Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Droid Price / Droid Merchant Guide
There have been so many threads asking how much should a certain droid be priced, or how someone has seen someone else selling a droid fora silly low price, that I thought it was about time someone sat down and scrolled out a guide for the average Droid Engineer on prices for droids.
This is only meant as a guide, so please don't think I am trying to set prices with this thread. All my prices here are based on the current economy state of Starsider, so its very possible these prices may not fit other servers at all but please read on! 
The guide is split into two sections, Pricing your Droids and Complete Droid Pricing List
Pricing your Droids
For this guide, we will be pricing and building an Advanced Probot with Level 6 Medical module and chemical crafting module
Step one; Resources
Before you can cultivate any kind of price for any droid you are going to sell, you need to figure out what resources you are going to need to craft the droid. This defines how much the droid is going to cost YOU as the builder, and therefore sets the MINIMUM price for the droid.
When pricing up the resource cost for a droid, it's good practice to assume that;
a) You have no resources
b) You do not have a harvester
c) You have got to purchase each resource type for the droid from your local bazaare
The reason for this is because it will completly cover any costs the droid will cost you!
So, lets use this to price up the resource cost of the Advanced Probot by listing all resource types it needs and pricing them up with the average resource price on the Starsider server (3,000 credits for 1,000 units).
1k of Chemical(fiberplast)- 3k credits
1k of Steel - 3k credits
1k of Extrusive Ore - 3k credits
1k of Copper - 3k credits
1k of low-grade Ore - 3k credits
1k of Polymer - 3k credits
1k of Inert Gas- 3k credits
1k of Siliclastic Ore - 3k credits
1k of Duralumin Aluminum - 3k credits
1k of Duralloy Steel - 3k
1k of Link-Steel Aluminum - 3k credits
All the above resources are need to build every component and module of the Advanced Probot. Ofcourse, there are certain resources you many not need if you arn't using level 6 modules or are buying components and modules from another crafter.
For certain droids there are also rare resources need to craft, so it may be an idea to increase the resource cost of rare resources to compensate for this.
It is unlikely that any Droid Engineer is also an Armoursmith, so this assumes that you will have to purchase a Composite Armour Segmant for the Probot's armour (read the next step for more on buying modules). We will assume for this tutorial that you buy a crate of 100armour modules for 2k, so you will need to add this price to the overal cost of hte droid.
Thefore, theoveral cost of building the Advanced Probot with level 6 medical module and chemical crafting station is:
35,000 credits
Ofcourse, this price varies on the average cost of resources throughout each server, so you'd need to set your own pricing to this scheme.
Step Two; Purchasing components
Personaly, I surrendered my Master Artisan to get some combat skills, so for me to construct most droids I need to purchase components from someone else first. The probot also uses level 6 armour, so it will also require a composite armour segment, which only an Armourmisth can build. The prices of components obviously varies between different artisans on different servers, so this is a little harder to generalise. So for this section, I will just assume prices.
For me, the components I would need to buyare:
1) Electronics GP Module - 500 credits
2) Electronics Memory Module - 500 credits
3) Control Unit - 500 credits
4) Micro Sensor Suite - 1k credits
6) Composite Armour Segment - 1k credits
So I would need to add 3502 credits to the total cost of the droid (in this instance, it wouldn't have cost me 35k on resources, since some of those resources are only needed in the components listed above).
Step Three; Adding a profit margin
The final step in concluding the best price for you to sell your droid is for you to set a minimum profit margin on the droid. This minimum margin will get added to the overal cost of the droid, which gives the overal price.
For this guide, we will assume you didn't have to purchase any components and therefore the cost of the droid is 35,000 credits. The average "minimum profit margin" for an advanced model droidis generaly 10,000 credits, so we'll add this to the cost of the droid. This gives a total of:
45,000 credits
Therefore, by using this guide, you would be selling advanced probots for 43,000 credits. The average price people seem to sell these for are between 35-45k ... so this shows how the guide works well.
Ofcourse, the profit margin you use really all depends on if the droid you are building is an advanced model ora standard model and also the droid's use. If,like the Binary Load Lifter it has no use, then you may consider lowering your profit margin just to make sure you make a sale.
Step Four: Contradictions to these rules
Like everything in life, there is always a contradiction to rules. In this case, the contradiction comes in the form of the Arakyd and Seeker droids. Considering their limited life-span because of their use, it has to be drasticaly taken into account when pricing them. Also, the chances are you will only ever sell these two types of droids in crates of 10. For these, you are only likely to make a very small amount of profit on each .. your prices would literaly have to be exact. For instance, you will find it hard to sell Seeker droids for more than 1k per-unit, and Arakyd for more than 2.5k per unit. So, you would generaly sell a create of, say, 10 Arakyd's for 25,000.
