Merchant Archive

How about having a bazaar which has no 3k limit. I am thinking of something like this:

* Works like the normal bazaar but only Merchant can put stuff up for sale and no 3k cr limit.

* Just like the normal bazaar you need to retrieve the item but have to do it from the vendor's shop. Money is transferred and the item "disappears" from the vendor.

* At novice level you can only sell items in a region where you have a shop. To make an item visible on entire planet or galaxy you need higher skills.

* Non-merchants can put items up for sale on this bazaar but only visible to merchants. I think there is a need for easy transactions between merchants and producers.

* Maybe a percentage fee (or fixed) on sales.

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I am not a merchant. I would prefer being able to sell my stuff for a lower price and not have to worry about advertising, keeping a shop etc. I don't event want to spend my valuable skill points in the business tree (of artisan).

As a buyer I hate having to find out where to shop and when I finally find a vendor then there is not the stuff I am looking for. hate to run around checking out stores.

What you are suggesting is similar to how it USED to work in Beta, with merchant sales showing up on the planetary Bazaar System. For some reason though, this was taken out of the game.

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Bermag wrote:


As a buyer I hate having to find out where to shop and when I finally find a vendor then there is not the stuff I am looking for. hate to run around checking out stores.

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You need to find yourself a shop that is always stocked. When you do, you will become a repeat buyer I bet. The vast majority (I would say 90%) of vendors you have come accross are purely there as a means for a crafter to "dump" his wares out to the masses, with no real desire to run a proper business. - This is why they are generally unstocked - because the crafter just cant (and wont) keep the vendor well stocked due to vendor maintenance, and time available to craft items.. (I would ALWAYS urge anyone looking to purchase items to go to a vendor listed on the planetary map - they're far more likely to have stock as they will be run by someone who isn't just using his business 3 vendor - he has progressed into the merchant professionin a desire to provide a better service.

This is where (a good) merchant comes in. I am setting up a multi vendor mall, which has seperate vendors for just about everything. Weapons, Armour, Clothes, Droids, Structures, Resources, Medical Supplies, General goods - you name it. - I am doing this by building up a network of many suppliers for each category (most of whom are PA crafters.). This way I have far more goods to sell (read better choice for the purchaser). I get far more repeat business (due to the shop holding stock alot longer, and it being a conventient one stop shop rather thna having to run to 3-4 different locations.)

I think in time all the little single vendors will be driven out of business by well organised merchant shops such as mine, and the crafters will be begging to be put on my supplier list. *grins evilly*

To bad you are not on my server (Wanderhome). I would like to find a merchant to sell my stuff (well, when I got some stuff worth more than 3k that is).

I think one problem is that there is no good sales channels. You need to find a merchant willing to buy your stuff and he probably want to have a look at your stuff before buying. Not sure how to do this today other than meeting. I have seen that some vendors have the option to buy items, but I am not sure how this works (can any1 explain). Do you have to leave your stuff there and the owner takes a look if he want to buy it or not or what?

If this works then there is still a problem that you need to travel to the shop. I wouldn't like to spend money traveling to another planet and then the buyer don't want it.

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One solution for sellers (but maybe bad for the merchant profession) is to locate their shops in the same area. I was myself disturbed that another weaponsmith had already made an etablishment where I have plannd to put my shop. But then I realized that it might be good even if we are competing (which I will work on that we don't do; I might specialize in some stuff that he don't). If he attracts some new customers and he isn't stocked then they will try my shop and vice versa. Good business for all! if people know there are several shoips in the same area they will go there in the future as well).

One question: What benefits are there to have several vendors in the same house? Can't a single vendor sell more than one kiund of items or what?

This was changed in beta because it means no one will ever look for a shop, they'll just use the bazaar.

I happen to agree with the change.