Merchant Archive
Thread: How long after you get the idle message...
Elyssa
Sun Sep 12, 2004 11:22 pm
#14
That's when keeping something like a chance cube named "Email me for custom orders" priced at about 10k works nicely.
Your vendor is not empty so it doesn't get deleted.
The item won't go into the stockroom for 30 days.
Sometimes somebody will come along and think that they are clever for buying it.
I always send them a thank you note since they cost like 8cr to make.
All it takes is a tiny bit of effort to get around these things, and anyone who has bothered to spend the skill points to become a merchant should at least be willing to dedicate that much effort to maintaining their vendors.
You're right, tho... deleting a non-empty vendor after ANY period of time should not happen.
Mystyrys
Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:24 am
#15
I am very confused as to just what constitutes "touching" your vendor? You, the merchant has to touch it? Or just any customer has to touch it? If touched by the merchant is the only touching that counts, then what kind of touching is required to reset the lifeclock on the vendor? Check status? Add maintenance? View sales? Relist stock? Sell an item? What?
It's ridiculous that non-empty vendors should be at risk of deletion at all.
If empty for long enough that even the items rolled over to the stock room have auto-deleted, then yes, maybe then. Yes, remove that empty vendor from the global map too. It can go back on the map once those items have been relisted. But do not mark it for death if it's only just emptied due to rollover and items are still in the stock room. Nor should it ever be at risk merely because you haven't run up toit and fondled it recently. Lots of vendors contain items that sell slowly, or only infrequently and having to manhandle the vendor to keep it from being marked for assassination... is assinine.
AlphaMaldorian
Mon Sep 13, 2004 1:22 pm
#16
As this talk about "touching" your vendors seems a bit.........perverted.
Now a new question should be: Will Inappropriatly Touching my vendor keep him/her from deletion???
Inquiring minds wanna know. 
Warryyr
Mon Sep 13, 2004 1:50 pm
#17
Yeah, I got an email yesterday that said "your vendor has not been touched for a very very long time. You should visit it soon to avoid it being deleted from the game eventually."
I got the email right when I walked into my house with vendors in it.
It was regarding my custom orders vendor, too - and it had an order on it!
Is it my fault that a customer can't get his rear in gear and come pick up his merchandise? Why does this justify deleting both my vendor AND the customer's order?
Am I now forced to visit my stupid custom orders vendor and click on it every other day to keep it happy, touched, and feeling loved?
Also, just because no one visits my vendor full of stuff does NOT mean the stuff should get deleted.
When a store has a dry spell in sales, do the owners come in and fire bomb the place? No, they shift inventory maybe, or wait for sales to pick up.
This system defies all logic to me, and as was already said, if I pay my maintenance and have my skills to own my vendor, AND have items on it - by God, leave it alone and let me be. Again, as has been said, when you don't go into your house for weeks at a time it doesn't get deleted, if it has maintenance. I see no reason why vendors should get deleted if they're not empty and the maintenance is paid. This, to me, is griefing me for my customer's actions.
If it's empty, remove it from the planetary map and delete it eventually. If it's not, I see no excuse for screwing with my business just because I had a bad week ro my customer is taking their time.
I want answers to exactly what this system entails, why it's in the game in the first place, what we have to do to avoid getting this disturbing mail, and why custom order vendors will get deleted, with items STOCKED, just because someone doesn't pick up their things quickly.
I think every Merchant in this game deserves to have those answers.
PhoenixOrion
Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:35 pm
#18
Maybe we should train our vendors to touch themselves?
Although I have the big bulky vendor still around for my smuggler tools, so unless it grows arms and a droid brain, I doubt it will touch itself.
Anyways, thanks for all the answers and supports to all. I guess I'll have to use my vendor once a week.
At least it's good (or bad rather) to know that Smugglers weren't the only ones screwed over in Pub 10 and haven't been addressed yet...
(although if I were to tally, Smuggler pretty much has degraded while merchant is like a see-saw. they break something, they fix something but break something else).
*sigh*
cshauny
Mon Sep 13, 2004 11:20 pm
#19
I think that deleting an empty vendor after two weeks is alright as it obviously isn't getting any use. Maybe it should be increased to three weeks just to be on the safe side.
However, deleting a vendor which is fully stocked just because it hasn't been used by the merchant in two weeks is ludicrous! A vendor which is stocked is obviously still in use (even if it is just stocked with a chance cube for 9999999999 credits).
I am leaving for a month long vacation to India in December and I won't get a chance to log into SWG the whole time as I don't have a PC there. I *could* use my girlfriends PC, but I don't want to let her know just how much I play this game 
I hope this gets fixed by then becaue otherwise I will have to remove all my resources and spices and find storage for them 
Restocking will be a pain as well i'm sure
I hope this gets fixed by then becaue otherwise I will have to remove all my resources and spices and find storage for them Restocking will be a pain as well i'm sure
Malitevv
Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:56 am
#20
Mystyrys wrote:
I am very confused as to just what constitutes "touching" your vendor? You, the merchant has to touch it? Or just any customer has to touch it? If touched by the merchant is the only touching that counts, then what kind of touching is required to reset the lifeclock on the vendor? Check status? Add maintenance? View sales? Relist stock? Sell an item? What?
