Architect Archive
Thread: How do you guys do it?
Jagged-F3l
Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:37 pm
#53
UmmonPrime wrote:
I read and read the forums and I see every SW pretty much charges 1 cpu. It just doesn't make sense to me. Do you mine ALL your own resources? It just seems like too much unless youuselots from other people.SW resources on my server are way over prices if you use a miner and I would never be able to compete at these low low prices.
Maybe I've been an AS way too long.
I'm just trying to get a feel for this profession before I jump all the way in it. Don't want to be caught off guard.
1 CPU!!! Not me, could never stay afloat if I charged 1 CPU.
However, I was sort taken aback the other day when I was rushing through Theed and saw someone's blat-bot advertising ships at 1 CPU. Wonder how long this player will be in business?
TomoRainer
Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:57 am
#54
I charge 16 cpu for my components and sell a lot of them, and if I charged much less, I wouldn't be able to offer the same quality as I do now when satisfactory resources sell for at least 5 cpu and up to 16-30, depending on how badly I need some good steel. I get the occasional complaint about my prices, but so far about half the people who've given me flak have eventually ended up regular customers after they shop around and see that I'm actually carrying everything and it's often a lot better than the competition. That's the trick to carving out a market even when you charge more, offer something your shipwright foes can't. Whether that's a better product, better selection, the willingness to always do RE or custom work, or whatever, it will start to earn you some customers.
PConsole
Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:59 am
#55
When I first started SW I charged what I thought was fair and manageable with a combination of some mined and some bought resources. In the beginnging, before a pilot gets to the level he can make the crazy money that can be had in space, the resource vs cost requirement was just too much. I got constant tells explaining I was charging too much but never understood why people just didn't shop somewhere else. So I took down the SW tag and run a quaint personal service for people I meet and a few select clients.
Now I can mine all my own resources (sicne I made master and don't sell to the public) and I actually charge a lot more than I did before (because I custom craft things for your personal style) so it balances out and I don't have to deal with the headaches as much. I still keep a vendor stocked with some of my pre-master stuff, at about the same price I used to sell. Once in a while I'll have a sale there.
Otherwise, I just don't think it'd be that much fun for me.
Now I can mine all my own resources (sicne I made master and don't sell to the public) and I actually charge a lot more than I did before (because I custom craft things for your personal style) so it balances out and I don't have to deal with the headaches as much. I still keep a vendor stocked with some of my pre-master stuff, at about the same price I used to sell. Once in a while I'll have a sale there.
Otherwise, I just don't think it'd be that much fun for me.
Chiwawa
Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:45 am
#56
UmmonPrime wrote:I read and read the forums and I see every SW pretty much charges 1 cpu. It just doesn't make sense to me. Do you mine ALL your own resources? It just seems like too much unless you use lots from other people. SW resources on my server are way over prices if you use a miner and I would never be able to compete at these low low prices.Maybe I've been an AS way too long.I'm just trying to get a feel for this profession before I jump all the way in it. Don't want to be caught off guard.
I don't see many SW charging this rate (granted they DO exist), I guess to trade at that price you have to harvest all your own resources to make a viable business.
Charge what you like, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If your charging 6 cpu, 1 cpu, 10 cpu whatever your price should reflect your costs, your profit margin and the quality of your goods. In general people WILL pay for quality.
I tried having a 2 tier system for a few weeks and quickly gave it up. I would stock 1 set of components at my standard 6cpu rate, and another at 2-3 cpu. What I found was initally people asked why one was more than the other, once explained they always gravitated toward the higher quality items.
I no longer operate this system, its utterly pointless IMHO
Scythykins
Mon Jan 17, 2005 6:22 pm
#57
People are going to charge what they want unfortunately, they're selfish pompous arses who won't listen to anyone else when it comes to the sake of the profession or, god forbid, having fun. Those of us who like the economic challenge of the game, who consider that a game in and of itself instead of merely being a "support profession" (that guy who said that STILL irks me,) You must persevere!!!! They'll give up eventually...duped creds can't last forever :-p
Chiwawa
Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:02 pm
#58
Scythykins wrote:People are going to charge what they want unfortunately, they're selfish pompous arses who won't listen to anyone else when it comes to the sake of the profession or, god forbid, having fun. Those of us who like the economic challenge of the game, who consider that a game in and of itself instead of merely being a "support profession" (that guy who said that STILL irks me,) You must persevere!!!! They'll give up eventually...duped creds can't last forever :-p
People are quite entitled to charge what they want, if that affects you, thats too bad, it is a free market, it isnt selfish, it isnt popous, it is just how it is. I just gave away a fully loaded T4, T5 and Firespray, I would not classify that as selfish, I had my reasons, and I enjoyed doing it.
I will say it again
Find you niche, support and understand your customers, charge reasonable rates...you cant go wrong
JacobKell
Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:00 am
#59
Personally i dont know how shipwrights survive. I run my business with a guild mate whose also a master SW,we both have 3 accounts and all available lots from the 6 accounts are constantly on resources and we still struggle to pull in enough for crafting. We both spend about 2 hours every night restocking the vendors and processing any customer orders.
