Business And Economy Archive

Whew, we are gonna get long winded here - apologies in advance

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ObiQuixote wrote:

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I disagree. If there were only a few Artisans making these good, this would be true. However, there are hundreds if not thousands of Artisans…

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There are not thousands of 12pt crafters on a server. Artisans and crafters represents a small percentage of the players overall.

Case in point - Why are you limiting to12 pointers? Many items do not suffer from not having the additional 2 points of experimentation. my contention that 100s of Artisan/Crafters exist is a truism. Many of them are not known due to being lowly 10 pointers, but they provide for their guilds, circles of friends, what have you.

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… who would be placing 25 items at a time - Which would lead to a glut of items on the Bazaar, and not vendors….

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If this were the case why would anyone in their right mind set up a power up vendor now since it competes with the bazaar? People still do and the ones in good locations have trouble staying stocked even with the machinery of multi account merchant/crafters supporting them.

You are using a single item as your thesis of All. Just because one or several vendor items sell at this level does NOT prove the point that all will. With the elimination of the cap, you make it MORE desirable to place just the 25 items on the bazaar. Extend that - You have your entire Guild grab a case and put 25 items each on the Bazaar because Hey, you don't need merchant or artisan to do it. Maybe a stretch of the imagination picturing all these people pooling their efforts - But not out of the realm of possibilities.

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… Imagine this: Artisan places Factory, does a run of 1000 items. Leaves, plays at combat. Picks up 25 crates (Or sells in singles) as run is done, and places 25 items on Bazaar. Since he has eliminated the need for a Vendor, he saves overall on Maintenance - No planetary ad costs, no paying vendor support or house support. Now mulitply this by only 100 Artisans doing the same. Takes player only a few moments, so rinse and repeat daily. Are merchants the only ones who take a hit here.

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Are you a crafter merchant? How many items do you currently have stocked? Would you drop your vendors and leave thousands of items in your factory just to run back and forth from your factories to stock 25 at a time. Twenty-five items is barely enough to stock one product. Three whole suits of composite for armor smiths. If suddenly every 12 pt crafter could only have 25 items up at once there would be shortages. Business this way is too cumbersome, would take too much real life time to conduct, and in the end could not meet the needs of a server.

look at my signature - Master Shipwright, and Merchant due to needs of having space in several areas. I nowhere near reach my item cap, and DO spend a lot of time running back and forth loading vendors. Yet again, you use the fallacy of only 12 point Masters being the suppliers of the economy. They are not. True, they supply the BETTER versions of a certain item (Let's use Brandy as an example) - But, if money is tight, and the player sees the option of 404 brandy and 416 brandy - with 404 at 10k, and 416 at 30k - The budget wins. In your thesis, you cannot pick and choose which class or level foes the supplying - As all are viable.

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True at the beginning. However, players CAN check the Bazaar prices galaxy wide, and sort from lowest to highest price. Eventually, crafters seeing they can get the benefits of FREE Global advertizing place a run of 25 various items on the Bazaar at ridiculously low prices - With each item having in the description the WP to their shop, and their normal price (Which since they can now see everyone's bazaar price, they set at a decent level on their vendor) So yes, the margin on the bazaar sale would be low - But the benefits they would get from placing 25 items are far reaching - Essentially making the Bazaar exactly what it is now - Low end sales and free ads.

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You touch on one item I didn’t get into above, which is that the cap causes people to dump items under their market value. This does hurt vendors a little bit.

And you ignore the 2nd point in that statement. The ability for ALL people, Crafter, Merchant or Fighter alike to instantly get Galaxy Wide ads, where NOW only Merchants can get that form of advertizing (but limited to the planetary map). When you focus on that part of the statement, you see that this creates a low end market simply to put up free ads. The only class of player that receves a gain is the fighters - And as this is the reaon for your premise, your idea works well. But it's detriment falls on the mirroring and out-doing of an established classes' perks.

