Some idea of what you're going to be selling. You can be the full-fledged architect seller and try to sell everything that an architect can make. Or you can specialize. We have Architects that sell only architect components. Only furniture. Only lighting. Only big ticket items like heavy harvesters. Only medium harvesters. Only houses. Only guild sales. We even have people that are interior decorators and carpenters (the people who make pool tables and aquariums). There isn't one way of making money as an architect.
Second, you need to realize that you can change what you're selling, don't feel like you're constrained to only sell one thing. You can reduce or expand your business as you see fit.
Third, develop a customer base. This is probably the most important thing. Advertise. Seek out people wanting architect products on your server's trade forums. Or the auction channel. Or random chatter at starports. Or your guild. And not only talk to people about what they interested in, but send emails saying what you have to offer in addition to what they wanted. Include your vendor wp's and how to get reach them (preferably close to a starport or shuttleport). Try to be courteous and helpful, even if they decide not to buy. Customer service is very important in your starting stages. People like it when you respond to requests and attempt to complete as quickly as possibly. Definitely post on your server's trade forums with what you have to offer and make a signature that includes your vendor wp's and what they sell, so that no matter what sort of post you make, your signature will be out there on various threads, giving people one more view of what you can offer. It takes time to develop a customer base and to be known. If you want to do it, you can spam at starports. I don't like doing this, it's annoying to me to do and you stand the risk of being /addIgnored for being annoying, but it's another option. You can also align yourself with a popular mall or builder and set up shop there. And with time, people will remember you and you'll start getting repeat business. You also might consider making contacts with other architects. If they have way to big an order, they might consider passing on business to you.
Not everyone's experience is the same so I'll add a few things that helped me on Kettemoor. I joined the Kettemoor Resource Network channel (BBB) sponsored by Hork Haggis who runs the oldest resource company on the server. It was much more active in the hologrinding phase, but I got to know a lot of crafters out there and they started hearing my name more often as an architect. I'd buy from them and pass their names on if I heard of anyone that needed things they sold and people in that channel passed on my name. It took time, but definitely helped my business in the long run. Another thing I was doing was updating www.swgcraft.com. It was something I felt was useful to me and to other people anyways, but when Trokk mentioned on his page that people should try to thank anyone that updated the current resources, I got quite a bit of business after that from people thanking me on my efforts to update the page.
Fourth, don't expect success to come as fast as it did to grind out architect using gungan heads. It takes a lot of time and effort.I initially was just going to sell medium harvesters, because I despaired of ever being able to compete with a 'firster'. But with effort I went toe-to-toe with a firster and won out.
Fifth, stocked vendors are never bad. People hate searching for stuff, so if you are always stocked, people will come back, assuming you're not charging way above par. Some architects do only e-mail orders. I don't think that's such a great thing. You should be willing to do both or at least stock vendors. Remember a lot of people want things RIGHT NOW. So you can do that with a vendor, even if you're not there.
Sixth, location of your vendors is somewhat important. It's nice to put your vendor near a busy starport or have some kind of nearby shuttleport access. You get a lot more visibility and then there's the convenience factor. This is not to say you can't be successful if your vendor is out of the way, but it's probably easier if you put it someplace busy. On Kettemoor that would be Theed, Bestine and Coronet. On your server it might be Dearic or Dantooine Mining Outpost, whatever. Just know you can still put it in your nice home in your player city in the middle of the Dune Sea and still be successful.
Seventh, consider offering special programs. I haven't personally done this, but I know people that have done it and it's something to consider. Things like one-time coupons, frequent buyer discounts, conditional free items (buy 10 and the 11th is free), bulk discounts (If you buy 20 heavy harvesters, you get a 10% bulk discount), raffles and similiar devices. To me it was so much simpler in my business plan to just offer a fixed, reasonable price on things, but you should consider doing these things.
Eight, advertising is important. I mentioned advertising in the customer base area, but let me touch on it again. People need to know that you're a master architect and that you have things that they want for sale. While you're probably going to get flagged down at the starport or randomly by people doing a search on all the architects in a geographic area, you should actively be advertising. Post your wares on the trade forums periodically. Respond to WTB threads in the trade forums with information that includes your vendor wp's and what they sell in your signature (so people who read the threads can see "oh such and such sells that thing I need next week or that thing my friends needs). More visibility can't hurt. Rename items and sell them on the bazaar and includes details about your business and vendor wp's in the item description. Email your wp to all your friends and guildmembers, so not only will they consider you when they need something, but they might pass on your name and wp to other people that they happen to find. You can spam at starports but don't overdo it or you'll get ignored and since people don't really update their ignorelists that much, you'll be ignored for a long time. Register your vendors. Clothe your vendors. Turn on barking mode on your vendors. Oh yeah and don't name your vendor like a character. Joe's Harvesters is a lot more readable than Joe Ambran. Don't make people have to guess what your vendor sells when they look at it or seach for it using CTRL-V. Name your factories and harvesters with your name and vendor wp's might a good idea too.
Ninth, I said make contacts with other architects in case you can't handle or they can't handle a particular order. Be careful about doing this. Making contacts is great. Passing on business is a calculated risk though since there's only so much demand out there. So while you should consider passing on business, you don't have to do it all the time. Not everyone needs the product today.
Tenth, you might consider partnerships. It's hard to develop trust between people in the game, but it might be easier if you had a partner in your business. A friend, a guildmate, someone like that. So you have one person selling one thing and another person selling another but under the same roof or even the same company name.
Eleventh, you might consider offering different things on your vendors. I have a cheap furniture, a cheap lighting vendor, a resources vendor and a structures vendor. The resources and structures are businesses of themselves, some weeks I make more selling resources, some weeks more selling structures. The first two are just attractants for me. The same rules apply for those two vendors as with advertising and customer base, but I use them to bring more customers to my shop who might potentially buy some harvesters or come back knowing I have harvesters.
Hopefully this adds something useful to this thread.
lisasdarren
Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:02 am
#39
Well i started my crafting character about 2 1/2 months ago, it didn't take me long to master architect as i had been mining the required resources for some time before hand on my primary char, it took mesomewhat longer to master AS,but mastering the profession isnt the be all and end all.
It has taken me a while to break into the architect business, but not too long. I am not making a fortune, but i am pulling in about 200k a day on average. I am in a player city not a prime location, and i don't advertise much, so that will explain the slow start. However i don't want to advertise much until i finish my initial stock and that is what is taking me the time.
I intend to sell everything a architect can make and as such i need hundreds and hundreds of walls... i have managed to gather the quality resources for harvesters and all the other odds to make components etc. but the sheer quantity of ore required to make walls is slowing me down.
After 2 months of work i am now stocking everything except medium, large and exotic gardens, i am beginning to establish a reputation as someone who always has things in stock, and i expect to be making better money when the planetary map registration means something.
So architect is not hard to break into, however other crafting professions are, i am a reasonable master AS, i have 71% kinetic ubese and cheap 60% composite on my vendor, yet it doesn't sell.