Merchant Archive

Ok, I'm really frustrated by this mess, so hopefully I can make a clear arguement. The proposed vendor fee's would essentially (if I am reading correctly) charge you the full price of the listed item in maintencence fees in one month of being listed on the bazaar. This is crazy.

A merchant is SUPPOSED to be someone who buys from a supplier and sells to a customer. I currently buy from my suppliers, add a 20% markup and sell at my very well stocked store. The 20% I earn because people know that when they come to my store they will find a wide selection of goods that they don't have to run around tracking down. With theproposed (and current on non NPC vendors)system, if I don't sell an item in 6 days or less I LOSE money. If I keep an item on the vendor for a month, I don't just not make money...I lose all the money it cost to purchase the item in the first place.

The only way I could keep from losing money would be to mark up my items 50% from what I bought them at. But how can I EVER compete with someone who makes and sells their own products? If I make an item and mark it up 500 percent I can afford to sit on it for a while... SOE you tell me how I am supposed to be a pure merchant?

Being a MERCHANT should make selling things EASIER not HARDER!

SAVE THE STORES!

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=5731

[quote]Crafter and Merchant are supposed to be DIFFERENT PROFFESSIONS[/quote]

Who says that someone can't multiclass? Just like a marksman can also be a scout, a tailor, armorsmith, whatever can also be a merchant. I am halfway through tailoring, and I'm halfway through merchant. i don't plan on becoming a master merchant, but I do have merchant skills. Just curious...

I dont' know too many pure merchants. Most people I know are master crafters with a bunch of merchant skills. Before they add this stupid system, the devs should really fix the merchant class. Most of the boxes aren't useful at all.

If they devs want to cut down on the database then they should have lower level vendors carry less items than higher level vendors. Get a better Database! Go find out what Amazon.com uses or some other company.

Well - I was trying to be just a merchant. I deliberately chose NOT to pursue any advanced crafting class as I wanted to be concentrate in general sales.

I am a Master Artisan/Master Medic/Novice Combat Medic/Novice Pistoleer - I like being a generalist

I think I've developed a good reputation as someone willing to do deals and I have a good customer base.

But if this vendor tax on NPC vendors is implemented, as I'm sure it will be as the Devs so not appear to be interested in listening to their customers, then I may have to completely rethink the way I play this game.

(Notice - I didn't say "listening to their player base" - I said customers - that is what we are - and when a company fails to listen to their customers, bad things happen)

I wasnt trying to say that people couldnt be a crafter and a merchant...in fact that helps them get more money because they cut out a middleman (me).

What I wanted to do was make a store that had a variety of things for sale, so people would know that when they came to it they could find what they wanted. I have suppliers for all of myitems who sell me things at their rate, I add on a small markup and resell it. That is a basic operation of any free market capatalist system. You don't generally go to the Coke store to buy a coke, then walk down the street to buy some gum at the gum store.

What this does is further encourage the vertical monopoly....in a game that pretends to try for some monocram of interdependence. How can I as a merchant who buys things for 70%-80% the price I can sell them for compete with a crafter who can produce things at a cost of 25% of what they sell them for? Most of the merchant tree SHOULD be tools to help merchants overcome this. Most of those tools are either broken or completely worthless. The only thing that merchants really had going for them was the ability to offer VARIETY. People can come to my store and buy from master architects, weaponsmiths, armorsmiths and Tailors.

How in the world am I supposed to keep any kind of variety on my vendors if (with ony a 20% markup) I need to sell everything within 5 DAYS of putting it on the vendor or LOSE money?

This system hurts the casual gamer BIG TIME. Only Merchants who make their own goods, from resources that they mined themselves will be able to afford to leave things on vendors for any amount of time. This hurts merchants, but it also hurts the player who does not have time to search around for a different crafter for each type of item he/she wants.

wow, I think I've doubled my post count today.... I know it doesnt matter to SOE, but I really think if they go through with this with NO additional fixes they will lose me as a customer. Maybe that's their plan.... Raph was probably like "hey, if we have NO customers, then our Database should work better"

Great plan guys.