Still the moneys there to be made,our prices arent excesivley low but nor are they excesivley high and ive made more money in a week than i ever did in the months i spent selling vehicles,my brief stint as a weaponsmith and then a tailor 
MMKia
Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:42 am
#60
Elood,
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
UmmonPrime
Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:49 am
#61
MMKia wrote:
Elood,
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
That's what I needed to hear. People are willing to pay extra for quality. I only buy the best resources and anyone that buys my armor knows that.
Tanks
Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:49 am
#62
Prices have stabilized a bit. Chassis prices are way down, though I still sell them at 10 CPU (just not a lot, maybe 3-4 mil a week). I will not lower them as I am alsoan Architect and can sell deeds at the CPU prices some SWs charge without having touse quality resources.
I used to sell Components at 30 CPU and still ran out of items on vendor, but recently dropped the price to 20 CPU to adjust for the lower demand on items.
I keep my pricing such that I do not have to spend all of my time making components as I still enjoy hunting Jedi on my BH 
.
.I do get A LOT of requests for custom orders though as I do have uber resources, those I still sell at 30CPU.
Little-Green-Guy
Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:10 am
#63
i wont sell chasis for anything less than the cost of the raw resource +20% (for my time).
only a fool would sell them for less than the cost of the raw resource.
Fishbreath
Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:12 pm
#64
Malachi wrote:
Elood,
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
For the record, for anyone who cares, I have never said my things are the best. As Abywarr wrote earlier:
Elood,
You won't make your money back if you grind on chassises. I've been stuck with a lot for a while, and people don't buy them very often. I am on Shadowfire and charge 4cpu, bought for 2cpuish. Fish is the one who charges 1cpu, he mines all his own resources. I've been a shipwright since jtl launch, and it's not a profession that you make lots of money on because of undercutting and other things. Armorsmiths make a lot more profit.
I do mine my own things, I have 20 static harvesters, so Im stuck with whatever resources are under them, and frankly, alot of times it's crap, but hey, it only cost me about 0.5cpu.
I'm a Shipwright because I like it, and will contine to do so. There are people that go out of their way to Thank-me for not pricing things through the roof....mostly noobs. Most people who know me that is the population I try to serve. I've never pretended to be anything than a guy who charges a fair price for my wares. If I went around telling people that my stuff "blows this guys out of the water" then I'd feel more of a need to procure expensive resources and charge expensive prices. But I don't.
Some people shop at Wal-Mart, some people shop at Gucci. You all can have the demanding, strive for perfect Gucci crowd, who have no problem telling you how "ate up" your stuff is. I'll gladly take the Wal-Mart crowd, who are just glad I'm there to meet their needs.
MMKia
Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:05 pm
#65
Fishbreath wrote:Malachi wrote:Elood,
I definitely dont charge 1cu for my wares. Im using a lot of resources (avoh) in my ship components that i could easily sell for 25+cu. Ive looked at Fish's stuff as compared to mine and i blow him out of the water. I have a lot of repeat business because component wise I make some of the best on the server. For consumables i charge a lot less because im not going to pour uber resources into missiles.
For the record, for anyone who cares, I have never said my things are the best. As Abywarr wrote earlier:Elood,You won't make your money back if you grind on chassises. I've been stuck with a lot for a while, and people don't buy them very often. I am on Shadowfire and charge 4cpu, bought for 2cpuish. Fish is the one who charges 1cpu, he mines all his own resources. I've been a shipwright since jtl launch, and it's not a profession that you make lots of money on because of undercutting and other things. Armorsmiths make a lot more profit.I do mine my own things, I have 20 static harvesters, so Im stuck with whatever resources are under them, and frankly, alot of times it's crap, but hey, it only cost me about 0.5cpu.I'm a Shipwright because I like it, and will contine to do so. There are people that go out of their way to Thank-me for not pricing things through the roof....mostly noobs. Most people who know me that is the population I try to serve. I've never pretended to be anything than a guy who charges a fair price for my wares. If I went around telling people that my stuff "blows this guys out of the water" then I'd feel more of a need to procure expensive resources and charge expensive prices. But I don't.Some people shop at Wal-Mart, some people shop at Gucci. You all can have the demanding, strive for perfect Gucci crowd, who have no problem telling you how "ate up" your stuff is. I'll gladly take the Wal-Mart crowd, who are just glad I'm there to meet their needs.
Actually I get nothing but "Thank you for making such a good product" from all of my customers. Most of my customers are the deep space PVPers and ppl who are close to finishing pilot. No one complains about my prices because they are fair. I also like to consider myself more of a "JCPenny" kind of SW. Prices arent outrageous like the gougers when JTL went live, but high enough to justify the quality product that I produce. Also my checkout lines are shorter and less annoying.
Im a SW because I enjoy the profession. SW isnt about throwing everything in your ocean of factories. Its about meeting the exact needs of your customers which is what im doing. I wasnt knocking how you do business. If you want to charge 1cu for your wares thats what youre gonna do. I simply said I dont do that because I could sell the resources and make a lot more off of that then making them into components. Frankly I lose money using some of the resources I do to make components. If someone needs low end equipment for their ships and cant find a vendor. I'd recommend you in a heartbeat.