Merchant Archive
Thread: What is it with Artisans / Crafters ?
I hear all these posts from crafters with business 3, askingfor all thesebetter tools to help them sell. For example I saw one ask for terminals in cities so people could check all the private vendors on the planet for sales.
This same Artisan got annoyed when I said it was a fantastic idea but should only be available to Merchants..
I am fed up with Artisan / Crafters wanting all the functionallity of the Merchant without having to spend a single point in the merchant tree. This is EXACTLY the same as saying because I can make a harvester at Engineering 3 I should automatically get combat skills so I can defend myself in the wild whilst visiting my harvester. This is complete BS - If you want features which should be a perkof the Merchant skill then you should have to invest some points into the Merchant tree.
Personally I'm all for keeping the Insane maintenance on Terminal and Vendor droids, as it gives non Novice Merchant crafters more of an incentive to use "proper" Merchants.
For the love of god.. Just because Artisans get a vendor at Business 3 doesnt automatically entitle them to become a sucsessful merchant, and have merchanting tools at their disposal.
P.S Before it starts again, I do not wish to see Vendors removed from Business 3. - I want to see MERCHANTS given all the skills / upgrades & ingenious suggestions that have been suggested on these boards. I DON'T want to see them given to anybody who happens to have a vendor and thinks that makes them a Merchant !!! 
/rant off.
/flame shield on
I fourth that! Eventhough I'm only a novice merchant with a few skills in advertising... teh merchant capabilities, such as advanced vendor tools and other merchant gimmicks should NOT be given to artisans. Artisans are crafters, not businessmen (merchants in the game). The whole point is for an artisan to either associate with a businessman (merchant) which is conductive to the whole idea of a only community, or fess up and learn the merchant skills him/her-self!
People want things made so easy for them, but they don't realize that good things don't come easy, and if it is made too easy, it spoils the game for everyone and no one is intruiged anymore!
My two humble cents 
I as a master artisan understand where you are coming from but there needs to be a way for the crafters to contact the merchants. I would love to sell my stuff to a merchant so he could mark it up and get it to the public but I cant find one to set up a relationship with ( hint to any merchants on radiant talus i got crates of very nice powerups and looking to start elec subcomponents also). You also have to understand they are just trying to find a better way to get their product out and make some cash also to support those nasty harvester habits etc.
Kemoo Master Artisan Radiant Talus (aspiring weapon smith)
/agree. Although I do not favor removing vendors from the business line - but I would bump up the vending machine merchant to Business IV and make reducedbazaar fees Business III.
Kemoo - I also see your point. A few suggestions for tracking down a merchant:
1) Do asearch for merchants. In my experience this tends to give a very small (if any) result. Personally, I always run around with a merchant title but many do not.
2) Look for people advertising on the planetary map - this will give you the location (and usually names) of some of the more established merchants. Look for ones specific to the item you want to sell.
- Vorin
Heck. I run arround with my Novice Merchant title, even when I am doing destroy missions.
Post on this message board and your server MB for a merchant.
Kemoo, If you don't want to ask publically or send people mails, you could use the built-in way to do it. Go to a nice shop that's obviously run by a merchant (uses merchant features, perhaps has signs the stock is made by more than one person). Offer an example item to the vendor at the sort of price you're looking for. Repeat for as many shops as you want, then see what happens.
I know if someone offered me something that interested me out of the blue, I'd then likely contact them and see if they wanted to supply more. Even if they don't contact you, if they buy it, it should give you a contact name to contact and ask about supplying. If they reject the item, there are plenty of other shops to try. This is a handy way to reach merchants that don't read the forums. Especially the ones that don't make it obvious in-game who to contact about their shop.
We are nothing more than a bunch of guys that wasted 64 skill points... other than that there is nothing USEFULL to set us apart from the artisans.
)
Kemoo wrote:
I as a master artisan understand where you are coming from but there needs to be a way for the crafters to contact the merchants. I would love to sell my stuff to a merchant so he could mark it up and get it to the public but I cant find one to set up a relationship with ( hint to any merchants on radiant talus i got crates of very nice powerups and looking to start elec subcomponents also). You also have to understand they are just trying to find a better way to get their product out and make some cash also to support those nasty harvester habits etc.
Kemoo Master Artisan Radiant Talus (aspiring weapon smith)
I agree better tools for crafters to get goods to merchants would be a boon - but that's a completely different set of tools to selling tools.
Also don't forget that alot of us Merchants use the advanced Merchant titles when we have them so don't just search for Novice Merchant. I go by the title Manager (Management 4). There is also a propagandist (Advertising 4) which alot of merchants use as it sounds cool - (at least Advertising 4 is worth this much )
So make sure you search for all three.