Merchant Archive

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DesktopSaki wrote:

An average merchant day for me runs one to four hours. That's restocking, making goods, completing incoming and outgoing orders, picking up special drops that the buyer never bothered to pick up, sorting through incoming orders, maintaining harvesters all over (I often have to get buffed first due to an almosttotal lack of combat skills) for stuff I sell for 2 to 5 cpu, checking on factories, sorting through what I have to see if I have what I need, finding sources for what I don't have, dropping off stuff for guildmates (free of charge, even if I paid for it), making schematics, begging on the boards for ancient materials to finish up that one really killer schematic I have, checking the bazaar for good deals, surveying entire planets (or two or three) to find a spot above 35% for a resource I want that is buildable, untaken, and won't get me killed, then going back and moving 10-20 harvs on the best spot I found, a 55% spot on Naboo, then going and finding a doc to heal my 90% wounds that I got repeatedly dying doing the surveying and mining, making swoops for newbies and giving out welcome packages to total strangers who just moved to Eclipse...

::takes a deep breath::

Where in there am I money grubbing?

I'm not making 50-100k an hour doing missions. I'm not a combat stacker who can go take on Nightsisters and sell the crystals for huge moneys. And I was never ever a solo grouper making a half-million or million creds per buff session.

Yet people say, "It costs .7 cpu to mine, so you should only sell it for 1 cpu." Is my time worth nothing?My deaths, my harvs, were those free? That high-end NightsisterLance or premium Force crystal cost you about 500 creds once you prorate armor and buff costs, so why don't you sell it to me for 1k?

This is how I make most of my living. I don't control my income; it can be feast or famine. This is what I spend my game time doing. Except for when I take my beloved Master Ranger out,which is less and less often, I'm not doing any hunting that make me anything--unless you count the 800 creds and two items I got in space tonight.

In other words: You spend 15-20 hours a week hunting. Getting drops, making mission money. I spend 15-20 hours a week maintaining a business so you will be able to decorate your home, get buffs, have nice composite to wear, a sweet ship to flyand a good weapon to use.

You get paid for your time. I deserve to get paid fairly for mine.

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DesktopSaki wrote:

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Rsern wrote:

2-5 cpu is reasonable Desktop and yes your time is worth something... this adjustment is not meant to stop you from carrying on with your practices. I am just asking that you trust the market... wil there be undercutters? sure, but not enough that they can fulfill the ENTIRE market... MOST people WANT to make a decent profit, and this is a fair way to do so.

trust the market. it will even out the prices eventually, and youll probably still eb able to make decent profit for your time

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There's no trusting the market or not. The market follows the people. You'd think that one person couldn't crash a market for an entire server, but I've seen it happen in EQ--repeatedly. In everything from jewelcraft to foraged foods to elite armor, whether it's for a narrow or large audience, expendable or not, ONE person can and eventually will crash the market for anything that's in demand other than rare drops.

Mark my words. If prices are added to the search, this will happen. It's just a matter as to what first, and when. My only hope is that since SWG has expendable armor and weapons, that it has a chance of bouncing back in time.

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I don't see how... UNLESS the person can hack duped goods into the market, which is a major exploit. I have no idea how EQ products are made or whatnot, but it seems to me that a person that sold too low for too long, working 24/7 on their products could not fulfill the market for the most needed goods in SWG for everyone.

AND they would eventually run out of the specialized resources to MAKE those products, without much to show for it.

An average merchant day for me runs one to four hours. That's restocking, making goods, completing incoming and outgoing orders, picking up special drops that the buyer never bothered to pick up, sorting through incoming orders, maintaining harvesters all over (I often have to get buffed first due to an almosttotal lack of combat skills) for stuff I sell for 2 to 5 cpu, checking on factories, sorting through what I have to see if I have what I need, finding sources for what I don't have, dropping off stuff for guildmates (free of charge, even if I paid for it), making schematics, begging on the boards for ancient materials to finish up that one really killer schematic I have, checking the bazaar for good deals, surveying entire planets (or two or three) to find a spot above 35% for a resource I want that is buildable, untaken, and won't get me killed, then going back and moving 10-20 harvs on the best spot I found, a 55% spot on Naboo, then going and finding a doc to heal my 90% wounds that I got repeatedly dying doing the surveying and mining, making swoops for newbies and giving out welcome packages to total strangers who just moved to Eclipse...

