Merchant Archive

Overview

The vision that we, the merchant community, have is simple. Now that the devs have been so kind to make merchant a worthy profession where you couldn’t just level up, place vendors, and drop the skills (thank you devs) we would like to see more options to spice it up a bit.

Suggestions that have been high on our lists are: advanced advertising, player city malls, vendor item "transport" system, restock button,description carry-over, vendor transfer, second party sales, and vendor imaging.

Salient Details

ADVERTISING:

The current advertising system is nice, but lower level merchants should be allowed to advertise and dedicated merchants really need a unique advertising system. It is difficult to compete with the bazaar and countless number of Merchant 3000 vendors.

· NPC/PC Billboards

· NPC Galactic Kiosk

* More in depth skill based advertisement abilities

* Expanded classifications for planitary ad campain

PLAYER CITY MALLS:

So many of the "PC malls" are filled with empty vendors. There is no way to advertise a building as a "mall". In order to allow people to collectively use astructure as a "mall", they have to be admin long enough to place a vendor, and have no way of changing their "store displays" afterwards without being re-admind.

· Architect craftable

· PC mayor/City ability restrictions

· Master Merchant Placeable

· Room specific admin

*Owner can "rent out" their own personal vendors to use in a mall that they own.

VENDOR ITEM TRANSPORT SYSTEM:

Under the current system, if we need to move items from vendor to vendor, we need to pack it all up and move it 100 items at a time. Moving items from one vendor to another that are right next to each other is not that hard. However, if you move to a different city and wish to relocate, it makes it very difficult and discourages people from looking for cities to place shops.

· "Transport Item" button in stockroom

RESTOCK BUTTON:

Restock is one of the biggest complaints of all businessmen/merchants. You are flooded with emails as your items come off your vendor, and then to top it all off, you have to spend 2 days putting everything back up for sale because it all has to be done manually one item at a time.

· Highlight all items to be restocked, click "Restock", all items are placed back up for sale at their original sale price.

DESCRIPTION CARRY-OVER:

Many people place descriptions on their items, especially if selling sets of armor, "outfits", new player packages, ect. When doing this, most people will list everything that is in the container in the seller’s description. Having to replace this every time an item is restocked is very time consuming.

· Any item that is resold without being removed from the vendor or transfered to another vendorwill hold its seller’s description text.

VENDOR TRANSFER

* Merchants would be able to /transferVendor to other merchants.

SECOND PARTY SALES

* Merchants would be given the ability to sell items via consignment. The systemwould notifythe second party when a sale is made and pay the seller and merchant a respected % of the transaction.

* Second parties could offer items to a vendor for consignment sale.

VENDOR IMAGING

This is actually a two prof request. One thing that both merchants and image designers have been requesting since the beginning is the ability to image vendors.

*Master merchants can work in cooperation with master image designers to getany of their vendors images altered.

The Good and the Bad

ADVERTISING:

The Good -

· Dedicated merchants who are more likely to have a larger variety or quantity would be more easily located by customers.

· Customers would have access to locate more stores than what is located on the same planet as their current location.

· This would add a more realistic feel to the NPC/PCs.

*Seller can advertise vendor items with more clarification

* Buyer can be more assured as to vendor items before traveling to the vendor

The Bad -

· Would require more memory to store the information.

· Would take business away from the "dabbling" salesman.

PLAYER CITY MALLS:

The Good -

· This would give master merchants a very unique skill as opposed to a mere vendor/item addition and fee reductions.

· More mayors would be looking to recruit master merchants as opposed to just any businessman.

· Master merchants would not necessarily have to have a crafting profession in order to have merchant be beneficial to them.

· The mall would have several "rooms" that would have their own sub-structure management terminals so that the players renting space in the mall could have a store display that only they would be able to manipulate as they desire and they would be allowed to place, replace, add vendors as needed in their "store".

· Master merchants could "hire out" their own personal vendors to "renters" who want to sell items, but are not interested in being a businessman.

The Bad -

· Some merchants feel that allowing anyone to use or have admin to their vendors is an insult to their use of skill points.

· Would require more memory to store the information

· Would take business away from the "dabbling" store owner.

VENDOR ITEM TRANSPORT SYSTEM:

The Good -

It would not take near as long to move your "store" location.

Merchants would be more inclined to join PC’s, as they would have the reassurance that if anything were to go wrong it would not take a month to relocate.

The Bad -

· Honestly, no "bad" points have been made on this subject.

