Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Fixing the Price Gap
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Zorkk
Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:39 am
#14
Jenden wrote:
First of all, as others have said, price fixing doesn't work in a free market economy. There will always be someone charging less. Even if you convinced everyone on the forums, there are DE's that don't read the forums, even if you convinced all the DE's you know, there will still be some you don't.
Secondly, even if you could do it, I don't think you should. Each DE charges a price that they want to charge for reasons they have. Everyone's reasons are different, and trying to force someone to agree with your reasons is just going to get them to quit the profession.
May you misunderstand, i'm not trying to force anyone to do anything, i'm asking, begging, pleading, whatever you wanna call it, for ppl to think about the greater economy, not just cpu* resources. If anyone I contact doesnt' agree with me, that's fine, that's their perrogative, and I will respect that, and move on.... i'm not going to browbeat anyone into submission. I just truely think that price fixing (to a degree.. even a range of 3-6K or something) on ONE item would benefit EVERY DE out there.
Z
Zorkk
Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:15 pm
#15
Oteb: I agree with everything you've said!
Velneth: In this case I'd like to see us ALL "line our pockets". You suggest starship crafting stations over the command chips as something to "jackup" and I can see where in the short term this will be true, but in the long term, once a shipwright has his ship crafting droid, does he need another? we all know the answer to that.... so short term gain, long term pain. Once you've sold the finite amount of starship droids, that's it.
IMHO it's the chips that are the best thing we've been given in this expansion, and the item we can best 'jackup' (to use your words)... but really... is 5K all that expensive? Plus, to my knowledge these items are a one shot use? After they're programmed, and you transfer the program to your datapad, they go away? (please correct me if i'm mistaken) so finally a decent consumable that could potentially generate a bunch of sales. I made 40K in bestine the other night doing some imperial missions that anyone with a novice, basic combat class (not even mastered) could have done themselves. you can't tell me the money isn't already out there in the economy.
Jenden: Your right to a degree in my mind. People will generally want to buy the cheapest, that's a given. Before they can do that tho, they need to find a vendor that's stocked. Then remember to wp that vendor to go back. Then if they go back and it's out of stock, where does that wp go? probably for a lot of ppl into the trashcan. (I personally like to check back a couple times, but if vendors empty after a couple times, to the trash that wp goes)
Now if a group of DE's came together, and decided to try and influence the market for an item, it would, i think, be very easy to corner the market on said item by buying up all the cheaper stock. go back in a couple days, if there's more product, buy it out again. 1 or 2 things will happen. that person will get sick and tired making said item, and drop it, if not DE (because they're not really making good money) or 2, start upping their prices. Now imagine a customer, found this great store once, had everything they wanted, now every time they go back it's empty... they'll lose that wp and find another supplier right quickly. Most likely the supplier will be a DE in this conglomerate.
I could be completely wrong, I could be right. We're (well me at least) are heading into new & exciting waters, and as a DE Businessperson, I'd like to capitalize on these changes as much as possible.
One last thing..... and sorry for the Real life comparrison, but I do think it applies. In what market in today's age does a new product come out for a pittance? None that I know of. New products always start off with a high pricetag. If they sell, the pricetag stays high until there's something better on the market. if it doesn' sell, prices start comming down, until it reaches a level that they sell. I don't get why it's different in the game, when we have such a free & open economy.
Z
Velneth
Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:56 pm
#16
Only problem is you're still catering to a limited market with the chips. And one that's easily undercut
There's a limited number of droid programs, and last count there's a fair number that don't work right.
(I think these are the right numbers, I could be wrong)
6 for Privateer
18 for Rebel
17 for Imp
So, you've got the possibility of making between 30k and 90k from a single pilot, if they need or use the droid programs. They're helpful, but not nessisary.
Seeing that the product is a novice item, any one who has a line on some EMM's and Engineering 4 can pop up, make a schem or two, run off them, and undercut your prices. Selling on the Bazaar is a nice accessable spot.
Now, a crafting station -is- a nessessity. You can't make a lot of things without a private crafting station. So, either you have one at home, and hope your city has placed a SW trainer, or snag a droid and sit near a starport so you've got a short run, and can make money selling your componates as people go up and down, as well as doing RE.
And it's a master item.
Now, if you want to spread the money around to others, you could make a run of SW modules, then sell them to other non master DE's to put in their droids. You make credits, they make credits, and everyone's happy.
Sure, the market may be more limited, but I haven't seen a slow down in W/D/G MSE sales since I started putting them on the Bazaar.
There's a limited number of droid programs, and last count there's a fair number that don't work right.
