CUEmu - Thread Posts

Jasynn

Tue Feb 17, 2004 9:56 am

Aft5er reading several of the posts here I have come to the conclusion that many of you don't get how to price your items effectively.

What I do hear is "how much can I get [gouge] for a crate of such and such, since people reallly want it bad?

Supply and demand is only the basic element of pricing. Low sup0ply high demand = higher prices...True.

However there is also the consideration of the overall economy to consider. I would think that people learned their lesson during the holo craze. Insane prices ruin the economy and devestate merchants overall, as well as harm future profits of the ones gouging prices. When everyone was being forced to pay millions for their holos [at least these had a true 'low supply'], they weren't buying other high priced goods. Every mission dollar went into getting that 1-4 holos. Merchants suffered. The economy suffered and the ones selling the holos suffered. After getting used to having and spending so much cash [also a problem of having easy, high payout missions available on a large scale] these holo farmers got screwed when the Devs got smart and flooded the market with free holos. They lost their source of income. Now you can hardly even sell one.

In the real world, prices are based not only on supply, but on what the target market can AFFORD to pay. In the case of oil, the supply is far lower tan demand, however the price is regulated. There is an accepted target price range that is considered healthy for the world economy.Messing with the price in either direction can cause recession or runaway inflation [what we had during the Kunga-Holo controled market].

You may ask, 'Why should I sell for less if someone is willing to pay more?'

Answer. There will always be someone willing and capable to pay more for your product. A billionaire can afford to pay 1 million dqollars per pair of jeans, and you would definately be preserving your supply in selling at that price. However, you would be making more money at selling a product based on widely available resources at a price that more people can afford.

If you gouge, you will make more upfront cash, but will alienate a large part of the available market from your products. People will get used to just doing without. In the end, when the novelty wears off and your ig fish clients tapper off....you won't have a replacement for the revenue that they generated.

The Devs gave us this new food to enhance gameplay. It's supposed to be available to the general public. What I see in your posts is us going back to the Holo-craze-inflation-economics. It detracts from overall gameplay and it hurts all players in the long run.

BTW. I can buy Vasarian brandy at slightly under 300 atts and with 44 minutes at 50K per crate [bought 3 crates]. I can live with those stats rather than paying 10-20 times more money for a slight increase on stats. Don't shoot youself in the foot.

Killtacular

Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:08 am

#2

"BTW. I can buy Vasarian brandy at slightly under 300 atts and with 44 minutes at 50K per crate [bought 3 crates]. I can live with those stats rather than paying 10-20 times more money for a slight increase on stats. Don't shoot youself in the foot"

Though I agree somewhat with what you are saying, you speak as if it's the merchants that are driving the price up.

The usual scenario is this: Chef stocks vendor, vendor sells out in .056 seconds. Chef stocks vendor again, raises price by 25%, vendor sells out in .056 seconds. Wash rinse repeat until crates are 500k and vendor takes 5 minutes to sell out.

The problem is the small percentage of the population that will spend exorbitant amounts of money for the very best of the best.

Keep in mind, the revamp is less than a week old. It will stabilize, though Ibelieve certainBE enhanced foods will always cater to thewealthy power gamer.

As an aside, this is why so many Chefs are miffed at BEs. The prices for food will plummet when suppy increases, but the precedent for outrageous tissue prices will already have been set.

Cyene

Marcalus

Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:08 am

#3

I'm a 1-0-1-2 Chef on Intrepid...took it back up shortly before the publish as I grew weary of the Hologrind.

I don't have my merchant skills anymore, so I sell stuff to two other players who run merchants.

I offer full crates of Synthsteak and Blue Milk to their vendors for 20k each or so, they mark them up to about 25k. Crispic, it's 15k/18k or the like. They tell me that the stuff is moving.

I've made at least 400k since the revamp...I'm pretty happy with that.

Marc
Gribble the Wookiee on Intrepid
Creature Handler/Bio Engineer/Brawler/Shipwright
Citizen of Pompeii, in the stinging winds of Lok
Entered the village on September 28th, 2004...the adventure continues....

Dyrty

Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:43 am

#4

Tell you what...Find me a Bio Engineer that sells tissues for less than 125k a crate. Then I'll be able to lower my BE food.

April 25, 2005 The Real War Begain....
- I support keeping & balancing the current combat system You can too

"The dumber people think you are. The more surprised they are going to be when you kill them." ~William Clayton

Jasynn

Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:42 pm

#5

Point taken. So it's the BE's who are wearing dark ski masks. Hmmm. Still if the vendors are selling out [usually because very rich buyers see somthing they like and buy everything they can to stockpile] and the merchants keep raising prices based on that occurance, then the BE's are not totally responsible for the impending run-away-inflation. Its's all artificial. The precedent with BE"s is no different than the precedent being set buy chefs. The BE's are only selling high to get what they percieve as their fair share of the ridiculous price that the end product is being sold for. If the Chefs refused to pay those high prices, then the BE's will be forced to sell lower or not sell at all. Same would go for the average player, except for the fact that the former holo farmers will stil go in and drop 4 million on a few crates to tide them over for a month or two. The average guy is screwed.

Emalie

Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:55 pm

#6

Dyrty wrote:
Tell you what...Find me a Bio Engineer that sells tissues for less than 125k a crate. Then I'll be able to lower my BE food.

Woah, that's a rip off. I spend about 25K per crate. As for the guy above stating he is buying BE Brandy for 50K per crate. Great, but I am not a chef to sell at a loss. 50K wouldn't cover the BE, materials for the drink, materials for the casks, my time, my running costs. I sell for profit.

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