It's ridiculous that non-empty vendors should be at risk of deletion at all.
I don't know what constitutes touching a vendor either, but I got the warning message from a vendor that had recently sold an item so customer touching seems to not count. I've also another vendor at a remote location that I haven't "visited" in over a month. I haven't received a warning message for him though. I regularly relist items from the stockroom for that vendor without visiting the vendor myself, so maybe remote relisting counts as touching? Not sure, it's also possible that the code that manages the warning messages is bugged and doesn't always send them. I don't know.
But of course, that detail is moot for me. non-empty vendors should not be at risk of deletion for any reason other than not having the maintenance paid or the owner not having the skills. it's a make or break issue for me. If my master merchants non-empty vendors really are at risk of deletion, I will very likely just close up shop. A game with an economy that imposes rules of that sort on its merchantsis not one that I am willing to run a vendor in.
AllyaEcati
Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:56 am
#21
I have a new wookiee clothing vendor that I stocked last week. I had a wookiee in my shop browsing the vendor and I had just checked the vendor to see if it had an item he was looking forwhen I got the email that it hasn't been used. A few minutes later he bought an item, but there was no email that states that my vendor is now ok. I'd like to know what we need to do to keep a vendor in use, because browsing obviously doesn't count.
Message Edited by AllyaEcati on 09-14-2004 12:57 PM
Indene
Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:34 am
#22
Ok here is an issue for you to add. I am a miner by trade as well as a merchant. I often place large orders of resources on offer to a vendor. If that vendor is ignored by the merchant and the public for 2 weeks what happens to my offer?
-Indene- ( running off to reclaim some merchandise from someones vendor that hasn't been heard from in a while )
-Indene- ( running off to reclaim some merchandise from someones vendor that hasn't been heard from in a while )
DesktopSaki
Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:13 am
#23
Apparently, you have 2 weeks from the last time you opened up a "Sell Item" window. (Or put something up for sale.)
So if you get hit by a hurricane, a car or real life, you're SOL. Which is why being a merchant scares the hell out of me.
SpaceWolfes
Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:02 pm
#24
Okay I am a little confused here so please explain it all to an simple norwegian.
I am an master weaponsmith, master tka, merchant 4-4-0-0.Have 4 vendors running(melee weapons, ranged weapons, BH/commando weapons, themepark special weapons).
In real are a shop manager on a ship that go between Norway and Germany. Work demand for me to be away for 3 weeks and home for 3 weeks when can play SWG.
So leave for work. My melee vendor are all sold out in 6 days (not likely but happened two times). Two week deadline start counting and the vendor are deleted before I get back home from work. Sure no big deal. Only lose about 50k in maintance.
But this whole thing about touching the vendor confuse me. Do I read it all right that when leave for work again on tuesday all my vendors will be deleted after two weeks? All 900+ weapons that are on them will dissapear? Please tell me are reading it all wrong!
PhoenixOrion
Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:19 pm
#25
Sadly, you aren't the only one who is becoming confused with all these new merchant vendor "fixes".
SpaceWolfes wrote:
Okay I am a little confused here so please explain it all to an simple norwegian.
I am an master weaponsmith, master tka, merchant 4-4-0-0.Have 4 vendors running(melee weapons, ranged weapons, BH/commando weapons, themepark special weapons).
In real are a shop manager on a ship that go between Norway and Germany. Work demand for me to be away for 3 weeks and home for 3 weeks when can play SWG.
So leave for work. My melee vendor are all sold out in 6 days (not likely but happened two times). Two week deadline start counting and the vendor are deleted before I get back home from work. Sure no big deal. Only lose about 50k in maintance.
But this whole thing about touching the vendor confuse me. Do I read it all right that when leave for work again on tuesday all my vendors will be deleted after two weeks? All 900+ weapons that are on them will dissapear? Please tell me are reading it all wrong!
BillDir
Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:46 pm
#26
For all of you that are wondering what are the parameters for a vendor to be deleted, the following may help:
SOE says: You need to have maintenance and items on the vendor, and check it at least every week.
SOE apparently means: All of the above, PLUS at least one other player must also browse your vendor's stock.
I lost a vendor yesterday that had clearly met the first part of this requirement, as reported in the following thread in this forum: "Untouched" Vendor deletion should be top priority! . However, since it sold factory crates of StimPacks, no one had visited it for a while. This has happened to Dollie too, as reported in her thread in this forum.
Yep, this is an insane, game-breaking boondoggle, yet another great idea from someone in SOE. Hopefully it will be rethought soon.
BillDir