(I think these are the right numbers, I could be wrong)
6 for Privateer
18 for Rebel
17 for Imp
So, you've got the possibility of making between 30k and 90k from a single pilot, if they need or use the droid programs. They're helpful, but not nessisary.
Seeing that the product is a novice item, any one who has a line on some EMM's and Engineering 4 can pop up, make a schem or two, run off them, and undercut your prices. Selling on the Bazaar is a nice accessable spot.
Now, a crafting station -is- a nessessity. You can't make a lot of things without a private crafting station. So, either you have one at home, and hope your city has placed a SW trainer, or snag a droid and sit near a starport so you've got a short run, and can make money selling your componates as people go up and down, as well as doing RE.
And it's a master item.
Now, if you want to spread the money around to others, you could make a run of SW modules, then sell them to other non master DE's to put in their droids. You make credits, they make credits, and everyone's happy.
Sure, the market may be more limited, but I haven't seen a slow down in W/D/G MSE sales since I started putting them on the Bazaar.
BoAbdor
Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:22 am
#17
TheRealTK421 wrote:
psikobunny wrote:Our stuff doesn't magically become "worth" more just because we want it to be.This is the reason that decay wouldn't likely affect us in a negative way as much as some might think.
The issue there is that most/many players don't often understand how to get at the value a droid can bring.
I do and don't agree with you TK. I think you and Jasyn both have good points but I am afraid of what will happen when these points are taken together. Here is what I expect will happen when/if droid decay ever becomes a reality. Customers will come to us and say "you can't sell that droid for that price anymore because now it decays!" So the market will lower our prices for us because now our stuff decays. I think that Jasyn's ideas to get the DEs on each server together on pricing are right on and the kind of thing that the DENet should be doing. Getting DENet meetings together to talk about pricing would be an enormous boon to our profession and what I thought the DENet was all about in the first place. Yes you are right there will always be the guy that charges less but as we have said time and time again those guys don't last.
Velneth
Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:23 am
#18
*leans back*
Here's something that I find amusing.
Currently, on Eclipse there's a fair sized push, headed by some rather respected crafters, to dive prices of normal items down. They're keeping the prices of loot made weapons high, but that only makes sense really, as they're more of a luxuray good.
Now you want to push prices up?
The economy would benifit more if there was lower prices.
Lower prices means newbies can buy things and enjoy the game.
It reduces the need for people to go out and grind the high paying missions. Less money entering the economy.
Where's the benifit of higher prices, other than to one's pockets?
Besides, these chips are probaly the worst thing to try and inflate the price of.
Now, if you want to jack up a price and make money, starship crafting station droids. There's a moneymaker with huge potential.
Here's something that I find amusing.
Currently, on Eclipse there's a fair sized push, headed by some rather respected crafters, to dive prices of normal items down. They're keeping the prices of loot made weapons high, but that only makes sense really, as they're more of a luxuray good.
Now you want to push prices up?
The economy would benifit more if there was lower prices.
Lower prices means newbies can buy things and enjoy the game.
It reduces the need for people to go out and grind the high paying missions. Less money entering the economy.
Where's the benifit of higher prices, other than to one's pockets?
Besides, these chips are probaly the worst thing to try and inflate the price of.
Now, if you want to jack up a price and make money, starship crafting station droids. There's a moneymaker with huge potential.
TheRealTK421
Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:29 am
#19
Not for DEs.....our products don't decay.
Velneth wrote:
Now you want to push prices up?
The economy would benifit more if there was lower prices.
/bow
Respectfully,
Jenden
Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:58 am
#20
Zorkk wrote:
Jenden wrote:
First of all, as others have said, price fixing doesn't work in a free market economy. There will always be someone charging less. Even if you convinced everyone on the forums, there are DE's that don't read the forums, even if you convinced all the DE's you know, there will still be some you don't.
Secondly, even if you could do it, I don't think you should. Each DE charges a price that they want to charge for reasons they have. Everyone's reasons are different, and trying to force someone to agree with your reasons is just going to get them to quit the profession.
May you misunderstand, i'm not trying to force anyone to do anything, i'm asking, begging, pleading, whatever you wanna call it, for ppl to think about the greater economy, not just cpu* resources. If anyone I contact doesnt' agree with me, that's fine, that's their perrogative, and I will respect that, and move on.... i'm not going to browbeat anyone into submission. I just truely think that price fixing (to a degree.. even a range of 3-6K or something) on ONE item would benefit EVERY DE out there.
Z
right, I was just pointing out that as long as a small handfull of DE's don't follow the same pricing scheme (and there will always be those that don't) then anything you try to do won't have any effect. Everyone will buy from whoever is cheapest when all items are the same (such as the majority of the DE market).
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