Shipwright Archive
Thread: Just me or are alot of the shipwrights underpricing there products.
I try to look at the bazaar every few wks to see what other SW's charge and how they're goods compare to mine, etc. My pricing is always changing, based on the resource market. I tried going with a tier pricing system but that didn't work out very well. I recently bought a nice cache of high end steel that should keep me up and running for a few weeks and I'll be able to charge very competitively. I do think that some of my stuff is underpriced, and some other stuff I know is underpriced. For example droid chips, I sell programmed and unprogrammed for 1k each. It attracts a huge customer base. And at 1k, I may be undercharging, but I'm still making over 500% profit on each chip. 3 out of 5 pilots that come to my shop that buy chips, buy something else. I sell a lot of chips, a lot of other SW's buy them too. It is the one thing I know that I can stock 1000 chips and absolutely KNOW I will sell out in a week. That alone is very good job security. I also sell RE'd components. Those I sell for what I feel they are worth. No price breaks there, and it helps to offset some of my other components. All in all, I make a nice profit overall and I'm happy with the the money I make. I have been getting in touch with another SW on Lowca to see if we can work out a business relationship that will benefit all the SW's on Lowca and keep a few of us from getting carpel tunnel. BTW, I have also noticed the boom in prices for resources. I noticed it soon after the engine boost patch. Radioactive and steel shot up like mad. I'm still waiting for some stuff to come down in price so I can start making some of the other components. I'm still new at the business game so I'm not as frustrated as some of the older SWs yet. I just try and sell the best components I can using the best resources I can afford and can resell for a profit. This has gotten me a nice loyal base over the last few weeks. These pilots in turn have done a lot of word of mouth advertising for me which is amazing. Offering high end components makes it more reasonable that I charge a bit higher than others. I think most pilots can see that. I get a lot of experienced pilots and I think they have either tried to dabble in SW or have a SW on another server. These guys know how hard it is to make money in the space game and don't bat an eye at my prices. These are the pilots I wanted to cater to when I was planning my SW vendor and I think they have taken care of me well.
I really don't have a problem, my prices vary from cheapo to wicked expensive.
Why?
Because there are only two of three ways you can get items from my shop...
1. Good
2. Cheap
3. Fast
Good, cheap work isn't fast.
Cheap, fast work isn't good.
Good, fast work ins't cheap.
Bearing that in mind, if I have a customer that needs the perfect Level 5 reactor to cram into his JSF/B-22 and max weapon load-out, well... that my friends isn't fast and when it comes out, it'll be real good. So guess what? That's going to be a wicked expensive custom job.
Now, stuff that I throw together and do sweat shop labor for an hour to earn a few creds, well that my friend is going to be cheaper.
So, moral of the story is to try to stick to a good business plan.
Remember, your time is expensive. I hardly wear my shipwright tag anymore.
A lot of chassis was done in grinding. That's why they're so cheap. Even though they may sell at a loss. It's huge chunk of change that's tied up in those chassis.
But then again I'm in it for the long haul. And so I can eat the opportunity cost that is tied up in the chassis for credits later. I'd rather hold onto to them and sell higher than sell now for a loss.
Also some other shipwrights might want to focus on components and get their bonus points suit made, and so the short term loss can be offset by a long-term gain.
Remember this is always a business, and businesses need to adapt to meet the challenges of their competitors. Who knows, maybe the undercutters are in it for the charity.....
-Ofu