RESTOCK BUTTON:

The Good -

· Merchants would not have to hours every day restocking items.

· Merchants would have better control on setting a "restock day".

· Would keep active merchants from feeling as though they were being punished for the "empty vendor syndrome".

The Bad -

· Having this many items place on one vendor in such a short amount of time may cause lag problems to the system.

DESCRIPTION CARRY-OVER

The Good -

· Less time spent describing your items when restocking.

The Bad -

· Not sure if there really are any bad points to this.

VENDOR TRANSFER

The Good -

- Master merchants who wish to "go out of business" would not need to wait until their stock was depleted or pull all current stock off the vendor in order to transfer the items to another merchant of any level.

- Merchants who are purchasing a business would have the benefit of keeping the reputable business as it is without being forced to move location, change vendor name/appearance, ect.

The Bad -

- Vendors being transfered would have to stay in its current location.

SECOND PARTYSALES

The Good -

- Would heighten the need for professional merchants.

- Wouldhelp prevent"dabbling" salesmen - Who would want to invest the skill points to use a vendor when they can give a merchant a % of their sales in return for use of their store.

- Would eliminate the controversial "admin" subject while allowing other people to take advantage of merchant skills at the benefit of the merchant

The Bad -

- Would require more memory to sort throug sales

VENDOR IMAGING

The Good -

*Less time will be spent repeatedly creating a vendor just to find it is too old/fat/colorful and having to destroy it and trying again.

*If a merchant appritiates creating vendors by trial and error, they may still do so.

*Offers a guarenteed income for master image designers.

The Bad -

*Some may argue that this would take away from the "realisim" in hiring employees.

Skill Tree Changes

There would be no need in changing the efficiency, hiring,or management trees under this proposal. The only tree affected would be the advertising and then master merchant would be affected as well. The other suggestions would consist of a profession-wide change/addition.

Advertising I

o Regional Advertising

ط Vendor can be located by anyone using the Ctrl+V function within a 1000m radius of the vendor in question.

Advertising II

o Expanded Regional Advertising

ط Vendor can be located by anyone using the Ctrl+V function within a 5000m radius of the vendor in question.

Advertising III

o Planetary Advertising

ط Vendor can be located by anyone using the Ctrl+V function on the same planet the vendor in question is located.

Advertising IV

o Galactic Advertising

ط Merchants can list their vendor on a NPC/PC Galactic Kiosk for a fee similar to that of a vendor fee.

Master Merchant:

o Interactive Advertising

o Command /transferVendor

ط The merchant can "rent" space on the side of a building where they can create a billboard that will be viewable by all other players. There would be a time limit (suggested one week) and a hefty fee (say 100c/hour.

o Player City Mall Placement

ط The merchant can place a mall structure (6 lots) and rent out stores at the cost of 1 personal lot to the renters. (The mall idea will be described in further detail below.)

= The merchant would be allowed to "hire out:" their own personal vendors for use in a mall structure that they own.

o Vendor Imaging

= Master merchants could work in cooperation with master image designers to apply a new image to any vendor they own.

System Modifications

Galactic Kiosk System

* The Galactic Kiosk would function similar to the ctrl+v function, but would be placed as a terminal in all NPCities and PCities by polititians. Politicians with the ability to place terminals would be able to chose the galactic kiosk as one of their terminal options along with the mission terminals.

* The Galactic Kioskwould be crafted by architects, placed by politicians, merchants could advertise on the kiosk at a setfee, example 100cph, all players could access the kiosk to find vendors on any planet.

* The vendors being advertised would be listed by Planet, City, Vendor Type.

* The vendors being advertised would be placed on a time limit of 7 day cycles. Once the 7-day cycle has completed, the merchant will need to re-subscribe to the service.

* The merchant will be given the option to incert a vendor description of their store/services instead of an "seller's description".

* Only one vendor may be advertised per entry, but the merchants may advertise all of their vendors at one time for separate fees.

Billboard System

* NPCities would havesigns placedin certain areas near key buildings (ie - cantina, shuttle, med center, salon, starport, guild halls). Say up to 20 signs in each NPCity. These signs would charge a set fee of 100cph for advertising.

* Politicians would be able to use architect crafted "signs" or billboards as city decorations and rent them out to merchants who wish to advertise on them for a fee from 0-1000cph.

