Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Thoughts about Vendor Search now that it's been around for a while?
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Straker_Atrella
Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:50 am
#1
I'm not all that crazy about it. At first when there wasn't the name search and price sorting feature, it wasn't that bad. It was kind of clumsy to use, so good "word of mouth" would still bring people in.
However with the new search and sort options it really just makes price all that matters.
For example, if I want a med droid, I simply go ot droid deeds and put the word "medical" in, thenI can even put a price cap of say 10k. Now a bunch of droids priced under 10k will come up. People don't even know what quality or anything, they are thinking they are getting a good med droid.
My sales have dropped by about 75%, I was maybe a tad expensive, but I always stocked a couple of hundred droids on my vendor, most hand crafted, with a wide selection. Yes other people made good droids as well, but by far I put the most work into my vendors. Yet now all that work is wasted.
DigitalOne
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:38 am
#2
My sales have absolutly tanked, Ive sold maybe 3 droids in the last week, where as I used to sell 3 droids on a very bad day. My prices have always been low, almost the lowest on the planet (as far as i could tell), and my quality as good as ´DE can do. But all of a sudden im set into competition with not only the people in my city, region, nor entire planet, but evey last DE out there, people who are eager to undercut me and have. All the things that used to matter in the past are gone, and this requires a whole new strategy of marketing.
I used to be an industrialist, but lost interest over the last few months because of disapointing changes and fear of the future (Curb). I still have a ton of droids for sale, but whats going to matter from now on is pure bulk, just flood the vendors at the lowest prices you can handle. I think we can manage to tighten our profet margins alittle, but over time i fear it will be detrimental to our longevity.
Right now im afraid to make new things, and cant sell the thingsI have. I've seen the prices sort ofstandardize among most DEs,I droped my prices as low asI dare (maybe5% profit vs. CPÜ), but theres always the fool who drops 50 identical droids on his vendor at half the price.
This is just a hellishbusiness environment, and this is just within the DEworld. I'm ready for competition, thats what makes the game fun, but this is all low class heckling.
Theyshould change the name of the game from'Star Wars: Galaxies'to 'Price Wars: Galaxy'
eaglebacca
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:56 am
#3
DigitalOne wrote:>They should change the name of the game from 'Star Wars: Galaxies' to 'Price Wars: Galaxy'
lol
QFE
Message Edited by eaglebacca on 04-12-2005 04:57 PM
ArdenStarmariner
Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:08 am
#4
My sales have improved. What I use to sell in a week now sells in about a day. But then my prices have always been competitive.
I'd have to say that the vendor search didn't go quite far enough. They should have let people punch the buy button right on the bazaar terminal and then receive their purchase immediately. They shouldn't even be required to be on the same planet to receive their purchase much less have to travel to a player's shop and get it direct off the vendor.
In addition, there should be craftable bazaar terminals that players can place in their houses, giving the house owner access to the bazaar. They should be able to browse, purchase, and receive directly off such terminals.
Lastly, the bazaar should be enhanced with reverse listings. By this I mean people should be able to go to a bazaar terminal and post a Want To Buy listing at a specified price. Sorta like Price Line. Crafters could then browse these listing and if the offered price is acceptable, fill the order by dragging and dropping the item into the bazaar terminal's detail panel for delivery. Original lister gets the item as an attachment to an email and the purchase amount deducted from the bank account.
I'd have to say that the vendor search didn't go quite far enough. They should have let people punch the buy button right on the bazaar terminal and then receive their purchase immediately. They shouldn't even be required to be on the same planet to receive their purchase much less have to travel to a player's shop and get it direct off the vendor.
In addition, there should be craftable bazaar terminals that players can place in their houses, giving the house owner access to the bazaar. They should be able to browse, purchase, and receive directly off such terminals.
Lastly, the bazaar should be enhanced with reverse listings. By this I mean people should be able to go to a bazaar terminal and post a Want To Buy listing at a specified price. Sorta like Price Line. Crafters could then browse these listing and if the offered price is acceptable, fill the order by dragging and dropping the item into the bazaar terminal's detail panel for delivery. Original lister gets the item as an attachment to an email and the purchase amount deducted from the bank account.
RasalTheWise
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:51 am
#5
I have mixed feelings about it. I have noticed a drop in sales, but like one person said, it's hard to tell whether that's a direct result of the vendor search thing or just a slowdown in the droid economy. If I really wanted to, I'm sure my sales would increase if I listed my vendors, but I dunno...I like having a well-stocked vendor. Call me crazy.
