Merchant Archive
Thread: Since Bazaar change why bother with Merchant at all?
Yep, a lot of us smugglers saw this coming. You see, we have this stuff called spice. We usually sell it for about 10k a crate. Although some people like to undercut. But no-body in their right mind would sell a full crate for 3k. However, 6k is the new sweet spot for undercutters. All spice is not available in the bazaar for 6k a crate. This funny thing is that this is exactly what the Imperial crackdown (letdown) is supposed to be trying to stop.
It's all about Location. My vendor is in a city in the MIDDLE of Corellia (we have 0,0 in our city!), and is not even a hundred meters from the shuttleport.
I advertise (both using the global advertising 3 and on the galaxy forums), and I bring in a lot of customers.
I think it depends on what you are selling. If you are selling high end merchandise you aren't as effected as someone selling lower end merchandise. The dev perspective was that most vendors weren't stocking the lower merchandise. I think they are wrong about that and they have unwittingly nerfed a group of merchants out of their business.
Certainly the Muon Gold market is a study with how this change has had a serous price effect of items within a certain price range. No one is selling a large house for 6k but I would be surprised if there weren't some small houses for sale for 6k even though the price for them should be 10-15k on most servers. People will opt for the solution that is the easiest to implement sometimes even if they lose money on the transaction.
Consider setting up a skill tape vendor, or a vehicle vendor, and then slap all your other stuff (crates of muon, crates of powerups, etc) on it.
I know that I sell plenty of crates of powerups at 1,500 credits a crate (not as much as I would of like, but I believe I overstocked : I stocked about 300 crates initially... and I stocked the "wrong kind" of powerups)
And, about the cheap weapons on the bazaar : Those are often old, beat up weapons, needing a repair, broken weapons, or just poorly sliced weapons. I have customers buy in bulk from me to get a "good" slice, I've had a few buy a crate of Gad Batons or Power Hammers, and slice 'em all, keeping those with the slices they like. Dunno what they did with the rest, I could picture them selling them on the bazaar.
I also throw stuff onto the bazaar when I need to get rid of it. I've put up 2,000 units of hide for 500 credits when I decided to completely drop scouting
and between 10,000 credits and 100,000 credits, it becomes a "convenience" issue for me, and I'll pay twice or three times as much as what I *could* pay, just to get it at a closer vendor / without leaving the planet.
I have seen some players REALLY use the bazaar effectively. They e-mail people who purchase their products with a shop location, saying more can be found there (I get this with resources, and I would say I check out one out of every three shops that someone e-mails me after a resource purchase on the bazaar)
Basically, if you are losing customers to the bazaar, you need to rethink your business plan. Maybe relocate your shop.
If you are on Corellia, Tatooine, or Naboo, you've got to really keep prices down to compete. Try moving to Lok or Dantooine if your prime business is in that 3,000 - 6,000 credit range. Not as many players use the bazaar there (only places I use the bazaar are Coronet, Bestine, and Theed)
If you travel to Yavin or Dathomir or even Lok you might try selling some low cost items on the bazaar there..not a whole lot of competition (at least on my server) for your business there. Obviously if you only travel there for the bazaar loading it is rather expensive but if you are going anyway...
Well, Xie, the thing is, some of these items, like Molecular clamps for smugglers, range anywhere FROM 4k-15k a crate. I know that's an insane difference, but I know smugglers who can't KEEP the things on their vendors at 15k a crate. However, if it's on the bazaar, why WOULD you ever travel for a higher priced item? Sound fair? Maybe. Except this is a free market. I should be able to charge what I like, but the bazaar adds an artificial cap. Still sound fair? It almost is...
Except, in the case of molecular clamps, you can't MAKE a profit on them at 6k a crate UNLESS you mine your own resources. So what ends up happening is, those of us who would rather not mine resources are not only making less profit (which is as it should be) but we are EXCLUDED from the market entirely. That's NOT fair.
Like I said, have something more expensive to draw players in, and sell the cheaper stuff too.
I know a few smugglers who sell *all* smuggling supplies (WUKs, AUKs, clamps, etc etc), and because everything is in one spot, they sell out.
They also place their vendors in well traveled areas (popular player cities with shuttleports), and often in a mall, with a bunch of other players vendors nearby.
Yeah, but that's not the point. The point is, the bazaar cap increase is dictating a price cap. It's becoming a harder cap every day. I'm against that in principal. And why would people come out to buy it there if they've already bought their fill cheaper on the bazaar? It's not a pressing concern YET. But I wonder if it will become one in the long run. It's driving the price down, and people are getting their fill from the bazaar and from vendors who follow suit. They may buy OTHER goods from me, but they won't buy clamps for 6k or less.
Heck, even without the bazaar cap, I know how price can make a difference. I bought some resources off of the Rare Loots vendors outside of Coronet. I thought about getting some WUK's there. Then I saw theirs were 10k a crate. I was gettin' them from another shop at 3.5k. I scoffed and left. Now, I didn't demand they lower their prices, they can charge what they wish and if they're makin' money at it, more power to'em. But I wonder how much longer they're gonna be in business if the prices for these things keep dropping.