Architect Archive
Thread: Return of the lowballers !!!
I did it with no vendor, no advertizing in town and recently with no title of Master Architect over my head.
I didnt have to work to find a customer, they all came to me. I tis easier when you contract to build a PA's ( not my PA, a different one ) and entire towns including all the houses of thier members. I know in advance what to extract.
I did it very easily. 
All I needed was the reputation of a solid Master Architect that sold quality products at low prices. All of my early weeks prep work paid off beautifully.
You can never make the argument that my way doesnt work, it does, and makes it for a very easy life as an architect too 
Ok, here goes...
*takes a deep breath*
*removes left shoe*
*commences to pounding it on his desk*
Yelling "I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!"
seriously guys we have a classic Nordstrom's vs. Walmart argument
STOP being childish... If you have had ANY economics courses you would know that BOTH models work just fine...
Oh and for you using the IN THE REAL WORLD THAT WOULDN'T WORK argument um get a life this is the GAME WORLD
oh and btw look at the above retailers, they offer the SAME spread of products with VERY different business modles and Walmart would be the lowballer or undercutter... Hmmm Nordstrom's still seems to make a profit and they don't use mudslinging adverts like you guys do here...
GET OVER IT...
Your argument are based solely in your small minds because you are losing business...
I don't see any negative return from the "lowballers" here except the occassional you are greedy or gouging plea...
Otica (the wookie with the most)
MAW Industries
First Wookiee
"YES, I AM a yeti, and I AM from Yavin 4"
Artisan 4/4/4/4
Brawler 4/0/0/0
Entertainer 0/4/0/2
Marksman 0/4/0/0
Scout 4/0/4/2
Novice Smuggler 1/1/0/4
Novice Weaponsmith 0/0/0/0
Intrepid
yetimann yes tis true nordstrom is profitable.
however, since you have boasted about econmics knowledge, let me ask you this,
isn't the classical oligarchical economic model, tho unsustainable (guess why?), the most profitable for the group?
what would you sell a holocron for? 100k? 500k? 5mil to that poor schlep yelling in the street? if you tell me that you would honestly walk up to that guy and say, "Hey, i will sell you this one for 100k. you dont need to pay me 5mil," i will call you a d@mn liar right here and now. if someone came up and said hey, do you have any 13bers on you, and you said yes, and they offered 200k for each one of the 8 you said you had, you wouldn't stop them and say, "that isn't necessary. i only charge 85k each. go in peace, my child." why are you a liar if you say you would? BECAUsE YOU WOULDN'T DO IT IN REAL LIFE! Oh yeah, you may under sell in here, but i will put MONEY on the fact that if it were real and someone offred you $5mil you would take it without blinking.
we are all greedy son's of b!tches. deal with it and quite trying to be all holier than thou. "i offer a fantastic product at the lowest cost." that doesn't make you a good business man. it makes you an idiot, i dont care whose economy you are in. a GOOD business man doesn't try to be the cheapest in the market, he tries to compete with others in the market of WHAT THE CUSTOMERS ARE WILLING TO PAY. that's why you won't be seeing any Lamboughini's selling for 25k anytime soon. if you want to be a crafter, that's fine. but don't hide behind any kind of business model to justify your higher or lower prices. my prices are what they are based on what i feel they are worth. you are more than welcome to sell by volume if you want. you are more than welcome to move in next door to me if you want. but don't go spewin your BS about being a better business man. you dont know jack-sh!t about business or you wouldn't be selling at 3cpu...
I've been reading this thread and others like it quietly. And I'm sure I'll get flamed, but I have to speak up. Especially after that comment by Mor-Dan. We're not all greedy SOB's--in game or real life. Quite often, I've sold a structure for less than what someone was willing to buy it for. To me, it's stealing when I take more for something than I believe it's worth. The same thing goes for buying something for less than I feel it's worth. Money is money. It's nice to have, but it's not the end-all and be-all. If you have millions upon millions of credits, what's it good for? Don't forget, these are *real* people you're dealing with on theother end. But then, I guess I'm the crazy one. That's okay. I'm happy in looney-ville.
