Merchant Archive
Thread: is reselling evil?
Ffej_Cra wrote:
I just posted a rant in response to a message on the Bria trade board. I thought some merchants might be interested in the topic. I fully expect to be called all kinds of names now by the kiddies and the socialists.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bria_trade&message.id=132725
Ffej
Just for kicks whywoulda Merchantcare so much?If hesold them for whathe thought they were worth..someone bought them and sold them for more. *shrug*
It doesn't botherhim when doctors buy them and use them for a profit does it? They are making a profit offhis efforts too
Message Edited by DocSavag on 05-20-2004 07:45 AM
FYI - I wasn't the original poster ... the one complaining ... my post was later in the thread, where I was defending the person who was buying and reselling for a profit. I don't see a problem with it, it's just that there are a lot of other people who do. That wasn't the first time I had seen people make that same type of complaint. I've seen whole threads that turned into gripe-fests about greedy merchants, greedy weaponsmiths, greedy resource harvesters, etc. (A lot of times it's the combat types complaining about the crafting/business oriented types, but this case was different.)
Ffej
Ffej_Cra wrote:
FYI - I wasn't the original poster ... the one complaining ... my post was later in the thread, where I was defending the person who was buying and reselling for a profit. I don't see a problem with it, it's just that there are a lot of other people who do. That wasn't the first time I had seen people make that same type of complaint. I've seen whole threads that turned into gripe-fests about greedy merchants, greedy weaponsmiths, greedy resource harvesters, etc. (A lot of times it's the combat types complaining about the crafting/business oriented types, but this case was different.)
Ffej
ya i know what u mean the crafter is making the profit that he/she thinks is fair if someone else can sell that for more then so be it if someone bought out my vemdor to resell id be happy thats alot of profit for me to get in one lump some and id proboly email the guy and ask him if he wants more of whatever it was he bought cause ill start a factory run asap.
First off there is the pretext under which the reseller buys the items. Some crafters take pride not so much in making huge profits, but more in having a good selection of items available for costumers, of always having things in stock.
Buying out such a vendor is definitely a bad deed in my book, as by doing so you take away the fun of the crafter running the vendor.
Secondly if the reseller is not honest about the reselling motive, again it as a bad deed in my book. Many players like to help out others, so they might be persuaded to sell a stack of stim-b's to a "novice medic" who just wand to grind throe the profession. If that "novice medic" instead intend to resell the stim-b's then he will be taking advantage of the crafters good will. And that will eventually harm others players who genially wand to use the stim-s them self somewhere down the line.
It is best if the deal to buy items for resale is made directly with the crafter and done with open cards.
Lastly there is the abuse of say discount given to a fellow faction member who turns around and sells the items to the opposite faction.
In topic quoted in this topic the issue seams to be someone who take pride in having good buffs in stock for doctors at reasonable prices, that is what that player finds fun. As such buying him out and selling his wares at higher prices is an "evil" act. Anyone who says otherwise does not acknowledge his right to have fun in this game, but are only thinking of them self.
The result is clearly visible, now know one can come and but buffs when they need them, and a good service to the doctors on the area was lost due to one players need to obtain credits in any way possible.
Personally I am not against the concept of resale. And if someone wended to buy my wares and sell them on I would be open to finding an arrangement, but if someone stopped by my vendor and brought al my T21 and then sold them on at an large mark up, I would ban that person from my shop and of cause send him an email of why.
To me it is simple:
I put items up for sale for a price. If you pay my price I'm happy. If you buy all of my items I'm estatic. I don't give a flying nuna what you do with them after that. If I find you are selling them for 2x the price I'm going to start raising my price. But if you keep buying them I'm still going to be happy. What difference does it make to me if I sell all my goods to one customer or 1 each to 100 customers?
Tarnak,
First of all, I do agree about honesty. If someone lies in order to get a better price, then resells for a profit, that would be wrong. I also agree about the faction discount.
However, therecould bean inherent contradiction in someone both taking pride in having reasonable prices and taking pride in having a well-stocked vendor. If your prices are below market, over time you are going to have to produce so much that you actually change the supply curve (i.e. meet most/all of the demand yourself) in order to achieve both of those things (assuming that people know about your vendor and prices.)
A while back, on my server there was a shortage of radioactive power. When that happened, some suppliers tried to hold their prices steady, and requested that customers only buy X amount per customer and not buy them out. I was looking for power myself, and as I searched, every vendor like that I saw was sold out. The only people who actually had any to sell were those who had increased prices.
Yea if someone lied to me about why they wanted 50 backpacks and then resold them for 2x the price I might be a bit annoyed, but only because he lied about it. If he just buys them I don't spend any time worrying about it really.
The best example I can come up with is that if you go to a supermarket in real life and try to all thair tined tomato, they will most likely refuse to sell them to you. They wand to also have tined tomatoes for the next customer. We do not have that option on our vendors, it really requires human intelligence to manage that properly so it is not something I expect to se implemented either.
Many players do not se credit as the end all be all of this game. If they enjoy running a small shop with a loyal customer base, but do not wand to be offensive to positional new customers then what gives anyone the right the ruin that fun?
I do not accept arguments like "they set the price they should be happy that someone wand to but thair products", or "reselling is part of the game learn to live with it". I se only two possible responses.
1) Respecting thair wishes and not buying them out for resale. Or perhaps working out a deal with them to say provide the resources for more products in return for say 75% of what the resources can make.
2) Not caring about them having fun, and just treating them as an NPC with an advanced AI.
Anyone choosing the second option is a jerk who deserves what ever is coming to him, banning from the shop with out warning as the least. Respect is a two way street, if someone do not respect others they should expect no respect in return.
After all this is a game, we are all here to have fun, and not to work at simulating a real world economic.