Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Dealing with Price Fixing?
I have an odd problem. I recently made novice bio-engineer on Chilastra, and am based outside of Kaadara. Last weekend I got Tissues 1 and asked a local bio-enginner for training. He trained me (although he did charge me for it) and said all the bio-engineers had agreed not to sell pet stimpack A's for less than 1250c and not to sell Pet Vitality Pack A's for less than 1100c and not to sell Pet Vitality Pack B's for less than 3000c. I hadn't made any of these items and frankly hadn't paid much attention to how many resources they used, so I wrote it down and told him okay.
I finally started making some pet stimpacks and pet vitality packs over the weekend because I was so sick of making tissues (I'm also doing tailor/chef and am completely ignoring the DNA sampling and cloning parts of BE), and frankly they sucked because I don't have any points in experimentation yet. I looked at the prices mentioned and felt I couldn't honestly charge such a high price for a poor-quality product. I also checked around and found people in Theed and Moenia selling pet stimpacks and Pet Vilatity packs for much less than the prices I was quoted (but didn't find any at all on the market in Kaadara). I figured the guy I talked to was maybe exaggerating the situation or just flat-out lying, so I put a couple of items on the Bazaar in Kaadara. The formula I used for Pet Stimpack A's was (powerxcharges)/9, and the formula I used for Pet Vitality Pack As was powerx50 (The ones I put up were power 10, so they were really crappy). These prices were arrived at by reading this board and trying to stay in synch with the bio-engineers in Theed and Moenia. I mostly just wanted to test the waters and see if anyone would buy the crappy ones or if I should just continue giving them away to my fellow guildies.
Less than an hour later I got a /tell from someone I never heard of, telling me to raise my prices. I was in combat at the time so I ignored him. He sent me another /tell, demanding I raise my prices on Pet Stimpacks and Pet Vitality Packs. I was still in combat, so I still ignored him. Not long after that I got another /tell from another guy I never heard of, ordering me to raise my prices.
I'm beginning to feel like I crossed the local mafia or something. I've spoken with friends who own pets and are CHs and they say my prices are fair and about average, and they also said the prices I was quoted were ridiculous and they wouldn't pay that much unless it was a truly spectacular product. They have formulas they use to determine what they believe is a fair price, and my formula is within the same rage as theirs Some will go to (powerXcharges)/5 or 7, but that's as high as many will go for stimpack As. For Pet Vitality Pack As, they mostly won't go over powerx75, and these are the prices they'll pay when they're in desperate need as opposed to just shopping around. So I feel that I'm in the right here, and someone putting a couple of Pet Stimpacks on the Bazaar every once in a while is no threat to anybody. I'm not trying to undercut anyone, I'm simply trying to charge a fair price and not gougecustomers too much.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has run into a similar situation and how they handled it. I've put some Pet Stimpacks and Vitality Packs on the market in Theed and Moenia and not been harassed about it, and I can continue to do so, but I don't like feeling like I'm being run out of town.
Any thoughts?
Ofock Aberoci
Chilastra
Agreed
No one can make you charge a particular price for any item you make. They can send you tells and demand all they like. You can also put them in ignore 
Having said that however, you can definitely screw up the market for honest hard working people trying to make a living.
I agree with the comment regarding the value of your product. There is time and resources involved in crafting, even if the product isn't top notch. If you're selling an item for less than it cost you to make you're probably not going to be in business very long unless you have money to burn.
Its safe to assume you won't be getting trained by those BE's anymore.
This is just too funny! Never heard of such a thing. Generally most people have the opposite problem (price undercutting) which is no doubt what caused such behavior to begin with.
You're right though, since your stims are not as good as theirs, and they want you to charge the same price as theirs, that leaves you with really no place to go if you're attempting to "play nice" with them.
Since demand is so good for pet pharma right now, I actually love to see misguided folks charging rediculous amounts. Last night I was in Tyrena and saw some fools selling pet stim b's (around 15/600 as I recall) for 500cr ea on the bazar. Cool! I bought every single one of them, put them right back on the exact same bazar terminal from which they were listed, and marked them up to 1,500cr instead. They were sold within the hour, lol. Thanks for making me money guys! You're working for me now *evil laugh*
I happen to be a Master BE on Chilastra and no one has ever told me about any agrement to set prices in our gallixy. And if anyone ever did (when I stopped laughing) I would tell them exactly what I thought of their price fixing scheme.
