Artisan Archive

This 40/20/40 split is the standard under capitalism.

I'm not sure where that comes from. Under capitalism, a thing is worth what someone will pay for it. No more, no less.

Demand determines your price. Your expenses determine your cost. The two are not related in any way other than this: If the former is greater than the latter, you profit.

There's no way you can sell power for more than 1c/u on Scylla, and I'm going to humbly take a large responsibility for that. Please see my sig below.I move about 1.5 milllion units per week.

I can't believe anyone could still get 2c/u on Valcyn. A 400% markup on anything is insane...a 100% markup on anything is insane. I've also gotten into heated arguements with other crafters on the server regarding 3c/u being too low for crafted items. And I'll make the same points here.

If you feel like you just must have 3-4 times your cost, knock yourself out. There will be some other guy, like me,that will put together a booming business selling for 1.5 times his cost and you can can go run missions. THAT's how economics works.

In case some of you are new and unaware, powerups is wheresome serious money is to be hadfor Artisans. I havemastered Artisan for the sole purpose of making money to support my combat equip and collecting needs.

I can pay 4-5cr/unit of mineral and chemical with OQs in the 900s (I choose not to spend my time fighting for the rare spots) and make a schematic for a +32% max dmg / +16% min dmg powerup, throw the schem into my factory with 600 min and 400 chem and crank out 10 cases and charge 3k per case. When I feel like selling I sell around 20 cases a day, thats 60k in no more than a couple of 2-3 hours.

It usually takes less than a 100 of each resource to produce a usable schem (If your a Master) and then 1000 resources to produce10 crates (600m/400c) then add half a days maint and power (doesnt take long to crank out cases) and your done. At the most, it should cost 7-8k to produce 10 crates using these means (again these projected costs arehigh). So you made each crate for 700-800 creds and your charging 3k (dont underbid folks, I sell them all day long for 3k, you can too) so your clearing a profit of 2200-2300cr per crate. And each powerup is only good for 100 shots, so fighters will always be buying.

I prefer to pimp my wares on the street. 2 reasons:

1. I get to have personal contact with my buyers, increasing future repeat customers

2. It allowed me in the beginning to quickly determine if a particular city was going to be good for business or too slow

Good Luck!

-Mourf, Master Artisan

A number of good, valid points here, but it will all boil down to one truth...

How much are these suckers willing to pay

I put my Master Armorsmith title up for 30 minutes just after getting it and stood in the bank at Coronet, Corellia. I fielded tells from over 300 people asking about composite armor and pricing. I explained my newness to the Master rank and told them I didn't have the (very) specific materials needed in its construction but to check my vendor on Naboo in a few days.

Composite armor is a royal pain to make a suit of, the materials are very specific, and everyone wants it. I may have to charge obscene prices just to keep people off my back, as I was still receiving tells up to the time I logged out, even though I didn't have the title up any longer.

I was charging around 15cr/resource for armor, to denote the cost of the resource, my time, my expenses, and my skill. As a master I will up that number, add 20% for custom orders, etc...

This isn't an arbitrary number, just the way I figured out the cost to me on a per resource unit basis....

If the dev's want to reduce the amount of money in the game, they need to all make Master Armorsmiths. We can suck the cash from the universe in a few weeks....

Vaylis Arturin, Mercenary Master Merchant, Master Armorsmith, Master Artisan, Novice Gunfighter and I'm outta points......

I move about 1.5 milllion units per week.

Hmm. How many accounts do you have to have to mine 1.5 million units a week?

I can't believe anyone could still get 2c/u on Valcyn.

I routinely sell hard to find metals for 8-10cr per on Valcyn.

A 400% markup on anything is insane...

I'm currently getting 120cr per for an extremely rare (and no longer available) hide. That's right, 120 per. 25 of these hides sell for 3000 credits.

If you feel like you just must have 3-4 times your cost, knock yourself out.

I don't have to knock myself out to move stuff at 6 - 10cr per. I can't stock the bazaar fast enough.

There will be some other guy, like me,that will put together a booming business selling for 1.5 times his cost and you can can go run missions. THAT's how economics works.

No, that's how the economics ofyour market works. You're assuming that every other market is the same asthe energy marketand it's not the case. I mine something I know is in high demand and let it ferment in my inventory for 2-3 weeks. Then, when everyone has depleted their reserves, I pull it out and make 5 times what it sold for the week it shifted in.