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…Instead of changing this system as is now, create a viable option to Trade Forums within the game. Create NEW content and abilities, not take away…

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I am trying to create a viable option. I’m not taking away any abilities

This is a matter of opinion and degrees. Giving potentially free ad space will give people without Merchant to use Merchant type abilities. From my point of view, this indeed takes away from the Merchant class.

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No, it is not a monopoly…

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Ok everyone who’s not a merchant that can conduct an automated trade for more then 6k, raise your hand… still waiting on a few Image designers to show up, but looks like a monopoly to me.

Based on your premise, quite true. Yet again however, Artisans and Merchants were given this ability in the game mechanics. it IS our area of expertise, after all. I can't compete with a Fighter template to go out and PvP or take out high end MOBs solo, so I can't loot that Uber CA, AA or Weapon so I can sell it myself...

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…However, it IS designed to be the system to sell higher end goods at a higher price. Honestly, aside from Architects and some Shipwrights, who in this game makes only 10 items a week? ….

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Combatant/looters (and everyone other then merchant) deal in numbers like 10 a week.

See above statement. Your premise yet again wishes to give Artisan/Merchant benefits to players not willing to spend their points on it.

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….Aside from the appearance that you dislike the Merchant class …

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Not true. Some of my best friends are merchants. I think merchant is a great profession but needs a lot of work in terms of tools to more efficiently stock and move stocked vendors and much better ways to advertise and match up buyers to product. I think merchant should be the best way to conduct large business and sell good even in an environment with out price caps. (BTW I do have a merchant on Bria)

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… it was designed to be just as you say - The class that does the selling of higher end goods. It would be FAR easier in the light you have painted to do away with Merchant altogether. and allow anyone to place a vendor, leaving the Bazaar as is….

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Not at all. My argument is that removing price cap on the bazaar does not do away with the need for vendors nor does it create the need for vendors currently. It’s the item cap that does this. In items that currently compete with the bazaar there is still a need for vendors and there would still be a need for vendors after the removal if the price cap. I’m in no way arguing for the removal of the merchant profession or shifting its abilities to every master crafter.

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…And as an aside, people can get a vendor without doing Merchant at all. True, at the highest Artisan level they only can have 2 with a 250 item limit - But that limit is FAR more than actually needed on any given game day. The only Merchant benefits are then : Planetary ads (Your idea instantly gives everyone GALAXY wide ads free), Higher Item limits (But be honest - How many merchants sell a fraction of our limit?) and supposedly, Volume (Any non-merchant can have volume sales at a cost of only 29 SP, or with your idea, just some footwork to replenish Bazaar frequently)…

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I really don’t see low volume merchants as a viable model. With or with out the price caps, the competition that makes low volume merchants unworkable (rare specialty merchants aside) is high volume merchants. Supply side works, if you build it they will come and this game has shown this to be true. Consumers are drawn to the best stocked malls.

The other problem with the, “Only 29 skill points required to sell anything” argument is you end up with an unknown vendor sitting empty most of the time. To make any business work you need a good location, a lot of items to sell and constant advertising. If I only want to sell a few trinkets here and there, there is no point in spending 29 points to put those trinkets on a vendor somewhere and then sit out side a star port spamming that there are a few trinkets on an unlisted vendor somewhere. It’s easier and quicker to spam that I have a few trinkets on me or auction them outside of the game.

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…Your idea rewards people for not wanting to be an artisan, and penalizes those who DO…

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It’s not my idea that penalizes or rewards anyone for this. It’s the reality of the situation mentioned above. As long as the trade window continues to work, running a business is more work then reward for a small volumes of items. Nothing can be done about this, there is an unavoidable amount of work and overhead required to run any business. Unless you plan on selling a lot of items it’s just not worth it. You don’t build a Wallmart and hire 200 people to sell 25 items.

