Merchant Archive

It's been eating me up inside lately. I'm nearly master merchant, yet I've got pistoleer and combat medic skills that I'd really love to have, but don't have enough skill points for. I mean, I love being a merchant and all, but I no longer have any crafting except medicine, which probably won't sell, considering that there are so many other masters out there who can beat my stims on any given level 'cause they had enough. I have a choice here, and the logical solution is one I really don't like; dropping merchant and artistan all together. Why is that logical? 'Cause the last time I earned cash off being a merchant was when I changed someone's sign, and I assure you, he didn't give me enough to pay the bills. Could anyone give me some money-making ideas before I go ahead and drop this profession to which I've been so faithful...

One thing u can do if u love the class.. Join a PA! I am doing very well funneling goods from our crafters to the public. In addition I can obtain resources for our people.

bah, drop merchant like a bad habit, it will do you good.

The only way to make money as a merchant, IMHO, is to dedicate almost 100% of your time to it. I am Master merchant, and also a casual player, and I have absolutely no crafting skills at all. I have partnered with a Master Weaponsmith, Tailor, Armorsmith, Droid engineer, Architect, Doctor, and am working with a guy who wants to become a master chef. I sell all of their goods for them, and make generally 25% profit. They are happy, because they sell their products, and I am happy that I don't have to sit around for hours and click, click, click..."your creation was a great success". That is not my thing. Both my tailor, and weaponsmith came to me, because they wanted to be on the global map, and didn't want to spend the skill points to get it. They were like you, and were out of points, but wanted to continue their artisan elite tradeskills. We are all very happy, and making plenty of cash. In fact, the other day, I became a millionaire for the first time, and then placed a 154,000 credit order with my tailor, and BAM, back to the poor house! LOL.

My point is, like anything else, if you want the max benefit ofany skill, you have to chose carefully what you want. The nice thing about SWG, is that if you don't like it, you can always change to something else. You couldn't do that in EQ without starting over completely, with a new character.

Personally, if you like to craft, and clickity click is your favorite thing to do, then drop merchant, and master your craft, and in the process, find a master, or novice merchant to do business with. Work out a deal with them that gets you what you want. If they won't work with you, then try someone else. Be professional. Demanding anything from someone will not work. Make an offer, see what comes back, you might be surprised.

I'm actually in a PA with plenty of crafters...however, they're all crap. The Master Doctor prefers hunting (rifleman) and only crafting for himself as opposed to mass producing, the Architect is erm...just a **edit** who hates me and wouldn't do business with me if I offered him thousands upon thousands of credits as a bonus, and the Smuggler, oh the Smuggler...he is my only hope