Also, droids like the DZ70 that can only carry one general module and is exceptionaly week needs a drastic hit on its price to sell. In this instance it should really cost around 10k (with a crafting station).
Complete Droid Price List
This list is compiled based on the figures used in the first section of this guide. They are a good basis to use as an average price for a droid for you to set your own prices by.
Prices in white are for models with high-level modules and a crafting station. Prices in blue are for models with high-level modules but no crafting station. Prices in red are for models with high-level armour and a crafting station. Prices in yelloware for models without crafting stations andmodules. Prices in green are formodels with no armour, crafting stations or modules
Advanced Binary Load Lifter - 50,000
Advanced DZ70 - 28,000
Advanced LE Repair Droid - 34,000
Advanced MSE Mouse Droid - 15,000
Advanced Probot - 45,000
Advanced Protocol Droid - 46,000
Advanced Power Droid - 48,000
Advanced R2 Droid - 45,000
Advanced R3 Droid- 46,000
Advanced R4 Droid - 34,000
Advanced R5 Droid - 36,000
Advanced Surgical Droid - 39,000
Advanced WED Treadwell - 32,000
Arakyd Probe Droid- 25,000 (crate of 10)
Binary Load Lifter - 45,000
DZ70 - 10,000
LE Repair Droid - 28,000
MSE Mouse Droid - 5,000 2,000
Probot - 30,000
Protocol Droid - 28,000
Power Droid - 28,000
R2 Droid - 20,000 15,000
R3 Droid- 25,000 20,000
R4 Droid - 18,000 10,000
R5 Droid - 16,000 8,000
Seeker Droid - 10,000 (crate of 10)
Surgical Droid - 25,000
WED Treadwell - 15,000 5,000
To some, these prices may seem too high (or too little) but please remember a few things:
- The Majority of these droids come with crafting stations ... for this reason alone they should be quite expensive. I'm sure architects can complain for hours about DE's outpricing their Personal Crafting Stations
- Droids are built by an elite profession. That makes items built by a DE an elite item. That, in tern, should mean they are NOT cheap ... these things SHOULD cost money. Remember the annoyance and length of time it took you to reach DE (and Master DE) and remember that your reward for doing so is making money!
- Underpricing droids isn't going to help anyone ... quite the oppposite. There is difference between sellingone droid and being a seuccessful long-term seller.
- Resources vary on different servers, as do the customers. Prices need to relate to that fact.
Its a good post. Well formatted and easy to ready...
45,000 credits for an Advaned Probot? I run a small shop on Talus/Bloodfin. I keep it stocked with about 20 Adv. Probots with various level 6 modules and crafting stations. Every adv. probot I have listed is at 15000 credits. At that price, I sell on average one every couple days.
Then again, on Talus, you dont see the economical effects of the rampant cheating as you may on other planets. Credits are not falling out of players pockets so readily.
Perhaps, when some changes are made to our droids, I will consider raising my prices. With no real damage output, no white bar healing capacity, and buggy converstaional programming, droids just dont have the material value that they could.
Of course these prices are going to be WAY high. These prices assume 2 things:
1. You gathered no resources yourself.
2. You made no non-DE components yourself.
The price listed for some of the components are high. I have not seen a GP mod for 500 since about week 2. (On Scylla at least, which I have found runs a bit high on prices from what I hear and see from other servers)
Resources gathered by yourself generally run at about .85 credits per resource when you figure in all the secondary costs such as travel and redeeding.
For example at what I generally consider "at cost", 1 cpru, a seeker only costs 172 credits, made by hand. When you figure in factory time it runs about 225 per droid. So a crate of 10 "at-cost" would be about 2250 credits. Making a decent profit at 3x cost would be 7750 credits for the crate.
On Scylla at least, you won't find many buyers for a 1000 credit seeker droid. 775 is sort of pushing it as well. The price is usually around 500 and 750 for a Arakyd.
However, I really think prices for Droids are so out of whack for a couple of reasons. The only people that buy them are BH's so there is really no market for them. And that grinding this profession is worse than just about any other. Since Seekers and probes are the easiest thing to grind, there are tons of them out there.
If I hear one more combat profession person complain about the grind I will shoot them. They get loot and resources out of their grind, while ours costs money and resources. There is no comarison.