Ah, the crux of the situation and the difference of views. You see to ME, your idea of volume items doesn't require a Merchant at all. It requires someone who wants to run one or 2 types of items in a factory, and sell just those. Wal-mart is.was built upon gathering large amounts of MANY different iems under one roof at affordable prices. As played in game - Merchants can NOT do this. They are limited, due to point levelsto certain Artisan goods, and merely have many more spaces they can fill in a vendor. A Merchant can't be an AS, WS, DE, Chef, BE, SW, etc and place items they make on their vendor. THAT would be Wal-Mart.

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…Your fallacy here is your assumption that Merchant is only for selling "hundred or thousands" of items…

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Ok so you think you do build a Wallmart and hire a staff to sell 25 items.

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…Very, very few Merchants do that kind of volume. Merchant is designed to be the Salesmen - We just haven't been given content or items to make the Class viable for it's intended purpose….

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Like all professions gaining master doesn’t guarantee success. Master rifleman doesn’t mean I never die, strafe shot 2 doesn’t mean I always hit and the ability to place a vendor doesn’t mean you always get customers. In a way merchant is the hardest profession to succeed in because there is no +25 to picking a good location skill, or a +25 to stocking the right items at the right price skill. There is no skill that SOE can give that will save someone from making bad business killing decision. No matter what, you could nuke the bazaar, take away the trade window, make every single person log into your store and if you aren’t selling anything people want, they aren’t going to buy it. Merchant is the one skill where almost all of the ability to succeed comes from outside of the game while at the same time all of the competition comes from other players. If every other person was a rifleman that doesn’t make my life as a rifleman harder, but with merchants and crafters it does. All you have is economic PvP. Merchant is the profession you choose if you want to compete in that. In that light it’s a pretty good profession.

In that we agree - It is a nice profession. But Merchant still isn't Wal-Mart. We can stock a rather high amount of goods, but not a very VARIED amount of goods. A Merchant wouldn't be so focused as it is in the game due to point limits. Now, if Merchant were a bit different - say, there were Malls in game that only Merchants could place in cities, and the only place an Artisan could place a Vendor would be in that Mall - You'd see exactly the model you have been describing in truth, and Merchant would be exactly as you describe it to be, but honestly isn't.

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…As for people who don't want to be Merchants to sell items - I ask you, why is this such an issue? …

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The issue is when we have a few items we want to sell we have waste a ton of time to do it. The item still gets sold; the effect on the economy is the same. If it’s bought from the bazaar or a trade window it’s still not bought from a vendor. But we have to spend time writing up an auction, monitoring the auction or sitting outside of a star port trying to hawk it. For a lot of items this just isn’t worth it and they just get destroyed. The system is so bad we destroy items we could make money on!!!! To the regular Joe combatant this isn’t what they play the game for. They just want to sell their items so they can buy some brandy, a new gun and a suit of armor.

And this is what kills me about this whole argument. Economic activity and growth is measured in how quicklymoney circulates around. The price cap puts up major roadblocks to that circulation. The last astromech stats on professions had 2% of the toons as merchants. That leaves 98% of the people fumbling around trying to conduct basic economic activity in a very un efficient way. If I have a +5 armor experimentation tape and want to buy guns and food, what good is it to put up all sorts of roadblocks to me exchanging that item for money? That tape would be easy to move but most of the time it’s items that aren’t so easy. The quicker and easier you can facilitate the circulation the quicker the economy grows. Merchants should want more rich and happy customers and a growing economy. Bazaar price caps don’t do that.

Let me offer this: I have seen several times throughout our discussion the terms Trade Window. There is a key thing in and of itself. Maybe THAT is the Culprit, and not the bazaar at all. I honestly would agree with your premise 100% if several things were different: A) The Trade window were exactly that.. a TRADE Window, where money could not change hands. B) Eliminate the /Tip command, or limit it to a small amount, so that high end goods could not be traded and then paid for in an easy manner. C) Make the bazaar OFF LIMITS to Artisans and Merchants. if the key is to give players this boon, make it so it serves a purpose unique to itself, and not a mirror of perks from other professions. Finally D) Add taxation to the entire economy. Make it so Artisans, Merchants and players alike HAVE to pay a tax on sold goods. (this serves to reduce the credit glut) In that way, price caps being removed makes a lot more sense.

