Merchant Archive
Thread: New Novice Merchant (me)
Just became Novice Merchant today, and got to place my second vendor. Unfortunately, he is a fat purple and beige Twilek male with wrinkled pants and a beerstained shirt. Anyway, I have him and my machine vendor, and I think I may have a bug associated with it. When I list items on one of the vendors, I see the list of items on both of them. For example, I have a bunch of junk on the machine, and when I listed fireworks only on the Twilek, I saw both the junk and the fireworks. Then, when I checked the Machine, I saw the fireworks and the junk. This happens when I have the Vendor: (Twilek) button checked. Is this intended so that I can see all the items I have available?
As a shopper, I often see places with multiple vendors with completely different lists for each, so I am wondering if the list displays the way *I* intend it to when viewed by a (potential) customer.
Also, I would like to say I'm rather excited about this profession. I know it has more than its share of failings, but what the heck, I'll stick with it. The prospect of having a team of uniformed vendors catering to potential customers, barking (if it works) at them, and searching new horizons and peoples towhich I hawk wares isvery appealing.
I'd also like to ask if it is bad form to send a single unsolicited e-mail to a customer asking if they would like to be kept up-to-date on my enterprise. I also include a brief survey to see what they'd like and what they might suggest. Does anyone else do this? As this is my first day on the job, I've sold two things, so I don't really have the market data to back this one up. I've kept a list so far of what I've sold and to whom, so I don't intend to "double up" on those mailings.
Anyhoo, thanks again! And look to the north of Bestine for DeSoto's Trinket Shop, on the Ahazi Galaxy!
I'm not fond of unsolicited emails and I think they generate ill will you don't really need.
Ad Barking in a busy place is very effective. Time your ads out don't annoy everyone with a bark every 10 seconds give it a few minutes between barks. You will get immediate tells asking you are merchandise.
Emails after Bazaar sales is also very effective. I can't tell you how many times I have gotten a bazaar sale, sent an email with a little ad for the shop and a waypoint and within 10 minutes start getting emails from my vendors about stuff the person I just emailed was buying. Very powerful especially if you have a variety of merchandise at your store.
Once you get Advertising III put yourself on the map. It does work. Yes it is annoying to have to reset it every day but you will notice an increase in sales when the map is turned on.
I will offen just bark my ad as I run from one shop to my other, but sometimes, I plan to sit in the city, and bark
Under options, there is an alarm feature, I set a Reaccur alarm for ever 4 mins, and tell it to just show you a message. I press my ad bark button after the alarm,that a way you do not spam.
The alarm does not carry over, so it is gone when you log out.
I have an alias with my adbark. I have anothe alias that calls the adbark every five minutes for half an hour.
And a tip for macros while I am at it. /dumppausedcommands will end all running macros.
-Canislupus wrote:
or just /dump works too, does the same thing and is less writing
Yes, I just tested this myself and it does work with just /dump thanks. Course a have an alias called stopmacro which is more intuitive for me. 
about the combined merchant lists... when you access your own vendor it will show everything you have for sale on your vendors in that area. when some one acceses that vendor it will show them only what you have placed on the particular vendor they select. if you wish to see what they see, click the bottom of the four buttons, that has the vendor's nameyou selected. unfortunately you can not arrange the things you have on your vendor.
as far as your muscleing up business ideas? stick with it. ingenuity is the best way to get sales. when i used the bazaar i would send emails to who ever purchased what i had for sale. i would include a waypoint and a short listing of what i had to offer and their prices. the catch was what they had bought in the bazaar i had for half the price at my shop, this pulled in a few people mainly to buy those items, and a few picked up a few other things while they were there.
as far as unsolicited personal email advertisment? probably a few people out there would be annoyed by it. but then again people tell me to shut up when i stand out side starports advertising my shop. that would untimately be your call mate. good luck witht he new business! cheerio