Architect Archive

I love people like you, I wish everyone did that

Dayln, Out of curiosity are you going to raise your price with the new experimentation means something?

I'm going to go bump my Generic Architect Debate post...

For crafting stations I charge roughly 1k per rating for anything over 20 and then 2-5k for ratings in the 10-20 range. e.g. +40 rating = 40k,+25 rating = 25k, +13 rating = 2500

Thanks foran answer!

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Dayln wrote:

First off, I have never made a loss on a sale, everything I ahve ever sold, I sold at a profit, often in the 400% to 500% range from the cost of the materials for me.

But what I was referiing to was his first statement.

"I don't try to sell for less than my competitors, I try to sell for more..."

I wish everyone did that

Just think what would happen in the real world if everyone but one retail place did that

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1. If everyone did that then there wouldn't be one who didn't. If there was one who didn't then everyone wouldn't be doing that.

2. If you pulled up your harvesters and worked from warehoused resource inventories you could completely eliminate costs and your profit margin would be infinite since there is no cost associated with pulling resources out of inventory.

Tued, Master Builder, King of Spain

Two head

Almost true,

When I said I wish everyone did that, I of course did not mean I would

also

Those resources cost you something to put in your wareshoue,granted it is a cost you paid a long time ago. But the profit is not infinate, just the costs were already paid for ( except factory costs ). I would only sugguest that you not count on prices being higher later, I see nothing that will make things more expensive later, only cheaper. I wish it was otherwise, but without decay prices only have one direction as more and more architects are selling to fewer and fewer people.

Sitituation stinks, I am all behind decay to help that.

For me I cant keep resources, Every time I build up a little sales pulls them right out.

No, I don't count those costs in my calculation. You can count whatever costs you want, but I only include current week expenses in my figures and since I harvested these resources weeks ago that makes them free now. I came up with this creative accounting scheme from reading posts on this board from someone talking about an interesting method of calculating his costs. He mentioned how by excluding certain costs from his calculations he could get 400-500% profits, so I figured out a way to do even better. Now I not only have infinite profit margins, I'm the king of spain.

Tued, MB, KoS

Whatever works for you

I just follow real world business accounting, works for me.

Dayln,

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Quote:

"I love people like you, I wish everyone did that "

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I'm not clear.. are you saying you woulddo the same... or are yousaying that he is somehow driving customers to you? (I think i know which)

He is saying that he can only make (worthwhile) money if he builds structures from his self-mined materials.If he sells everything he can that way, then he has no more stock to sell to anyone at any price.He can only keep business from going to someone else if he can obtain resources at a price that is below his selling price. Anything else is a loss.

Taking a few losses would be fine if it lead to more sales of the profitable items (and I think this might be what you would do... lose on the house and make money on the furnishings). But maybe he doesnt want that much extra work (and short term loss)for "potential" profits latter. What he is doing is immediately maximizing his profits on a limited inventory.

I cover a shortage of supply a slightly different way...

I find that I selleasily at my prices (aprox. 5cpu on structures, and 10+ cpu on furniture). There is no way that I could keep up if I used only my self harvested resources. Since demand outstrips my supply I can chose one of two paths.... I can either raise my prices until demand equals my supply (his method), or (and this is the path I generally chose) I can look for a source of supply that will let me provide the product to the customer and still make a profit. Interestingly this often means buying from other Architects... which suggests that they could be getting more money for their products than they are.

I still think (despite shrinking demand) that most architects that aren't doing well are suffering from bad marketing. If I have no problem selling then I cant think of any other reason why they would be struggling to sell at barelyhalf my price.

First off,I have never made a loss on a sale, everything I ahve ever sold, I sold at a profit, often in the 400% to 500% range from the cost of the materials for me.

But what I was referiing to was his first statement.

"I don't try to sell for less than my competitors, I try to sell for more..."

I wish everyone did that

Just think what would happen in the real world if everyone but one retail place did that

Dayln,

In the real world businesses dont have a '10 Lot limit' , in the game you do.

You will never have a significant impact on other architects business unless you are prepared to buy a lot of resources on the open market. If you do that then you profit numbers will never reach the percentages you always quote.

If you are already selling everything you can make, which you should be if you are taking a 20% price reduction to attract sales, then other people charging more isn't going to give you any extra sales. They are already more expensive yet they have customers anyway, and you dont have anymore product to sell. We both know that any single architect cannot have a significant impact on the economy (unless of course the others charge such an absurdly high amount that people just can't buy from them, and at the same time you buy resources on the market and spend 24hrs a day making stuff)

I sell alot of products (about 60 on an averagenight, split 20% Hvy Structures / 80% Furnishings). I dont have to cut prices to do it, and to be honest its already about as much as Iwant to have to restock. Im sure though that as busy as I am I am still a fairly insignificant part of the market.

Selling at a price below the competition CAN give you extra sales, but the primary methods for that happening (Advertising and Recommendations) seem to be relatively weak in the game. Ceratinly I get referals, but I think on the whole the vast majority of business comes from passing trade (people just stopping in), and repeat customers.I suspect the repeat businesshas alot more to do with the fact that I stock my vendors well. As a frequent shopper myself I know I re-visit stores that carry good inventory, and rarely re-visita store that has low prices but is always low on inventory. People hate to waste playtime looking for the lowest price, and since money is relatively easy to get the prices play a much smaller role than they do in the real world.

In the real world every smart storedoes TRY to sell for more.. the only thing holding them back is the fact that there is effectivecompetition. If 99% of all stores charged more, the consumer would have to pay it (at least in the short term, and assuming it is an item you must have). The single low priced vendor would not be able to meet the demand. Long term of course (and wihout LOT limits) the low price businesscould grow into the market,assuming it has the cash to support that growth (whichfrequently isnt the case).

It is a falacy to think that the 'Lowest Price' business model is inevitably the best one. There are many businesses which work on prices that are greatly above the average. It generally comes down to 'Marketing' and 'Volume vs Margin'.

But you knew all this already.... sometimes I think you post just to get a rise out of the forum

Posi,

#1 I run more than 10 lots, but that is beside the point.

#2 What you say would be totally true if there was a recurring need for our product ( like their should be ), but there isn’t, we are in a declining market. I know I have had an impact on my server/planet. Will I run everyone out of business? No, the economy will do that to everyone, including me. But I believe I can remain in business longer because of the way I work. Personally I want to see them add a recurring need for our products, I am all for decay in the form of rising pay maintenance on every structure we make.

#3 A smart business tries to provide a good value for their customer, because that is who you work for, the person that gives you the money is who you work for. Look at the most successful businesses, they sell a quality product to the customer for less than the other guy does.

#4 Advertising is weak in the game I agree, I have found one method of advertising that works very very well. Word of mouth, the question is how do you get your customers to spread your name around. There are several ways to do that, You already know how I do that, for me it is working beyond my own expectations. Almost every e-mail I get ( most of my business starts with an e-mail from someone I don’t know, but who has heard my name ) starts with "a friend told me that I could get a good deal from you". 3 out of the last 4 PA halls I sold started that way, and E- mail from someone I have never heard of before, not a tell, an e-mail when I was not on-line.

I am not saying other ways don’t work, I am saying that my way does work. It certainly works for me

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Dayln wrote:

Whatever works for you

I just follow real world business accounting, works for me.

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Yup, applying real world creative accounting techniques is what its all about. We can all take a page from Enron and MCI here. Its not about reality, its about the numbers you present. Once you opened my eyes by detailing your method I realized the sky was the limit and why should I settle for a piddly 500% profit when infinite profits were mine to be had? Now if only I could do an IPO heh.

Tued