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…They have CHOSEN to be the type of character they are. With their choices, they have limitations - as do Merchants. We sacrifice the points to become Mighty Fighters to go out and loot items of intrinsic high value…

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I’ve said it before. There is nothing in the merchant profession that has anything to do with price caps. “Novice merchant— The ability to cap everyone’s bazaar trades to 6k” isn’t listed as far as I know.

And I never once stated anything akin to that in my entore statement. I merely stated that the removal of price caps withn the system AS IS has detrimental effects to several professions.

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….Look again to my idea of new additions for an Auction house to address your concerns in this area…

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That’s not such a bad idea. It still has the same problem of putting substantial barriers on basic economic activity. But in the end I don’t see the devs letting 2% of the people take 5% off the top of the economic activity of the other 98% That’s a lot of money.

In my original post, I was limiting the idea to make it easy for all to understand. I've since in that thread expounded on additional ideas that show more in depth the full idea. To simplify for space - The 5% would not go entirely to the Merchant. It would be split equitably to the Merchant, City and Imperial taxes. However - Only high end goods would be sold at these Auction houses, and these items of loot are rather rare. The impact isn't as great as you show in your example. In fact, it would create a much larger economic model for the system to use to regulate costs. The Bazaar would handle low end, every day items. The Vendors are for high volume items (And should honestly be relegated to being an Artisan skill item), and Auction Houses become the "Cartier" of SWG.

However a sales tax on the bazaar and auctions might fly. Like all things of this nature it can’t be too high or no one will use it and just conduct business as usual shouting at star ports and auctioning on the forums. But something like 5% to 10% on items over 10k, I could see myself paying that. And this should alleviate a lot of merchants’ fears about the “phantom aggregate effect of crafters suddenly selling 25 items at a time.” For every million in goods they would eat 100k that vendors wouldn’t. That’s a helluva advantage in the economic PvP game.

A sales tax like this would be pretty progressive in game (unlike real life) and could pull enough money out of the economy that other drains like vehicle repair could become more reasonable.

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…You forget to include: Removing Merchants from having any real use whatsoever. Please don't assume that because the Devs haven't given us the tools to play Merchants as they are intended, that we don't have a purpose other than being Mega Stores…

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Like I said I’m actually for merchants. Not sure how you think merchants are intended to be played, but the fact that they can list more then 6000 items at once suggest that it’s a little larger scale then you think it is. And the fact that they only become useful as mega stores isn’t so much a function of game design or price caps but more the aftermath of competing business models.

If you want to improve the merchant profession you need to think more along the lines of how to better serve your customers. Of course tools to help merchants conduct the nuts and bolts of their business are important but it will be much easier make merchant a successful profession if people use vendors because they are easier and more efficient then other methods of obtaining goods. Not because price caps and arbitrary rules force them to. IMHO if the only way you can get merchant to work is through price caps and arbitrary rules, it should be scrapped as a profession because that’s just not better or fun game play for the other 98%. But as I have said I think merchant works well now and would work better after a price cap removal. I’m sure the stats would show that substantial amount of cash flows through them which is how its success should be measured.

It appears to me that we've actually argued some of the same things from different sides of the plate. Merchants having high volume capability hasn't given them what a Merchant WOULD have, and that is variety of items. Just because we can do volume doesn't for a minute mean we can - Which indeed is the way it should be, when you add the ability to sell many types of goods. I have a firm grasp of what Merchant is NOW, and how it could be. I argue on the side of using your idea with the way things now are in game. With several changes, our two visions become one.

Message Edited by ObiQuixote on 01-20-2005 05:39 PM

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After going through your post there are a lot things that bother me, but I would just have to keep reiterating previous arguments to address them. However this paragraph has me utterly confused.

