Merchant Archive

Well the only big question would be how the % markup would be agread on. I know as a seller if I had a Uber Pistol I wanted 1 Mil for and offered on consignment and found out he marked it up 50% making 1.5 Mil I might be mad. Aslo at what Point could either person pull the Item off. If a Merchant acepted my offer should it have to stay for a full 30 days or could either person pull it off at anytime?

Al'anis
Jaxom

Absolutely an automated consiment system is needed

Cross server issues affect artisans/crafters/politicians. From what I have read they are attempting to deal with cross server trade issues.

Scoooter - Master Pilot/Master Politician
ScootBacca - Master Creature Handler/Master Rifleman
Co-Leader - mVa
Mayor of Mos Vegas, Tatooine, Valcyn

I think an "Add Consigner feature " Would be the way to go. This would stop any Greifing from someone putting up a ton of CDEFs at stupid prices. But I wouldnt want to see this automated to the point the merchant didnt have to view and accept each item from them. The point is to force the merchat to be involved in this to prevent things like Cross Server trading.

Al'anis
Jaxom

- Strength In Numbers - Loyal Subjects of the Empire
Asia Brothers Industries - Asia Hall SiN CiTY, Dantooine (Offers Vendor at -4703 -1404)
A player bodyguard can't protect you either, something agroes you, you are dead. The
only difference between a pet and the person, is you pay the person to stand there
and watch you die. -- Straker Atrella

Bazzalan

Master Doctor(12pt)/ Combat Medic(12pt) / Swordsman(97spd) / Ranger
Fencer(100spd)/ Rifleman(100spd) / Musician / Armorsmith(12pt) / Merchant / Artisan
Medicine/Weapon/Armor/Food Shop - Chilastra.Coronet 740 -4090 (Buffs/LOOTS/Armor vendors are mine)

SWG: the most expensive game of monopoly I've ever played.

I figured I would come up with a simple scenario to show what SWG currently is.

Joe Combat Doctor would like to make Buff packs and offer them for sale to make some money. He currently only has a few options.

#1 Drop some Combat Skills and grind enough points to place a vendor.

In all other professions you can mix and Match what ever professions you want and enjoy the game. This is the only time you have littlechoice.

#2 Run a 2nd account just for the Merchant skill.

Again one of the Main ideas in SWG is interdependency and that don’t mean using a 2nd account to do that with your self

#3 Find someone to buy all his Buff Packs and mark them up to sell.

This is what a lot of people yell about. But the problem is simple. As a Merchant I cant keep up with what everything in the game is worth. Do I take his word on what they are worth just to find out they are really junk? If I ever use buffs I simply find a Doc to buff me. I don’t stop and find out what the values of Buff Packs are. Also I would have to shell out a lot of cash to buy them all up front and hope they sell. Or do I just offer him a really low amount to cover myself incase I get burned on them.

I can tell you I have been in the game senses Beta and I have no idea what a good Poison CM pack is or what its worth. I don’t know what the Damage on a Flame Thrower should be and what its worth. I do know Armor inside and out but to be just a Merchant isn’t possible.

So if we have a profession like Master Merchant that really can’t be played on a stand alone level then there really is something wrong here. And you cant just be a Crafter without doing Merchant yourself some how.

Al'anis
Jaxom

They whole ideal of a Merchant Class has been flawed from the start. The main idea was a Class that sold items for other Crafters and PvEers. It basically boils down to the fact if you have any kind of Crafter you have to have a vendor to sell your items. Merchant has become a necessity for all crafters and non Crafters. The non Crafters have a valid point. The bazaar limits are too small to be practical and trying to find someone to sell your items is not easy. Also the Merchant would have to buy the items from you and mark them up to try and sell. On the Merchant end its way too hard to keep track of everything in the game and what value it has. How do I know what a Looted pistol is worth if I have never worked with pistols. And as a Master Armorsmith who am I going to get to sell my Armor? So Merchant for a Crafter is a necessity not an option.

They only way to truly have a Class that’s main job is to sell items for other people would be a consignment type set up. If I have 100 Full sets of high End Composite I am sure it would be hard to find a Merchant willing to shell out the value of what I have. And the Merchant would really have no idea what the Armor was worth. I keep track of the current Market and I know how my stuff stands compared to other Armorsmiths out there.

The way things are now Merchant is simply a Secondary skill necessary to any Crafting Skill. With a Consignment system you could now truly work your Merchant skills. If you wanted to offer Droids in your shop you would have to seek out a DE and talk him into selling in your shop. You would have to keep track of his items to make sure he in fact keeps you stocked with the items you want to sell. If he doesn’t meet your expectations then you would go out and seek out a new DE. As a Armorsmith I only work with Composite Armor. A merchant could then find someone with good Ubese to fill that market.

The bottom line is as a Master Armorsmith I have to have Merchant to sell my items. If it was interdependency they were looking for here then they totally missed the boat. And I do feel for PvEers that spend as much time gathering Loot to sell because they couldn’t even get the loot if they had to spend the points for Merchant to sell their stuff.

Al'anis
Jaxom