Smuggler Archive
Thread: Running A Merchant Based Smuggler Business: A guide
Running a Smuggler Business
After a recent discussion with a lady who was looking for a smuggler to provide items in her mall I decided it might be helpful to write up a guide for those who have thought about running a smuggler business but don’t know where to begin. It will probably make depressing reading as realistically you need 2+ accounts or friends to come in on the business to achieve it but its not that bad.
Section 1: Required Boxes
So what skills do you need to run a successful shop? Obviously spices and slicing 4. But also Novice armour smith and novice weapon smith. Why? Because that’s where you get WUK’s and AUK’s from. However these are an AWFUL point sink and most of us tend to run a combat template so I suggest you find a friendly WS/AS and strike a deal with them for them to make you regular schematics for a set price or a discount on slicing etc. Most jump at the opportunity for discount slicing! Also you need to be able to survey. Sometimes people or friends will find you spots but its best not to be too reliant on them, as they get busy too. Even if you just take novice artisan its better than nothing.
Section 2: Spices
The two main sellers still are muon gold and neutron pixie.
Muon uses 15 metal 15 water 15 radioactive. Aka 375 of each resource per crate aka 37,545 per 100 crate run.
Pixie uses 15 gemstone 15 metal 15 fruit. Aka 375 of each resource per crate aka 37,545 per 100 crate run.
Depending on your business traffic you’ll want to have 1 or 2 harvs at a time harvesting the above components. I originally ran a VERY busy smuggler shop but even with other items selling fast spices were very slow moving so I never had more than 1 of each harv out at a time(except metal harvs but we’ll get to that later). That’s still 6 odd lots though.
Then to manufacture your spices you’ll need a food and chemical factory. Again depending on how busy you are you’ll need to run between 1 and 2 of these. Once I had a backlog built up after our initial opening I never had more than 1 up and at times I even redeeded it as spice sales were slow.
Section 3: Slicing equipment
Precision laser knives require 16 metal each to make. Aka 400 metal pre crate aka 40,048 metal per 100 crate factory run. These items are the 2nd most popular item we sold whilst running the store.
Mol clamps require 90 metal to make. Some of it non ferrous so its best to just harvest all non ferrous stuff. So that’s 2250 metal a crate or 225,270 metal per 100 crate factory run.
Mol clamps will be your biggest resource sucker. They take much longer in the factory than any other item you produce, they use far more resources, and they were our fastest selling item. Keeping them in stock and keeping a backlog of metal is one of, if not your biggest challenge. I cannot stress enough how much resources these take and how good a seller they are.
You need as MANY mineral harvs on copper or alu as you can. Quality doesn’t matter. Just get the harvs on a high % spot and get mining. And as soon as that shifts out switch spots and get mining again. Having enough metal for these 2 products WILL make or break your business. At any given time we had 6 to 14 harvs on metal. Ideally if your business traffics good you want to aim to build up a back log of 2 million metal at least. Now that may sound like a lot but nearly 1 mill of that could easily be used in 4 days if your having a temporary boom in business.
As for factories this again depends on traffic. At first you want at least 2 of them up. Or if you’re trying to build a backlog of crates, 4. 2 doing knives 2 doing mols. Then adjust the number based on business. Try to identify your busy periods and in the days before produce a surplus. IE every weekend we’d see a massive boom in sales so Wednesday I used to put up 2 extra factories and run them round the clock producing mols and knives.
Section 4: Incidentals
As I mentioned earler WUK’s and AUK’s. Many people overlook these items but they are a good earner and a very important part of smuggler. Unfortunately they require novice AS/WS to make. So either find a friendly person to make you schematics or find someone to supply them for you.
They both require 20 metal 10 chemical to make. Aka 500 metal 250 chemical per crate aka 50,060 metal 25,030 chemical per factory run of 100 crates.
Now I personally didn’t handle this side of the business so I cant offer to much advice but they were fairly good sellers so I’d imagine at least 2 metal harvs and 1 chem harv should keep you fairly well stocked. And 2 factories to initially build up a backlog then 1 to 2 to keep it going depending on business traffic.
One of the often overlooked items are survival knives. As most of you know these make GREAT items to practice slicing on till slicing 4.
The schematics in novice artisan so if you took surveying you can make them. They require 14 metal to make. Aka 350 for a crate aka 35,042 for a 100 crate run. These don’t sell in massive amounts but they do sell steadily so just fit them in between other factory runs and use spare metal lying around.
Section 5: Pricing and enticing customers
Always a touchy subject on the forums. The best advice I can offer is check other smuggler vendors and try and under cut them. Always ensure you are making a profit though. After all that’s why you went into this gig.
As for getting people to your store, have a big opening sale. Offer discount slicing, etc etc there’s a million ways to do it just use your imagination. Also either bring other vendors into your store or try and get yourself into a mall operation. Having vendors close by that sell items your products are related too (ie weapons and armour) will help boost all parties involved sales. Making a partnership with certain smiths will be a good money spinner too. IE offer discounts on slicing certain smiths weapons/armour in exchange for some sort of deal with the smith.
Section 6: Problems to over come
Your single biggest problem is lots. If you plan to offer the full package you will require at least 20 odd lots. So you either need your own additional accounts or friends who will either lend you lots or come on board the business with you. Failing that concentrate on one specific area listed above and focus on that part of the smuggler trade.
The other main problem is merchant skills. The majority of us have a combat orientated template and thus do not have room for merchant skill boxes. The best way to get around this again is to have a 2nd account, bring a friend on board, or join a mall operation.
Section 7: Summary
Well there you have it. Hope this is some use to you all. For several months I was joint owner/runner of a very popular smuggler shop on Eclipse near theed. Selling 500+ crates of items per week at times. It’s a lot of work and very financially rewarding if you have the time to do it.
If you spot anything here that looks incorrect or have anything to add please let me know and i'll edit it in.
Message Edited by Azarken on 12-20-2004 02:07 PM
Message Edited by Azarken on 12-21-2004 07:58 AM
You say (for example) that you need 40,040 to make a factory run of 100 crates of Precision laser knives, however since the most crates you can make from one schematic is 40 (1000 / 25) then you need to make 3 schematics to make 100 crates, giving you a total resource requirement of 40,120 units. The same applies to your other resource counts as well.
i knew it was a max of 40 crates per schematic but i used 100 as it was a nice round figure, and because if you only stock 40 crates you'll run out fast heh. i just shouldnt have put in the factory run bit. my mistake got myself jumbled. I'll modify it now to relfect the 3 schematics part.Message Edited by Azarken on 12-20-2004 02:09 PM
SmugglinZane wrote:
Great post Azarken. I give you credit, so please don't take this the wrong way.
This is how to run a spice and slice business. I wanna be a Smuggler, and although some money can get made with what I consider to be secondary abilities, I'd rather lose more money getting boarded than I could ever hope to make from slicing and spices.
Good info either way.
i understand what your saying there mate and perhaps the title of my post would be better changed to how to run a smuggler merchant based business. unfortunatly they dont give us proper smuggling business to do at the moment so this is all we have
Message Edited by Azarken on 12-21-2004 07:58 AM