Tailor Archive
Thread: ONE FURIOUS MASTER TAILOR
Stellarchik,
A question, and then an observation.
Question: are these clothing skill attachments we're talking about? or simply bio enhancements?
Observation:
Two ways to look at this:
1) If we're talking about bio engineered clothing here, and he's bringing you tissues that you make into clothing, which he then resells at a high price, well, I can sympathize to some degree. Depending on what you're charging for this service you are probably not getting a very big piece of the pie. I've had customers request that I do this for them as well (before I became a master BE) and I did it grudgingly. I always felt that it was a whole lot of hassle for very little reward from a tailor's perspective, especially if it requires factory runs of bio enhanced cloths or RFP's using their tissues, and I always assumed it was for personal use, so I guess I wouldn't be all that trilled if I found it was not. My advice would be to simply not offer this service. That is my current policy as well. The other part of this though, is that if he is having any luck selling such clothing items, it signals a huge market opportunity for you. Since you are the tailor, you have the customer base and the connections, no reason why you can't cream this guy by offering similar products yourself. Don't get mad, get even, lol.
2) From another standpoint, it is somewhat flattering. He could have chosen any tailor but he chose you for whatever reason. You ban him, he goesdown the streetto another tailor, and tells his friends, and so forth. I find that these days probably 75% of the customers I get are either repeat customers or personal referrals, so this is fairly significant.
Now, if we're talking clothing attachments that is a whole different ballgame. If that's what it is, you should delight in the fact that by buying your clothing to add them too he is:
a) giving you free advertising
b) lowering the value of his products (skill tapes are worth much more before being added to clothing than after for obvious reasons)
c) giving you a sale
If he's doing that, he's truly an idiot.
So what you are saying ,,your price is low enough for him to take the time to run to your shop,,purchase your items and then take the time to run back to a bazaar and reprice them on the bazaar which allows a profit???
Sounds as if you are underpricing yourself and sounds as if he is using "player driven economy" just as it was intended.
If your prices are low enough for him to actually make a profit,,,you have a way to solve the problem without banning him,,all you need to do is raise your prices to what the market will actually pay ,,problem solved plus you will also make more as well.
I have actually purchased items on the bazaar for resale on the bazaar that were underpriced just to help stablize prices ,,not for profit. Its actually a very legitimate tactic and in my opinion helps not only current tailors but also future tailors. So if you price to the market it shouldnt be an issue.
On my character who is a Master Doctor, I have a fairly successful Stimpack B business that I operate out of a vender in my guilds’ mall. The “standard” price for a reasonably well made B-pack is 1000c on my server, and that’s what I sell mine for (in various sized crates and what have you). I have no trouble with keeping up on demand, and yet they sell pretty well: it’s right in the middle where you’re making money and don’t have to go nuts to keep your vender stocked. However, I have recently run into a similar situation as the original poster - a fellow was going to buy full crates of my product (50 packs for 50k) and re-sell them on the hard planets and popular areas for 3000c each!
Frankly I would have congratulated the guy on a great marketing idea, until I started worrying about having my name attached to the newer, higher prices. My customer base is built on knowing that my vender will always be stocked with good, but not the best, medicines at reasonable prices. Folks that want the best of the best and can pay as much as they need to go to the Best - people who just want to heal themselves and not kill their bank account come to depend on Kallah Krafted Medical Supplies. I would hate to lose that trust (or nitch market, if you prefer) by having my name stuck on grossly over priced products.
In the end I had a talk with him: explained about what he was doing - it seems that the stims were selling well at that price in the harder areas, and he simply saw it as the old “buy low, sell high.” I told him that I wouldn’t like to have my name advertised in that way, and felt it would generate too much negative publicity. It went back and forth, and in the end I agreed to make him some “unmarked stims” that he could sell however he liked.
The best advice I can give you is to talk with the guy, and try to be calm (I know, it won’t be easy considering how he’s gone behind your back) and see if you can agree on a much more substantial price for your services. You deserve your fair share of the price, and without you he would have no product to sell. You can also then be sure to label the items differently from your others (maybe put HIS name in the item!) so players can recognize it as not your standard stock.
