Architect Archive
Thread: prices lately
Pawlin wrote:
There is argueing devils advocate and there is argueing to argue.. It is all fine and all to do what you are doing Pawlin.. but even the devil has to accept that there are given issues that are just known in an argument....
Dvnce wrote:
Pawlin wrote:
You say: "That those that think they need to cut their prices to compete and keep up with sales are infact only speeding up the time it takes for our market to hit the ceiling...."
Well answer me some questions:.... When will the market hit the ceiling? Or has it already?Are we in sustaining now or have we yet to hit saturation?
I dont think we have hit the ceiling.. and I actually think that we can prevent the ceiling from being hit.. if we get a little smart in how we handle our business.. like i said above the idea is to find a balance between the amount of product we sell.. and the amount of new need that enters the game..
Well that is clearly an opinion.
Prove to me that we haven't already hit the ceiling. Prove to me that I have to ever worry about hitting this alleged ceiling. People have been saying for 9 months that "the end is nigh" for architects. Why should I believe it will ever happen?
Or... How do I know that the slow down in sales about a month ago wasn't the ceiling being hit on my server and that my server isn't right now already in sustaining mode with all the real growth behind us?
It may be an opinion .. but it is a VERY educated one.. We havent hit the ceiling because many on each server are still selling a decent amount of harvesters.. As far as does the ceiling exist..... Come.. on... it doesnt take much education tosee ..that this item is needed by this pool ofpeople.. this pool of people grows at x rate..it will take Y rate of salesbefore every existing player has this object..
Will SOE's recent marketing efforts with the 14 day trial and lower purchase price for SWG case an increase in players? Will our business pick up more in the summer with a large group of potential players out of school? Will our business pick up more after the JTL launch?
I would imagine that is what SOE is banking on....
Ok so we've got renewed business coming. No need to prepare for the end of the world.
So instead of searching for a balance in the above mentioned X and Y rates. we should sit back and Pray there will be the NEXT GREAT thing to be introduced to "save the profession"
Why do some players keep buying deeds from me? How many harvesters are sold per day in Kettemoor? Is that number going up or down? How many architects are there on Kettemoor? Is that number going up or down? What is the average selling price on Kettemoor?
Dunno...
But these are the key questions about supply and demand. Thats very relative stuff. I should know what supply and demand is on my server before I go thinking about how global changes in pricing will effect the long term and how I should change my prices because of it.
If demand is through the roof and supply is constrained then don't you think thats a totally different situation than if supply is abundant and demand is low?
If you don't know the big picture data than you can't apply big picture solutions.
when I say I dunno .. I am saying I cant give you exact numbers.. the same basic principle is true for every server even though the credit worth is different.. the same basic principle that our Harvesters are the gate way to everyother crafting profession is true on every server...
If I raised my price would the increased profit per unit offset the decrease in unit sales or if I lowered my price would the increase in unit sales offset the decrase in profit per item?
Yes you would.. You may not sell as many.. but you will definatly make around the same profit.. if you averaged the two together..... ( why can I say this..?) well becuase.. the market needs more resources than can be Hand Sampled.. plain and simple... our products control the market.. if no one sold a harvester the market would eventually slow down to a crawl.. we sell too many and the market gets flooded with finished goods.. this isnt like we are selling a luxury item.. we are selling a needed item.. ( just like our factories.. ) Would there be an adjustmant period if there was a change.?? YES.. but it would all balance out....
Architects don't act in unison. We compete with one another.If we acted in unison then we could control the market. But that won't happen.
I act as an individual. I can individually raise my prices a certain amount and still retain some sales but raising prices will loose some customers and decrease units sold. But if I raise my prices too much then I'll not make as much profit. There is a 'sweet spot' in the pricing curve where profit is maximized. Look at the extremes: If I tried to sell harvesters for 15M each then I'd sell none. If I sold them for 50 credits profit each sell as many as I could make but I'dvirtually no profits. Who are you to say that my pricing on my server isn't already at the sweet spot? As you said above you "Dunno" the picture on my server regarding supply and demand.
If architects did act in unison then we could set prices and production controls and play OPEC.WE won't.
I am not saying every architect should act in unison.. and I know that will never happen.. I am just saying that as a whole we are missing a VERY intrical part of the value equation of our product.. and as a result we should raise the bar.. it could very well be true that that "sweet spot" is in fact reached on some servers.. but i gaurantee you if you are selling 100's of medium and heavy harversters in a month you are far below that sweet spot... because we were never intended to sell that volume.. that is why certain gates were put in to the craft process to try to slow that down..
Fact is we don't know the answers to that stuff. You don't know. I don't know. All we can do is speculate. You can theorize that lowering prices will hurt us in the long run. It is just as valid for me to work on the assumption that if I lower my own prices then I'll grab more market share both today and tomorrow and personally do better in the long run.
I dont know what you do in real life..
Irrelevant.
agreed that is irrelevant.. but My RL experiences and training qualifies me to make this assesment regardless of it being fictitious money...
but this what I said above is not just speculation.. it is all part of tested business principals.. though we are playing with monopoly money here.. there is still some underlying truths that will still carry over..
Those "tested business principals" are generally based on systems where money has value and items are consumed or decay in some way. If you change the underlying assumptions in a system then you change how the system works.
this is only true to an extent.. no matter the money value or lack of value.. there are still basic truths in any economic model no matter what the state of money is.. these are backbones of any economy and no matter what cannot be removed even if items were free..
Pawlin wrote:
Dvnce wrote:
I dont know what you do in real life..
Irrelevant.
agreed that is irrelevant.. but My RL experiences and training qualifies me to make this assesment regardless of it being fictitious money...
So what are your RL experiences and training? BA in business?
BA business with focus in Strategic Marketing.. I have done the market research for consulting projects for Cineplex Odeon... Chrystler... Texeco.. among others.. I have both university training and pretty intense real market practice in the field.. My specialty is product analysus based for market penetration and maximum ROI
Message Edited by RamhornSWG on 06-18-2004 10:07 PM
Pawlin wrote:
Veers_Intrepid wrote:
u expect prices going even more down then this actual most cummon 2cpu rediculous prices? omg then architect is really dead...
No. Not at all. I was refering to how they have been going down in general.
I've not seen 2 cpu on my server for anything other than small houses.
well on my server its not only small houses.
mediums for 50k? large ones for 80k? heavy harvesters 80k? thats all very low cut prices with no 'real' win compared to that i can set my harvesters instead of on crap ore and procuse structure i can set same harvs on high end steel and sell that for 6cpu min 
my point forpricingsare the real value and not the lowest possible resource prices, cause i simply can get better resources instead of producing and sell them as pure resource.
i know pawlin you are not one of that low cutters, so this isnt directed to you
Message Edited by Veers_Intrepid on 06-19-2004 01:05 AM
Pawlin wrote:
If supply exceeds demand then 'real value' or 'worth' don't mean much.