Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Not wanting to step on anyones toes.
Page 1 of 2
BitTwist
Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:38 am
#1
This is a question about being accused of undercutting someone elses business. As a Master CH and Master BE. I started making Banthas and Dewbacks from junk DNA and selling them for 5k each. They end up CL5-CL10 and Ifully train and make them into mounts.
I stand at the starport in Coronet with 3 pets out hawking my wares. It takes me about 30 minutes to sell 20 of these pets making 100k in the process. Not bad for about 2 hours of total work and no combat. Then I head to my harvest spot and start all over. Waiting 4 days for the pets to grow enough to be mounted. I hunt High end DNA while waiting for them to grow.
Well, last night a Master BE came up to me and accused me of undercutting his bazarre sales. He sales banthas for 6k. These are untamed of course. Which means none are trained or made into mounts. He threatened to stand there and spam that my pets are bogus and will eventually not be usable.
Since I was out of pets, I just called it a night.
I play this game for fun, and am not big into combat. I do love seeing 10-15 people all riding thier new little pets around the starport. I seem to get good feedback from my buyers, some even lead to custom orders.
Question to all Master BEs. Am I undercutting others with what im selling, or is what im doing good business and I should keep on doing it? I would like the opinion of others Master BEs on this.
GMANHNC
Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:54 am
#2
No, but if i were you I would sell them for $7-10k since you are spending all the time to grow them and everything, I could do the same, am MBE/MCH, but I just drop them on the Bazar for $6k and call it a day, is easier and less time consuming.
Unfortunately there are psychos out there, I am not sure why he would even care, unless you were on 24 hrs a day and had an infinite supply of these things.
Another sugestion, since you are burning a lot of creature space for yourself there, is to maybe place them on the Bazar, compete directly with this idiot, and then put a note that if they purchase your pet to contact you and you will train it for free.
That's what I would do, then you could hammer out tons of these and flood his stupid market his pets will never sell with yours being 1k cheaper and the free training.
I know it sounds a bit evil, but I don't know why these people are the way they are, at least you can do a little tormenting back. 
Message Edited by GMANHNC on 07-30-2004 01:08 PM
Xaiphong
Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:57 am
#3
Well, Im not a Master BE, but I think what your doing is absolutely fine, and good business. All trades people compete with others prices. Just because he cant train his pets as mounts doesnt mean you shouldnt. If he really wants to compete with you he could lower his prices. /shrug.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. Not even anything out of the normal. You just happened to run into a ****head.
Kevm
Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:46 am
#4
I don't think you're doing anything wrong. You're offering a service to your customers and they are not complaining to you.
There is very little to differentiate the legitmate non-ch pet market, and the cost to the BE of making non-CH pets is very low.
What I would consider under cutting would be if you were selling +85 BSN's for a lot less than what the 'average' price was on your server.
Seiryuu
Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:56 am
#5
If he does start spamming that you are selling bogus pets report him for harassment. You aren't doing anything wrong and you're going through a lot of work to sell your product.
(I do agree that you might charge more since these are fully trained, but that's your call. If you're happy with the sales, more power to you.)
(I do agree that you might charge more since these are fully trained, but that's your call. If you're happy with the sales, more power to you.)
obeewan
Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:11 am
#6
Bah, that's good business...
If you put some in the bazaar, add a note to contact you for a fully grown and mounted one =)
They buy it,and trade to you.
He (bazaar guy) should realize, his will sell too.
If you put some in the bazaar, add a note to contact you for a fully grown and mounted one =)
They buy it,and trade to you.
He (bazaar guy) should realize, his will sell too.
ArthurDentOnBria
Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:19 am
#7
I don't think you're necessarily taking sales away from masters anyway, it's more the novices. But I don't think you're doing anything wrong as such, just leveraging your CH skills in a way other BE's that don't have them can't. Unless you're doing something predatory (deliberately trying to grief the guy)I think it's cool.
Incidentally, I don't think he's doing anything wrong either (reporting him? why? no rules have been broken). Although he is arguably being an ass.
Message Edited by ArthurDentOnBria on 07-30-2004 11:25 AM
Kevm
Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:40 am
#8
ArthurDentOnBria wrote:
Incidentally, I don't think he's doing anything wrong either (reporting him? why? no rules have been broken). Although he is arguably being an ass.
Message Edited by ArthurDentOnBria on 07-30-2004 11:25 AM
If the other guy started shouting that the pets were bogus and would be unusable, then that is harassment and should be reported.
ArthurDentOnBria
Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:52 am
#9
Kevm wrote:
If the other guy started shouting that the pets were bogus and would be unusable, then that is harassment and should be reported.
I suppose so, technically. It's just that I've gotten real synical about such things. I've had so much worse things happen to me, have reported them, and had nothing done that if it were me I'd just shrug it off and move on.
NancyJ
Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:31 pm
#10
orange-arrows wrote:Yes you were undercutting them ...... and too bad for them. They can either continue to sell for 6K on the bazaar (I'm sureyou are not going to consume 100% of the potential sales) or they too can sell for 5K, or if youfeel badly you can always raise your price -- but that is up to you not them.
Undercutting suggests intent. I dont believe the poster was aware of the other guys bazaar sales, and fwiw if he has a problem there are plenty more bazaars in the galaxy.
If he was stocking a particular bazaar and you were following him selling your pets in the same place as him or setting up a shop next to his to sell yours at a lower price, that would be undercutting him.
You picked your price, he picked his, yours was lower, you're not even in direct competition. I dont see a problem with what you're doing.
BitTwist
Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:32 pm
#11
Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I will be keeping with my current sales techniques.
As for raising my prices, I like to keep the price at 5k so anyone can afford them. Plus they are specifically marketed for fun and not combat. with 200-300 HAM, They would die pretty fast.
GMANHNC
Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:37 pm
#12
BitTwist wrote:
Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I will be keeping with my current sales techniques.
As for raising my prices, I like to keep the price at 5k so anyone can afford them. Plus they are specifically marketed for fun and not combat. with 200-300 HAM, They would die pretty fast.
Noble, but a $1k difference won't break them... many of us sell the same pets for $6k on bazar... without doing all the extra work you are doing. But hey as long as your having fun go with it.
Good Luck Robin Hood!
Kevm
Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:01 am
#13
You're on a bad server. I'd invite you Wanderhome but I don't want that kind of competition
ArthurDentOnBria wrote:
Kevm wrote:
If the other guy started shouting that the pets were bogus and would be unusable, then that is harassment and should be reported.
I suppose so, technically. It's just that I've gotten real synical about such things. I've had so much worse things happen to me, have reported them, and had nothing done that if it were me I'd just shrug it off and move on.
Page 1 of 2