Tailor Archive
Thread: clothing price inflation
TheNola wrote:That stuff disgusts me. Metal bikini's are 1000, lekku wraps are 500, revealing fleshwraps - 2500. I hate it. I hate it all.
*Agreed* I really hate it all too - everything is so outta whack! I just wish everyone could be on the same page. If we would all stand together, we would be able to get the prices that the items are truly worth.
PerilousWish wrote:
I'm just curious, how long have you been a tailor, Drrty?
Maybe a month or just a bit longer i think? i know i know i'm still just some noob tailor but oh well... i make Drrty Laundry where 'If your clothes arn't Drrty its time to get some new clothes' heh errm yeah *shrug* i'll go back to my coffee now
It's one of the problems inherent in the game's structure - you can always make a decent amount of money doing missions, even if you're not a potent combat monster. And if you *are*, you can make a *lot* of money. And then you can do a crafting profession "on the side," and undercut the people who are actually trying to make a living at that profession.
Of course, it'd be impossible to do this in real life. It's roughly akin to Henry Ford being able to make roughly equivalent profits by either making Model T's or hunting bears in the forests of Michigan. Or he could make Model T's at a loss, financing his automotive hobby by doing more bear hunting.
I'd encourage people to think about the crafters who can't, won't, or simply don't choose to spend most of their time hunting bears, and are actually trying to run profitable businesses. I make about 95% of my income from tailoring, and I work hard at it, and have managed to make good money at it because of that. It annoys me when some dilletante "hobbyist" tries to undercut that by selling tailored goods at less than cost.
But as someone said, these people seldom stick with it long enough to be much of an actual threat to professional tailors.
Dahliaa wrote:
I honestly try to stay away from the bazar lately because I find it depressing. Clothing in the bazar (in Theed on Naritus) are selling very low prices. I understand everyone can charge what they want but it amazes me that people do not realize the effect they have on the tailoring industry. We have a LARGE number of tailors on our server....many come & go but I have been a master since last August. If it weren't for the BE clothig I wouldn't be making much at all. I sell a lot of my MT items for 9k (flightsuits, exotic leotard, grand ball gown). I see these items on the bazar for 3k (being sold as new). I am not going to fight with fellow tailors....I just keep hoping they will leave the profession since they don't respect it. Why should clothing be cheap? We aren't talking about resource prices you are talking about time....my time is not cheap.
When I see cheap clothing on the bazaar, it is often not sold by the tailor. Its usually something that someone is bored of and they are just getting out of their inventory cheap (it is often damaged too). If clothing decay actually worked, there wouldn't be so much of this anymore.
I actually check to see if the maker is the same as the seller on the low priced bazar items . 90% of the time it was the actual tailor.
Gyopi wrote:
Dahliaa wrote:
I honestly try to stay away from the bazar lately because I find it depressing. Clothing in the bazar (in Theed on Naritus) are selling very low prices. I understand everyone can charge what they want but it amazes me that people do not realize the effect they have on the tailoring industry. We have a LARGE number of tailors on our server....many come & go but I have been a master since last August. If it weren't for the BE clothig I wouldn't be making much at all. I sell a lot of my MT items for 9k (flightsuits, exotic leotard, grand ball gown). I see these items on the bazar for 3k (being sold as new). I am not going to fight with fellow tailors....I just keep hoping they will leave the profession since they don't respect it. Why should clothing be cheap? We aren't talking about resource prices you are talking about time....my time is not cheap.
When I see cheap clothing on the bazaar, it is often not sold by the tailor. Its usually something that someone is bored of and they are just getting out of their inventory cheap (it is often damaged too). If clothing decay actually worked, there wouldn't be so much of this anymore.
But I am not going to change professions or give in to price wars. I will continue to make clothing & hope that things will improve 
Rizzaka wrote:
i know i know i'm still just some noob tailor but oh well...
My take on this issue has always been a matter of time. I have to hand-craft every item, and most professions don't. Your local armorsmith creates composite armor by the crate. So we will spend more time making the same number of items. That's a huge time committment to just scrape by.
Also, there is an issue of workload. Considering that you have to hand-craft items, do you really want to sell out in a blink and make more work for yourself? Tailors who sell significantly below market many times feel burnt-out, and raise prices just to regulate workload.
Aside from some incredibly grateful, polite people who will love your low prices, there will be the disrespectful smacktards who are only looking for the cheapest possible item, since they believe that tailoring is worthless. Lower prices tend to attract the seedy losers. As much as it feels noble to make clothing affordable for everyone, realistically in a mature economy most people have plenty of money, and those bargain hunting are unwilling to pay a decent price for clothing and not unable to pay.
It was quite a shocker to price to TC market value... 3k fora fleshwrap.... as I keel over and die!
I occasionally glance at what's on the bazaar. And cringe. There's not much there, in any city, on any planet, but when I do see master level items there, I check to see if it was a resell or posted by the creator. And if it's priced at under cost to make it, I cringe some more. Same with the tailor vendors in malls I go to.
Yes, each server's economy is different, but after a while, you get a bearing for what the market will bear compared to the cost of living and income levels on your server. If you factor in all your costs, yet still, sell far below what it cost you to make it, (resources and time to reach master, training expenses, housing, harvesters, vendors, factories, etc.) and far below what it's "standard market value is," then yes, you are hurting the business of every other tailor on your server, and the perception of value in every customer's mind. You devalue our merchandise, and our profession.
I sell at a decent marginbased onmy costs to produce a finished product. This includes all my overhead. I sell below cost on some items, and slightly above cost on others and it balances out nicely. I don't make a fortune, but I make enough to pay my expenses with a little left over for shineys. And my sales are at a nice healthy pace that feels just right. I'm busy, but not drowning in customers. I am low-profile and I like it that way. I sell a Robe of Honor for 15k and that is the highest priced item I sell (I don't do BE clothes except on special order for guildies and friends). My cheapest items are500 credits and all of those are artisan level schematics.
Unless the undercutters have a main profession that keeps the bank balance healthy, being an undercutter tailor will be the fast lane to bankrupt.
And yes, lowball pricing tailors do seem to get the dregs of society at their door. You know why? Because they don't respectthat tailor'stime, efforts, expenses AND creativity he/sheput into the profession. And they base that on the proof ofthe prices that sayhe/she didn't thinkhis/her stuff is worth much either.
What I find interesting about the recent posts to this somewhat old thread is just that it seems the clothing price inflation that I noted in the original post doesn't sound like it applies to all servers. Must be a Bria-only phenomenon. Less tailors in Bria? dunno.
As far as pricing goes, I used to get real uptight about it, bristle and undercutters, and worry about all that, now, quite simply, I don't. I've come to the conclusion that none of that matters. What matters is location, and selection. Location will determine how much traffic you get, and selection will determine if you get repeat customers. Whether I charge 2k or 5k for an item won't make any difference. So I price based on what my concience tells me is a fair price, knowing that people would pay more but that I already charge more than many, and let it be at that. What someone else charges on another planet or on another city in the same planet has little bearing on me.