Tailor Archive
Thread: Ridiculous pricing??
ArthurDentOnBria
Sat Jul 24, 2004 4:23 pm
#27
hakk wrote:
Ok, now my prices are between 500 and 9,000credits except for Tactical Skinsuit and Revealing Fleshwrap which are over 10,000credits. I charge 15cpu. Is it to expensive?
UNACCEPTABLE! I say we beat him up some more 
*takes off gloves*
ArthurDentOnBria
Sat Jul 24, 2004 4:24 pm
#28
Ah, good old Nivia's pricing guide
Mystyrys wrote:
My 15,000 credit items, and they sell very well at this price too...
NJ62
Sat Jul 24, 2004 6:11 pm
#29
I think, because I don't use a multiplyer for master items, and round to the nearest 250, some of my lower-tier items are higher priced than Nivea's. /snicker.
*watches the money roll in*
*snickers more*
*watches the money roll in*
*snickers more*
ArthurDentOnBria
Sat Jul 24, 2004 6:25 pm
#30
NOOOOooooooo!
/cry
NJ62 wrote:
I think, because I don't use a multiplyer for master items, and round to the nearest 250, some of my lower-tier items are higher priced than Nivea's. /snicker.
*watches the money roll in*
*snickers more*
Agent44
Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:54 pm
#31
Woo! I just went vendor hopping between big name tailors on Bloodfin and compared their pricing and I am now thankfully relieved! Most sell things for exactly the same prices as me, but the thing is their range is a lot bigger than mine. Some tailors I've seen go between 500-10000 while I try to keep my prices from 1000-6000.
Another thing I'm experimenting with, I'm keeping my prices for clothing categories the same. (i.e. I sell casual pants and comfortable slacks for exactly the same amount) why? Because I figured if I lowered the price of casual pants I'd probably want to up the cost of high end pants like confortable slacks to make up for it. Basically my theory is this: If I'm a customer and I like a certain style of pants and only want to spend a certain amount of money for pants, why should I only be limited to the lower end pants? If you keep the prices for all pants/shirts/jackets around the same, it encourages people to buy all different kinds, at least in theory. I still got a while to run my buisness and see how this checks out. 
hakk
Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:20 am
#32
Ok, now my prices are between 500 and 9,000credits except for Tactical Skinsuit and Revealing Fleshwrap which are over 10,000credits. I charge 15cpu. Is it to expensive?
NJ62 wrote:
I actually don't remember what exactly Syzygy used to make our list. Basically we set a high end (6k) a low end (500 creds) and set our cpu values so that everything fell within those limits. Everything is rounded to the nearest 250 creds, with nothing lower than 500 creds. I would say that our resources are somewhere between 10-20 c/p/u depending on what it is (high c/p/u for named resources and hides, lower for fiberplast etc). (And this price list is for Test Center where the prices are slightly lower than live).
Oh yeah...Clothes that even with my cpu prices costs under 500cr, i'm rounding up to 500cr. I used that clothing pricing calculater thingie i found in the FAQ.
Message Edited by hakk on 07-24-2004 09:24 PM
SeraphinAnnie
Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:54 am
#33
Okie, so this is my first time posting here, or anywhere on these boards. I've been playing since release, and I became a Tailor a month after. My shop is outside Bestine,and has been forever. I also have a tent in my PA's town on Talus, and a BE Clothing only vendor in Coronet.
I also have a tent in my PA's town on Talus, and a BE Clothing only vendor in Coronet.I recently changed my whole pricing system, and while I thought it was a great idea, I'm beginning to wonder if my timing is bad. hehe
I've never had a lack of business. However, the tailoring business in general went a bit down the tubes with Hologrinding. My pricing in the beginning was based upon what I knew other tailor's charged, so as to not undercut them. Then I cut prices down once business slowed when everyone and their mother was grinding tailor.
I just revamped my entire shop, and decided I wanted a pricing system that was based on resources and time, instead of a lot of guess work. People always underestimate the time factor in Tailoring, mostly due to how different it is from other crafts, and I hate being told that something "isn't worth that much" because it only uses30 resources, etc.
So...without actually listing the whole system, this is what I did, and I'd like some opinions:
Basically, I used a cpu for resources of a flat 4cpu for basics, 5cpu for specifics, 6cpu for hides/bone, 7cpu for planet and specific, 8cpu for hard to find(green diamond,etc).
Then, I applied that to component pieces, and totalled up how much each component is worth.
When tallying up the clothing cost, using the above, I also added a flat rate for Identical components, per component. That applies my factory time.
That gave me the bulk of my prices for the clothing, and then I added a 40% markup to that total, for my time and effort.
Surprisingly under that system, there were some pieces of clothing that added up much lower than I had been charging. Some prices were higher, quite a few.
So, in short, my pricing has some items that are as low as 150c, and as high as 7000. Now I realize some of you may think 7000 is too low, and believe me, in a lot of ways I agree. In the beginning, all Master items were 12k,etc. But on my server, few people will pay that, and even fewer charge it, and the average for master items seems to be around 5-6k. I see a lot of you here use the older pricing systems still, and I think that's great. I'm just not convinced it still works on my server. So that's why I'm asking.Any other Ahazi tailors, throw me a bone here. I've never really been hurting for business no matter my prices, but I also don't want to cheat myself.