In real life, sure I would love to have millions of millions of dollars. But I'm just not going to sell a yellow Crayola crayon to some loon because he *really* needs a yellow one and will give me a million dollars. Actually, I would worry about where that money came from and what strings were attached.
If you're selling an item for whatever price and people are buying it, and you're making millions of credits. That's great. If you can make more money just harvesting and selling, then harvest and sell. I'm an architect because I like building the structures. I'm sure my prices are lower than yours. I have my own formulas that I stick with. I adjust them based on how hard something is to make. Sub-components, especially factory-required ones will increase the price. Because it's more work to do. Sure I sell the nice things for more. Not so much based on materials, but because *I* feel it's worth more. If you're happy selling at the prices you're selling, then great. I'm happy selling at my prices.
Now I feel like I'm rambling. So I'd better stop.
I like my answer to him.
I sell to your customers for less, and they come back to me..... deal with it
Dayln wrote:
I love the term lowballers, and undercutters.
It is like drivers syndrome,
"anyone that drives slower than me is an idiot, anyone that drives faster is a maniac"
hence
"Anyone that sells for less than I do is a lowballing undercutter, anyone that sells for more is a greedy price gouger"
You guys always give me a good laugh.
I'm with you on this 100%, Dayln. It's amazing to me how some people opt for the old 3cpu rule, instead of actually doing the math. Sticking with the 3 CPU rule means harvs prices are always straddled to the cost of resources which (as other professions clearly point out) isn't the case. Gripe and whine and complain they will. I chuckle at those who want unity in price-fixing.
If they'd wake up and actually do the math in what it costs to harvest and collect and factorize, to the cost it takes to bring that deed to fruition - they'd see that they could sell it 1:1 and still make a profit.
Those that complain about "what about time and effort?" - that's up to the sole person. If I wasn't doing this, I'd be shooting gnorts. It's a game. There is no time and *effort*.
OMG, Yetimann, you crack me up.
Yetimann wrote:
Ok, here goes...
*takes a deep breath*
*removes left shoe*
*commences to pounding it on his desk*
Yelling "I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!"
The point of selling something is to make creds. If you're happy making low creds, awesome. If you're happy making high creds, fantastic.
C'mon, there shouldn't be any complaining here. If someone is selling low, then you lower your prices, OR you buy from them and sell high. It's called competition.
Demand is the force we follow. If they all demand it, we charge more. People that charge less find their shelves empty rather quickly, and usually by people that charge more and make more because they're buying it up too (that's called buying at wholesale prices).
Having loyal customers is good, but not easy to keep. Remember that your customers are not coming to you because they're concerned about your best interests, they are concerned about having someone they can trust and do a good job for them at a reasonable price.
'Reasonable' price... I put some things out on the bazaar at a verylow price to test the waters, and people snapped them up. One of the people that were snapping them up were buying the resources I was postingto resell on the very same bazaar at higher prices. I then raised my prices to something a bit more reasonable, something still less to make me stand out more, offer a bit more, and less than what the higher prices were so that I could capture more market share, and charged more to keep my competition at bay (unless they liked only having a 30% profit margin as opposed to the 75% they were getting, while I continued to supply the market with a resource at a lower price).
If I continued puting out low pricesit would have the effect of either, depleting me of my resources leavingmy competitionto their profits, or driving the market price down as a whole to meet the prices I'm selling at, and then leaving more of my product on the shelf unsold when I start losing market share to others who are matching my prices...
I sell at above my cost to make a profit. Anyone selling below their costs are incurring losses and won't remain in the market for too long.
The overall long term effect of my pricing scheme would be to lower prices and cut into profits of others who are my competition.I do have to keep an eye open though, because profits from my actions well drive the prices lower.When profits get too low, and demand is high elsewhere,I would then have tomove to where the demand is, and that will once again increase my sales thereby improving my profits. [Profits through volume.]
Lowball away folks. It evens out in the end. If you find it fun to constantly lowball, sooner or later your tank will be on zero. No more stuff to make, no more resources to sell. We'll be waiting for your customers to give them excellent dependable service, great consideration, and reasonable prices, and by the way... Once you lose the customers, if they're worthwhile customers, we'll make sure you don't get them back (if we can help it!).
=) Gentlepeople! Start your discounts!