The profit margins on weapons, armor and housing are what they are because the end product actually works and has a purpose. Until Droids have a greater purpose in the game, prices will remain low and DE's will continue to be poor. /me has less than 10000 credits to his name. I'm all for charging more as long as someone would buy it
Yah those prices seem a little high. I've only been doing DE maybe three weeks if that so I came in very competitive. Here is my price list.
Droids -
Arakyd Probe Droid - 4,000 (crate of 5)
Binary Load Lifter, ADV - 37,500
DZ70, ADV - 2,500
LE Repair, ADV - 10,000
MSE, ADV - 1,500
Power Droid, ADV - 11,000
Probot (combat) - 10,500
Probot, ADV (Crafting) - 13,000
Protocol, ADV - 20,000
R2, ADV - 18,500
R3, ADV - 20,000
R4, ADV - 6,000
R5, ADV - 5,500
Seeker Droid - 3,000 (crate of 5)
Surgical Droid, ADV - 15,000
WED Treadwell, ADV - 5,500
Droid Module and Components -
Droid Armor Module I - III - Free with purchase
Droid Armor Module IV - 500
Droid Armor Module V - 1,250
Droid Armor Module VI - 2,000
Level I - IV Droid Data Module - Free with purchase
Level I - IV Droid Data Module - 1,000
Level I - IV Droid Data Module - 2,000
Level I - IV Droid Item Storage Module - Free with purchase
Level V Droid Item Storage Module - 1,000
Level VI Droid Item Storage Module - 2,000
Level I - IV Droid Medical Module - Free with purchase
Level V Droid Medical Module - 1,000
Level VI Droid Medical Module - 2,000
Single crafting station of your choice - Free with purchase
Master Artisan Supplies -
Control Unit - 2,500 (crate of 25)
Droid Batteries - 2,000 (crate of 25)
Electronic GP Module - 2,500 (crate of 25)
Electronic Memory Module - 2,500 (crate of 25)
Energy Distributor - 2,500 (crate of 25)
Micro Sensor Suite - 17,000 (crate of 24)
Power Conditioner - 3,000 (crate of 25)
Weapon Power-Ups; all kinds prices vary
I based most this roughly on a 15 cr per resource plan. Some things are lower such as Bounty Droids to stay compeitive with everyone else.
Now what I don't understand is why everyone has money problems. With these prices which seem to be low for everyone I've made about 4.5 million credits (made more but this is what's in bank). Granted some of that is selling resources and not just droids.
I guess as long as people charge a ton for their droids that will keep me in buisness.
No "Advanced Droid" should EVER be sold for less that 20k. To sell it for that price is ruining the market for other Droid Engineers. The reason for this is because all (except MSE) advanced droids have armour modules, making them tougher, and all (generaly) are built with crafting stations. If you can find a private crafting station for under 10k then I'd be very surprised ... architects don't sell them for that price, so we shouldn't either.
As I said before, the prices DO depend heavily on the server. But I tell you know, the prices I listed above SELL for those prices on Starsider. And they sell well.
Money is exceptionaly easy to come by in this game, no matter what server you are on. 15,000 credits is about an hour's worth of doing 2k destroy missions ... why sell an Advanced probot on ANY server for that price? Advanced Probots, even in their current state, are an extremly useful tool. People want them to act as tanks ... Use that to your advantage.
Have you ever tried selling a droid for a higher price? I'm willing to bet most people that are selling them so cheap have never attempted in. Well, I say try it out for a week. See if there is any noticeable difference in the profit you make. Notice I said "profit" and not "how many you've sold". It's not the number of droids you sell that is important.. its the number of credits you make by selling them. That is the biggest fault of most Droid Engineers compared to other professions ... you are consentrating your efforts on trying to sell lots, not trying to earn lots.
Tell me, how much are travel packs on your server? On Starsider, the average price for a travel park is from 5-10k ... 5-10k just for that ... now tell me, why should be less than a travelpack?
Even though I break down my pricing a little differently than Vampiric_Hoshi, the prices end up being about the same and yes, I'm doing "okay" for profits. ( I just hit Master, which should change things as well.)
Cheers!
