Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Are my prices too cheap?
I think I'm gonna modify my spreadsheet values a bit, and up the prices. They have been selling like hotcakes at the prices I've had them set at. Which is fine, of course. But you're right that it's a lot of work. 
I'm a MDE on Chilastra outside Theed & I have been pricing mine roughly 30k for Adv Probot & 35k or 40k for adv R3 to give you an idea...mine have been selling pretty well so may be low as well but not flying off the shelves too much that I cant keep up...I'd raise slightly because novelty will wear off
i'm on your server and i will gladly remove your droids from your vendors and re-sell them with mine for double the price your getting and i am still having trouble keeping them stocked.. so IMO yeah your selling them to low
For Chilastra..you are roughly half price..which is a Bad Thing (tm) for you and for other DEs
just 2 cents, I hate pricing threads really
Just the fact that the R3 brains have to have factory made parts made out of other factory made identical parts that aren't even part of the profession means you shouldn't even sell a chassis on most servers for under 50K.
Now, I'm talking high-economy servers like Eclipse/Bria/Starsider which sell brandy for 300-350K a case, or where a nice unsliced T21 goes for 80K.
You have to price in comparison. It would make you sick to see the cpu for a weapon. I'm not saying you should charge THAT much...but think about it : shouldn't a Doctor who's selling buffs at a Starport for 12K pay a comparative price for the droid that will allow them to do so outside of the med center to, say, a combat person buying a gun? The gun will die a lot quicker than that droid, which could possibly live forever - and even selling buffs at the low price of 6K, a doc could pay for a 80K med droid in fifteen minutes.
I really dislike the whole "cpu" theories. We are business people - do you think real world manufactures look at the "CPU" of what they sell based on materials? No, you figure out the base cost of your product, then you figure out how much more you want to make on it based on tons of other factors. Looking at the "bottom line", how much you are spending to make your product, is only one detail of many that goes into most captilistic pricing methods.
This isn't to say you shouldn't charge whatever makes you happy - but if your goal is to make money and build a business, it's the way you have to think. Spreadsheets are great for fun and for seeing how much you are spending (and making sure you are covering costs), but if you play your cards right you'll be making so much money and doing it so efficently that keeping track of it seems silly when your bank balance just keeps going up and up...
AO
/edit messed up post
Message Edited by YodaMac on 05-03-2004 12:29 AM
Message Edited by YodaMac on 05-03-2004 12:29 AM
So what else is there in the game for me to spend my hard earned credits on?..... and therefore, WHY bother raising my prices just for more credits to spend on nothing. Granted future expansions may bring things that a full-time DE might want to buy...maybe..
YodaMac wrote:
Am I in this game to make credits or droids? Droids, I can say honestly. And just WHAT am I supposed to spend more credits on? I have a single account, so I only have 10 lots worth of structures to pay maintenance on. Plus my vendors. What else would I want to buy?....... Im a crafter (I spend all my time making droids) so I dont need weapons I'm not skilled enough to use, or armor I have no reason to wear. I make enough to buy furniture and decorations just fine (and I decorate a LOT!)
Yod
Message Edited by AudioOrgana on 05-03-2004 01:51 AM
Pricing plans made my head hurt, because I could never truly tell what my cost per resourse was, since I mine my own, unless I need a rare which I get from the bazaar or resource vendors. My droid prices are actually pretty simple:
My five module combat probots are 50k. That's what they sold for before publish 8, and I didn't feel the need to raise the price just because their HAM tripled and damaged increased when they weren't selling really beforehand.
My R3s are 40k for six modules, unless they're combat modules - A six combat module R3 would cost 60k.
My advanced R2s are 35k for five. No one has asked for combat R2s... I made one with a combat cluster and 2 auto-repair modules as a test.
Protocols with two modules cost 25k. It's been a while since anyone's asked for a surgical... if someone has, I tell them about my MedMax6 R2s and they go for that.
Me for one likes pricing threads... gives me an estimate on what I can charge and what would be through the roof.
And I couldn't agree more this credit-per-unit pricing that people keep screaming about makes no real sense.
The better the product, the higher the price... that's the way life goes.
If this "3 cpu" was something that was a rule Vasarian Brandy would only cost 225 credits no matter how good it was or how many charges it has.
Credits per unit can be valid .... IF YOU'RE SELLING RESOURCES ... otherwise, it aint.
Message Edited by Pooka on 05-03-2004 07:57 AM