::takes a deep breath::

Where in there am I money grubbing?

I'm not making 50-100k an hour doing missions. I'm not a combat stacker who can go take on Nightsisters and sell the crystals for huge moneys. And I was never ever a solo grouper making a half-million or million creds per buff session.

Yet people say, "It costs .7 cpu to mine, so you should only sell it for 1 cpu." Is my time worth nothing?My deaths, my harvs, were those free? That high-end NightsisterLance or premium Force crystal cost you about 500 creds once you prorate armor and buff costs, so why don't you sell it to me for 1k?

This is how I make most of my living. I don't control my income; it can be feast or famine. This is what I spend my game time doing. Except for when I take my beloved Master Ranger out,which is less and less often, I'm not doing any hunting that make me anything--unless you count the 800 creds and two items I got in space tonight.

In other words: You spend 15-20 hours a week hunting. Getting drops, making mission money. I spend 15-20 hours a week maintaining a business so you will be able to decorate your home, get buffs, have nice composite to wear, a sweet ship to flyand a good weapon to use.

You get paid for your time. I deserve to get paid fairly for mine.

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Rsern wrote:

the point I have with this is that the market will adjust to the lower standard item prices... once people refuse to pay 150cpu for hide and millions for ackley bones, the prices will come down... there may be a drought of such things exchanging hands for a time, and no items based on them available, BUT , as always, the market WILL adjust.

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Rsern wrote:

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DesktopSaki wrote:

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Rsern wrote:

2-5 cpu is reasonable Desktop and yes your time is worth something... this adjustment is not meant to stop you from carrying on with your practices. I am just asking that you trust the market... wil there be undercutters? sure, but not enough that they can fulfill the ENTIRE market... MOST people WANT to make a decent profit, and this is a fair way to do so.

trust the market. it will even out the prices eventually, and youll probably still eb able to make decent profit for your time

---

There's no trusting the market or not. The market follows the people. You'd think that one person couldn't crash a market for an entire server, but I've seen it happen in EQ--repeatedly. In everything from jewelcraft to foraged foods to elite armor, whether it's for a narrow or large audience, expendable or not, ONE person can and eventually will crash the market for anything that's in demand other than rare drops.

Mark my words. If prices are added to the search, this will happen. It's just a matter as to what first, and when. My only hope is that since SWG has expendable armor and weapons, that it has a chance of bouncing back in time.

---

I don't see how... UNLESS the person can hack duped goods into the market, which is a major exploit. I have no idea how EQ products are made or whatnot, but it seems to me that a person that sold too low for too long, working 24/7 on their products could not fulfill the market for the most needed goods in SWG for everyone.

AND they would eventually run out of the specialized resources to MAKE those products, without much to show for it.

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Goods in EQ are player made, and each one has to be made by hand--no factories. Certain high-end items are useable only by certain races, religions or classes (professions). Of the highly sought-after stuff, almost all take multiple combines and require dropped items, often rare ones.

What happens is one person with a lot of money is grinding a craft (there's no "practice" mode) and they wind up with a ton of, say, a Star Ruby Stein, which is a pretty nice thing. But rather than try and sell them for what they're worth, just to get rid of them, they sell them for pennies on the dollar (coppers on the platinum).They flood the market, as does every other person who's grinding the craft (pottery in this case). Next thing you know, here comes someone new who wants to grind pottery, but can't resell their stuff even for cost, so they run out of money. They're stuck at level 175, so is everyone else who didn't have the money to lose, while the rich guy has maxed out pottery and is one of the only ones selling high-end items. For a huge profit.

Same with armor. Armor is the one market I saw get repeatedly slammed, one server after another. Entire guilds will pitch in to support their armorsmiths, who will do the same thing--undercut everyone else, still making a nice profit, because they don't have to buy the materials.

That's what will happen in SWG. A PA with two Rangers, a BE, and twenty people lending lots will be able to provide the resident armorsmiths with all theyneed. This already goes on, but the prices are stable because people still go shop-to-shop to buy things. Merchants, even those that're PA backed, have to work to present a good shop, good service, good stock. They know that is what will keep people coming back--being remembered for being a good store who had what they wanted.

