Droid Engineer Archive

I was wondering if all the servers can setup unions and such to have the same pricing chart so we can actually make up for the times when we were totally bugged and selling was a pain in the arse.

I will sell whatever new droids that comes along according to what I've sold droids for up till now.

I wont go undersell at "3cpu" or anything like that.

I will charge what I see fair and if people don't like my prices - Shop elsewhere!




Then again, I wont overprice my new battle-oids either.

I think if there are say 4 MDE's in a guild, then pricing the same might not be a bad idea. However when people start trying to recruit every DE to price the same regardless of being guilded or not... thats not what I'm into. I price my droids how I do for a reason. I'm actually cheaper than some, more than others in some cases but there are always reason why I do so. Standardized pricing isnt what I'm here for.

Join server Ahazi We already have all that in place. And for those who do wish to sell cheaper on our server we try to make welcome and embrace rather htan chase away. We do this by referring business that wants discounts to those people. Profit is shared and everyone is happy (or at least most the time).

I dont think a server side price check would work. After all. Not everyone have the same access to resources or the same skills.

Some may have very high end resources while others do not. To have those two (For example) price their creations the same will benefit one more then the other.

Some buy their resources of vendors, while others harvest their own. So the cost to make a droid is different to everyone.

A nice idea thought but one that I doubt very seriously that it would work.

What I did is just get to know the other DE's on your server. Generally you'll know who the people are that are in it for the long haul. Those are the folks I suggest you talk to, get a feel for their pricing...compare, and let them know what you've been using. Sometimes you'll find that you've been selling a certain model a little lower than some or a little higher.

If you want to try the whole price fixing thing go for it, but I can guarantee not every DE on the server will go for it (I know I think its a terrible idea and won't go along with it). If you try to fix your prices too high the ones not going along with you will undercut your prices, and you'll lose out even more. If you want to try it go for it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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JavelinCatcher wrote:

What I did is just get to know the other DE's on your server. Generally you'll know who the people are that are in it for the long haul. Those are the folks I suggest you talk to, get a feel for their pricing...compare, and let them know what you've been using. Sometimes you'll find that you've been selling a certain model a little lower than some or a little higher.

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I'm one of the "long haul" people, and I have found that "our" prices are quite simmilar.

We charge a premium, but not an outrageous markup.

I mean, sometimes someone in the forums will talk about selling an R2 for 50K or a Probot for 80K - and that's just insane to me.

Then there are people that sell R2's for 6K and Probot Advfor 10K. Equally insane to me.

In the middle is the threshold for quality and value that people have. I have actually found people that won't buy lower priced, but identically featured, droids because they LIKE paying for what they know to be quality goods.

I specialize in certain types of droids, I keep them reliably stocked on vendors, and I have consistent quality. That won't change with the patch.

Just like with vehicles, I am more satisfied with how I get to spend my time when I sell fewer items that are of high quality for a decent profit instead of running myself ragged to fill orders for underpriced items. In the end I enjoy my time much more, and am much more profitable by leaving the low-end market alone : it's what creates the high-end market for what I make.

Audio

I am not a big fan of this. I agree like someone said above, if you are in the same pa or something, it is a good idea. I guess though I would be one of the hated undercutters because I sell all my droids for a flat 5k alot of the time I throw a raft of droids on the public vendor for 3k. I am not trying to undercut anyone, it is just that a droid does not cost that much to make so even a 3k probot you are still making a good bit of money off of. On Naritus, I have seen people selling thier probots for almost 30K which is rediculous. Overall, at least on my server, we should do a way better job of correctly priceing out droids to its abilities compared to whats out there and how much it costs you to make that droid. Everyone seems to be on this price by demand bandwagon except if you hadnt noticed, droids are not in all that great of a demand.

Price setting never works. there is always someone out there who is going to get desperate for a few credits to pay maintenance on his harvesters and take what he can get on a sale. It happens. It's economics. Charge what you think is fair and don't worry about everyone else. If you sell your stock too slowly, it's time to lower prices. If you sell out too quickly, raise them. that is the only true benchmark you can use in this game economy.

Let's not remember, folks....money is ultimately ridiculously easy to make in this game. Finding a way to spend 20-25k on a good, useful R2 unit is not a hard thing.

And...to those out there that have several thousand to millions? Please.

Any pricing you could set on "top of the line" droids (yea, right) will be chump change to those folks.

I've personally done my best to drive overall pricing UP on a server, not down. The DEA has helped immeasurably on that point, since it let's any member DEs be aware of the what the market is charging (and will bear).

You all say that price "fixing" isn't possible...that's true. Setting price windows, per Audio's explanation of our market model, can and does work. I see it everyday.

Charge whatever you feel your droid is "worth" on several factors:

- Resource costs needed to build it

- Time cost to you needed to buid it (or grind skills)

- The perceived "value" to the user. This is where many DEs probably fall short. A prospective client often doesn't know how a droid can/does work for them. Therefore, they have no way to judge the correct market "value added" for that item. It happens all the time in real life. The clients that DO know what a droid can do often do seem to pay more for their droid.

Why?

They probably feel like the person that made it has a "name" that they have to live up to. In that regard, they can't afford to me making not-so-good items.



...Of course, in droid land, "quality" doesn't matter (remember that from my 1st inter-server DEA speech, all?).


/bow

Respectfully,

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Jenden wrote:

If you want to try the whole price fixing thing go for it, but I can guarantee not every DE on the server will go for it (I know I think its a terrible idea and won't go along with it). If you try to fix your prices too high the ones not going along with you will undercut your prices, and you'll lose out even more. If you want to try it go for it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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I totally agree. Price Fixing is a terrible way to go. Uggggg....