From a consumer side, I really like the ability to search on key words now. It's helped me hunt down good resources.
From a consumer side, I really like the ability to search on key words now. It's helped me hunt down good resources.
Shmook
Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:04 pm
#6
Hey all, just wanted to get some thoughts from the community now that the vendor search has been around for a little while. I've been a Master DE for about 6 months (Wydoo on Bria) and have actually been loving it. I should probably say that I started an alt to try out the crafting thing and after trying AS, WS, and Architect, I fell in love with DE and have never looked back. As a matter of fact, I actually have been playing my "alt" more than my main combat character because I really liked the crafting aspect of the game and the personal interaction of DE in particular. I've also been amazed at how much money I've made over the 6 months with my shop. I thought I'd be doing this more for fun than money, but that having been said, I studied the other DE's in my galaxy and worked hard to produce a variety of good quality droids. I also priced them "high" but at their market value. I should also say that I found that the best way to actually make money as a DE was to simply "play the character"... that is, to be in my shop and talk to my customers instead of just logging in to restock vendors. I've gotten great word of mouth and have amassed a small fortune as a result. All in all, it's been quite rewarding and I couldn't be happier.
I was a little worried about the vendor-wide search, though, not only because of the price-competition but also because of the particular nature of droids that would make it difficult to compare on the vendor search the different configurations. I've found that most of my customers are rather uninformed about droids and their quality. I was particularly worried that customers might start buying cheap droids because of the obvious price comparison, but not really understand what they were getting and eventually be frustrated with their purchase (and in fact, I'm still concerned about this).
Anyway, I wanted to know how my fellow DE's are fairing with the vendor search. I have actually NOT listed my vendors. I've also seen a significant drop in my sales since it's launch. I'm not 100% certain it's because of the search... it may also be somewhat cyclical but I can't be sure.
My take on the search is that it's good for some things but droids are still a problem because of the need to educate our customers on the value of droids and on the difference in droid quality. Since we tend to make unique "models" of droids, it's difficult for the uneducated consumer to make fair comparisons without some help. I've also found, on Bria anyway, that droid prices on the search vary widely, as do their quality, and these two things are not always correlated. I also think that page after page of droid deeds is simply information overload... I think that customers are maybe going to get to page three and then buy or not buy at all (but that's just my feeling).
How is everyone else feeling about it? I'm not looking for a rant thread or anything but I was hoping to see what other folks have been experiencing. I guess I'm hoping that eventually, the "old" systems of advertisement will be the most valuable to customers as they realize that vendor search is really just an extension of the bazaar system ..... low quality, but more convenient than searching for vendors on the map. Any thoughts or experiences that anyone else can share about their sales?
Thanks!
Nell2ThaIzzay
Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:23 pm
#7
As a consumer, I love it. Now, I can just activate the galaxy vendor search, and find whatever items I need, that previously went from hard to all the way to impossible to find. I've ended up buying many a useful item that I never had before, because I didn't want to spend the time going from house to house looking for a vendor that might stock what I'm looking for. Now I know exactly where to go.
Also, as a consumer, price isn't the only thing that matters. Location also matters. For example, I'm not going to buy petstim B's for 500cr and go all the way to Dantooine to pick them up if I can get petstim B's for 1000cr on Naboo. I know 500cr is an almost insignificant amount of money, but it's just a personal example, since I have recently been in the market for petstims (thanks vendor search).
As a crafter, I dunno how I feel about it, really. I guess a part of me feels that something like this should be implemented, but perhaps as a Master Merchant skill? Or perhaps toned down a bit to where you only get a waypoint to the vendor with the item that you need, but pricing and such info can only be obtained from the actual vendor.
My sales have dropped a bit lately too. Again, I don't know if it is directly because of the vendor search, or if it's other factors as well.
I think tho, overall, I am happy with the changes, because simply put, as a consumer, the planetary map listing of vendors simply wasn't efficient. Say I'm looking for Wookiee armor for a friend, I see a vendor called "Wookiee Armor", and I go to it, but all they are selling is a backpack of composite and some CA's, or no armor at all. And some of these vendor's names are very confusing or misleading. It was a very inefficient way to shop. Now, as I stated earlier, because of this vendor search, I am able to find items that are very useful to me, that I never shopped for before because I wasn't about to travel from house to house looking for a vendor that might carry it. Overall, I think I like it.
eaglebacca
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:55 pm
#8
I think the catagories in the vendor search can be more clearer. on my vendors i sell probe droids in CRATES, seekers in CRATES, bomb droids in CRATES and Swoops in CRATES. Please note that how am i going to gain more business from the vendor search if i do not put one item out of the crate for them to come out under their own catagory.
