Chef Archive
Thread: Radiant Overrun With New Chefs : How's your server?
Liv_Traisharan wrote:
"These guys/gals with crates for 75K are crazy. They will come and go. Respec nailed us as all these folks thought chef was the grand all way to make money so they respec'd to it. Give it a month or two and will see how many of them survive."
Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I actually take offense to this
I played chef since before you even registered. I played chef back when the max timer on a buff was 10 minutes and the buffs were completely and utterly useless. I played chef BEFORE the first revamp.
Why do I charge less than 75k for a crate of Blob Candy? Because it's an artisan food that takes 5 fruit and a carbosyrup. Even with nutrients, I don't see the purpose of selling any higher than that. The nutrients per crate don't usually cost me more than 30k... the fruit used is trivial, because I harvest it myself.
I just feel that anything over 100k on Blob Candy is price gauging and exploitation of customers on your server. If it sells for that, more power to you... but when your customers find out that you've been charging 25-100k over the "fair" price, then you're in for a real treat.
"Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I actually take offense to this I played chef since before you even registered. I played chef back when the max timer on a buff was 10 minutes and the buffs were completely and utterly useless. I played chef BEFORE the first revamp."
1) I registered July 2003. Your registration says July 2003. Is this suppose to mean something? You can check the SWG records if you like but I was an original beta tester for SWG and my accounts have never lapsed since the launch of the game. I think I have enough game experience and within the community to state my opinions.
2) This is a chef forum and as Stew stated above we were referencing chef's charging 75K a crate for full blown chef foods that require multiple subs, medium and heavy additives, and plenty of high quality resources. Artisan food was not mentioned by us. The fact is I also charge $125K for my blob candy but can't keep it in stock. As a 14pt artisan I can make this stuff pretty good and the fact is people are willing to pay for the extra quality of the product.
3) I can't compete with 30K BE addtiives. I am not a BE and I need to purchase my additives. A typical batch of additives on my server is going to run 40K or higher for what I feel I need to use (88's and 118's). That is if I can even find them. So even for Artisan food I have over 50K invested and I should sell it for 75K? I don't think so.
4) I love the arguement that flora resources "don't cost much since I harvest them myself". If you purchase them or harvest them they should hold the same value. It's what you could sell those resources for on the open market. That is what determines their value. I have plenty of flora I harvested for less than 2 cpu that can sell for 20 cpu now.....so do I value it as 2 cpu in my foods? That would be bad business.
The great thing about this game and in business is you can charge anything you want for the products you make. If I decide to charge more and I can't sell anything then I either have to 1) lower my prices to compete or; 2) make my product better to justify the added cost; or 3) offer such great customer service that customers don't mind paying more. I have actually done all 3 of these to some extent and my chef business is generating the amount of business that is comfortable for me.
Message Edited by xDiggerx on 06-28-2005 09:26 AM
golfingtx wrote:
The point being made on the prices is this, Radiant goes through this influx of chefs once a year and it always ends up the same way. They undercut the prices that have been standard on the server since I can remember. No harm done in my opinion but then I receive the e-mails.
"Why are you charging 125k while so-and-so is charging 75k. I'm not buying from you anymore, you're too expensive."
I just sit back and wait. After about 2 months, that same name that just flamed me is on the vendor purchase e-mails for about 10 crates of food and drink. Why? Because that person that undercut is either:
1.) Out of business because chef was too much for them
2.) Vendors are always empty therefore a waste of time to even go to them anymore
3.) The 75k crate person only makes 3 or 4 items and the buyer realizes that there is more to being successful than justblob candy.
We are not whining that the people should not charge what they want, but we see the cycle being perpetuated again and again. People come into chef and make a batch of foods and see that it is equivalent to the better chefs on the server.They get excited and think this is easy and decide to undercut and steal all their business by spamming thehell out of the major cities,They only last a couple of months when they run out of resources because they didn't think ahead.They slit their own throats because they made the money for their alt which now has shiny new play toys and didn't make enough to keep their business going. They no longer have the uber resources and their product is now worth the 75k they charge. It's all good at first and looks so promising but don't count out the dedicated chefs. We are sitting on tons of resources and are in it for the long haul. You as a customer can run and get the 75k product while it is there but don't judge us because we charge 125k. There are reasons for everything and most of the time it is not greed. Almost all my money goes back into the chef business and I have factories filled to the rim with 100k stacks of uber resources that I either harvestedor bought at a premium.
We didn't mean to piss anychefs off because they are new or some of the older chefs because they charge less, each server warrants different things. But mark my words, there is a reason you see most of the best chefs on the servers charging as much as twice the amount as you. Don't judge, learn the reasons why and you might become a better chef because of it.
Message Edited by golfingtx on 06-28-2005 02:30 PM
Well said !
I charge alot for my products because its top notch stuff and always stocked.
You get what you pay for.
The point being made on the prices is this, Radiant goes through this influx of chefs once a year and it always ends up the same way. They undercut the prices that have been standard on the server since I can remember. No harm done in my opinion but then I receive the e-mails.
"Why are you charging 125k while so-and-so is charging 75k. I'm not buying from you anymore, you're too expensive."
I just sit back and wait. After about 2 months, that same name that just flamed me is on the vendor purchase e-mails for about 10 crates of food and drink. Why? Because that person that undercut is either:
1.) Out of business because chef was too much for them
2.) Vendors are always empty therefore a waste of time to even go to them anymore
3.) The 75k crate person only makes 3 or 4 items and the buyer realizes that there is more to being successful than justblob candy.
