Merchant Archive
Thread: I don't like vendor search from bazaars
1. Advertising 3 is now much less valuable. Being a long time vendor means my vendor was near the top of the planet map listings. Now customers can bypass the planet map and just search every vendor in the galaxy.
2. The vendor search has reduced profit margins. It is now harder for merchants with prime vendor locations and or well stocked vendors to charge a premium for convienience. Customers can find a vendor with a lower price in any corner of the universe.
3. I'm not sure at what skill level merchants can list their vendors on the bazaar, but it should be master merchant. There is almost no skill point or credit cost to have your products listed right next to master merchants on any bazaar in the galaxy. This does not seem right.
4. Vendor search is an undercutters dream. They can find the lowest price in the galaxy in just a few minutes and undercut it.
So lets break down the competitive advantages hard working crafters/merchants have lost due to vendor search.
-Prime location - almost meaningless
-Well stocked vendors - Still good for biz, but if the customer is looking for 1 item they can find it on any vendor in the universe, and they won't care what else you offer.
-Evaluating the competition. To set your prices and stock competitivly used to be a time consuming process, now anyone can do it in minutes.
-Vendor listed on planet map - almost meaningless
Suggested changes.
1. Remove the feature.
2. Move the feature to master merchant
3. Institute a heavy charge based on items listed. Discounts given at higher merchant skill levels.
4. give master merchants mobile, temporary vendors placable in NPC and player cities.
SOE generally hates merchants, ignores our correspondants, and drives them to insanity (Elyssa was pretty close before she took Doc's place though). I do think that the bazaar vendor search saves people time. But the cost is too high. The biggest cost was making most merchant skills useless. It also made well-kept shops and player cities mostly worthless.
I'm all for competition in the market too. But there should be other factors that affect competition: merchant skill, vendor location, shop upkeep (decorations, well-stocked vendors, etc.), customer service...
The bazaar vendor search did more harm than good.
It's a shame, too.
After the first version was pulled from TC there was some great discussion about it that was really headed in a direction that would have made the search function a win-win for merchants AND our customers.
...then the first system went back in pretty much as it had existed in the first round.
I'm guessing the dev staffing turnovers at the top pretty much ended our discussions.
Dimear wrote:
SOE generally hates merchants, ignores our correspondants, and drives them to insanity (Elyssa was pretty close before she took Doc's place though). I do think that the bazaar vendor search saves people time. But the cost is too high. The biggest cost was making most merchant skills useless. It also made well-kept shops and player cities mostly worthless.
I have run across a few people that don't know how to use the vendor search function, or even know it exsists. It just never occurs to some peeps that they can look for what they need without asking for my assistance. It is nice for me; I can make a show about how rare the item is (if its plausuble) and "do thema faovr" of obtianing it for them. Though I don't have the heart to overcharge them, I do ask that they remember my name and visit my shop from time to time.
for a while after the vendor search, my business took a beating. Now I a doing much better than I though. I am not an undercuter by any strech of the imagination. Indeed, I am fairly certain that I charge more than most. yet I can't keep my houses and heavies in stock. Go figure! Either I have done something right, or my customers are doing something wrong. Either way, I love finding the best deals on resources with the help of my new buddy: GWVS.
Of course, I only keep master merchant because of the maintenance discounts and the vendors. I am not sure its worth it, but since ground combat is a chore, I guess I will keep it.
Elyssa wrote:It's a shame, too.
After the first version was pulled from TC there was some great discussion about it that was really headed in a direction that would have made the search function a win-win for merchants AND our customers....then the first system went back in pretty much as it had existed in the first round.
I'm guessing the dev staffing turnovers at the top pretty much ended our discussions.
Ya that is my impression as well. It wasn't so much that we had any friends in high places but that we had someone who was willing to be honest with us and tell us the issues they were trying to solve and talk about overall strategy to solve those issues. After that departure we were pretty much ignored on the subject.
Its a shame because some of the things that have been added are very good features..if they had been added correctly we would have a much more robust searchable vendor system tied to merchant skill that provided the playerbase with the ability to find quality merchandise from serious merchant/crafters. Instead we have a sea of crap that you have to wade through to get to anything decent.
And frankly most people don't bother with it and they still use the same old methods for finding stuff. I know they don't use it because I have had a certain (rare) item on my vendor for months now and someone on the forum just advertised and sold the same item for 35% more than I am asking. That person could have had the item cheaper without ever leaving the game but then obviously never even bothered to search for it...
Stalker.
mlfilms wrote:
Elyssa wrote:
It's 2 points better than 10.
heh.
