Merchant Archive
Thread: A few suggestions from a non-merchant
Page 1 of 1
bigmacdaddy12
Mon Apr 12, 2004 11:48 am
#1
Suggestion 1:
I was wondering if sony could add a way to rent a vendor from a merchant. As it stands right now, i don't have a vendor, but i could if i went up merchant and then kept paying the maint on my stuff. I want to be able to find a merchant and pay a weekly fee or a % of my actual sales which the merchant sets to be able to use the vendor. This way i don't have to rely on the merchant coming on line to post my sales, whether or not the merchant has the cash to pay for the stuff i put up for sale, etc. And on top of that the merchant gets it even easier because now they don't have to travel around restocking all their vendors all day but they still get thier cut.
Suggestion 2:
Make a vendor skill at master which will allow the merchant to purchase billboards on the sides of buildings and the front of the starport. Basically the vendor selects the type of item they are selling (guns, armor, misc., droids, structures, etc.) and that will determine the picture of the ad. Then allow the merchant to add the name of the shop and also put enter the wp. These will be shown on the billboard. To limit the overuse of these things, have the devs charge tons of money for the really good locations, and possibly have a waiting list. Also make it so you can only rent the billboard for one week at a time. Plus with it being for only master merchants, that should keep the number of potential advertisers down. More locations to advertise/more buildings, will also give everyone a fair chance for the ad space.
Suggestion 3:
Make a directory terminal that will list an ad for vendors on the planet. Basically allow a merchant to buy ad space like a classified ad, and in it include the name of the shop, category of merchandise, waypoints to vendors, and then a description of possibly a specialty item for sale, or possibly something that the vendor specializes in, or a special promotion that's going on. Think of this scenario, you get off the plane, your looking for an armorsmith who makes chitin armor because your strapped for cash. Rather than visiting all of the vendors on the map, you check the directory when you get to the planet. You search the tab that says armorsmith and find a vendor which says it specializes in ubese, chitin, bone armors and they are having a sale on them for 45k sets each this week. Now you can save time and the guy who actually sells this armor is recognized and gets the business. Rather than having the player waste time checking out 50 vendors that are empty or only carry composite. It would be awsome to have this though.
Suggestion 4:
Add a vendor option that will allow you to do tie in products. As of right now the only thing you can sort of accomplish this with is by putting backpacks up for sale with your stuff. By tie in products I'm referring to selling a gun, but then throwing in the first crate of powerups for free, or if you come out to my remote vendor location, we'll pay for your trip by including a free tiket to the nearest shuttleport and from taht shuttle to coronet or something like that. BOth of those if you could link them to your sale would be very beneficial for business in general. I would try this but I don't have enough backpacks, and as it is right now, to give someone a free trip, other people could come onto my vneodr and buy out all the tikets which were intended to go to those who buy items off my vendor. This point alone is why I wonder if anyone at SOE has ever taken marketing. I mean this is a fundamental principle, and in a game that focuses on economy and even has a class dedicated to marketing and sales, it would be nice if they gave us the tools to really take advantage of all of the concepts in marketing.
Anyways those are just some suggestions from a guy who has business 3 who would really like to see you guys gain purpose and possibly help the overall economy in the game. Thanks for reading the post. By the way i'm sure these ideas have come up before but i'm not on the board enough to know. Just thought I'd post em as extra suggestions for you guys.
Jacque Ufaultrades, Master Smuggler, Ahazi
Marketing Major in real life.
I was wondering if sony could add a way to rent a vendor from a merchant. As it stands right now, i don't have a vendor, but i could if i went up merchant and then kept paying the maint on my stuff. I want to be able to find a merchant and pay a weekly fee or a % of my actual sales which the merchant sets to be able to use the vendor. This way i don't have to rely on the merchant coming on line to post my sales, whether or not the merchant has the cash to pay for the stuff i put up for sale, etc. And on top of that the merchant gets it even easier because now they don't have to travel around restocking all their vendors all day but they still get thier cut.
Suggestion 2:
Make a vendor skill at master which will allow the merchant to purchase billboards on the sides of buildings and the front of the starport. Basically the vendor selects the type of item they are selling (guns, armor, misc., droids, structures, etc.) and that will determine the picture of the ad. Then allow the merchant to add the name of the shop and also put enter the wp. These will be shown on the billboard. To limit the overuse of these things, have the devs charge tons of money for the really good locations, and possibly have a waiting list. Also make it so you can only rent the billboard for one week at a time. Plus with it being for only master merchants, that should keep the number of potential advertisers down. More locations to advertise/more buildings, will also give everyone a fair chance for the ad space.
Suggestion 3:
Make a directory terminal that will list an ad for vendors on the planet. Basically allow a merchant to buy ad space like a classified ad, and in it include the name of the shop, category of merchandise, waypoints to vendors, and then a description of possibly a specialty item for sale, or possibly something that the vendor specializes in, or a special promotion that's going on. Think of this scenario, you get off the plane, your looking for an armorsmith who makes chitin armor because your strapped for cash. Rather than visiting all of the vendors on the map, you check the directory when you get to the planet. You search the tab that says armorsmith and find a vendor which says it specializes in ubese, chitin, bone armors and they are having a sale on them for 45k sets each this week. Now you can save time and the guy who actually sells this armor is recognized and gets the business. Rather than having the player waste time checking out 50 vendors that are empty or only carry composite. It would be awsome to have this though.
Suggestion 4:
Add a vendor option that will allow you to do tie in products. As of right now the only thing you can sort of accomplish this with is by putting backpacks up for sale with your stuff. By tie in products I'm referring to selling a gun, but then throwing in the first crate of powerups for free, or if you come out to my remote vendor location, we'll pay for your trip by including a free tiket to the nearest shuttleport and from taht shuttle to coronet or something like that. BOth of those if you could link them to your sale would be very beneficial for business in general. I would try this but I don't have enough backpacks, and as it is right now, to give someone a free trip, other people could come onto my vneodr and buy out all the tikets which were intended to go to those who buy items off my vendor. This point alone is why I wonder if anyone at SOE has ever taken marketing. I mean this is a fundamental principle, and in a game that focuses on economy and even has a class dedicated to marketing and sales, it would be nice if they gave us the tools to really take advantage of all of the concepts in marketing.
Anyways those are just some suggestions from a guy who has business 3 who would really like to see you guys gain purpose and possibly help the overall economy in the game. Thanks for reading the post. By the way i'm sure these ideas have come up before but i'm not on the board enough to know. Just thought I'd post em as extra suggestions for you guys.
Jacque Ufaultrades, Master Smuggler, Ahazi
Marketing Major in real life.
Gohan_Trunksss
Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:41 pm
#2
1 i'm sure ppl will flame u for it cuz they hate the slightest idea of non merchants having vendors
2 ok idea, prevents spam in coronet but then again fill the place with billboard things for every one of them
3 good idea
4 excellent idea
i underestimate the power of spell check :-p
Message Edited by Gohan_Trunksss on 04-13-2004 10:43 PM
Page 1 of 1