Now this is my problem. The items that came up low, it just feels "wrong" to charge so little. Even though on Ahazi, tailor prices are all over the place. We have a lot of discount tailors, and some that charge so much I swear they can't be selling much. I've gotten quite a few compliments on my new system, many saying it makes them feel better to know that everything in the schem is accounted for instead of charging the same for all shirts, etc(no offense to any that do that).
Sorry for the long post, but I do read this board often, and I think rather highly of the regular posters, and their opinions as fellow tailors. I've been in business a long time, and I will never give up tailoring. But I also want to be fair to my customers, and other tailors at the same time, and that's proving harder and harder to do everyday. Any thoughts/opinions? Go easy on me, I'm not a newbie, but I'm new to posting on the official boards. Thanks!
Thanks!
NJ62
Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:16 am
#34
Yeah some would come out rather low. What I've always done is to make a "bottom" of 500 credits, and never charge less than that, period. I figure that my time is worth at least 500 credits. Another way to tweak your formula is to do the C/P/U x resources x 40% and then add a flat "time fee" to all items (300-500 creds) or something like that. Cause, yeah, I always dreaded the day when someone would come in and say "oh, only 150 credits? I'll take 100. Here's 15k."
SeraphinAnnie
Sun Jul 25, 2004 9:07 am
#35
Thanks for the response n'Jessi. You're quite right.
I have given consideration to adding another flat rate, like 300c to every item on top of the prices I have now, just to boost the ones that seem way too low. But, the reason I am hesitant, is because it also bumps up the things that are higher priced in the same category.
Belts for instance:
Cartridge Belts under my new system came out to 770. Which isn't bad, considering I always used to charge 800.
Two Pocket Belts, which take next to nothing to make, came out to 150.
Adding 300 to both of those, isn't going to hurt much.
But, Dignified/Fancy/Simplified belts all came out component and resource heavier, so they came out to 1645 alone. Boosting those 300 credits, and then people are paying almost 2k for a belt, which seems a bit high. Maybe it's all in my head though!
It's a tough line though for sure, deciding between an actual system, and trying to tack on markups without overpricing items, or jipping myself. Some of my items came out what I think are good fair average prices. While others are just so low. But yet, I'd feel bad increasing only the prices on the low ones, because it sorta defeats the purpose of a system to begin with. haha /loses mind
I really do appreciate all input and ideas.
NJ62
Sun Jul 25, 2004 11:04 am
#36
$1645? Oh I hope you're rounding your prices! Seriously, it is such a pain to have all different prices in all different amounts. Round to the nearest 100, or 200 or something, but for your own sanity, round your numbers
Roshigoth
Sun Jul 25, 2004 11:13 am
#37
Really... My prices are based on a tailor catalog I found a while back (at least for non-BE clothing). I adjusted a few items I thought were priced poorly, but even so I often notice that I cost more than many other tailors I've visited. It doesn't seem to have hurt my sales, though. Go figure.
SeraphinAnnie
Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:14 am
#38
That actually brings up a good point n'Jessi. I had originally decided not to round at all, to stick with the exact totals for continuity. But, that actually might be a solution to my dilemma. I can round down the items that although not popular, are resource/component hogs, and round up the items I feel are a bit too low. Making my minimum at least 200 anyways. I had thought of it, but was avoiding it, due to my fear of the "guessing game". Formerly all my items were rounded off, and while the new system of jumbled numbers doesn't bother me(price list printed out), I think I might just try it and see how it goes.
Thanks again!
captenjonny
Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:36 pm
#39
Jeezums!!
I'm not all that expereinced but I'm taking down (daily) 15-40K from my glactic vendor in bestine, another 10-50K in resources and factory crates, and 10-20K from my deicated vendor. I've also got a dedicated wookie vendor that brings in 2-5K a day - but i really like wookies. (yes, I have and maintain my merchant points) So I'm pulling 45K-100K a day. That DOES mean i have to spend at least an hour a day crafting and harvesting and running the factory but the money is good for my alt.
I live for my little alt-tank!
Fleshwraps move out at 6K - 7.5K if I hit four sockets, bakers hats and camos at 2500, seakers and slippers at 500, gunman and spec-op dusters at 4K (5-6K if I color them grey and rename them IMPERIAL dusters), trenchcoats and ROH at 4K-5K. I try to get back 3X resources 10X organics and 20X rare but that's my gut. ANYTHING with 4 sockets goes to the dedicated vendor with a 1K-3K markup.
I'm not all that expereinced but I'm taking down (daily) 15-40K from my glactic vendor in bestine, another 10-50K in resources and factory crates, and 10-20K from my deicated vendor. I've also got a dedicated wookie vendor that brings in 2-5K a day - but i really like wookies. (yes, I have and maintain my merchant points) So I'm pulling 45K-100K a day. That DOES mean i have to spend at least an hour a day crafting and harvesting and running the factory but the money is good for my alt.
I live for my little alt-tank!
Fleshwraps move out at 6K - 7.5K if I hit four sockets, bakers hats and camos at 2500, seakers and slippers at 500, gunman and spec-op dusters at 4K (5-6K if I color them grey and rename them IMPERIAL dusters), trenchcoats and ROH at 4K-5K. I try to get back 3X resources 10X organics and 20X rare but that's my gut. ANYTHING with 4 sockets goes to the dedicated vendor with a 1K-3K markup.