Merchant Archive

I have been a merchant as a primary class since the beginning on my SWG play. So far it has been slow and steady, but i've become troubled lately when clarifying merchant functionality over my preconceived notions of what a merchant should be able to do.

Based on my observations, i would submit the following functionality changes to the merchant class to the community:

1.) Stores. This is obvious but when there are numerous floorplans for houses, why are there no floorplans for stores?I dont think that they should be much different to current houses, except that they have a distinct external look, and perhaps appropriate signage.

2.) Merchant Interlink Device. Merchants should have access to their merchandise from anywhere, I suggest an Interlink type device that merchants can use to instantly deal with orders, offers and vendors. The interfaces would be no different than the current vendor admin screens, just remote access to them. I find myself travelling to and from store locations more than any other activity surrounding this class. It would be really nice to be able to access the Planetary Baz from this terminal as well as an upgrade perhaps.

3.) Advertising. Why does the planetary ad campaign advertise vendor names? I have never seen an advertisement that does this instead of advertising the product itself. Items sold by vendors that are part of the advertising campaign should obviously be listed in their approproate categories. I am still baffled about the current functionality of Advertising 3 as it is absolutely useless to the fledgling merchant.

4.) Shipping. As with many of these suggestions, this idea originated with another poster's idea. I think it is a fantastic thought. Theshipping ability would fit nicely into the merchant admin system that attaches a shipping charge (and perhaps priority) to items to and from locations. Locations could include from vendor to vendor (planet or galaxy wide), or from Baz Term to Location (i buy something from the public system and ship it to my store). Again i maintain that i spend more time travelling from store to store than anything else, which i dont feel is a proper measure of a good merchant. Shipping would work much like the shuttle system works for players now.

5.) Catalogue/Stockroom selling to players. I have a stockroom, but it is always empty. If i have 10 Stimpacks for example, they are all distributed on my initialized vendors. Some have 2 or 3, some have 1. I propose that when the merchant is administering vendors, that it instead be a listing of prices (a catalogue per say) not the actual item. If the vendor has local access to an item matching the listing, it is listed as sellable. This would allow you to sell identical items (factory made) at variable prices on different vendors while keeping your stock in your stockroom. This makes for better distribution and less overall admin for the merchant.

6.) Catalogue buying from players. SImilar to the selling catalogue, I propose a buying catalogue, where a merchant can set prices for incoming items and a max number of the itemyou would like in your stockroom. This could be extended to a consignment model if an autobuy option were implemented based on the desired inventory level. Ideally, this action would put the item into the stockroom which would trigger the selling catalogue... even if this were not automated... by using the tool mentioned in #2 above would allow the Merchant to instantly turn the merchandise around.

7.) City Markets. There is a ton of unused real estate in every city. Make a local merchants market which would have limited spaces. Merchants can rent a slot (1 slot per city or something) and drop a vendor in the designated area. Maintenance would be modified since it is a high traffic area. This is not intended to replace the use of a merchant's store, but would give more of a flea-market type of option. It may also give other classes better access to trade collected resources in the field using the offer feature much more often.

Delphi,

Very good suggestions. I especially like the remote access suggestion and special buildings for merchants. Only concern I have is with City markets... I'm not sure that would be a good idea since it is hard enough trying to draw people out of them to 'player made' cities. Even though they aren't official, they will be eventually, and keeping players in the original cities, in my opinion, isn't good for business.

The bazaar isn't really the best way to sell items, and I think it's designed like that to encourage player-run shops. Of course the merchant profession is in complete shambles, and barely works, so I'm not sure what the Dev's priorities are right now.

Given the numbers of players actually trying to be merchants. I doubt we are very high up on their list.. I mean the only two items i know of that got fixed, are the only two items that were beneficial to a merchant..

I have closed my shop, purely because of the bugs making my life a misery. I have a house with 1 vendor, selling stuff to my PA only for 1 credit..

I am off actually having FUN now by progressing my pistol skills. If i get to the point that I am short of skill points, and the merchant class hasn't been fixed... Guess which skills I'm gonig to drop first !!!

- These are more great ideas... I support them all. However, before we modify the skilltree or boost the effectiveness of the profession, SOE needs to fix the crippling bugs that exist presently.

- I've also given up on trying to make a living as a merchant... I simply cannot afford to have my entire inventory get tossed into a black hole again. Chefs and tailors might... architects can't.

- When and if SOE gets around to un-breaking the profession, I'll think about bothering with it again.

A little more about Delphi's buying suggestion.

I have been dealing in resources, and on getting my first vendor named it with an indication I would buy them. Results have been mixed, mostly due to having no way to let people know what I would buy at what price. After-the-first-try email has helped a lot, but at least an ability to display a reasonably sized will-buy list seems like a minimum requirement for a system that allows players to make offers. It seems to me a shame to make the player make a trip back on a rejected offer he has no way to guess at.

Also, the currentlogic on retrieving rejected items from vendors seems designed to grief players who sell to them. If the vendor is destroyed, not only is the item lost to its owner, but it alsowill permanently cost him a bazaar slot. I know, since I sold an item to a player's bulky machine early on as a test, and see a reminder of this bug every time I look atmy retrieve list on the bazaar. It makes me really reliable about sending an email reminding the rejected seller to pick up the item.

Fricken Signs. How about signs on the side of you're house/shop so everyone can read from a distance without having to click on those hangy wall things.

How about some advertising on the Bazaar.

How about more sales on the Bazaar and increased limitson the Bazaar.

Client Lists.

Sold Items Sheet in Bazzar or Vendor.

My 3 year old coulda thought of +1 vendor +10 hire...This class was not given much Thought. Bounty Hunters get fricken search droids and cool cloths. I get a custom greetings. Just my rant while the servers are down. I know the reasons why. Love the game though and can't complain too much because I've been spending days at a time playing....