Merchant Archive
Thread: Are there real 100% 'merchant' characters out there?
GMANHNC
Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:53 am
#14
brentgueth wrote:
I make 1% of my inventory - the rest is bought, resold, or resold on commision
How are you able to manage this effectivley? Do you have them offer to vendor? and on the commission how do you keep track of who's whos and whats?
GMANHNC
Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:19 am
#16
Pheloneus wrote:master merchants are few and far between for sure
Do you guys think they will return, after the vendor exploit is fixed?
DragonScout
Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:41 pm
#17
I think there are plenty of master merchants. I just think they are utility professions used by crafters. And I don't see that changing no matter what changes they make to merchant. This is a game. And sadly it is a game where you can dabble in many things at once. Then, to top the fact that you can dabble, there is the fact that it is a GAME, and most people are casual gamers. So it is easier for them to have a little merchant and whatever crafting skills they want, than it is to go through the trouble of finding a reliable merchant who they can trust to not leave the game, or steal their goods, or rip them off X% of their profits.
The only way you will really find 'true' merchants in this game is if the developers create ways for merchant to be stand alone, and have vendors and selling items be just a small part of merchant. Instead of what it is now, where merchant = vendor stockers.
And most of the people that you see as 'true' merchants... like Dingoboi -- who is fairly impressive for what he has done -- concentrate on resources. but.. with the hologrind coming to an end, I am wondering if he is getting worried. Because grinding material just isn't going to be worth much at all anymore unless the quests require it for something.
In the end.. who knows. the jedi revamp might help the merchant profession... (it should definitely help the economy)... and the vendor revamp might as well. But I still don't think you are ever going to find a large number of 'true' merchants, nor do I think they will ever have a large place in the game, if only because of the ways that people can do it for themselves and avoid the hassle.
The only way you will really find 'true' merchants in this game is if the developers create ways for merchant to be stand alone, and have vendors and selling items be just a small part of merchant. Instead of what it is now, where merchant = vendor stockers.
And most of the people that you see as 'true' merchants... like Dingoboi -- who is fairly impressive for what he has done -- concentrate on resources. but.. with the hologrind coming to an end, I am wondering if he is getting worried. Because grinding material just isn't going to be worth much at all anymore unless the quests require it for something.
In the end.. who knows. the jedi revamp might help the merchant profession... (it should definitely help the economy)... and the vendor revamp might as well. But I still don't think you are ever going to find a large number of 'true' merchants, nor do I think they will ever have a large place in the game, if only because of the ways that people can do it for themselves and avoid the hassle.
DingoBoi
Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:16 pm
#18
DragonScout wrote:
And most of the people that you see as 'true' merchants... like Dingoboi -- who is fairly impressive for what he has done -- concentrate on resources. but.. with the hologrind coming to an end, I am wondering if he is getting worried. Because grinding material just isn't going to be worth much at all anymore unless the quests require it for something.
I'm not worried... has it hurt, most definitely... going from 26 employees in power division down to 5 and4 subcontractors. I can do the same thing with resources i do in any division or product. I expect zero change from the last two months of sales ratios after the end of hologrind. In fact, I even sold 9M credits worth of power yesterday. Happy anniversary to me!
Any product i want to 'own' i can... but the one i'm interested in is shipwright... and I will have a massive shipyard operation going... probably the largest in all the galaxies... and i do think basic ships will require lots of 'grind' material.. at least i'm hoping... but either way, I have 20 people at my disposal to employ right now in addition to my current staff. I will be the largest and most consistant vendor. Times change and so do businesses... power isn't what it once was, but I'm not abandoning it.. just expanding on it. While not the most profitable... both I and my employees have done extremely well for little work. employees earning a million plus per cycle for simply dropping a harvester is nice.... and good for our city, the employee, the company and especially me.
Power to the people... at 1.5 cpEu
ItemCreator
Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:13 am
#19
I'm master tailor and master merchant, but I admit I only did merchant to compliment my tailoring and make it easier to sell my clothing.
As I have no desire to do anything other than craft with Kel I've kept master rather than dropping it after having my vendors placed. As well as the reduced maintance, I enjoy changing the clothes on my vendors each month, it keeps things fun
Kel
As I have no desire to do anything other than craft with Kel I've kept master rather than dropping it after having my vendors placed. As well as the reduced maintance, I enjoy changing the clothes on my vendors each month, it keeps things fun
Kel
StarWorker
Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:26 am
#20
I am also a pure master merchant. I buy resources from suppliers (chemicals, gases and organics) from all planets, and resell them with a small markup. I am also part of a crew that collects radioactive power, and we share the profit we do on energy sales, equally for each week.
when I get tired of vendor management, I play music...
(so, if you are on Chilastra, and live on Dantooine or Tatooine, and can deliver some regular supplies from your planets (or I can pick them up), feel free to contact me in-game.)
Message Edited by StarWorker on 06-30-2004 10:30 AM
santaxxism
Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:40 am
#21
My main character is master merchant and master ws
and my alternate character has 3004 on merchant hehe
Autumn_Dawnfire
Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:12 am
#22
well this doesn't purely fit into what your meaning is for pure merchant but -
our family ( rl family we play togather ) has 2 master merchants. I've personally worked as a point of sale merchant for over 20 people at one time - it was also a power sales business as mentioned above. The work load involved was truely daunting for me personally so eventually I ceased running the company in that manor. When we realized that our family alone was providing approximately 75% of all the power we where selling it was clearly too much of a headache for the time investment vs profit margin.
It does work - the real problem is finding dependable responsive suppliers that are willing to maintain production levels. You also have to constantly be on the look out for new potential suppliers.
Right now we are acting as our own resellers - and have paired down to 3 full partners in the businesses outside of the family. Primarily we use their lots and provide goods and services in exchange - though if one of them should take up a crafting profession or need a point of sale we've reserved 1 vendor for each.
The hardest part about being a professional merchant is dependability of suppliers. You can't get repeat business if the vendor is empty the first time someone comes out to check on it - you're a write off at that point like the VAST majority of vendors i run acorss - claiming "best" or "awesome deals" or "bulk!" - you go take a look - and their empty. Why go back?
There is a fine line too for business models - namely how much business can your supplier support? This applies if your reselling or selling your own goods. Not many people want to log in and do nothing but craft / gather resources. There are a RARE few - even rarer still are ones that don'e burn out - so you have to figure that into the equation. Pricing, stock levels, and location all effect total sales - not ot mention how much overhead your carrying can be a real killer on cash flow.
Professional merchants are an odd lot - a fortune passes through your hands - but rarely do you get to keep much of it. And god forbid you make a bad call on what will sell at what pricing - you end up eating it. It's more intense then crafting or combat imo.
if you fall in combat.. no big - you just clone. If you fail in business - you can set yourself back several months.
ockeew
Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:08 pm
#23
i buy and resell a lot of stuff.. but it takes a fair amount of capital... hundreds of millions... cause i just let it sit till it sells... but i also mine a lot of resoruces, and craft a lot of things, armor, food, weapons, etc.
Havok3060
Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:51 pm
#24
I do it from time to time , but it can get really hard . I had a good system going befor they introduced Jedi . All my contacts and such droped evrything and went on grinding . So Ive been trying to find solid contacts ever since 
ockeew
Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:29 am
#25
Havok3060 wrote:I do it from time to time , but it can get really hard . I had a good system going befor they introduced Jedi . All my contacts and such droped evrything and went on grinding . So Ive been trying to find solid contacts ever since
yah the whole grind system has really changed the path of the game since november... kinda sad... but whatever... its SOE...