Merchant Archive

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nefarious wrote:

The way Merchant SHOULD work is that, as a merchant, you come to me and say "I need a vendor to sll my BE things", we set up terms such as a % of the sale I get as commission, then I either drop a vendor in your house, or if I have a mall with vendors I give you access to one of them to sell your things. When the item sells, you get your payment and I get whatever % we agreed on as that is a setting that allows you to access my vendor.

The nice thing about this system is it allows multiple people to be on the same vendor, or as a merchant you could give someone a dedicated vendor for a higher fee.

This system would work that you as the BE have access to the vendor to sell your items like you have with a vendor now. If the vendor is being used by others, you can see those items for purchase, but they wouldn't show up under your sales tab, same as the merchant, you can see anything that is being sold on it, however you have no control over the items in the vendor.

This is how I would have the mechant profession and how I believe it was originally thought to be.

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Maisland wrote:

This would be fine... just one problem with it... I don't know/can't find (through search) any merchant who is willing/able to sell my items.

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Funny story... I tried once to find a merchant to help me with resale. I only got one reply, and it was from another crafter who ended uphaving ME help HIM with resale (hawking wares by means of manual trade, since I didn't have a house or vendor yet).

I think the hope is that this will allchange the instant thatpoaching ends, but I think it's a bit optimistic...

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BountyBlunter wrote:

Hmm.. I said this in another thread I think.. To another BE..

Novice Artisan up to Buisness IIIfor a vendor. - 226/250sp remaining.

Novice Scout up to Hunting IV to stem to BE and Exploration II for mask scent. - 192/250sp remaining.

Medic Organic Chemistry IV to stem to BE - 163/250sp remaining.

Master Bio Engineer - 100/250sp remaining.

So, lets examine the options from here on in with the one hundred measly skill points you have left after gaining master bio-engineer, your stems (with mask scent)and your 'coke machine' vendor.

Basic Professions.

- Master Any Basic Profession, with mixedsp left over to dabble depending on your choice.

OR !

Elite Professions.

- Master Teras Kasi.

- Master Fencer.

- Master Swordsman.

- Master Pikeman.

- Master Rifleman.

- Master Pistoleer.

- Master Carbineer.

(any of which leave 8sp)

From what I can see here, your options are not limited as you say and I didn't bother to spend the time to put together all your options..

What's this skill point problem you have again ?

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You have clearly NEVER played a BE.

Exploration 2 for mask scent? Ever tried sneaking up on a Rancor with mask scent at that level? Even with Exploration 4, they detect you more often than not.

A BE needs a viable combat skill for when (notice I do not say "IF") the creatures that are being sampled go agro... or were you thinking I should stick to sampling Corellian Butterflies and making crappy pets?

The setup you are recommending would make for a mediocre BE at best... and a poor one at worst... unless the BE ONLY made stims and tissues. For myself, I want to make pets... and GOOD pets at that.

Message Edited by Gooney on 06-23-2004 03:34 PM

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Maisland wrote:

I just thought I would list the problems for a non-merchant that leads to what you call vendor "poaching."

The PROBLEM:

I have a BE on Eclipse. In order to be a GOOD BE, I cannot spare the skill points for Artisan, let alone Business 3/Merchant.

The bazaar is not a viable option to sell the pets, tissues etc that I make as there is both a 25 item limit and a 6k price cap.

Offering my products to a merchant's vendor is not a viable option as the 25 item limit on the bazaar includes offers to vendors.

I know of no merchants that would purchase my items.

I have too many items to sell to just store them in my house.

At this time, I find that the only way that I can get my items on the market at the prices they are worth would be to pick up Artisan, get a vendor, then drop that profession in order to pick up the skills I need to be a good BE. So, as I see it, those who are against vendor "poaching" would rather I be a mediocre BE if I want to be able to sell my items and spend the points I need to be a good BE on Artisan/Merchant. There are several posts about how we BEs are supposed to sell our items on the BE forum.

Just HOW am I supposed to sell my items?