*The billboardswould have have "waiting lists" where a merchant could enter their advertisement using similar filter progs as vendor names, char names, ect, anda pre-pay for up to 7 days of maintenance. The merchants advertisement will then be displayed in order of the "wait list". Merchants would be limited to one billboard advertisement or reservation at a time to deter the wealthier merchants from monopolizing the billboards.

or

* The billboards would have a rotating sdvertisement system where any registered advertisement would show for 30 seconds before the next advertisement would replace it. There would still be a time limit implemented on how long an advertisement could run for before having to be resubmitted, and would only be advertised in the city where "billboard time" was purchased.

Vendor Option Changes Item Transfer System -

· Only items in the stockroom may be transferred from one vendor to another.

· If an item is currently for sale on a vendor, it must be withdrawn from sale and placed in the stockroom.

· Highlight items to be transferred.

· Click on the new "Transfer" button.

· An "Available Vendors" sub-screen, listing all of the merchant’s vendors, then appears.

· Highlight the vendor where the items are to be transferred to.

· Cancel and Okay options available on "Available Vendors" sub-screen.

· Once the selection has been committed by clicking the "Okay" tab on the sub-screen, the items will be automatically transferred to the stockroom of the alternate vendor.

· Items transferred from one vendor to another will not retain any previously given seller’s description.

· Items transferred from one vendor to another cannot be "restocked".

Restock System -

· Available for any item that has not been removed/transfered from the vendor since coming off the sale list.

· Only items on the vendor that is being accessed can be restocked.

· To restock items on additional vendors, the merchant will have to visit each vendor individually.

· Access the stockroom.

· Highlight all items that are to be restocked.

· Click the new "Restock" button.

· All highlighted items will be placed back on the sales list for their last sale price and retain any seller’s description that had previously been given to the item.

The Mall:

The Mini-Mall -

· Lot use =3 personal lots

· Main Hub Item count =200

· Stores available = 5

The Mall -

· Lot use = 6 personal lots

· Main Hub Item count = 250

· Stores available = 10

Only available to a Master Merchant, the concept of "The Mall" is one that has been highly regarded in the merchant community. A master merchant should be allowed to place two (2) Mini-Malls or one (1) Mall. Only the main lobby and empty "shops" would be able to be manipulated by the merchant.

The merchant would be able to control administration to the shops via a sub-structure management terminals located in each shop. Once a shop has been "rented" the shop will act as a separate structure. Each shop will require one (1) of the shop owner’s personal lots and have a storage capacity unique to that shop of 75 items. This will not free up any of the merchants personal lots from the structure.

Once a shop has been rented, the shop owner is responsible for the up keep of the shop. The maintenance or "rent" for each shop would beset by the merchant from the main structure terminal so all shop rent would be identical. Item limit should be identical to that of a merchant tent (previously stated 75 items). "Rent" could be paid for no more thanone weeks worth in advance. (ie, Monday i can put in credits to keep the shop functioning until the following monday without "notice of eviction"). However, rather than "the system" collecting the maintenance fee, the money would be deposited into the merchant’s bank account. As well, rather than the integrity of a shop being harmed upon non-payment, the shop owner would receive an eviction email every day giving them a total of one (1) week to pay maintenance on their shop. If maintenance is not paid on the shop within that week, all items (including vendors) in the shop will be downloaded onto a recovery disc to be placed in the shop owners inventory, and control of the shop is given back to the merchant to be re-leased.

The merchant may "hire-out" up to 10 of their own vendors to any of the shop owners of their mall (leaving 2 vendors for personal use in the main hub or other locations). The vendor would need to be created at the main structure management terminal and placed in the shop by the merchant before the shop is assigned to the renter. Only one "hired-out" vendor can be acquired by any player at any given time; therefore only one "hired out" vendor may be placed in any shop at any given time, and no player would be able tohave "hired-out" vendors in multiple malls. Once the merchant transfers access to the shop to the renter, the renter will be given sole admin powers to the "hired-out" vendor. The same maintenance or "rent" solution would apply as applies to the store maintenance.

Similar to cantinas/med centers/theaters, ect ... a mall would be locateable using the ctrl+v function. The system would need tocalculate the number of vendors and total items listed on vendors at that location and list it as such under the ctrl+v function so to avoid advertisement of empty droids.

*Mall

*Best Wares Mall Of New Hope - New Hope

- Vendors: 3 - Items: 2500

Vendor Transfer System:

Only able to be used by a master merchant.

Any master merchant can /transferVendor to ANY other merchant (novice or higher) by targeting the vendor and typing the command /transferVendor [Player Name] or by manually entering the player's name in a transfer feild on the radial menu of the vendor.

