Merchant Archive
Thread: I'm curious is anyone a Pure Merchant?
ofim
Wed Sep 29, 2004 6:43 am
#66
DocSavag wrote:
ofim wrote:
Doc wrote:
You're missing the point. I'm not controlling you. I'm selling your underpriced merchandise for a profit. I'm not hoarding them. I'm not trying to prevent you from changing the market, I'm profiting on the transaction. Why should I make the product when I can obtain it from you and make a profit on each sale?
You are right in that if I misunderstand the market I get stuck with product that my cash is tied up in and have to lower my prices to sell them. But if you have seriously miscalculated the price you should be charging for the produt I can sell them all day long for higher prices. Its not about punishing you anyway..its about me making my profit.
Actualy that would be price fixing and monopolistic pratices, both will land you in prizon and without a business in real life (and very possibly a husband named bruno).
walmart cant go buy kmarts stock out for a good reason, buying out your competitor is an atempt to create a monopoly by forcing others to "fall in line" with you price scheme.agreeing to aprice withyour competitoris price fixing.
wating to be savagly beaten by Dingo and Doc
'
There is no real life law against TRYING to create a monopoly there are only penalties that can be imposed if you actually succeed
Price fixing requires cooperation. Me buying your stuff and repricing it is not price fixing. Neither is you and I agreeing on a wholesale price and me marking it up.
In any even such laws don't apply to SWG anyway
Very untrue, it's called "Antitrust". The Microsoft Antitrust case was was an indepth look at thier attempt to create a monopoly by buying thier competition and pushing others out of competitionas they have not created that monopoly .....yet.
And you guys are always asking for a realistic business model for the game.... I'm simply giving you the information that would make it more "realistic"
DingoBoi
Wed Sep 29, 2004 6:47 am
#67
I see your point.. and I could fall into that category of monopoly buying out all the galaxies power vendors 
...but in this instance, it really is just finding a good deal from a particular vendor and buying what they have to offer at the price they sell it...
It's on a much smaller scale.... people buy junk for resale all the time... if they can get a better price for it, they will.
ofim
Wed Sep 29, 2004 6:54 am
#68
DingoBoi wrote:
I see your point.. and I could fall into that category of monopoly buying out all the galaxies power vendors
...but in this instance, it really is just finding a good deal from a particular vendor and buying what they have to offer at the price they sell it...
It's on a much smaller scale.... people buy junk for resale all the time... if they can get a better price for it, they will.
This is realy a moot point as most of the undercutters were ..in fact....poachers anyhow. but it is a good lesson in "how to be nice to your fellow business person". perhaps instead of roving the galaxie as a "garbage picker" (sorry, lack of a better phrase atm) you should talk to the person and let them know that thier realy screwing themselves out of alot of money, some of the undercutters are newbies that realy don't know how to price thier wares, and the rest are vet's that will shopban you after your first attempt of buying them out.
DocSavag
Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:05 am
#69
ofim wrote:
DocSavag wrote:
ofim wrote:Doc wrote:
You're missing the point. I'm not controlling you. I'm selling your underpriced merchandise for a profit. I'm not hoarding them. I'm not trying to prevent you from changing the market, I'm profiting on the transaction. Why should I make the product when I can obtain it from you and make a profit on each sale?
You are right in that if I misunderstand the market I get stuck with product that my cash is tied up in and have to lower my prices to sell them. But if you have seriously miscalculated the price you should be charging for the produt I can sell them all day long for higher prices. Its not about punishing you anyway..its about me making my profit.Actualy that would be price fixing and monopolistic pratices, both will land you in prizon and without a business in real life (and very possibly a husband named bruno).walmart cant go buy kmarts stock out for a good reason, buying out your competitor is an atempt to create a monopoly by forcing others to "fall in line" with you price scheme.agreeing to aprice withyour competitoris price fixing.wating to be savagly beaten by Dingo and Doc
'
There is no real life law against TRYING to create a monopoly there are only penalties that can be imposed if you actually succeed
Price fixing requires cooperation. Me buying your stuff and repricing it is not price fixing. Neither is you and I agreeing on a wholesale price and me marking it up.
In any even such laws don't apply to SWG anywayVery untrue, it's called "Antitrust". The Microsoft Antitrust case was was an indepth look at thier attempt to create a monopoly by buying thier competition and pushing others out of competitionas they have not created that monopoly .....yet.
And you guys are always asking for a realistic business model for the game.... I'm simply giving you the information that would make it more "realistic"
I'll actually concede (after reading the Sherman Act again) that attempting to restrain trade is a violation. However nothing about what we are talking about qualifies unless we are on a very large scale (maybe Dingo qualifies but I doubt even he controls enough of the market)
DingoBoi
Wed Sep 29, 2004 7:35 am
#70
Hard to really know my market share... I'd estimate maybe 30% of the power broker business... but it's hard to say without checking every vendor daily to get stats... At one point I was over 70% I'd say which does really approach monopoly status.
Bazalan
Wed Sep 29, 2004 12:36 pm
#71
Cafa wrote:And if he was a real *insert outrage here* about it -- undercutting me to the point where I cared, I could log in 1 of over 42 characters I have access to at anytime and buy it all out through them. That includes imperials, neutrals and rebels, covering 28 guilds and many non-guildeds. If he somehow banned all of them then I'd just start asking other friends in game I've had relationships for over a year with to buy it out.
