Shipwright Archive

Seems to me that there is more to the story than meets the eye initially.

Now, on one hand, it's perfectly understandable that many serious shipwrights are up in arms regarding those who undercut and sell ships for ridiculously cheap prices. Essentially, you're really just trying to protect the SW profession economically, which is understandable, but there are other circumstances which, in my opion (for whatever that's worth) make the practice somehwat questionable.

You see, I'm aware, as I'm sure most of us are, that there are those multi-millionaires (they'd have to be) out there that are only interested in grinding to master and could care less about the inventory they generate along the way. They price their ships low because, quite frankly, they just want to gewt rid of them and make room for the higher quality products they expect to be producing at master.

On the other hand, what about the *earnest* shipwright?

You see, I'm sure that there are other shipwrights out there that are pricing their chassis lower (albeit, not insanely low) in order to compete with other shipwrights in the market.

Let's consider a hypothetical situation for a moment. Humor me. =)

Shipwright A is not a master. In fact, Shipwright A isn't even close and has a long way to go. Perhaps his or her playtime is limited, but whatever, you get the point. Now, shipwright B IS a master and has all manner of chassis available on his or her vendor at 'reasonable' prices as per the economy.

Because shipwright B is a master, and has a larger selection of available inventory (meaning type, not necessarily quantity), more pilot players become aware of shipwright B's vendor and business goes up.

Shipwright A on the other hand is struggling. He or she is trying to generate the revenue necessary to continue their grind towards master - as well as - gain some visibility in the market place by getting their name out to the customer base.

Shipwright B see's that shipwright A has chassis for sale on their vendor for less than their own and buys out shipwright A's entire inventory.

Now, shipwright B is probably thinking that there's nothing wrong with this. After all, shipwright A got paid right? And in the end of it all, both shipwrights got what they wanted, right? Wrong.

Put yourself in shipwright A's shoes for a moment and ask yourself how this all makes you feel?

You certainly didn't get into business in order to simply be another shipwright's 'supplier' did you? If you did, well then everything would be just 'hunky dory' but odds are, you didn't, and you're hopping mad.

You're angry because a fair portion of the work you put into those chassis was specifically to get your name out and known. To drive more business to your vendors, but in the end, you wound up driving business to your customers vendors. Trust me... you're pi$$ed off.

Having said that, I'd like to reiterate that I DO see the other side of the story, as I stated above. Thing is, that as shipwrights, you have two things working for you, though it'll take time before it all plays out.

1) Your items decay. Whether rapidly or slowly (really depends on the pilot) these items DO decay. That means repeat business down the road, and from the sounds of it, down the road is where it counts.

2) The law of attrition applies. Shipwright's who sell too low will eventually have to a) increase there prices, or b) go out of business. There's no way around it - either outcome is inevitable if you don't maintain a healthy profit margin.

Granted, the attrition I speak of will take time, but it WILL happen. Trust me. Soon enough we'll start seeing a balance getting struck within the shipwright profession and the products you sell - and that's just good for everyone involved. =)

/end novel =P