We play in a free market, you set your prices according to what ever formula you choose.
As for training, send me a tell, I'll train you. I have never charged and never will. and consider that act to be very rude.
Llvyrn
I ran into the same thing on Ahazi server when Pet Stims first came into play. I listened politely and even attempted to sell my wares at the suggested prices. After having my Pet Stims sit on the Bazaar for a while with no action, and seeing another BE selling them for quite a bit less I quickly revised my prices to something more in line with regular stimpacks.
Just for reference, I sell my Pet Stim A's for around the same price as Stimpack B's. They are pretty much the same schematic. I will probablybump B-D's a bit from their non-pet equivalents due to the troublesome nature of acquiring some of the componenents.
Regardless of what formula you use, don't let someone else tell you what pricing to use. Use common sense and sell for whatever you think is fair. Price fixing can only result in angering your target market.
Haggis
u evil evil evil boy u )
i love that!...never thought of buying the underpriced stuff to resell it...PURE GENIUS!!!...you are my HERO of the week!
Jaxa
Jaxa wrote:
ArthurDent
u evil evil evil boy u )
i love that!...never thought of buying the underpriced stuff to resell it...PURE GENIUS!!!...you are my HERO of the week!
Jaxa
Being a reseller is an old profession in games like this. I supported myself for years in EQ by doing this. So did many others in my guild. No reason SWG would be any different.
spnnrmn wrote:
I happen to be a Master BE on Chilastra and no one has ever told me about any agrement to set prices in our gallixy. And if anyone ever did (when I stopped laughing) I would tell them exactly what I thought of their price fixing scheme.
We play in a free market, you set your prices according to what ever formula you choose.
As for training, send me a tell, I'll train you. I have never charged and never will. and consider that act to be very rude.
Llvyrn
Llvym beat me to it 
Im also a master BE on Chilastra, i've had a shop open for around 2 months now, and i've never had anyone tell me what i should price my stuff at.. and if they did i would politly tell them that i'd like to decide my prices on my own 
IMHO don't sweat it, price your products as you'd like. And as for training, like Llvym i'd be more than happy to train you if you need. Feel free to tell me ingame for training or any questions you might have about the profession.
. Those other BE's out there on your server should have no fear at all over what you price... the demand for BE goods is insanely high right now, even from novice BEs, the other guys will have no problem selling what they have no matter what you do.
I am selling the petstims for:
Price = F*(numberincrate)*(charges)*(effect)
For A's and B's I have
numberincrate, F
1, 0.15; 5, 0.145; 10, 0.14; 20, 0.13; 50, 0.10
I think at F=0.10 you are at the bottom edge of profit, and this minimal rate should only be offered to those who buy the entire 50 count crate or as a friendly rate to a PA member or a close business associate.
For C's which require danthomir bug meat and an extra BEC
1, 0.20; 5, 0.195; 10, 0.19; 20, 0.18; 50, 0.15
If you sell C's with the same pricing scheme as B's, well you might as well make B's since they require much less resources.
Remember when you make a bad product, the (charges)*(effect) product is lower, and the total price drops.
For Vit A's and B's, I am going
Price = (numberincrate)*(effect)*F
numberincrate, F
1, 75; 10, 70; 20, 65; 50, 50
Again 50 is about at the point where your drudgery isn't adequetly compensated, and the profit margin is small, so I give that to people who buy the big crate of 50.
If you were doing /9, then that is F=0.11, which is near the bottom of the scale in my world for a A or a B, but still not at the level at which I would consider you dumping. Don't worry too much about it. Just don't sell your poduct short. It is a bother gathering all those named sources for the advanced components, and it is a bother getting the factory going, loaded, and running off of limited sources of meat etc. Remember you ground your way up BE at a big expense, and reasonable profit is to be had. I think at F=0.1 you are in doctor med pricing range, and those guys don't have the burdens of bug meat and fish meat etc to deal with. Don't sell yourself short.
But there is something that people are doing that pisses me off..... although it doesn't affect me much...
Say you sell your pet stims for 200 each, and they sell theirs for 1200 each. THEY BUY YOUR PETSTIMS AND THEN RESELL THEM FOR 1200 EACH! They make 1000 from this. Yea it sucksm but nothing you can do...