One SOLUTION:

There MUST be a better way. A first step would be to GET RID of the 25 item cap if the items are offered to VENDORS. If such items were also put directly up for sale (with a fee payable to the merchant who owns the vendor much like the one the bazaar charges for listings there) I would be MORE than happy to sell my items that way. Unfortunately, vendors do NOT WORK THAT WAY!

If you are going to ask the devs to stop people who do not have merchant skills from having vendors, please, please, PLEASE also ask for some method by which a NON-merchant would be able to USE a MERCHANT to sell their goods FOR THEM.

If you are going to be RETAILERS, give the CRAFTERS a BETTER means of selling to you.

I ask all of you "REAL" Merchants to add SOLUTIONS to the problem to this thread because if there were a VIABLE means of selling through a merchant, then vendor "poaching" would not happen.

If merchant is broken, it is in part because it is so HARD for a non-merchant to use one effectively.

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Although I do agree we should have more use of the bizarre. The caps hurt that. Also a game mechanic for consigmnent for ease of use would nbe better also to make it easier to trust the merchant and not have to wait for your money would be great too

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Squygxicus wrote:

heavy sigh.

Its funny I have a template thats just like the original poster. First off BE without any maskscent, Im sorry that's suicide. You armchair profession planners need to stop thinking you know everything.

Armchair planners - Well stop with the off handed insults. The poster said it could not be done, in reality it was "it cannot be done with all the other stuff I want to do". Pointing that out is correct to do. It can be done, the poster has to make choices.

Im a BE/CH. I plan on mastering both which leaves me with just enough points to get one tree in Pistoleer. Quick some merchant figure out how I can drop something to get merchant. BE's need other skill sets to make them work! Like either CH to train the pets they sell or Ranger to find the pets they need to sample DNA for andcombat skills are absolutely necessary to stay alive.

Now either I dont know how to read and comprehend or most of you merchants dont (I did say most, theres some constructive stuff here). He is not saying he wants to do this, he is saying he sees no other alternative. Do you honestly think that merchant is sooooo fun he really wants to climb a tree in it so he can be actually run a viable business only to drop it later? Get over yourselves. No one wants to put down a bunch of empty vendors and start charging one credit for 15 mins. to go in there and find nothing.

Well get over yourself. Master doctors haver larger skill point issues than your template and mechants have resisted help there also. I can see their point. The point as the dev's have stated is that you were never to have kept vendors after dropping the skill, and no one is supposed to have a vendor that does not take the skill. In this MMO the vendor everyone can use is the bizzarre. Now the caps probably need to be raised on that. But you have choices to make.

If we want to base game economics on RL economics (and Im pretty sure SOE looked at real life economics before they started to model theirs), you'd see there are manufacturers, vendors and end users. Unless you want to throw Dell into the mix, but all they are good at is slagging all the middlemen. Manufacturers, they do what they like to do and they do what they are good at, building things. (like the original poster he wants to make pets and pet supplies). Do you honestly think that Petcetera make all that stuff themselves? Maybe just maybe some people dont find having to maintain vendors is fun. Maybe they just want to make stuff to make money. Or just make stuff for the fun of it and have some way of supporting this habit.

Blame the system. There should be a wholesale option that merchants can get into to resell product. But I guess Sony figures two accounts are better than fixing the system. By supporting the broken merchant system you are only hurting yourselves. Guys in my quild have two accounts and they are described this way. One account is the "fun" account where they do stuff thats fun. They use those lots for the "crafting" guys they started, because the crafting guys cant have fun and run a viable business at the same time. My mayor cant pick up a weapon. Hes a master WS, merchant, mayor that never leaves the city. That would be exactly NO fun. He has two other accounts to support his main. (and 30 available lots the lucky duck)

To a point. Yes there needs to be an automated xonsigment system to make it easier for people to use merchant. This is a MMO howerver and no one is supposed to be independant. You may choose to get a second account. That is one option. Being in a guild or city that has merchants available is another option.

Stand back and look at it from someone elses perspective! Mastering a crafting profession shouldnt have to include ANY merchant skills to be effective.

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