Armorsmith Archive
Thread: Armorsmiths UNITED against Cheap priced Armor
I have been a struggling armoursmith for months now ( i hate to grind ) and i am finaly getting there, all that is left are the psg and layers trees for me to climb up. I have never made any money of any value because my armour is **edit** conpared to a masters armour, yet i have managed to sell all the armour that i make from full sets of bone to full sets of tantel and ubese i am not a fool and neither are my customers so i price the armour at a fair price that will attract the buisness. I have a friend who payed half a mil for a full set of comp 80% kenetic and base......now i know that is bloody good armour but i as an armoursmith would never charge that amount of money and i shall tell you why because me as a customer would never buy a suit for that price not in a million years, now if people want to pay that price all good to them and if i am honest i dont think i would like to miss out on a sale like that, but it comes down to this and its the bottom line for me its a principal not to overcharge people because i can. You are right in what you say you make armour for people not for the money, we are here to protect in a unseen way that is my job and i get the best feeling when someone puts on a full suit of armour i have just crafted. Some of the posts about making 6 million in a week just seems like a far offmyth to me i really didnt think that kind of money could be made from making armour and i doubt if i ever will get to that level i make armour because i enjoy it and enjoy protecting people not to see how much is in my bank at the end of the week.
Aramil Nailo
The Infinity Server
It's really more about time than it is about the cost of resources (at least to me). Yes, I still get excited whenever we have a new resource that pushes the armor's quality up, and I still enjoy filling custom orders for folks when I have the time, but for the most part running the same schematics over and over again and tending factories is a grind.
I don't worry about what other people charge. I priced my unsliced armor at a point where I was comfortable with the pace it was selling. When I started selling sliced armor I chose a pricing system that was easy for me to manage, was comparable to my competitors (who also happen to be my friends in game), and felt fair to my customers. I'm happy with the amount I sell, and as a former 100% combat player I don't think the amount of time it takes a combat elite to raise the funds to buy my stuff is unreasonable.
I don't get nervous whennew 'smith shows up making top quality items, and I certainly don't get nervous if they're trying to undercut. More often than not undercutters don't have an appreciation for how much effort it takes tokeep large amounts of sliced triple layered composite (both stun and kinetic)and Ubese in stock, and they either burn out in a couple of weeks or they lose customers due to unstockedvendors.
Price fixing schemes never work, and worrying about what your competitors charge does absolutely nothing to help the quality of your armor or the quantity of your business.
Message Edited by DirthNader on 06-01-2004 05:23 AM
Elody wrote:
Armorsmiths being one of the richest classes? I think not, especially with us having to spend 20-50cpu on materials! Weaponsmiths I think still make the most profit margin considering they pay on average 3-5cpu on materials and resell their final product at 20-50cpu based ratio.
Uhmmm, for nearly all my resources I paid .5 cpu. Weaponsmiths have to pay as much as we do for extinct resources. 20-50 cpu final sale price? Big deal. Sit down and figure out what you really charge cpu for your suits. You'll see its far higher than that!! Even as a new master I was charging 40 cpu. I actually went as high as 60 cpu for a while, and was the cheapest armorsmith on Intrepid. ( 40 cpu is 105k a suit for ubese, I went to 130k for custom suits to try and slow down the flood). Most ubese I see for sale now is 200k plus.
Armorsmiths are easily the richest crafting class. A good ubese suit only lasts a full day, chest may not even last that long. I've got weapons that have survived longer than my armor! And yes, 130k for a suit of armor makes me more money than 15k for that weapon did that weaponsmith!!!
I'll have to respectfully disagree with you. I think anyone should be free to charge as little or as much as they want. If these armorsmiths are able to charge at such low rates and make a living, then good for them. I don't think price-fixing is a sensible idea.
Elody wrote:
I am wondering whether there are any other armorsmiths out there that are outraged at the incredibly low prices that some armorsmiths charge for composite armor suits? In my situation, 80%kinetic armor can be found almost everywhere. So I mixed two special resists in my armor (to get 3 special resists near 80) and because of the time and resources I used to find the right combination I decided to charge a hefty fee - it took me almost 2 days to do this. (not 48hrs but 2 playing days so roughly 8hrs)
And by hefty fee I mean giving myself a profit of 400k per suit. What upset me was that other armorsmiths being jealous(?) of me getting a few clients decided to make an exact copy of my suit. The HAM on the copied suit was a bit higher by 100 to each, but the price they were selling was ridiculously low! The profit they made per suit if the cost to make is equivalent to mine would be 100k.
So in short, I think all armorsmiths should decide on a minimum profit % we should make on all our suits. Armorsmiths being one of the richest classes? I think not, especially with us having to spend 20-50cpu on materials! Weaponsmiths I think still make the most profit margin considering they pay on average 3-5cpu on materials and resell their final product at 20-50cpu based ratio. I mean if players bought armor on an occasional basis then by all means we can sell the suits for 250-300k a pop, but the fact is they don't.
Considering any elite combat class can purchase an 80%kinetic suit for 300k and make 600k easily doing janta missions for a few hours, it's ridiculous to be selling suits at that price. That one suit with buffs, of course, will allow that combat player to potentially earn 6 million credits off Janta missions.
I think an armoursmith should be able to charge whatever they like for a suit - 300k for a decent suit of comp is about right on the Infinity server IMO - and there are a few who sell at bit less, and a few who sell at a bit more ...
Driving up your prices because of a perceived ability to earn credits is just madness for all the reasons specified ....... endlessly grinding missions is not fun - and is usually a chore which happens every so often, not every time you play !!
But - if all the armoursmiths on your server want to do that .... good luck !! I think you'll find a number of people suddenly becoming Armoursmiths to undercut you :-)
LOLWhy do people get worked up about other people prices? It's none of any of our business's what other people charge for their goods. Everyone's playing the game for themselves, not to make anyone else happy.
Just keep doing what you are doing and don't worry about the other guy. I made freinds with the other MAS on my server, and we try to stick to the same prices. Some guys are 10k cheaper, but they are also in a city that isn't visted as much. If someone is priced too high, we talk to them about it instead of going through these stupid price wars.
I make credits and so do they. We all get a long becuase we decided to be civilized about it.
The only thing to fear is the new MAS, and you really don't have to fear them.Two reasons why:
1) he's trying to make a name for himself and will soon realize pricing so low will keep him making armor 24/7 and/tells every 30 seconds (I was this guy once and it burned me bad)
2) he's just in it for the quick money and will soon be out of resources and the profession.
If your an MAS and love your profession, let these ppl do what they do. Been doing this so long i've seen so many come and go and I am still friends with the ones that truely love it.
MAS is an art and if you don't belive that, try something else.
I have been a AS since launch, well established and have plenty of resources. Normally, assuming you paid 5cr/unit of resource, and 40 cr/unit of wooly, factoring layers, segments, and pieces, factory time, power, and experimentation, it should cost you about $43,170 to make a single suit.
I have two alts which helps in harvesting my own resources mineral etc. It is the organics were most of my money is spent, hides/bone etc.
Imake 80/70 Kinetic, Energy, etc. and I sell those for 245k a set and80/69 210k. I am making a pretty good profit margin. I have 11 factories, (thanks to guild members), I can pump out 45 sets per 999 adv segs made.
I dont believe in price gouging and that is what was happening there for while. It seems like it is starting to settle now.
When your talking special order or sliced armor that is a different ball game.