Droid Engineer Archive

Thread: Droid Pricing, sort of a guide.

Straker_Atrella
Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:11 pm
#40
back up for more questions.



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Straker_Atrella
Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:43 pm
#41
Up again, talking prices in another thread, nothing states my feelings like this post.



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Ayno
Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:29 pm
#42
For the most part, I like the general principles outlined in this thread. Thanks Straker.


I'd like toadd a few more comments.


Cost to make a droid

From some of the comments I see in various threads, I believe some droid engineers are only counting part of the true "cost"to make adroid.I see some focus onCPU, and while CPU is a very important part of the cost of a droid, it is not the total cost of making it. Among other things, you also haveto factorin your time as another resource.Droids don't make themselves (although they can help :smileyhappy. You have limited time.How muchis yourtime isworth? Set yourself some minimum wage and pay it to yourselffor each hour you make droids. Why? Because you could be doing something else!(Economists call this your "opportunity cost".) You have decided to spend time making droidsas a service to other players, and should be reasonably compensated.


I have an admittedly complex cost and pricing schema, but I have a small service costfor each and every type ofsub-component (not just module) that gets used in the droid (in a spreadsheet of course). Why? Because that is more of my timemaking the sub-components and assembling them.I don't recommend my way necessarily because it is complex, but I just use it as an example of how the resource of time should be factored into the cost.


So in summary, the cost ofmaking adroid is the total cost of all resources used to make it. These resources include "tangible" ones like metal, chemical, etc, and intangible resources like your time.


The value of your time (in game credits) is a nice follow up quesion, and one whose answeryou can only estimate. But I think it is largely a factor ofhow much you could make doing other activities in the game, like missions or another trade profession like armorsmithing.


Price of a droid

The best price of a droidisn't cost + some markup. In fact, the price of a droid could be at orless than the actual cost (e.g. going out of business sale). Of course, in that scenario, the droid engineer goes out of business. The point is, what the market will spend for a droid is onlypartly related to to how much it "costs" to make it. There are a limited supply of droids on any galaxy, and some players who want to buy them (demand). It's true that in general, as prices go up, fewer players want to buy them, and the opposite, as prices drop, more people want them. However, you could drop your price to 1 credit above cost and still not get any more customers (or get so few more that itdidn't matter). As Straker pointed out, you dropping your price well below marketprobably won't increase demand that much in the game, it justeats intoyour profit. Why? Well, that's rather complex. Sufice it to say that the demand at the very low price is not much different than the demand at a higher price. Bascially, many players just don't care if it's 5k, 10k, or even 20k cheaper (for many of the reasons Straker outlines).


Getting business

Won't pricing my droid low get me more business? Not necessarily. If you want more business, advertise. If customers don't know about you, they won't buy from you. And find a better location, somewhere with a lot of people stopping nearby.Somewhere with easy access. Selling well below market isn't your key to getting more business. As long as you are near market, you should look at other ways to increase business.


Staying in business

So we have the total cost of the droid and how much the market will pay for it. Everything in between is well earnedprofit! If it costs 20k to make and the market will pay up to 40k for it, great! Basically, you have anywhere in between those two points to play with (or you can charge more if you like). But pricing below your total cost will put you out of business. I personally increased my prices recently because I wasn't charging enough for my time. I wanted to keep being a droid engineer, but I could make so much more money doing other things ("opportunity cost"). So to stay in business, I raised my prices. Now I am better compensated for my time and so I can keep making droids.


Ethics of droid pricing

Do you feel bad about charging much more than you think your droid is worth?Way more than material costs?Don't. First, remember that cost is more than materials, it is also your time (as discussed above). And second,let the market decide. Your estimation of the droid's worth matters much less than the estimation of yourcustomer (as long as your customer has all the pertinent facts).In fact, selling your droids too cheaply might make your customers feel like they are getting low quality stuff or even cheating you. Stay close to market and you won't have to deal with that. Of course, if you do have low quality stuff, well then by all means discount. But if it is equal quality, and you way undercut your competitors, your customers may think less of your products, and might even avoid your store becase it is "cheap". Safest bet is to price near market.