Advanced Binary Load Lifter - 50,000
Advanced DZ70 - 28,000
Advanced LE Repair Droid - 34,000
Advanced MSE Mouse Droid - 15,000
Advanced Probot - 45,000
Advanced Protocol Droid - 46,000
Advanced Power Droid - 48,000
Advanced R2 Droid - 45,000
Advanced R3 Droid- 46,000
Advanced R4 Droid - 34,000
Advanced R5 Droid - 36,000
Advanced Surgical Droid - 39,000
Advanced WED Treadwell - 32,000
Arakyd Probe Droid- 25,000 (crate of 10)
Binary Load Lifter - 45,000
DZ70 - 10,000
LE Repair Droid - 28,000
MSE Mouse Droid - 5,000 2,000
Probot - 30,000
Protocol Droid - 28,000
Power Droid - 28,000
R2 Droid - 20,000 15,000
R3 Droid- 25,000 20,000
R4 Droid - 18,000 10,000
R5 Droid - 16,000 8,000
Seeker Droid - 10,000 (crate of 10)
Surgical Droid - 25,000
WED Treadwell - 15,000 5,000
Wow im on the wrong server, I sell adv probots with 40% medium armor, and repair kits, more if they want other modules. I know people that sell adv probots for 10k. I usually sell my reg surgical driods for 22k. My R series is a little higher than your regulars but under your adv. Im on bloodfin and it seems to me that the market is becoming more and more saturated every week. Two weeks ago my prices were a little higher, but not much. The only thing I make that is not advanced is the surgical driod.
As for selling at a higher profit? Why? An alternative business model is to sell in volume at a lower margin. Either way, you can make a profit.
Finally, 10K for a travel pack! Shiiiiiit! Try 300cr here.
I just went over all my droid prices. Mine are about 10K cheaper, which is probably due to the 10K charged for crafter profit that he's got listed.
Instead of charging for the whole droid, I do mine custom-crafted and charge based on the components installed. I'll try to remember to type up the price list when I get home, but the final cost of the droid isn't that far off of Vampiric's prices - the method of pricing is just different.
Let us not forget that in the near future, we'll also have to account for taxes from player cities. When that happens, you can expect an increase in cost. As well as when they decide to change NPC vendors, as most merchant-types aren't paying much for them in their current state.
In regards to selling more for less: I view myself as an artisan in the real world would (think silversmith, stained glass window maker, etc.) I hand craft my droids (yes, some parts are machined), and I do them to the exact specifications that a customer requests. In the real world, you'd pay more for that and you'd feel like you got something that was tailored to your needs, which is what I strive to provide. If someone wants a generic do-dad, they wouldn't go to a specialist for it, they'd go to Walmart.
I haven't gone droid shopping with my other toons on other servers, so I can't speak from a purely consumer point of view, but I haven't had any complaints from customers yet.
As always, mileage may vary.
valiant effort but i use a new price schem popular and functional:
for just functional all the MSE's to R5's for 5k to 6k
R4, LE Repair, Surg, these are essentially the same droid right? for purposes to us, they arent so i go, 7k, 14k, 20k. the reason is deeper than resources, surg droids are popular, r4's are too, but with the caveat that the r2 is cooler....
R2 = 28k this is the populare droid so people dont argue about the price, i could probably charge 35k
but people will always price how they like anyways
Vampiric_Hoshi wrote:
[...]
So, lets use this to price up the resource cost of the Advanced Probot by listing all resource types it needs and pricing them up with the average resource price on the Starsider server (3,000 credits for 1,000 units).
1k of Chemical(fiberplast)- 3k credits
1k of Steel - 3k credits
1k of Extrusive Ore - 3k credits
1k of Copper - 3k credits
1k of low-grade Ore - 3k credits
1k of Polymer - 3k credits
1k of Inert Gas- 3k credits
1k of Siliclastic Ore - 3k credits
1k of Duralumin Aluminum - 3k credits
1k of Duralloy Steel - 3k
1k of Link-Steel Aluminum - 3k credits
[...]
I don't follow this list as the base your price logic. Probots require far less than 1K of each of these materials.
Advanced Probots require 790 resources to construct sans modules. Add in a pair of Droid Armor Module 4s at 92 resources each and youget to 974.
Using your own pricing scheme, Vampiric_Hoshi, that gives you a base price for a fully armored Probot-ADV of under 3000 credits. Toss in an appropriate upgrade for any modules included (with an appropriate markup for crafting stations), and you're still well under 10,000 credits for a Probot-ADV. NOT 45,000 credits. There's a guy in my neighborhood on Ahazi who sells stripped (meaning no modules) Probots for 3k on the galactic bazaar... an altogether appropriate price given the resources consumed.
You're making the mistake of charging the customer for resources that you did not consume while creating his droid. Using your scheme you could make a ton of money by skimming the leftover resources and reselling them on the bazaar.
Seekers on Ahazi sell for about 750, though I have seen occasional listings as low as 500. Even 500 is fine, though, since they only consume 146 resources each. Arakyds (which use 147 resources) sell for a hefty profit at around 1500 per droid.