Merchant Archive

i am starting to build up the merchant tree and have not started to actively seek other crafters to sell there wears.I have 4 extra vendors that i currently use for exp and 2 that i keep stocked at all times.

With these other 4 vendors i was thinking of opening a casino. As we all know if a bag is put on the market there is no way to tell what is inside of said bag. So my idea is to put items in the bags ranging from bofa treats to house deeds. Then selling the bags for a set price. The would be buyer takes the unknown risk of getting Something worth more than credit value or something worth nothing.

So fo instance i would have 10 bags each filled as follows.And each would carry a price of 10k

Bag 1 10 bofa treats and othe misc foods= price of 5k

Bag 2 1 small home deed and misc furniture = price of 20k

Bag 3 a probe droid deed =price of 20k

Bag 4 misc clothing = price of 3k

Bag 5 Misc weapon = price of 7k

Bag 6 empty = price of 0

Bag 7 misc armor peice =price of 5k

Bag 8 Misc armor peices = price of 15k

Bag 9 Misc wanted furniture = price of 7k

Bag 10 Misc resources = Price of 8k

This would leave a 10k profit margin not counting vednor expensise and these are only examples it would varie more. Basically for every ten bags haveing 3 big winners and the 6 being slighty less than worth it and 1 being empty.

It's a good idea and I think it would be fun and profitable.

However, the problem lies in the fact that it would be profitable. If it is profitable for you that means the customers are, on average, losing out. In the real world a Casino relies on a persons addiction to keep them coming back. I doubt you would be able to create that sort of situation within SWG (Hang on... what am I saying, isn't this what SOE have done?).

Anyway, it would work for a while and would probably be good for role-playing but I doubt it would work as a business model. If a person already has a chitin breastplate and they get two in a row they will not be happy with the wasted 10k. You would be making a profit but they would not be coming back and they would probably tell their friends not to bother either.

Still, if you have Vendors to spare then I think it is a great way to use them. My only questions... how are you going to fill the basement with smoke to give it that truly seedy atmosphere.

Torches not only provide light but i can make as many as it yakes to add the right smoke.lol

I would not put chitin on it my room mate is 2 skills away from master armor smith and another is close to master tailor so i can put things on there for cost and people still think they are winning because market value will be higher than my cost. I am a master architect/artisan/and soon merchant.

Thanks for the input

Not a bad idea, but how do you generate trust with people to begin with that you havent got 10 bags listed all with nothing in ???

I might try this as a private venture within my PA

These have been a mainstay of UO vendors for years.

And no matter what you do, someone will accuse you of fraud. The other thing people will complain about is selling "tickets" after a big prize is won. If you have 20 bags and one has a house, they expect you to stop selling even if the house is the first one sold. To me it's a lottery, that's how they work.

I might post the idea on my server board and see what kind of reaction i get. Still to early to try it tho. I need about another week for some of my suppliers to reach master and free up the lots required to plave yet another house.

Don't bother with it yet -I did this last weekend (8/30 & 8/31).

I put 100 travel packs (labeled "Bush'wa Lotto Pack [100]" to " ... [199]") and distributed 10 prizes among them, the rest had Mouse Droid Deeds labeled "Thanks for Playing".

Took 3 hours to set up, spammed the bank for about 4-5 hours with the location and marketing pitch.

Sold 15 packs during that time, 2 people hit minor prizes.

Minor Downside: the maintenance for 24 hours was around 25k - up front.

Major downside - the next morning every pack still showed it had 1 item in it - but when you purchased a pack or I removed it... nothing was inside. Lost all the remaining prizes and spent and hour troubleshooting it.

Bugged it, CS Ticket etc.

So vendors are bugged as far as retaining the contents of containers being sold on them.

Bush'wa