Ayno - Master Droid Engineer, Ahazi Galaxy
Store located 1555 meters NW of Theed, Naboo (-5876 5368)
Kleston
Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:50 am
#43
This thread sure has gotten a lot of use, eh Atrella? I'm still glad you started it so many months ago.




  • Kleston - Gorath

  • Kre'Ivo - Scylla

  • Jerard - Bloodfin


If it moves, shoot it. If it shoots back, duck. If you can't duck, pray. If praying doesn't work, you're dead.
Straker_Atrella
Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:47 pm
#44
Up for Jsabre



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Washell
Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:55 am
#45
I love this post. Everybody is so hung up on cpu.


I'msearching forresources andmanufacturing components. Keeping track ofafore mentioned items in my houses/storage vendors.Handcrafting a large variety of chassis/module variations. Keeping track of it all.Mananaging vendors. Finding pilots toburnchips for selling.All in all spending a lot of time on the production of my droids.


If all my efforts (roughly 20 hours a week) allow me to build the best combat/bomb/harvest/etc droids on eclipse should I price them at e.g. 20k, because that's what the cpu + markup is? I think not, they shift only slightly slower at 120k. And at that price level I average a 1 to 2 million a week profit. Not much compared to a combat prof but enough to keep this profession fun for me.


My droids range from 15 to 75k for the modules that take grind resources. Up to 120k for droids that require HQ resources. In 2.5 months I've gotten one tell I priced too high, from a fellow DE on another server with an alt on eclipse...

Straker_Atrella
Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:19 am
#46
Up for Sabrina



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
OkanoDroids
Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:40 am
#47
I think any profession should charge what the market will pay. The market will adjust itself (especially with the new vendor search:smileyindifferent It's not practical to base cost on CPU + mark up. BUT, you can use CPU + mark up to find your minimum sale price.





Okano
Droids by Okano
Engineer, one of nine moronic professions
Account expires February 4, 2006
Straker_Atrella
Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:18 pm
#48
Bumping some old posts for new people to look at.



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Zodiac-B
Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:45 pm
#49

"So just using 10k for the chasis (or more for harder ones,) then 10k per module gives me easy numbers to work with. An R2 with 3 modules is 40k, an R3 with 6 is 75k, a BLL with 3 is 80k."


Not too many DE's on Eclipseare agreeing with you. I'm finding R3's with 1 or 2 modules loaded for 200-250k credits. I'd really like to have a lot of little droids running around me for fun and purpose, but at this cost it's kind of difficult to justify it.


Your statement of someone selling for a lot cheaper won't make you money is not necessarily truein my opinion. I'll think days or weeks about spending 200k for a droid (that I'm not 100% sure if it's going to work for me, which is the case now), but 50-100k like what you've suggested in this post... sure what the heck. The lower prices bring in the dabblers and the serious peeps, high prices are only for the serious people which I don't believe outweigh the dabblers. And lastly, if you do raise your prices, people will still come back as long as you're not more expensive than the next. Every major business that breaks new ground starts off with huge sales to bring in the peopleand get loyalty. Once the loyalty is there, they can raise their prices up gradually to make their huge profit margin.


Just an opinion from a hopeful future droid owner.






Zodiac Enterprises - Corellia (near Coronet) 192 -5487

Suarat: Master Shipwright 12/17/17 - Akron's Havok Squadron Ace Pilot
CAIDOZ: Elder Jedi - CorSec Squadron Ace Pilot
Aurilius Maximus: Commando - Completed 6th mastery, hesitant to continue due to Kessel Spawn

Straker_Atrella
Thu Jun 02, 2005 7:51 pm
#50




Zodiac-B wrote:

"So just using 10k for the chasis (or more for harder ones,) then 10k per module gives me easy numbers to work with. An R2 with 3 modules is 40k, an R3 with 6 is 75k, a BLL with 3 is 80k."


