Tailor Archive

when people complain about my prices (which on my server is considered decent) i tell them "sorry my prices are set", and if they're nice, "would you like me to recommend something less pricy?" otherwise, i just leave it at that. however, if they kept pushing me, i *would* ban them (although this hasn't happened yet, thank goodness)

just let it go... no use stressing over what one person thinks. i'm sure the rest of your customers think you're great

I very rarely have complaints but I have had a few. I simply tell them that those are my prices and they will not be changing, end of discussion. I leave no room for argument. If they continue to complain I repeat my statement and walk away. If they become really annoying, (few have), I simply ignore them. Eventually they will buy or leave, it's all the same to me.

Thankfully it's still a seller's market in tailored goods, so we really don't need any single customer. And remember...until and unless they actually buy something, they *aren't* a customer. Customers are right. a$$holes aren't.

As a master tailor, I've had to contend with this issue to some extend. Generally, my items have 3-4 sockets while those of the other tailors who do business around me do not have much invested in their tailoring skill tree, so there items tend not to have sockets. That said, I usually don't sell for considerably more than them, I just get more sales. As for people agruing about pricing, I've been told once that "I can get that cheaper on naboo". My responce is: "Farewell". I've been making over 100k credits in profits a day as a tailor, and I see no reason to lower my prices (they aren't that high anyway, master items are the only things I charge more than 4k for) as it would just increase the amount of effort needed to sustain my business and keep my store stocked. If the vendor costs increase significantly as 3CPQ has suggested, i'll probably raise my prices to cover those costs.

I did once have someone try to beg to get a patterned slip dress for free. When I refused, they began insulting me in my own house, so I ran to the control panel, banned them, and did an /addignore. Problem solved.

-Ashia

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Remember for every price naysayer there are ten good customers. And for every good cutstomer there are 10 idiots.

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ROFL! Rava, you have spent too much time hanging out in my shop! You've met quite a few of the "idiots" that visit me.

I almost never get complaints on my prices. When I do, I tell them they're welcome to find another tailor that will make it for less. No, I'm not "cheap", but now that it looks like I'm going to have to give everything up besides tailoring to master merchant to afford to keep my merchant, well.. I deserve it. And I'm not the most expensive, either. But I offer excellent customer service and a vendor that has at least one of every single item I can make (except Desert Crawlers.. I'm determined to rid Corellia of the things). You can't imagine how many hours I put into setting that vendor up.

Nalinya Dreamstar
Master Tailor of Valcyn

Reshkan wrote:

If you want to be short and sweet you can say, "I'll take that under advisement".

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Ohh, I like that!
Here's another, with only a minor poke for the fashion fickle: "Suit yourself."

"I'll make a note of that"

Actually the way you have described this person, tends to lead me to believe what you are dealing with is either a veryboyish female (IRL) or a 20 something male (IRL). I don't know what its important that I point that out, only to me, when I know in my mind that the person I am dealing with is a guy in a female body I don't feel so bad.

I have had run ins with these sorts, they 99% of the time you can see them from a mile away in a hail storm. The guy who says something flurty as a feamle IG yet it somewhat off, then hits you with a wink blush wink blow kiss all in the same 3 seconds, as if their female charm is supposed to award them some sort of discount. I find it funny and charge them more. j/k

Well I happen to be female IRL, so I can totally understand all the /wink /blush /flirt business. Those that don't know me well probably think my character (who's also female) is being played by a guy IRL because I don't do all the cutesy crap. I am a dancer, and I do flirt, but I'll also unleash my temper in a flash if someone annoys me.

Another thing that irks me is that my prices are in plain view. My displays are labeled WITH the prices, and I still have people ask me, "How much for that Cold Weather Jacket?"

"You mean the one right there?" /pointat

"Yeah."

"The one that says, 'Cold Weather Jacket - White and Black - 1000c' ?"

"oh lol"

/headache

I don't know how much you charge for your items, so this isn't neccessarily aimed at you, but I've found that most tailors really DO charge too much...

I often get customers in my shop saying how much they like my place because I charge so much less than others. I don't try to undercut other tailors on my server, I just charge what I think is fair--that usually ends up making me 100 to 500% profit. And people are charging more than this? I NEVER have money problems. Running one vendor and being about 5 skill boxes from master, I ALWAYS have over 200k credits--only from tailoring. This is WAY more than I could ever spend.

I charge 600-1000 for most shirts, pants, skirts--even ones in the third and fourth tiers. This is a price in EXCESS of 10cr per resource, and nets me that enormous margin, but it STILL is (apparantly) low.HIgh demand items cost more. Dusters, for instance, are 2500, cloaks 2000, spec-ops packs 2000-2500. Everything has 3-4 sockets and good colors.

Why anyone would charge more than this, I don't know. The high prices turn off customers and, really, why do you need to make more than this? As I said, I have WAY more money than I can spend. I buy vanity items like Rancors I can't use anddroids that do nothing, and STILL can't get below the 200k credits mark in my account.

My 2cr.

-ave

Well I have a nice group of regular customers. I only had one that I wasn't sure about...always trying to talk me down and act like I told her I would sell for less. This person even resold something I made special for her at a 10k profit to her! I log on one day and get a tell immediately telling me I sucked. She had found an undercutter. I basically told her it is a well know fact some charge more than me...other less. It's mainly a matter of what the tailor thinkstheir service is worth.

Anyways...it's no skin off my back. All the undercutters willhopefully soon feel the sting of how busy their lives will become and how many resources they will eat up when people come in with 12k and want 6 grand healer robes. Italked with a few of my regulars and they never had a problem with my prices. One even said they shopped with the undercutters sometimes but always comes to me for others..mostly master items. She said the undercutters have such bad service and variety that they shouldn't feel like they can charge as much as me anyways. Well I guess that customer can shop the undercutters anduse them up...maybe even do what she did with me and sell thempersonally for a great amount of profit. It's not going to phase me to much. I like to be able to do other things than just sew when i log on. Even at my prices there was a time when people rushed to get clothes that I would get so busy and miss meals...doesn't happen anymore.

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AveAcheko wrote:

I don't know how much you charge for your items, so this isn't neccessarily aimed at you, but I've found that most tailors really DO charge too much...

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Well, I made the comment in another thread, that with money being so easy to come by in the game, why would someone really care? What percentage of players do you think really care whether a cloak costs 2k or 2.5k?

Look at it like this: if you have very little skill but run missions (delivery, crafting, entertainment, etc) you can make at least 15k-20k/hour. So how do you value somebody's time that has a skill that is rare and in great demand? If you were to analyze it like that, ALL tailoring and ID prices are WAY WAY WAY too low. The reality of course is that there is a "perceived valued" associated with different goods and services, so that is what we're stuck with.

One other comment about costs associated with tailoring products. I don't know of another profession that has as many "throw away" costs as tailors. I mean when somebody asks for "a good looking, light colored skirt" how many are you going to have to make to nail down that requirement and give the customer something that they really like? And how much time will I have to (get to?) spend in doing it? When I make a customer a house, I hand them the deed, get, paid, transaction complete. It seems to rarely work that way in tailoring (I'm not complaining, I think that's largely the appeal of it to me btw).