Vendors may only be transfered to merchants who have the ability to hold the vendor and its items. For instance, if you tried to /transferVendor to a novice merchant who currently was capped on vendor count or item limit, you would receive the system message "[Player Name] is unable to properly operate Vendor: [Vendor Name]".

Second Party Sales System:

Vendors would have the option toturn "on/off" consignment sales. Only vendors with consignment sales turned "on" would be able to function as a consignment vendor. A consignment vendor can be turned to the off mode at any time, but could not be removed until all consignment sales and stored (offered and rejected) items were removed.

The merchant would have a pre-set consignment % programed into the vendor system from 1% - 100% (0% would not be an option).

Vendor system tab "Offers" would have "retrieve item", "offer item" (as currently implemented), and an additional "offer consignment".

The merchant who owns the vendor can either accept or reject consignments. Accepting consignments automatically puts the items up for sale in the regular salesroom of the vendor.

The merchant can cancel the consignment sale at any time. Cancelling a consignment sale would send a system email to the second party notifiying them of the cansellation (the same would happen should the item go unsold before purge). Once an consignment item has been cancelled or purged from the vendors sale list, it would then be moved back into the offers tab where the merchant can either chose to consign the item again or reject the item.At this stage,the system would send an email to the second party notifying them that the item was placed for sale or available to be retrieved. "Rejected" items can be picked up in the "Available Items" tab.

The second party would have a "My Sales" screen, similar to that of the bazaar where they could manage theavailability of their items. In this area, the second party could "withdraw sale". They would then need to go to the "Available Items" and either "retrieve" the item or "re-consign" the item for a different price.

Upon sale of a consigned item, the % of the total price pre-set by the merchant would be paid to the merchant, and the remainder would be paid to the second party.

Vendor Imaging:

Would work as any other imaging session, only rather than the vendor "seeing" the imaging box, the owner of the vendor (master merchant) would see the imaging box.

Please Help this Vision Document Become a Reality:

1. If you feel that any part of this should be changed, reply, highlight, copy, paste the part you think needs fixed and write the changes you think should be made in red.

2. If you have any additional ideas that you feel should be included, reply and follow the format in each section for each idea.

4. If anyone knows for sure how to submit community vision documents other than the "comments submission" on the SOE site, please inform me.

I hope you will all help get this going. The better we can explain how our ideas would work, the more attention they will pay to them. As items/requests are altered or added, they will be highlighted in purple. Each time I re-edit the previous changes/additions will be turned to white and only the new/current changes/additions will be highlighted.

MTFBWY

- Laurn

PLAYER CITY MALLS:

The Good -

· This would give master merchants a very unique skill as opposed to a mere vendor/item addition and fee reductions.

· More mayors would be looking to recruit master merchants as opposed to just any businessman.

· Master merchants would not necessarily have to have a crafting profession in order to have merchant be beneficial to them.

· The mall would have several "rooms" that would have their own sub-structure management terminals so that the players renting space in the mall could have a store display that only they would be able to manipulate as they desire and they would be allowed to place, replace, add vendors as needed in their "store".

· Master merchants could "rent out" their own personal vendors to people who want to sell items, but are not interested in being a businessman.

The Bad -

· Some merchants feel that allowing anyone to use or have admin to their vendors is an insult to their use of skill points.

· Would require more memory to store the information

· Would take business away from the "dabbling" store owner.

Vendor 'Renting'

This should be a completly seperate issue from malls.

I fully endorse malls, a structure with adminned rooms, placed under merchant.

But the 'renting of vendors' (even though I do not agree to it one bit) would go under skills/mechanics where the mall is a structure request

I see this as two different items.

First read will add more as I reread

· NPC/PC Billboards

Opposed to 'side of building' billboard,

would suggest a stationary self standing signs that can be placed in designated areas (starport,near bank,and cantina, in PC cities)that people couldexamine (same as any sign)

and see what is there rather then haveing the merchants snatching and holding the 'best side wall' spots

there is sign filter on bazaar , let architects make these and let them be renamed like backpacks, require fee when dropped, it must be turned on and it runs for set time then deletes at end of run

down side abuse of what is said on advertisment

would require defined placements to avoid blocking and crowding

· NPC Galactic Kiosk

Is this to be a self structure as a bank/bazaar terminal where players could select and remotly veiw what is for sell on vendors registered?

Or is this to be a item that functions no different then what is seen on planetary map under vendors?

concept is unclear to me.