We are not whining that the people should not charge what they want, but we see the cycle being perpetuated again and again. People come into chef and make a batch of foods and see that it is equivalent to the better chefs on the server.They get excited and think this is easy and decide to undercut and steal all their business by spamming thehell out of the major cities,They only last a couple of months when they run out of resources because they didn't think ahead.They slit their own throats because they made the money for their alt which now has shiny new play toys and didn't make enough to keep their business going. They no longer have the uber resources and their product is now worth the 75k they charge. It's all good at first and looks so promising but don't count out the dedicated chefs. We are sitting on tons of resources and are in it for the long haul. You as a customer can run and get the 75k product while it is there but don't judge us because we charge 125k. There are reasons for everything and most of the time it is not greed. Almost all my money goes back into the chef business and I have factories filled to the rim with 100k stacks of uber resources that I either harvestedor bought at a premium.
We didn't mean to piss anychefs off because they are new or some of the older chefs because they charge less, each server warrants different things. But mark my words, there is a reason you see most of the best chefs on the servers charging as much as twice the amount as you. Don't judge, learn the reasons why and you might become a better chef because of it.
Message Edited by golfingtx on 06-28-2005 02:30 PM
Well i think there are some new respec chefs on Infinity..
I don't sell a lot lately..and the prices are reasonable..
blob candy at 80k, pikatta at 140k, etc..
Loads of respec chefs on SS nowdays.(I'm a respec chef too )
As for pricing.We on some items I do undercut just because my blob candy is +174 for 45 minutes while others make +180 for 1 hour.Now I cant sell that at the same price can I?But most of my other stuff is priced to match others.I dont advertise at all now so my stock dont empty in 1 day.Daily 700k (around 350k-400k profit) is just enough for me.
LuciousOtso wrote:
i hear ya sling... radiant does have to many non-dedicated new chef..... i just made a record of the most days without a single sale... 5 *gasp and cry*.... soon enough i think those new chefs will get bored and it will be down to us older ones.
a lot of people burn out too... i sorta found out that, at least in chef, it's not really safe to spend your profits for several months or until you've built up big resource stocks. especially where meat is concerned (if you make your own additives) it can be pretty rough. it's easy to run out of quality meat for addies and when some good stuff spawns, one had best have a good 10+ million credits to drop all of a sudden on it cuz it might be a while before something equal spawns.
... that or i think a lot of times the new chefs who charge really low prices realize that they'd be making similar dough by just selling the resources they're putting into their stuff and not wasting the time to craft stuff 
alligatorboogaloo wrote:This thread has become rather funny, so I'll post. I'm a small time chef, been one since launch or a little after since I was in the cantina as an entertainer for a long time. After I got out of the cantina, didn't master musician yet I picked up chef, started making stuff, mastered chef, found that getting the resources for anything but drinks was a pain, dropped it before they added in profession badges. Didn't get my badge but I kept my resources and kept making Tat Sunburns until about a week before the chef revamp, then dropped my chef skills, kept the resources in hopes of one day returning which I did on my alt, Ikeer.Ikeer has all my old supplies, and finally made 11 point chef, long story short...I don't think that we should be pricing according to what everyone else is charging. I charge 11,250 cr for a crate of blob candy, why? Because I can, meat is donated to me, I harvest some grain, get a schematic made. I have learned how to keep my prices down by bartering. I sell more than enough foods to pay my rent, I'm not a large seller but anyone willing to make a trip to my shop to save a few creds will do so. Resellers? I've had a couple, they get banned or I send an email letting them know that I think they are a pig.New Chefs? not so much that I've seen. I don't do much advertising for my food, I let word of mouth do all the work and I get plenty of sales.
I'm not flaming you - to each his own - but I'm curious as to why you get upset about resellers. If you price at a level you're comfortable with, what's the difference between one person buying everything and 20 people buying bits and pieces? Either way, your items are sold. Either way, your products make it into the hands of people who can and will use them.
I've never looked at resellers as pigs. There are truly some folks who choose to play merchant characters who don't craft anything. Why is that person a pig for purchasing items that you've put up for sale to pass them on for prices closer to what the rest of the server charges? In this sort of situation, you end up making yourself the wholesaler, if you will, and in turn, they mark up the products for retail sale. What's the hostility about?
Meh. I am not the cheapest chef on my server, but I pride myself on having the best stats along with not being pricey. Mostly, I make my own prices. I use plain old CPU and come up with my price. I do, however, admit to adjusting my prices if I see someone out there with similar stuff for cheaper.
After CU I started out selling blob & bofa for 50k, but was always running out. I upped my price to 62.5k, seemed to work out ok, and then someone started advertising in trade forums @ 45k per. Not as good as my stuff, but nevertheless my pride kicked in so I bumped my price down to 50k. I don't run out anymore but only becauseI make sure to maketwo batches at a time, lol.
Honestly, I can't see charging 125k for this stuff. What I find odd is the people that charge 125k for blob and 125k for something like accarragm. I do NOT see how you can charge the same for two things that take such a drastic difference of resources & time. If you're going to charge 125k for blob then you should be charging 250k or something for accarragm.
Still though, spamming will always pay off. My biggest competition spams like three starports 24/7 and gets more business than I do (well according to his figures anyway). His blob is worse than mine (not by much though) and his prices were 150k. I'm sure he was selling tons.. but then, he has dropped down to 100k/crate.
There are quite a few new chefs on my server... I don't mind though, so long as they don't ask me for tips and/or resources. I like to be helpful but not THAT helpful. 