Shipwright Archive
Thread: Just me or are alot of the shipwrights underpricing there products.
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Jaris
Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:34 pm
#1
As topic says. Alot of the resources we need and use cost a good amount. Ive been harvesting my own but Im looking at this and am thinking I could make more selling my high end resources than I can from making parts. Was just checking prices and maybe its just Chilastria but Im assuming it isnt.I like space alot and such but am wondering if there is even a reason to make parts for the general public because of some of the prices and how they have dropped.
too add as I may have been wonr in the title.
But Ive been trying to sell parts but im finding some shipright selling there items far below where they should and used to be. I left the game for a bit and came back, parts that used to sell for 100k-150k I see very similar paroducts being sold for 25k. And this goes up or down depending on the pruduct but I can seem to compete.
Just me or are alot of the new or respected shipwrights killing the buisness (Old topic Name) Changed do to I implied it was them. But Im thinking its something else now after this chat so far.
Message Edited by Jaris on 07-28-2005 11:16 PM
Cphopp
Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:45 pm
#2
new shipwrights will mostly be sellign chassis for dirt cheap to try and get rid of the ones they did while grinding...
I myself used the practice mode exclusivly while grinding up my alt DE/SW and blew 11 mil or so down the drain...lol
Dont worry...just stick to components and your business will be fine...it takes good resources still to make the best components and those shipwrights selling components for dirt cheap will soon burn out and be left with nothing
Slysix
Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:56 pm
#3
Oversaturation of the market is a big concern for me as there is minimal decay for ships once a pilot reaches master level. When ROTW came out I shifted my manufacturing to supply parts for the new ships people will be getting. I'm seeing the first signs that most of those pilots have gotten what they need. So i'm shifting my manufacturing back to cater to the up and coming pilots. That means low priced parts with low certifications as usually these parts can not be fixed via Deep Space. I really don't think the respeced or new shipwrights is causing the glut in the market though.
RuudvanNistelrooy
Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:30 am
#4
There is plenty of room on Ahazi for Shipwrights atm,
Make no mistake, there are about 2 vendors on this server that are well stocked and effectively cornered the business. I grinded Shipwright atgreat expense on an alt so I could always have access to a Shipwright and make high end parts to order.
I've been doing it for about 2 weeks and I have 30 lots filled with Harvesters working on SW resources. I'll be up and running with stocked vendors of Mining Equipment and POB Elite Parts.
My point is... SW is not a dabbler profession. I you respecced to it, fair play, you saved millions on resources. Shipwright takes a LOT of resources to make money at there is no really easy way of making money doing it unless you just wanna sell ordnance and paint kits.
MobiousVs1
Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:06 am
#5
Well I think it is a growing problem to be honest. I have 6 shipwright vendors in my tent, and so I am one of the larger shops, and I have been a S/W since JTLS came out, but when people start selling A-Wings for 20k whats the point? They are making a massive loss and they force the prices down.
Around a month a go I created a database of all the S/w vendors in intrepid and you get wild variations in prices. The only reason I am still in business is because I try to provide a personal service for people. I am currently selling my ships for example at 2cpu the cost of the resources involved where as I know I could make more money.
I guess the real money is in making components, but I have a standardised price structure for different levels of components for ease.
Kinshi
Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:52 am
#6
I sell my ships for nearly a 50% markup and have a great profit margin and still come in under the overpriced guys.
The problem is folks seem to expect to get a 200% markup..thats just plain stupid.
And those overpriced SW's seem to think evry single person wants only the absolutley best parts made from the best and most expensive resources which is totaly untrue. They cater to the elite who will pay elite prices and then they wonder why people dont buy their parts.
Get some business sense..having a giant shop with 20 merchants and being part of some giant merchant collective is no guarantee of sucess when you overprice, and moaning about others prices wont save you.
Look at your overhead and think about whats really necessary, because guess what..most people go to places like K-Mart, NOT Gucchi outlet stores. IF you find yourselves having to have such high prices because of material quality, its time for you to re-evaluate your business model because it would appear you have failed to understand your clientel.
another part of the problem is too many SWs expect to get rich inside of a week and have no paitence for the slower rate of weath gain using lower prices. SOme of them expect 40 million credits a week. Unrealistic.
A small SW that is well funded and has low overhead can outpace a big SW with lots of overhead anytime. SOme of you get your businesses so top heavy with unecessary expenses its no wonder you have to charge so much and its no wonder you lose customers.
I sell for far less than many SWs but I still make a handsome profit and I dont sell crap either but I do know how to economize which allows me to sell at the pricing levels that I do. I consider my prices to be 'mid-range' higher than the bottom of the barrell but well lower than the 'Gucchi' ship vendors.
My biz doesnt need 5 million a day to make me enough money, in fact my little shop only pulls inlike 2-3million a month but that FAR outpaces my expenditures and its mostly profit. More than enough profit to make it 'worthwhile'. (and in case you are wondering, I dont stock much in the way of ship chassis, maybe 2 of each kind because I consider sales of chassis to be a huge waste of my time and resources)
rols_cerentz
Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:30 am
#7
Jaris wrote:As topic says. Alot of the resources we need and use cost a good amount. Ive been harvesting my own but Im looking at this and am thinking I could make more selling my high end resources than I can from making parts. Was just checking prices and maybe its just Chilastria but Im assuming it isnt.I like space alot and such but am wondering if there is even a reason to make parts for the general public because of some of the prices and how they have dropped.
I don't know about that.
I sell Mark IV high-end crafted components for anywhere from 50 to 80k (Depending on the product type) and I get that with no problem. I sell Mark V items for anywhere from 65k to 115k and I get that with no problem either.
