Tailor Archive
Thread: OMG Master Level Items for under 2000 credits
Sigh this is the worst case of undercutting there is.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Tempest&message.id=6056
Worst part is she's on my server. And yes I confronted her about this, and so have two other master tailors, but there just no reasoning with her. Please dont respond to that post though, I'm hoping it be push back into the back pages, so no one will see it.
Its just so painful seeing this 
I agree with you Paris. I was looking at that today and thinking to myself "omg, I will never make a profit if I try to compete with her". I was totally amazed with that list
I'm just grateful she's on another planet. Imagine how busy she is going to be! I saw a bunch of dancers in Mos Eisley just yesterday wearing master items.. and these are novice entertainers, not Master Dancers or anything like that. My possible customer base is going down because I can't grind fast enough.. they are already going off planet to get her stuff
I have no idea what to do about this. I wanted to charge about 10k for my master items.. now I don't know if anyone will buy them..
I am so glad that the other tailors on the server aren't charging so little for their items...
I sympathize with what you're going through. There's one particular tailor on Starsider who regularly sells his master tailor items from anywhere between 1000 and 2000 credits.The good news is that one tailor can't possibly fill the demand for the entire server. 
They can make a small dent, but they can't fill everyone's needs. The danger comes when other tailors lower their prices to try and be competitive.
Starsider master tailor items normally retail for between 6000-10000 credits. In fact,I price mine at roughly 7000-8000 and still recieve more orders than I can really keep up with. Just try your best not to be discouraged when you see someone selling wares atthousands of credits below your asking prices. Don't panic and lower your prices to their level; if you're an attentive tailor who likes to sit down with customers, design custom outfits, offer fashion advice, and give a very personalized level of service, I can guarantee that you'll have repeat customers even if your prices are a little bit above your comptetition's.
Holy @$*!
That person is not trying to run a business. She's trying to run people out of business. And looking at those prices it's not for the sake of her own profit! It's pure meanness!
Someone either had to do all that resource harvesting/locating, grinding and marketing that it generally takes to get master tailor for her. I couldn't see selling the stuff i worked so hard for so cheaply. A novice scout can harvest 500 hides on my server and make 2-3k for them. NO WAY anybody should be selling master level items at such a price.
I keep my prices on the upper levels partly because I don't want to run the little guys out of business. I like healthy competition and most of the time i don't even treat it as such. (I give loads of advice to the other tailors running around anchorhead because even with my 10k fleshwrapsandflightsuits I am SWAMPED)
Rawr! dumb folks.
Since this supposedy a free market economy I think she has a right to set those prices if she wants. Now if there was someone pricing items that low, I would buy it all or have someone buy them and mark it up. 
I think it's awful someone would undercut other tailors so drastically, but it is her choice. Eventually she'll run out of creds and resources and have to catch to you guys tho. Be patient, and all my best wishes.
Love, Kay
Building a happy client base is sooo important in this game. If players LIKE you, they will always come back to you for the personal attention. Luckily there are plenty of us tailors for each type of customer. I have alot of people who will only shop with me, so I am lucky. I get refrences from my friends and other clients. I don't HAVE to reduce my prices so low to draw in buisness. So perhaps if she was not nice enough to her customer base in the beginning.. this is why she is lowering her prices so drastically.
I also strongly feel that she has no pride in her profession for selling items so cheaply and it doesn't say a whole lot about her. She'll just get the customers that are looking for cheap.. as opposed to people who are looking for service.
Though I am happy she is not on my server.
Chiana
OUCH! Even at my prices, I can barely keep up. And I play 10 hours a day most days. This person will be burned out or will raise prices very, very soon. Don't try and compete with her. Just do your own thing. It'll sort itself out soon..
I'm so sorry this is happening to you guys.
<hugs>
Nalinya
Master Tailor of Valcyn
You have to bare with it for awhile, she'll go threw hundreds and hundreds of tells everytime she logs on (Masters that sell master items for 10k+ get lots of tells imagine her) having to restock here vendor/bazaar terminals everyday....she will get tired and quit I can tell you that right now...you can put money on it.Also after selling hundreds and hundereds of items of clothing and only having under 100000 credits I do'nt think I could go threw all that work and get nothing for it....
She'll either quit or raise her prices....
Its a few economy so she probably has other things that bring her money besides tailoring.
Once I hit master I'd never sell that low! Right now my prices are a little on the high end, but many people on my server just don't care. I regularly get tipped over what I ask for. Of course, I do have some customers reply with "oh, well, Tailor X only charges 800cr for that!" But I don't mind. Because I'm sure Tailor X is constantly in tell hell and running her little booty off filling orders. While I have some loyal customers, good vendor sales, and the freedom to just take off and do something other than crafting for awhile.
So to me, high prices are almost like a filter. I may not have as high a volume of customers, but I actually prefer it that way. I'd rather have a smaller customer base and really work to keep those folks happy than to chase every sale. Higher prices filter out the cheap, the noobs (not that I'm not happy to make DA level clothes for new characters), and the obnoxious.
Hmmm, those prices seem to be around what I'd charge for Master Tailor items. She charges less for a few items (like the bikinis) and a little more for a few others (like the flightsuits). Though I'll likely bump my prices a little on bazaar sales.
I don't understand though that it's so difficult for people to make a profit. Are you gathering your own resources? If so then resources cost about 0.65 credits per resource (that's including power cost... if gathered yourself). Other costs like houses/factories/etc are a set cost per day. The more items you sell during a day the less those costs have an effect on your prices.
And if if you sell only a little it is incredibly easy to get that. At 1000cr per cloak I only have to sell 2.5 to pay for all that (I don't have a vendor, nor do I want one, I make my own harvesters and I don't charge my customers for my one-time training costs (which I only have when I don't find another tailor to train me anyway)).
I'm still making some 300% profit on all items (even more since I markup some prices and I get my hides for free).
That sounds like fun doing, and like a good economy to me. Prices based on costs, carefully calculated. And I seriously have no idea what other tailors are doing 'wrong' that they can't afford to charge less than they are.
All else I've got to say on this... welcome to a free player economy.
- A. Kimusume
I think the point is, you can make a lot more money with a lot less effort, by charging 4x (or more) what you're charging now. I sell master items from 10-15k and can not keep up. In fact, I just raised prices on all my lower level items so that I make and sell nothing for under 1k. My time is worth MUCH more, and my customers know it.
Swine Flew
Corbantis