Not too many DE's on Eclipseare agreeing with you. I'm finding R3's with 1 or 2 modules loaded for 200-250k credits. I'd really like to have a lot of little droids running around me for fun and purpose, but at this cost it's kind of difficult to justify it.


Your statement of someone selling for a lot cheaper won't make you money is not necessarily truein my opinion. I'll think days or weeks about spending 200k for a droid (that I'm not 100% sure if it's going to work for me, which is the case now), but 50-100k like what you've suggested in this post... sure what the heck. The lower prices bring in the dabblers and the serious peeps, high prices are only for the serious people which I don't believe outweigh the dabblers. And lastly, if you do raise your prices, people will still come back as long as you're not more expensive than the next. Every major business that breaks new ground starts off with huge sales to bring in the peopleand get loyalty. Once the loyalty is there, they can raise their prices up gradually to make their huge profit margin.


Just an opinion from a hopeful future droid owner.






Ok Zodiac, let me explain a little bit further. There is one line in the thread that mentions that server prices vary by server. That is very true. My 10k per chasis nad 10k per module is actually seen as expensive by some. Perhaps 200k is what is considered "normal" on Bria, perhaps that is just what new people are charging I don't know. Perhaps demand is high and supply is low, there could be many factors. You need to do a little research and see what is considered the "norm" price.


When pricing Droids, remember that Droid will last forever, it will never wear out. So even a 200k investment isn't bad. Heck new players right now on Scylla can have 7-10 million credits the day they log in if they want. They just need to sell their Barc Speeder. Even without that, money isn't that hard to make.


Ok, lets talk about making more money by charging less. If a price is considered "normal" that means people are willing to pay it. If you charge less then what is normal, you are then making less then what people would normally pay. I'm not against competitive pricing, but people go way overboard. People selling Droids for 2k for example. This doesn't help anybody, it only hurts the entire droid market.


Pull in your customers with quality, service, and dependable stock. Don't do it by making little or no profit.






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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Straker_Atrella
Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:14 pm
#51
up



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Droid Vendor at Resurection near Theed on Naboo -5757 6222. Both carry a wide variety of maxed Droids, I also carry every type of Droid and Droid supply.

*Straker Atrella: Dark Jedi * Atrella's Wench: Master Droid Engineer / Artisan / Scout / Merchant * Dark Vortex: Ranger / Rifleman * Havana:Musician / Dancer / Image Design * Enigmatica : Doctor / Swordsman* CrazyEyes: Role playing BH.
Sandsifter
Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:12 pm
#52

Im on Eclipse and I see some wide ranging prices. One vendor made me laugh, the peep was selling seekers 5k per crate and droid batteries 10k per crate (kinda made me wonder if he got things backwards)


I see some vendors with little selection but way underpriced. Some had R3's fully loaded for 60k.


My prices as follows (cough cough eclipse, raise your prices cause i sell out at these rates)


Seekers 10k per crate


Arakyds 15k per crate


R3 Entertainer droid (all effects) - 50k


R3 Combat droids (2700 health, 535 combat) - 150k


R3 Multi-purpose droids (medic, stims, harvest bonus, storage, etc) - 125k


R3 Medic (either all stims or medic 110 and stims) - 100k


R3 Scout model (all traps and harvest bonus) -75k


MSE droid with generic crafting and storage - 25k (this i underprice to bring in the newbs from Eisely)


Batteries - 5k per crate


Droid customization kits - 5k per (9 uses) or 20k for a crate of 5 (45 uses)


Bomb Droid (MSE model, detonation 36) - 10k each or 50k for crate of 5


At the above prices, I sell so fast I can hardly keep up. It still surprises me to see a droid vendor selling an R3 model fully loaded (sometimes combat rating up to 600) for 50-60k. Guys, you're only cheating yourselves. After all, these suckers dont decay.


Icebolt - MDE, MA, Merchant, Tailor

Thunderbolt - Jedi padawan
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