Merchant Archive
Thread: Merchant Correspondant (Week 9)
Since "emails missing" already mentioned twice, I'll not list that as my primary issue! 
Issue: Vendor Categories not logical. For example:All factory crates, regardless of type, go into Misc->Factory Crates category.
Recommendation: File factory crates into category corresponding to the items they contain. (If someone then wants to delineate between singles and crates can sort by name or type column)
Concern: People keeping vendors after dropping skills.
Improvement: Vendor admin system.
Assuming that the planetary advertising bug and 7 day turnaround will be fixed next patch...
Concern: Fix stockroombug(s) that sometimes deletes items before seven days are up. This really needs to be reliable to prevent not only loss of personal stock but stock consigned for other people.
Improvement: Make droid and terminal vendors of comparable maintenance cost to NPC vendors so that they are viable alternatives.
Concern: Artisans getting merchant level vendors and plantary listings, then dropping the merchant skill and keeping the vendors.
Solution: Take Planetary advertising to the Master level. I train people ALL THE TIME in Adv I, II and III but RARELY do I train anyone in efficiency, Hiring, or Management III, or IV.
Concern: Master Merchants get NO special abilities of any great signifigance after Advertising III.
Solution: Let merchants put some kind of terminal in town. Perhaps a terminal that lists all of the MERCHANT vendors within a 2000 meter radius, and be able look at their inventory. Then at least people could find what they want, and go straight to the vendor that has it, instead of running to a bunch of different vendors until you find what you want.
Concern: I have a vendor that sells ALL different types of products, not just clothing, houses, guns, or armor.
Solutions: Have a catagory for departmant or superstore on the planetary listing. Or possibly, let vendors be listed in 3 or 4 different catagories.
Concern: Not gettinga new sign or skill at Master level.
Improvement: Fix the missing mail and money bug on vendor sales.
Improvement: How about a sign for inside the house, something like a fastfood menu you could write on the wall. I have a medical supply store and don't stock the slower selling items regularly but I would love a way to just post a price list and contact information for people who want to place a special order. An alternative, easier to implement method, would be to merely lengthen the ad barking so that more information can be fed to the customer via that route.
Right now shops are so generic that its difficult to tell them apart. Some kind of large billboard style writing could help to make a store more unique, identify the owner's contact information, or display any special instructions to the customer.
ISSUE: Many words considered obscene that are not obscene at all (i.e. Medical, Medicine, Wookie, Master) It's difficult (or can be) naming the vendors specific names because so many normal words are considered obscene.
FIX: Check the list, remove the common words (if the word is used in the game (i.e. Wookie) then it shouldn't render obscene.
Oh one more thing...
Armeno wrote:
...a way to just post a price list and contact information for people who want to place a special order...
What a brilliant idea!!!
Concern - Names that won't take because system sees them as obscene (when they aren't) "Planet Surface" is obscene??
Improvement - Enhance advertising with visuals - Trade specific graphics outside shops, different structure exteriors to differentiate a shop from a dwelling, display windows (even if it does not look inside the actual structure, but displays items.) Billboards (within reason). Visuals, you know. And related... rentable space in cities for vendors (crossing fingers) and rentable signage in cities.
Concern: Bazaar and vendor browser is nearly useless. Empty catagories; catagories that are too all inclusive: i.e. factory crates are all listed under one catagory, regardless of what'sin it. Stimpacks, grenades, powerups, electronics... all of these are listed under factory crates. Eliminate the catagory, and just list crates under the contents' catagory.
Improvement: Allow vendors to be advertised on the planetary map under multiple catagories. If I'm the merchant for our PA, I have to have a vendor for every profession in order to advertise that we have all professions represented in our PA shoppe. Allow us to have check boxes for whatever catagories are contained on a vendor, and then list that vendor under each catagory.
-Jarmo
IMPROVEMENT: Provide some form of (even rudimentary) sales or customer reporting (e.g. "What did I sell? Who's buying?")
Solution: Having a dutch auction type system. You put up your resources or items in a lump group and people take as much as they want. You then set an amount per item. For resources this would be per unit of resource. The merchant would then also have the ability to add more resources or items to the action so you can have crates and such. Not only is this easier for us to put items up but also more efficient on the database. For example: I put up 25k of copper for 3 cr per item. Somebody comes along and only wants 5k of it. They pay for the 5k. The 5k is then reduced from the total on the vendor or bazzar and placed in the customers available items tab. I propose this to be a merchant skill in the management tree to make it better and people might actually want to use it then.
Mimos
Novice Merchant (1/4/2/1)
Master Artisan
Novice Pistoleer
Novice Creature Handler