Has anyone notice there are a lot of different kinds of items under crates and also the same kinds of items comes out same on most pages. I think the vendor search is only useful for search single items such as resources.
How often does a player buy brandy or synthsteaks by their bottle or their plates, and is it possible to find much cooks selling them in singles?
I think they may need to add some kind of word matcher/search into it for it to work effectively.
Has anyone notice there are a lot of different kinds of items under crates and also the same kinds of items comes out same on most pages. I think the vendor search is only useful for search single items such as resources.
How often does a player buy brandy or synthsteaks by their bottle or their plates, and is it possible to find much cooks selling them in singles?
I think they may need to add some kind of word matcher/search into it for it to work effectively.
Straker_Atrella
Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:50 pm
#9
Eagle, the new system fixed the entire crate problem, actually imo is fixed it "too well."
All you need to do is type in Arakyd in the name section, then maybe put in say 1k - 10k in the price section and it will now list all crates or singles of Arakyd Probe droids. Then you just find who is cheapest and go there.
EnigmaBSc
Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:33 pm
#10
Items sold per week:
|
Week 1 | 2 items
.
.
Week 31 |# 3 items
|
Week 32 |###################### 57 items
|
Week 33 |#################### 53 items
.
.
Week 49 |######################## 63 items
|
Week 50 |################################ 83 items
|
Week 51 |#################################################### 135 items
|
Week 52 |############################################ 116 items
|
Week 53 |################################################################################ 207 items
|
Week 54 |##################################### 98 items
|
Week 55 |##################################### 98 items
|
Week 56 |################################### 91 items
|
Week 57 |########################################################## 151 items
|
Week 58 |###################################################### 141 items
|
Week 59 |##################################### 97 items
|
Week 60 |############# 34 items
|
Week 61 |########### 31 items
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credits made per week:
|
Week 1 | 2000 credits
.
.
Week 31 | 2185 credits
|
Week 32 |########## 41106 credits
|
Week 33 |######### 37970 credits
.
.
Week 49 |#################### 81430 credits
|
Week 50 |################################# 131565 credits
|
Week 51 |################################################ 190965 credits
|
Week 52 |########################################################################### 295145 credits
|
Week 53 |################################################################################ 312925 credits
|
Week 54 |###################################### 152220 credits
|
Week 55 |#################################################### 203702 credits
|
Week 56 |######################################### 162560 credits
|
Week 57 |############################################################################# 301675 credits
|
Week 58 |######################################################################## 282217 credits
|
Week 59 |################################################### 202090 credits
|
Week 60 |########################## 105140 credits
|
Week 61 |################# 67390 credits
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GWVS came right at the start of week 59. The actual search feature came halfway through week 61. These graphs don't tell the whole story, since I was away from the beginning of week 59 to the beginning of week 61 so my vendor's stock level was somewhat reduced for this period. Also, my JtL and consumables figures are not yet included. I shall give it another five weeks before I decide if I need to change my business model at all. I expect my profits to begin rising again since I've recently started stocking bomb droids in reasonable quantities. My vendors are not registered on the Galaxy-Wide Vendor Search.
EnigmaBSc
EDIT: Made graphs more compact.
Message Edited by EnigmaBSc on 04-14-2005 02:01 PM
SmokingFrog
Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:03 pm
#11
I've noticed no appreciable change in sales at all. All my vendors (Arch, DE, BE, Chef, Misc) were GVS activated the day it went live. The whole thing hasn't changed my business at all except allowing me to drop the Advertising tree of merchant 
Lycids
Thu Apr 14, 2005 10:01 pm
#12
I really have not noticed a difference for better or for worse really. My sales are about the same and they are people who usually have heard about me from a customer.
SnapperJack
Fri Apr 15, 2005 3:47 am
#13
I really haven't seen any change in sales, but as a customer I love it. I was looking for some high OQ copper the other day and found 100000 units with a OQ of 997 for only 200000, and it took me 30sec to find. Before I paid something like 40cpu for copper that good.
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