There's a reason that old timers stay alive in business.
Fivo Asia
Wow aren't you powerful. The extent people will go to try and flex their in game muscle. LMAO!
Dude that guy priced his speeders 2k below mine. Who does he think he is. Lets get him!
BioTamer
Wed Sep 29, 2004 1:10 pm
#72
Okay first:
1. I am NOT an undercutter... I am a NEW merchant that could not find the item I was selling on other vendors so I just charged 200% markup over cpu.
2. When I discovered what this guy was selling my item for, I raised my prices and... NOTHING sold for weeks, so I lowered my price back and lo and behold, I had customers.
3. I finally went on a ride all around the galaxy trying to find people selling my items and guess what? My pricing was exactly the same or in the same price area as everyone else who sold the same items except this one guy who had bought out my vendors and was selling them at over 1000% markup. Was he actually selling? I have no idea. My products were on his vendor that's all I saw.
4. I talked to this guy's friend and he told me that this guy had been deliberately buying out my vendor in order to kill my business as I was a competitor in the same geographical area. Merchant pvp.
5. So yeah, I banned him from my shop. No, I am not an undercutter/underseller. I want to make profit as much as the next guy. People who want to crush new merchants like myself by practicing this poaching, you can gloat over your delusions of grandeur and call your subcontractors "minions" if you want. I wonder how they feel about that if you called them that to their face? But it doesn't change a basic simple moral aspect that you are being a jerk by trying to ruin someone else's play experience.
NO I do not care about real world business models of hostile takeovers, buying out competition and whatnot. I just want to be a crafter and sell my goods to other players without other merchants griefing me.
I am done with this discussion. I have told you how I feel, that is all. You either get it or you don't. And as for the main topic of this thread. Well, I guess I am not a pure merchant since that involves griefing. Nuff' said.
1. I am NOT an undercutter... I am a NEW merchant that could not find the item I was selling on other vendors so I just charged 200% markup over cpu.
2. When I discovered what this guy was selling my item for, I raised my prices and... NOTHING sold for weeks, so I lowered my price back and lo and behold, I had customers.
3. I finally went on a ride all around the galaxy trying to find people selling my items and guess what? My pricing was exactly the same or in the same price area as everyone else who sold the same items except this one guy who had bought out my vendors and was selling them at over 1000% markup. Was he actually selling? I have no idea. My products were on his vendor that's all I saw.
4. I talked to this guy's friend and he told me that this guy had been deliberately buying out my vendor in order to kill my business as I was a competitor in the same geographical area. Merchant pvp.
5. So yeah, I banned him from my shop. No, I am not an undercutter/underseller. I want to make profit as much as the next guy. People who want to crush new merchants like myself by practicing this poaching, you can gloat over your delusions of grandeur and call your subcontractors "minions" if you want. I wonder how they feel about that if you called them that to their face? But it doesn't change a basic simple moral aspect that you are being a jerk by trying to ruin someone else's play experience.
NO I do not care about real world business models of hostile takeovers, buying out competition and whatnot. I just want to be a crafter and sell my goods to other players without other merchants griefing me.
I am done with this discussion. I have told you how I feel, that is all. You either get it or you don't. And as for the main topic of this thread. Well, I guess I am not a pure merchant since that involves griefing. Nuff' said.
DingoBoi
Wed Sep 29, 2004 1:31 pm
#74
I take that as a compliment... I used to run a ferengi based website ages ago for a star trek game.
DocSavag
Wed Sep 29, 2004 1:36 pm
#75
How on earth can he KILL your busines by BUYING all your merchandise..he can't..he can only make you rich..If he was TRYING to run you out of business with that tactic hes a moron..
BioTamer
Wed Sep 29, 2004 1:47 pm
#76
DocSavag wrote:
How on earth can he KILL your busines by BUYING all your merchandise..he can't..he can only make you rich..If he was TRYING to run you out of business with that tactic hes a moron..
Because! When anyone else comes to the vendor its empty and they remove the waypoint from their datapad and never come back. Because I remain anonymous and have no customers who know me by name because I have no customers. Which is the whole point of being a crafter for me! To have a customer base who knows my name and enjoys coming to the shop I spent many many hours decorating and getting nice vendors for! That's how. Otherwise what's the point? I could make more money as a gun bunny.
Being a merchant isn't just about the credits!
DingoBoi
Wed Sep 29, 2004 2:02 pm
#77
I side with biotamer here. It is a merchant pvp tactic, to continue to buy them out.. now sure, they can make credits... but all there former customers are now customers of someone else since they rarely if ever find stock on a vendor... an empty vendor is a vendor you don't come back to. After a period of time doing this the larger company can just stop buying the stock... and the smaller crafter/merchant is left with no customer base and will have to rebuild that customer base which takes time.
Empty vendors are to be avoided as much as possible to preserve your customer base.
But on that note, maybe you should move out of 'his' territory.
Bazalan
Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:54 pm
#78
BioTamer wrote:
NO I do not care about real world business models of hostile takeovers, buying out competition and whatnot. I just want to be a crafter and sell my goods to other players without other merchants griefing me.
I hear ya. It's just a game. People who do think the economy is like the real world are delusional. Money grows on trees (spawns) in this game. It's about as far from the real world as you can get. Just be persistent and these crackers will go away.