ArthurDentOnBria wrote:
This I don't agree with. We owe resellers a huge debt of gratitude, all of us do. They are perhaps the only ones that really analyze the goods market, identify grossly underpriced items, and quickly rectify the situation for the benefit of us all. You get a sale, he does the market analysis that the original merchant missed out on, and the rest of the merchants offering similar items benefit because of the "price correction" that goes on. A very good deal for everybody involved.
I can agree with this, but my problem is that I would want to know if they are buying just for resale. I am not a tailor for the money. In fact, after about 3 months of being a master tailor, I might finally break a million credits this weekend (at least briefly). Thats not because no one likes me as a tailor, but because I do mostly custom orders and I spend a lot of time on each customer. It's rare that I spend less than 30 minutes and it often goes over an hour as we talk, I find out what he or she likes or doesn't like, we discuss different accessories, etc. Anyway, if someone just wants a bunch of generic clothes to put on their vendor, then they should tell me ahead of time. Then I won't waste my time with that customer and I can just make some schematics and let the factory do their order for me. In fact, if the order is big enough, I might even give them a discount! But that would allow me to move on to other people who are in queue who really need the personalized attention.
A week ago, I noticed one individual had bought 3 of my SpecOp/BH packs from the bazaar. I restocked them. Next day, same person bought them. I sent him an email asking what he was doing with these packs, figuring he was reselling them. Turns out, he was buying them for his Guild Hall for tidy storage. LOL. Asked him to mail me directly with any orders to get a bulk discount.
It would be interesting to have some way of pulling from the database how many of your items are out in the galaxy. Just imagine how many things you've made since starting on this path that you've given away/sold. How many of them are still out there? I know I get a kick when I go into someone's house and they have one of my items there.
Dex1138 wrote:
Whoa, I'm not a Master yet and I'm over 900k...anyway
Yea. I might be the only master tailor out there with so little money, but I have enough to not have to worry about money. Its not like I don't have customers. I usually have a pretty big queue, and just yesterday several people contacted me saying that they have heard a lot about me and that I have a reputation for doing really good work <blush>, so I must be doing something right! Anyway, I guess making millions is not really my goal. I am just trying to be one of the best tailors in the galaxy. Maybe one day I will be.
You aren't the only one.
I just recently went back over a million, for only the second time in my master career. Possibly because i am lazy and never stock over 150 items on any vendor. 
Or because i keep buying furniture and guns for people.
If i was playing the game to get rich, don't think i would have chosen tailor, probably weaponsmith or commando or something. However, i make enough to get by nicely, and i have FUN making clothes, instead of grinding out 200 pairs of reinforced pants in every color combination. 
If I sold the item I consider it mine. If they paid some schlep 500k for it - that is in no way my problem and i would defend this to any customer. After all - any outfit I make anyone can be sold on or given away once people get bored or find something they feel is better. This can be 1 min or 1 year after i sell it.
In my opinion clothes in the game are disposable - they are not intended to be worn forever- as people will want changes. (they can waer them forever- i just dont think that most people will). Its only worth what any customer will pay. if they want to pay 500k from somebody- then its their (mad) choice.
I was reading another thread ,,and a tailor was saying that they charged 4500 or so for a +17 stun +4 melee defense clothing item. This is a classic example for this thread, If I were on that server, I'd find the shop and buy every single item on the vendor at that price as long as I thought someone might buy that clothing item in that color, and reprice it at 15000.
If you underprice, you will have this happen ,,and banning me really doesnt solve the problem,,increasing your price to market value solves the problem. If you see the same person come back over and over and buy the same or similar items over and over ,,its a clue that you have underpriced the market,
is there a pattern of buying from this guy? is he reselling it? or over pricing it so that it does NOT sell, ie he's storing the items on his vendorand does not want them to sell? talk to the guy instead of jumping to conclusions, there could be a 1000 things going on that you have no idea about.
in general tho if you sell something for X credits and are happy with what you got then take it to the bank with a smile on your face and be done with it. if someone can make a profit by reselling your stuff congratz to them - it's your own fault for creating a market for the guy by not doing your own market research. nice thing is you are in a position to undercut him. go open a shop next to him and put his prices to shame. can't be bothered? then you ain't playin the market game (if you don't like the way he does business then put him out of business. time to put up or shutup).
sure if I sold something at a garage sale for 25cents and saw it on the antiques roadshow next week for $10k I'de be choked, but we aren't dealing with priceless one a kind items. it's all disposalable and easily recreated... have fun with it or take up resource collecting.