Chassis will likely always be crafted and sold on the cheap as it is nearly impossible to craft to sell chassis these days. In fact, three weeks after JTL went live I couldn't sell a single ship, even at GREATLY reduced pricing.
These days, I don't craft any chassis on a whim, unless it is for myself. If someone wants me to craft them a starfighter, I advise them to get the materials to me and then I will craft the ship, for a low labor cost.
Zymm-N
Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:34 am
#8
I'm a new shipwright and will honestly state that I may end up under-cutting 'sane' pricing mostly becuase I only have the Corbantis market to go off of. On Tatooine alone there are atleast 3 or 4 other up and coming shipwrights that have a deep desire to sell Dunelizard Blueprints for 20k each.. how is that even REMOTELY profitable?
I've been trying to find a balanced pricing scheme for ships and parts, but haven't really struck a balance yet. Maybe some other shipwrights here can give pointers on how THEY guage their pricing?
rols_cerentz
Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:13 am
#9
Zymm-N wrote:I'm a new shipwright and will honestly state that I may end up under-cutting 'sane' pricing mostly becuase I only have the Corbantis market to go off of. On Tatooine alone there are atleast 3 or 4 other up and coming shipwrights that have a deep desire to sell Dunelizard Blueprints for 20k each.. how is that even REMOTELY profitable?I've been trying to find a balanced pricing scheme for ships and parts, but haven't really struck a balance yet. Maybe some other shipwrights here can give pointers on how THEY guage their pricing?
It is next to imposssible to sell Chassis. Pricing them at a significant loss might be the only way to recoup some of the costs for becoming a shipwright. I did most of my grinding by simply "Practicing" to get that extra bit of XP.
Until you reach Master Shipwright, there won't be much money going into your pocket. It's tough, but that's the way things are.
If you want to rise up quickly and are dirt poor, find yourself a Good Player Association that wants/needs a shipwright. If you find the right one, they will leap at the opportunity to provide you with resources and set you up as a Master Shipwright. Then, you will be a Master quickly and can open up your shop.
Then, you can start selling Master Level Components of the various Cert Levels and begin to amass the credits.
Bowoci
Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:21 am
#10
Pricing seems to be all over the map. I've been a Shipwright since just after JTL came out... took me awhile after release to get the resources and grind it out. I never sold chassis on the cheap... did it mostly in practice mode. I sell chassis now at 6 credits per unit, components etc are anywhere from 8-10 credits per unit of resources and asteroid items are 50 credits per unit.
I've seen some SW's charging up to 40 credits per unit on weapons (talking non-asteroid stuff here... like Proton Launchers).... of course they were the "best on the server" 
Message Edited by Bowoci on 07-28-2005 10:33 AM
Ogoun_of_Kauri
Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:26 am
#11
I respeced to shipwright shortly after the CU. (I'd gotten bored with the ground game and more interested in space and wanted to feed my habit). I don't see how I can be hurting the business as I never made a pile of chassis to grind my way to master, and I always have lots ot harvesters going on good resources.If I make chassis to sell at rediculously low prices I might as well be letting lots of multi-900+ stats steel go for 3 cpu or less. When I started I thought most people were selling their missiles for a lot until I realized what goes into making them. Now I get complaints but then I tell people to bring me the resources for less in the required quantities. I don't spend a lot of time making chassis unless people ask for them.
Anyway, I guess my point is that for a push-button respec shipwright it'd be economically silly to make a bunch of stuff to sell for less than the value of the resources. I'd expect those chassis are fromxp grinding and are possibly lower quality but still functional. I often get asked by a stranger what I'll sell a certainchassis for and get a response that so-and-so has them for so much less, and tell them to bring me the resources and some bespin port and I'll do it for free. I don't mine grind-quality stuff (always getting the best resources I can find for components). Anyway, I try to keep a few chassisstocked in case people need them, but I don't produce too many and I certainly don't sell them at a loss. Lately I've been trading chassis for stacks of resources, so if I make a 150k master ship I'll trade it for 150k of any resource I need.
FriedSquid
Thu Jul 28, 2005 2:35 pm
#12
There's going to be a change from shipwright to something else from most of the /respec'd shipwrights. If they ever get to the point where they get enough business they'll just quit after seeing how time-intensive it can really get, is my guess.
I've seen a few come and a few go, and they get BORED... You craft the same part a million times and people all want you to do crap for them. Me, well, I'm not exactly well stocked but I make a decent living and each time I advertise that I've stocked, well, I'm empty a day or two later.
But all the new shipwrights - and a lot of them have just GROUND OUT the profession, not /respec'd - are definitely doing two things to the business: Crowding it, and Crafting Lots. They'll get over it.
The only problem I have is with the new shipwrights who didn't have to: do all their space mining, pay for their resource crates, or pay for their space mined resources. Come On, Give Me A Damn Break. Suddenly, Heavy-Noob-Ship prices dropped from 400k to like 200k. And it's all because they decided that they could just use this 30k deed for something. Seemingly overnight, I went from being unable to keep my 400k heavy tier 1 chassis in stock to being unable to sell more than 1 or 2 per day. Give Me A Break.
MobiousVs1
Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:36 am
#13
Wow going from what you guys are saying Intrepid is really messed up then. I like charge a max of 20k for a lvl 5 crafted part because competition is so tight. The point is though I make enough to cover my costs and make a little bit on top because I dont want to out price people going into space. I make reasonable quality stuff and tend not to worry about using top of the range resources, because quite frankly people dont want that. I sell everything I make at a profit, including chasis, but because I keep everything cheap people keep on coming to me because they can get everything in one place. At any 1 time I will always have all of my 6 vendors stocked. But what really peeves me off is that I was asking about asteroid mining as I do a fair bit myself but 50cpu for mining??? I'm sorry but that is just extortionate.
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