You can't do that with energy because energy is always available, it's fungible with any other kind of energy and players are prepared to simply get their own if they have to. That's why you have to sell at such a small markup.

one thing that hasn't been mentioned inall this cost analist is the price of space travel, i sell alot of products for lok and endor (high end stuff) add in the price of the ticket, and how much you consider your life to be worth (ya you die on these planets just getting to your harvestors). i prefer to sell face to face also, it gives you a feel for the person you are dealing with. also it makes it easier to sell things, anyone cansell from a vendor, but if you deliver the goods to their doorstep you can get the same price or higher with the delivery charge. i have noSP tied up in the vendor/merchant catagory, i don't sell on bazzars, i think its a total waist of time for selling raw materials. plus when ya'll spend 120K on a large harvestor i can get them for 65K (thats a nice hidden profit). steady customers get discounts, so do bulk deals. i have no guild, i'm trying to be a complete independant contractor. i like doing missions, so when some of the badge ones take me off planet, i'll grab a survey one from the planet i'm leaving (i know i'm more than the 1024m away lol) its a quick 1800c plus it opens up new markets. flooding the market with energy is fine withme it opens up the lot that it takes me to run a harvestor, if the prices go beyond what i want to pay (2.5 cpu) i move on or place one of my own. i don't undercut i have a set range that i'll sell my goods for, but i do like to haggle. if a price is agreed upon both sides are happy with great, if not someone else will buy at a price i want. i so a chef do this and i incorperated it, i usually have 10-20K of between 3-8 rosources on me at all times, list what they are and the specs for them on you character sheet (you can do the cpu for each if you like, i don't cause i like to /tell them what i'm asking. yes a decay rate for cloths would be great, add funriture in there too. armor and weapons decay from being used, look at your stats for them after a day of killing. the only time i have low end stuff on me is when i see alot of it for cheap at the bazzar, if i buy it and get .5cpu higher on a different planet where grinding (which i think is just for stupid stats freaks) material is harder to get then i made my money back plus some pocket change. that and ask the masters what materials they are lookin for, they know what works the best and get it for them. i don't destroy much stuff, and i sample everything lol, if i got some stuff thats junk i'll use it for a tip instead of money, or give the 20 units i have of it to someone just starting out (if one in 20 of them repay the favor when they become a master then its well worth it).

Wabit, I like your posts a lot and I agree with you again here but would you please put some paragraphs in

Some very good points have already been made about how prices actually work. Things needing to be sold at 4X the resource cost is just not true. Very cheap tinned food costs pennies and something like Coca Cola, sold at the right locale, like a nightclub,can get $5 per bottle

The truth of the economy is that the wealth creators are playing a different game to the crafters. With the exception of a couple of the crafting professions - most architects, weaponsmiths and armourers are fairly well off after they master their craft - money is earned by combat characters doing missions

These people earn 50K an hour

Quite simply missions pay far better than crafting

So being an effective seller involves attracting some attention from these players and convincing them in a very short attention span to buy from you

And if they do buy from you anything - fishing rods, droid batteries, power ups or composite armour - is automatically worth thousands because these players time is worth 1K per minute

These players would be crazy to spend 5 mins trying to find a 100 cred fishing rod instead of a 1000 cred fishing rod

They also have enough money that if they see something that looks interesting they can just buy it

Besides they rarely know what goes into anything - so if the customers sense of value is what drives the market why assume that the amount of resources used matters? Our customers generally don't know and certainly don't care

bah paragrahphs lol, i barley passed my writing classes in high school, what is a comma, for compared to an aposrtphy????

well MrPeterson is right, in this game i guess you need a goal, for some it might be to get a zillion credits, heck i work for a living in the real world, why do i wanna do it in a game lol. my only goal is to see all of the planets, not just the cities but the country side. doing missions, or hunting with a group of ppl is a blast. the selling is also fun (i failed as a door-to-door salesman in real life, this is kind of my ego boost in that category), but its meeting all sorts of ppl in the game that i get my real enjoyment out of.

and fishing poles make great tips for entertainers (dunno why).

bah paragrahphs lol, i barley passed my writing classes in high school, what is a comma, for compared to an aposrtphy????

Well, there's a reason people teach and learn that sort of thing. I see one giant run-on-sentence-as-post and skip right by them. Too hard on the eyes. You may have had some great ideas in there, but I'll never know.