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I have seen several times throughout our discussion the terms Trade Window. There is a key thing in and of itself. Maybe THAT is the Culprit, and not the bazaar at all. I honestly would agree with your premise 100% if several things were different: A) The Trade window were exactly that.. a TRADE Window, where money could not change hands. B) Eliminate the /Tip command, or limit it to a small amount, so that high end goods could not be traded and then paid for in an easy manner. C) Make the bazaar OFF LIMITS to Artisans and Merchants. if the key is to give players this boon, make it so it serves a purpose unique to itself, and not a mirror of perks from other professions. Finally D) Add taxation to the entire economy. Make it so Artisans, Merchants and players alike HAVE to pay a tax on sold goods. (this serves to reduce the credit glut) In that way, price caps being removed makes a lot more sense.

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I use the term “Trade window” to mean the act of trading via the trade command. This process is different then the bazaar in that two people must be actively participating in a trade using the “Trade window”

After this I completely loose you. What is the “key” you talk about? What is the “culprit?” And which premise is it that you would agree with 100% if A B C & D were also true?

A & B say that the only place non merchants could use cash is the bazaar and vendors. (Remove the tip command and currency options from the trade window)
C says merchants and artisans wouldn’t be able to use the bazaar.
D says implement a global sales tax.

The premises that were in the proceeding paragraphs were these:

1. It doesn’t matter where or how a transaction occurs. All that matters is if it does or doesn’t.
2. Selling items by spamming the star ports or forum auctions is so cumbersome that a lot of potential income is lost.
3. This lost income can’t be spent to buy more goods.
4. 98% of the population has to deal with this lost potential income that can’t be spent on more goods.
5. Removing the impediments that cause people to lose this money would give them more money to spend on goods.
6. The overall effect of this would be economic growth.

So, As best as I can read your paragraph, you would agree with all or some of those premises if non merchants could only use cash at bazaars and vendors, merchants couldn’t use bazaars and there was a global sales tax.

Or is it that your whole paragraph is talking about my proposition to remove the bazaar cap in general, not addressing the proceeding paragraph at all, and that you would agree to the removal of price caps if ABC & D were also implemented?

In which case I’m totally baffled because the whole point of my argument is this. If your customers have more money to spend on goods they will buy more goods or pay more money for goods. A & B would be more restrictive and destructive to the economy then price caps are, robbing Peter to pay Paul in way.

In fact A&B would be so destructive to the game you might as well unplug the servers instead. I hope that this is the point you’re trying to make in a facetious sort of way. You are so convinced that removing price caps would destroy the merchant profession you would only agree to remove them if we destroy the rest of the game in the process.

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ObiQuixote wrote:
After going through your post there are a lot things that bother me, but I would just have to keep reiterating previous arguments to address them. However this paragraph has me utterly confused.

Then allow me to clear up your confusion.

I use the term “Trade window” to mean the act of trading via the trade command. This process is different then the bazaar in that two people must be actively participating in a trade using the “Trade window”

This is also a place where Commerce can be conducted In Game in away that bypasses the need whatsoever of any type of Bazaar or Vendor system. Trade CAN be reffered to as either a Swap (Which *I* believe the "Trade" window should be), or the act of Commerce (Which is what it is capable of now)

After this I completely loose you. What is the “key” you talk about? What is the “culprit?” And which premise is it that you would agree with 100% if A B C & D were also true?

A & B say that the only place non merchants could use cash is the bazaar and vendors. (Remove the tip command and currency options from the trade window)
C says merchants and artisans wouldn’t be able to use the bazaar.
D says implement a global sales tax.

My statement was fairly clear, even if written very late at night. A & B state that the removal of the /tip command andoffer creditsoption within the Trade window would leave cash transactions where they should be IF we have a true Commerce system. If the Bazaar cap is removed, all trade should therefore be through Vandors and bazaars, and not a trade window, as the trade window would at that point defeat the entire purpose of a Bazaar.

C adds the Caveat that since the bazaar would have it'sPrice Capremoved, people with the ability to use Vendors for sales purposes should use their vendors, and not the bazaar.

D implements an across the board money drain, so that Merchants, Artisans and people selling trinkets on the Bazaar receive the same type of limitations.

