Merchant Archive

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Elyssa wrote:

So basically gain full use of a vendor without skill point cost?
Sorry, I'm afraid you won't find that to be a popular idea.

However there are several things over in the Top Issues thread that would add value to the Merchant profession like this without stripping it and giving its skills away for free.

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Actually I do not think it was ment to be a "free" service, but more of a conseignment shop idea where the Merchant makes a percentage of all sales for use of his vendor, but at the same time does not have to manage what is being placed for sale.

Just my little 2cents.

Tiann'a

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Elyssa wrote:

But it gives the non-merchant full control of the vendor and the merchant simply gets a cut of the sales.
The merchant must retain control of the gate between supplier and customer.

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Why? Does a WS control against who his weapons are used? Or any other Artisan based profession?

Because the weapon is the end product of the weaponsmith's skill, not the core of it.
The better analogy would be if weaponsmiths could trade their draft schematics (not factory schematics) to other players so those other players could make the weapons but the weaponsmith would still get the xp every time the non-weaponsmith crafted a weapon.

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SoulFlame wrote:

Well, as many of you already know, the point to getting master merchant is pretty limited. You get to advertise a bit better, and have more vendors/items.... Now, this is cool and all for those of us that have made resotcking a vendor our new job

However, what if we could convince the developers to add a new functionality to the Master? Hear me out, I think I have a pretty good idea rolling in my head!!

Ok, for instance there are two characters.....

Timi : Master Architect / Master Merchant

SoulFlame : Master Bounty Hunter / Master Smuggler

Now, Tmi has no problem selling her goods, but SoulFlame has no access to a decent vendor to actually make some $. So, what does SoulFlame do? Well, typically he would either make good friends with a merchant to sell his gear for him, or get another copy of the game and make a artisan.... While both of these would work, how about this...

Timi uses her new skill as a Master Merchant. "Auction Sales" (or whatever lol). This new skill sets up a new Vendor for Timi and she places it as usual. Now, she goes into the new "Client Roster" access list.... This works just like a permissions list on a house, factory, whatever but with a twist...

Since Timi has added SoulFlame to the "Client Roster" access list, SoulFlame can now utilize Timi's vendor to sell goods! SoulFlame can place a nice Armor Attachment that h got as loot form a mission for sale on this Vendor. Now, upon doing so, Timi could recieve a fee if he choose to set one on the Vendor (much like the bazaar sales fee). Cool! SoulFlame is ready to sell! Now, what happens when this item sells? Well, consider this...

SoulFlames Armor Attachment sells... The credits are transferred to SoulFlame's bank account upon sale of the item minus the % fee that Timi set when placing the Vendor. Timi getsa bit of XP from the sale, and the Fee that she assigned to the Vendor!

Now, this is all floating around in my head for the last few days....

Basically, it would involve a few things :

1. A new skill associated with Master Merchant

2. A new Vendor type

3. A fee set by the owner for the placing of an item for sale. This could be an optional fee, but would also need a Max fee.

4. A % option on the vendor for the amount the Owner gets when the Client sells an item. Again, could be optional, with a Max %) NOT able to be changed after the vendor is initialized.

Seriously, what do you all think? I would like to go master merchant on my artisan character, but saw no real reason to. And I know the other end of the spectrum as well as I do in fact have a character named Timi and one named SoulFlame

Please post if you like the idea, no flaming please.... Constructive criticism if criticism is needed

-SoulFlame

Find me on ShadowFire as SoulFlame or Timi

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Elyssa wrote: But it gives the non-merchant full control of the vendor and the merchant simply gets a cut of the sales. The merchant must retain control of the gate between supplier and customer.

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i have to agree with elyssa on this. i like the idea. but the reason i want the control to stay in my hands is because i like to do the job that i worked to have. i want to be the one using MY SKILLS. not giving the skills away to others. it would be like buying a computer and setting it up at a friends placeso they can use it for me. i want to have the fun that my skills give me, not give away my fun.

i understand the need to make the job of managing sales easier, but to give away the tasks is not what i want.

From the Merchant Top Issues List (stickied at the top):







A feature like this is something merchants want very much, but it has to be done in a manner that doesn't remove the merchant from the equation.

The skillsheet of merchant says:
Vendors (description: "For each point of Manage Vendor, the player may place a Vendor in a Structure")

So the main ability is to place vendors, nothing written about who should use them.

One Question, what would you rather see, many people who "dabble" in Merchant just to sell their own stuff or a smaller circle of real Merchants with their own set of abilitys to live their role?

(like a BH might dabble in pistoleer for stopping shot, just that in this case the pistoleer has virtualy only the stopping shot)

[Edit: Slow typing ^^]

Message Edited by Atan on 08-22-2005 07:42 PM

i want to see my profession to become more useful to others. right now there is to much given to other professions and players in general that make it to easy for them todo what i can do with out needing to involve merchants.

The game is built for dabbling.
If you want to operate a vendor, you must dabble in a profession that grants that ability.

At that point, selling your own stuff or selling someone else's is strictly up to you.

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Elyssa wrote:

From the Merchant Top Issues List (stickied at the top):

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#2 New Feature Consignment Sales Support
Wholesale purchases for retail sales is only one method of merchant-supplier collaboration. Another is consignment sales. For the purposes of this feature request, consignment sales is defined as items purchased by the merchant with little or no up front cost with the understanding that a split of the sales revenue at a predetermined amount (percentage or flat cost) will automatically take place upon the sale of the merchandise.

Currently this system is envisioned as an extension of the "offers" system such that the seller can offer an item to a vendor for consignment sale but the merchant is required to actually place the item on sale. The item should be unavailable for retrieval by the merchant so as to insure the security of the transaction for the seller. In this mode, all items would be filtered through the offers system.

In another mode of operation, the merchant should be able to sell items directly from his or her own inventory and designate a split of the money to a second character. In this mode, a supplier could drop off large quantities of inventory for the merchant to sell.

These relationships are desirable because it removes the financial burden from the merchant.

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A feature like this is something merchants want very much, but it has to be done in a manner that doesn't remove the merchant from the equation.

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Seems we only have differences in the vision of how it should be implemented...
in my opinion the Merchant should only a) place a Vendor (and set the rules for the "customer") and b) remove a Vendor (in agreement with the "customer" or after a long enough warning.

If i would be in that situation i would not want to take a trip across dantooine because someone wants to relist a few loot items but doesnt live near a Shuttleport (whyever he would want to sell there...)