Merchant Archive
Thread: /bow; Oh Wise Merchants, hear my plea!
First of all BIG cities are a BIG pain... try and run a business outside coronet is Horendous due to the Overpopulation of the area... this unfortunatly cannot be solved... unless you move to a less populated place...
the idea here is to Grab a market...
I have 1 Shop on tatooine in a small town
The next thing is you need a type of product... eg Armour, Weapons, Food....
Find a Crafter and Work out a Deal with them... i would try all the crafters you already know people that u have purchased from...
i started small and remain fairly small but Exclusive...
and i would advise you to use the Access fee... 1 Credit for an hours access is very reasonable
people that come to a shop with an access fee of $1 will pay it because 1 credit is peanuts...
basicaly i ran my business from day one slowly building up as i gained skills
People from teh town wanted to see whats new in the shop so they would stop by regularly... this is why i believe in Vendor Consentration.
Presentation.. Make your shop look good with the new UP and DOWN u can really get creative...
Make a Fancy Color Sign
mine looks like similar to my signature....
Top line remains -Green Light Shop-
2 middle lines are updated now and then with New information on products i get
Last line remains Tivix Otila
The Time you invest on making the shop presentable and worth while will pay off...
as for the missing exp thing...
some times you dont receive your Exp untill your shop is "LOADED"
this can sometiems be cured by jsut going in your shop and checkin up on things...
i hope some of this helps... stick with it i get alot of Enjoyment running my shop...
rkabyrne wrote:
Hello,
Do not appear to receive 150xp per vendor per hour, rather I am receiving 0.
Do not consistently receive Xxp per vendor view, rather I receive 50xp once in a while.
Do not wish to use access fees, do not EVER have an empty vendor, and do not know what's wrong!
Your merchant experience will not necessarily update on a smooth fashion. Often times you will see big chunks of experience awarded when you enter your shop (i.e., the vendor loads back into the world). Keep track, chances are you are getting all your merchant experience, however, it may be awarded in chunks, rather than at a nice smooth real-time rate.
TivixOtila wrote:
Here are a few insights as to my thoughts on becomming a Merchant...
First of all BIG cities are a BIG pain... try and run a business outside coronet is Horendous due to the Overpopulation of the area... this unfortunatly cannot be solved... unless you move to a less populated place...
the idea here is to Grab a market...
I have 1 Shop on tatooine in a small town
The next thing is you need a type of product... eg Armour, Weapons, Food....
Find a Crafter and Work out a Deal with them... i would try all the crafters you already know people that u have purchased from...
i started small and remain fairly small but Exclusive...
and i would advise you to use the Access fee... 1 Credit for an hours access is very reasonable
people that come to a shop with an access fee of $1 will pay it because 1 credit is peanuts...
basicaly i ran my business from day one slowly building up as i gained skills
People from teh town wanted to see whats new in the shop so they would stop by regularly... this is why i believe in Vendor Consentration.
Presentation.. Make your shop look good with the new UP and DOWN u can really get creative...
Make a Fancy Color Sign
mine looks like similar to my signature....
Top line remains -Green Light Shop-
2 middle lines are updated now and then with New information on products i get
Last line remains Tivix Otila
The Time you invest on making the shop presentable and worth while will pay off...
as for the missing exp thing...
some times you dont receive your Exp untill your shop is "LOADED"
this can sometiems be cured by jsut going in your shop and checkin up on things...
i hope some of this helps... stick with it i get alot of Enjoyment running my shop...
TivixOtila,
I've only had a vendor for about a week now... and I guess I'm surprised at your comments regarding being near big cities. Could you elaborate?
I am in the opposite position. My vendor is in a new town, started by a new, small PA... in a location on Lok that doesn't seem to have any strategic advantage. Granted, with my PA, I have a few customers. However, they're not near enough to give me regular service. Meanwhile, I can sell stuff on the bazaar at Coronet with high success during weekdays. Of course, I'm limited to 25 auctions at any given time, so my income there is capped.
This morning, I was trying to brainstorm what to do about my current vendor predicament. I had thought that perhaps purchasing a house near a big city and putting a vendor there... while maintaining my residence in my guild town... might be one good option.
Granted, competition is fierce in the big cities, but it appears to me that there are plenty of customers there for everybody.
It sounds like in my situation, you'd recommend I stay where I am. But then, how do I attract new customers to my business way out in the middle of nowhere? I made a post on the Radiant trade forum yesterday and within only a few hours, my post was on page two... then page three and dropping fast. I don't like the idea of bumping my posts all the time to get some attention. Let's face it. Others do this enough already.
Your thoughts?
Thank you!
Ambitious,
Like you I live on LOK..way out in the toolies. What I did was go to Naboo and looked around for an area near a starport . I finally settled behind Moenia about 600m. It's convienant to the customer as you can see the starport from my shop's doorstep. I started with two vendors as soon as I made Novice Merchant, that was just a week ago. Now I'm up to 4 vendors and rent 2 of them out to guildmembers that are Masters of their craft. I spent 3 days just on decorating the shop and have had many compliments on the decor.
People are finding my shop quite easily and sales are booming on all my vendors.
Your thought of setting up a house offworld is what I had done and I fully recommend it. Just locate an area as close to a starport as you can..don't need to be a big bustling town like Coronet. I, too, would not recommend someplace like that as there are more shops around coronet than you can shake a stick at...well established shops. For a beginner a smaller area would be ideal..get established and a regular customer base. Then if you still want to go for a big city..then do so.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Liti