The premises that were in the proceeding paragraphs were these:

1. It doesn’t matter where or how a transaction occurs. All that matters is if it does or doesn’t. I believe it does matter. Again, your premise the entire timehas beento give everyone limited Vendor type sales abilities without needing to maintain a Vendor. Sales will occur no matter if the current system stays in place, or the Bazaar caps are removed.
2. Selling items by spamming the star ports or forum auctions is so cumbersome that a lot of potential income is lost. It is inefficient, causes lag, annoys other players. We concur on this point.
3. This lost income can’t be spent to buy more goods. You are arguing that a "potential" sale is a guaranteed sell. it is not. Even on a non capped Bazaar system, some items will not sell, period. In your view, this lost sell equates to the loss of other deals across the board.
4. 98% of the population has to deal with this lost potential income that can’t be spent on more goods. State your sources on this, please. Millions of credits trade hands every day on the server, and I sincerely doubt only 2% of the people are making those sales. Your assumption is based on a report you previously mentioned stating that only 2% of players are MERCHANTS. This does NOT equate to the other 98% of players not making a sale. Trade window sales, Artisans with single vendors, people using the Forums- These people drive your 98% figure down drastically.
5. Removing the impediments that cause people to lose this money would give them more money to spend on goods. Yet again, you make a base statement that people not making a single sale would give themless money to spend. Even with the Bazaar cap removed, are you placing a guarantee that everything someone offers to the vendor will find a buyer? The answer is a big NO, all sales will not occur, and in those cases, the person placing the item on vendor has lost 20 credits, and gained nothing - This doesn't give them more to spend.
6. The overall effect of this would be economic growth. You are most likely correct on this statement. Fact of the matter is however, many of the things I have proposed will ALSO cause this.

So, As best as I can read your paragraph, you would agree with all or some of those premises if non merchants could only use cash at bazaars and vendors, merchants couldn’t use bazaars and there was a global sales tax.

Or is it that your whole paragraph is talking about my proposition to remove the bazaar cap in general, not addressing the proceeding paragraph at all, and that you would agree to the removal of price caps if ABC & D were also implemented?

In which case I’m totally baffled because the whole point of my argument is this. If your customers have more money to spend on goods they will buy more goods or pay more money for goods. A & B would be more restrictive and destructive to the economy then price caps are, robbing Peter to pay Paul in way. A & B would place more controls on how and where the credits are spent. Simply making people use the systems in game instead of making out of game deals would be destructive? Please explain exactly how encouraging people to utilize the Bazaar and Vendors as opposed to making deal outside the game equate to the downfall of the economy.

In fact A&B would be so destructive to the game you might as well unplug the servers instead. I hope that this is the point you’re trying to make in a facetious sort of way. You are so convinced that removing price caps would destroy the merchant profession you would only agree to remove them if we destroy the rest of the game in the process. How would making the Vendors and the bazaar work as we have been discussing so destructive as to end the game? I am placing the assumption that without a Price cap, people will WANT to use the Bazaar and not the Trade Window. Additionally, since the Bazaar will take over as the "normal guys" vendor, how is it destructive to ask that Artisan/Merchants use their OWN vendor, and leave the bazaar alone? I'm not being facetious at all. Apparently you don't see my point, which I will admit was not well stated. I do NOT think removing Price caps will destroy the Merchant profession - I think that removing Price caps without addressing the MANY points I have made about giving players Merchant type abilities does. Please address those. If you don't recall what they are:

1) Bazaar has the ability to search galaxy wide to find the best price, or that "certain" item. Merchants are limited to, through the use of their skill points, a Planetary ad option only. This instantly gives the average player an ability that FAR outstrips Merchant advantages without spending 1 single skill point, the ability to reach an entire galaxy from one location - And not just be able to be searched on the planetary map.

