Merchant Archive
Thread: Does anyone play merchant without being a crafter?
Merchant/Crafter myself.
Master Artisan
Master Merchant
Master Armorsmith
Will take2 skills in tailor then 7 in chef to finish it all off.
I hope more tools become available as well. I would be more than happy to sell another crafters items as well as my own. In fact I might be selling some weapons for a friend who is starting up the Weaponsmith line.
I originally was not going to be a Merchant. I had set up a vendor for guild members and the xp started to come in. I thought to myself well why not get novice and some skills in Merchant while working up Armorsmith. I ended up really likeing the skills so went all the way to Master and plan on keeping it.
hmmm, seems like being a power broker/miner is a popular choice among merchants who don't want to be crafters.
I make nothing myself... but credits 
and I HATED the grind through the business tree to get to merchant.
doc -- better tools equals ingame way to deal with commission sales...
that addition alone makes Merchant viable by itself IMO
DingoBoi wrote:
...and I HATED the grind through the business tree to get to merchant.
It was like a loooong session at the dentist for me too, Dingo. 
I'm going for as pure a merchant as I can. Being a Smuggler/Merchant I do sell spice, but it's not a hot seller.
Right now I'm busily trying to find GOOD weapon suppliers, but am having a difficult time of it.Not to mention Chefs are extremely rare. Anyone know of a good Chef on Kette? If so them please send me a PM or in-game email(Tuyen).[/shamelessplug]
I love being a broker.
I play a master artisan / master merchant. My intention was to supply resources and electronics to craftsman and sell the resulting items; paying the craftsman a mutually-agreed percentage...or just buying wholesale as mentioned above.
However, I've found that most people do not like interdependance and want to do it all themselves so I've sold mostly my own artisan goods and consignments for friends. I'm trying to stick it out until the next publish that addresses professions, but I'm seriously considering dropping most of merchant.
tuta23 wrote:
doc -- better tools equals ingame way to deal with commission sales...
that addition alone makes Merchant viable by itself IMO
I agree commission sales are very important. My fear is they are going to shoot us down becuase it is too complex.
Eshren_Jandl wrote:
I play a master artisan / master merchant. My intention was to supply resources and electronics to craftsman and sell the resulting items; paying the craftsman a mutually-agreed percentage...or just buying wholesale as mentioned above.
However, I've found that most people do not like interdependance and want to do it all themselves so I've sold mostly my own artisan goods and consignments for friends. I'm trying to stick it out until the next publish that addresses professions, but I'm seriously considering dropping most of merchant.
Yea people dont' like interdependance and the game is set up so they can avoid it in most cases. They can certainly avoid it in the Artisan/Merchant relationship fairly easy which makes our jobs all the more difficult.
I am a Master Smuggler/Merchant and I currently run 3 vendors.
1. Resource Vendor: I stock with inexpensive power and minerals I harvest myself or pick up for really cheap.
2. Sliced Imported Weapons: This is my most "pure" merchant vendor. I travel to MWS throughout the galaxy, buy unsliced weapons, then slice them and offer them up on my vendor. It's not the usual business model, and some people are confused why some of my, say, scout pistols sell for 10k while others sell for over 20k. I try to tell them that they were made from different crafters and have different attributes. But I think most people still think that I made them myself. LOL. The customers I do have really like that they can get all the best stuff in one place... so they keep coming back... and keep me in business.
3. Black Market: I do have a back room vendor where I sell crafted spices and clamps. But not too much really sells. And I dont really care. It's there for RP purposes as much as anything. I also use it to sell dropped loot like treasure maps and data disks. Seems to fit.
Rai
I am a merchant (3/0/0/3), Creature Handler (can't vendor animals), pistoleer.
I make a good living off of resources and sales of dropped items.
I'm a pure merchant, without artisan skills. I run several of the ITEC Emporiums you see in various cities.
Asharad Hett
Master Merchant
Artisan 0/0/4/4
Novice Marksman
Entertainer 0/4/0/4