With prices on the global search, that's gone. The only thing that will matter to many--especially new customers--is price. These big guys who can afford to sell a full suit of Composite for 50k will, because all their stuff is free, so long as they keep the guild in composite, too. The ones who have to buy gemstone, metal and hides will not be able to compete. Yes, they can refuse to pay 150 or 50 cpu for hide, but most Rangers will not spend that much time hunting huurtons for 5 cpu. They can mine their own stuff, too, but their 8 lots--6 after factories--won't pull up as much as the 50 lots the PA has.

So the little guy has to join a PA or corporation to compete.

And then comes another guy determined to be a quality armorsmith on his own, without having to rely on a PA to support him.

And the cycle repeats.

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DesktopSaki wrote:

An average merchant day for me runs one to four hours. That's restocking, making goods, completing incoming and outgoing orders, picking up special drops that the buyer never bothered to pick up, sorting through incoming orders, maintaining harvesters all over (I often have to get buffed first due to an almosttotal lack of combat skills) for stuff I sell for 2 to 5 cpu, checking on factories, sorting through what I have to see if I have what I need, finding sources for what I don't have, dropping off stuff for guildmates (free of charge, even if I paid for it), making schematics, begging on the boards for ancient materials to finish up that one really killer schematic I have, checking the bazaar for good deals, surveying entire planets (or two or three) to find a spot above 35% for a resource I want that is buildable, untaken, and won't get me killed, then going back and moving 10-20 harvs on the best spot I found, a 55% spot on Naboo, then going and finding a doc to heal my 90% wounds that I got repeatedly dying doing the surveying and mining, making swoops for newbies and giving out welcome packages to total strangers who just moved to Eclipse...

::takes a deep breath::

Where in there am I money grubbing?

I'm not making 50-100k an hour doing missions. I'm not a combat stacker who can go take on Nightsisters and sell the crystals for huge moneys. And I was never ever a solo grouper making a half-million or million creds per buff session.

Yet people say, "It costs .7 cpu to mine, so you should only sell it for 1 cpu." Is my time worth nothing?My deaths, my harvs, were those free? That high-end NightsisterLance or premium Force crystal cost you about 500 creds once you prorate armor and buff costs, so why don't you sell it to me for 1k?

This is how I make most of my living. I don't control my income; it can be feast or famine. This is what I spend my game time doing. Except for when I take my beloved Master Ranger out,which is less and less often, I'm not doing any hunting that make me anything--unless you count the 800 creds and two items I got in space tonight.

In other words: You spend 15-20 hours a week hunting. Getting drops, making mission money. I spend 15-20 hours a week maintaining a business so you will be able to decorate your home, get buffs, have nice composite to wear, a sweet ship to flyand a good weapon to use.

You get paid for your time. I deserve to get paid fairly for mine.

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Rsern wrote:

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DocSavag wrote:

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Rsern wrote:

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Weasel-Master wrote:

I just laugh at their ignorance. Remember it is the combat orientated players that wrecked the economy to begin with runing solo groups day and night and charging outrageous prices for components for weapons and armour. They are in a predicament they created themselves, but now they cry like spoilt little brats who have broken their rattle.

I laugh at the moronic content of their posts. It is obvious none of the morons posting their propoganda have ever tried to set up and run a successfull business in game. In the end they will be kicking themselves again when all that is left are low balling weasel pumpers selling sub par merchandise. If these morons were so concerned about the economy why do they persist in trying charging me 2 million per acklay bone and 150cpu for wooly hide ? They are indeed self destructive morons who have no clue and are seriously lacking in correct firing neurons in their brains.

Morons I salute you for your idioticy and purility. I hope you enjoy being such jackasses.

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the point I have with this is that the market will adjust to the lower standard item prices... once people refuse to pay 150cpu for hide and millions for ackley bones, the prices will come down... there may be a drought of such things exchanging hands for a time, and no items based on them available, BUT , as always, the market WILL adjust.

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You can't artifically lower prices in a market. The prices are fueled by the economy itself. If the credits in the galaxy come down to the point that people don't have the cash to buy those items at those prices then they will come down. Nothing will happen as long as the credits in the economy stay the same or get larger. Prices aren't artificallly high due to lack of competition they are high because people have the credits to pay for it.

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ahhhh but that is exactly why SOE got rid of solo group payouts and is introducing more and more credit sinks... to get rid of the excess, and i think it is artificially high for both reasons: credits are abundant and competition is lacking.

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