2) Merchants/Artisans must pay Maintanence to their vendor (and most likely a house to place it in) hourly. The "Average" player only has a 20 credit fee to place and sell their item for a full 7 day listing. So yet again, we have given your "casual" seller an advantage over people who chose to be the sales force in the game.

I am simply stating that IF we remove the Price cap on the bazaar, it should be restricted to non Artisan/Crafter types. By allowing those classes to use the Bazaar as well as their vendors will create a glut market in certain items, as everyone will at that point turn to the Bazaar's Galaxy search ability to place their ads, instead of spending Skill points to get on a limited visibility Planetary Map. This will lead to fewer people seeking to spend points within the Merchant profession, leading to it losing any value within the SWG gameplay other than to create additional vendors. If my logic is faulty in that, please point out how.

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--Qilue-UCW-- wrote:

This is a tough Issue to figure out..

Personally.. I think its just rediculous that you have to spend skill points to sell items at all..

Selling items for a fair price (even is that price is over 6k) should be the right of EVERY player no matter how they accuire there wears.

The previous poster who mentioned Galaxy wide free Advertising.. People do that already.. they set up and auction for 6k for an Item thats Nice and rare and add thewp to there shop in the items discription...

My solution would be to remove the 6k selling limit and drop the items per person down from 25 to 10 per person..

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Dropping the item limit to something like 10 or putting in a sales tax on bazaar trades are more the acceptable trade offs.

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Dawgypoo wrote:

As a Master Doctor and Master Rifleman

You do bring up what I consider a valid issue. Maybe Novice Doctor, Novice Biological Engineer and Novice Combat Medic should also have access to a Bulky Vendor. Crafting professions that are not off of Artisan are a segment of the community I can sympathize with.

What I would like to see as a small time crafter and part time hunter would be to see:

1)a raise in the price caps, but not more then $25K, Adjusting for Inflation. Reasonable

2) an increase in the number of items allowed to be able to place on a bazaar, but no more then 50 items Should be based on Artisan Business Skill as well as Merchant (and Doctor, Combat Medic and Biological Engineer)

3) a method to view a galaxy/planet/local area inventory of ALL vendors like we do with the bazaar Great idea but the volume of data may far exceed the ability to do this without causing performance problems.

4) maybe a limit of 25 items on the bazaar per planet, and a galaxy wide limit of 75 or 100 See #2

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Why wouldn't someone just sell their loot or crafted items to a merchant at a slightly lower price then the market has it priced at. So then the merchant can sell the item at the market price and make a little profit. I mean this is how I do it. I go seek out items and buy anything and everything I can that I can find for a deal or cheap. I then place it on my one of my vendors at cheaper then what the high end prices are. It was slow going at first due to capital but once it started going.

I mean that's the whole reason that you can Offer items up for sale at a vendor. You go out loot or craft but don't want to sell the item for 6k but you don't want to spend the points to get a vendor. Sell it to a merchant at a price that makes you money and that they can still make some money when they resell it.

Removing the price cap would screw that entire aspect of merchants.

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DarkY0da wrote:
Why wouldn't someone just sell their loot or crafted items to a merchant at a slightly lower price then the market has it priced at. So then the merchant can sell the item at the market price and make a little profit. I mean this is how I do it. I go seek out items and buy anything and everything I can that I can find for a deal or cheap. I then place it on my one of my vendors at cheaper then what the high end prices are. It was slow going at first due to capital but once it started going.

I mean that's the whole reason that you can Offer items up for sale at a vendor. You go out loot or craft but don't want to sell the item for 6k but you don't want to spend the points to get a vendor. Sell it to a merchant at a price that makes you money and that they can still make some money when they resell it.

Removing the price cap would screw that entire aspect of merchants.

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I agree that the price cap on the bazaar should be lifted. If not for all sales, at least for auctions. This thread makes good points, in addition to the arguments made in the original post in this thread. Perhpas we'll see auctions without caps on the bazaar before instant items without caps, just because Merchants don't have any skills to auction. In any case, we need something in game to supliment (not replace) the trade forums--for the convenience, and for those who don't visit/use the trade forums.