Tailor Archive
Thread: Under cutting and What do you do about it?
Xelene wrote: If you have the stomach for arbitrarily charging exhorbitant prices for things you know for a fact cost you nowhere near that much, then you'll probably always have more money than me. So why complain about people like me?
This cracks me up. I'd love to hear what you say to armorsmiths, weaponsmiths and droid engineers! I wonder how many resources my 9000 credit crafting droid took? I should go demand a refund because I know it was more than 2 or 3 cpu.
Oh, and so far no one has complained about my horrid prices, so I must be okay. In fact, people usually tip me over and above the amount that I ask. I wonder what THAT means? It can't be good, I'm sure.
These pricing threads go round and round.. no resolution will ever be reached.. this is a game, it's not real life. Real life economics don't apply. At least not until the time I can get silly amounts of real life cash for doing something as easy as delivering a letter across town, or swatting flies in my back yard. Just imagine a world where you could work for an hour or two, and make enough money to cover your expenses for weeks or months. What fun that would be! One where you have no taxes, no need to buy food or drink, no healthcare costs (or you could just /tip the doctor what you want).. and a million other reasons why SWG <> real life.
I'd like to think I'll stop posting on these pricing threads.. but I'm sure I'll get sucked in again. It is fairly amusing at least.
"" Ri'a Ocoli"" Master Tailor, Kettemoor
"" Fine Attire by Ri'a is 1km north of Keren at 1190, 3770
"" .. my door is always open, stop by any time!
I decided not to lower prices. I am gonna try to keep selection and variety in stock, then just try to wait out the other tailors who come and go... and they do come and go. Eventually, my name will be at the top of the list for clothing because I will still be around when others are done undercutting and can't make a living or get tired of the grind.
I realize how busy my shop is, it's not quite as busy as it was, but that is okay because I no longer have to stock it every single day, so I think i am selling things at an easier pace, which is actually a refreshing change. I just have to get used to an easier pace. I was one of the first Master Tailors on my server, so that is probably why I was so busy before, now since more tailors are popping up, people don't need to travel as far, and they already have alot of clothes, so it may not even be the under cutter who is hurting my buisness but just a general down trend in clothes.
I also felt bad when i went to the 'undercutters' shop because she had ugly items and not much at all for variety on her vendor.
So, hopefully I can stay in buisness and continue with a good reputation on my server, after the others have come and gone. I already know like 4 or 5 tailors who have left the server already! So, I just need to wait it out and ride the waves the best I can and continue to offer the best customer service around.
I also have a feeling I will be VERY busy when the bio patch goes in.. I already have people asking me for these items.
Chiana
People in this game are rich. Money is easy to come by. Anyone who isn't rich is either:
1) Spending a lot of money
or
2) Not trying to make money
People that fall under #1 can afford expensive items if they want, and people who fall under #2 should NOT be your primary market, unless you're running a charity.
With the amount of money in this economy, it's just not smart to sell Master-level items for bazaar prices, especially when those items will never decay.
I sell plenty of items w/ the most expensive being about 10k, and I can't remember the last time I got a price complaint, but I do get plenty of people surprised at how little they have to spend for "the perfect outfit for them". If I can sell an item for 10k to a happy customer, and you can sell the same item for 3k to a happy customer, what's the difference? 7k.
Selling the item for far less than people are willing to pay does nobody any favors. You hurt yourself by giving up money for no reason (your choice). You hurt the economy by flooding the market with cheap & permanent items. In this game, you also hurt YOUR CUSTOMER by giving them less to work for. If they can buy all the clothes they'll ever want for an hour's worth of missions, that's one less thing for them to play for.
This foolish idea of "I'd feel bad if I charged what people are willing to pay, because it doesn't cost that much to make it." is just nonsense. If everyone had a billion credits, would you still charge 3k for a Master-level item?
Let me break something to you: most people in this game now consider 1k to be pocket change. More and more people are amassing more and more credits. Pricing Master-level items for newbie prices is pointless. People with 6 and 7 figure bank accounts aren't going to appreciate the 2 or 3k you've saved them.
If people can sell the same items as you for 3x the price, in high quantities and with NO COMPLAINTS, it should tell you something about how you're valuing your time and effort.
Make up your minds people. Either people are complaining about your prices being too high, and it's all the fault of anyone charging less than you, or people aren't complaining about your prices, therefore justifying how high they are. So which is it? Your neighbor's pricing has a lot less to do with who sells more than who's online when, what they have on their vendor, how well they know what they're doing, and who's the nicest ever will.
If Entertainers can afford to happily spend 10-50k at a time at my shop, and return frequently for more clothes, then ANYONE can afford to pay more than 3k for a Master-level item.
And I've seen more complaints of harassment from people who sell clothes at very low prices than I have from people selling them for more.
As I've said, if demand for your goods is smaller than the amount you can supply, perhaps very low prices are fine (or too high, even). If you have very few customers, don't value your time, don't mind grinding out huge numbers of products, or don't mind turning away people who come looking to buy when you're sold out, then there's no reason to change pricing. You're giving up money for no reason, but that's your choice.
Part of the problem is the Dev's fault. The best clothing should be much more difficult and expensive to make. The "break-even" point is just too low, especially since there is no way to make better quality versions of the same clothes.
But claiming "ethical" reasons for not charging more than a mission's worth of money for the best item we can make, is ridiculous. Your moral compass is pretty much broken if it tears you up to see a newly created character unable to afford (sob) the best clothing in the game. The horror!
Tailoring really needs to stop worrying so much about the price difference thing. Some will always charge more than others, and everyone has their own view on what prices are reasonable. I'm reminded of an incident with a crafter (not a tailor) who had someone threatening mafia-style harassment if they didn't raise their prices. It's seriously not worth that much arguing and angst, and all the finger pointing and blaming people for 'ruining the profession' does nothing positive or helpful to the profession. It is damaging to keep arguing and flaming about price differences. It stops people focusing on things that can be done to actually improve things, and it puts people off posting to, and reading, this forum.
If someone charges for cost, they're making the loss. Not you. Worry more about what you're doing, and less about what your neighbours are doing. I only go to other tailor shops if I'm looking for factory crates. I don't panic if tailor shops open up next door. If they do have an effect, it won't be long term, unless I'm a lousy merchant with poor customer service.
Dearest Chiana,
Your pricing is just as perfect as you are..just the way it is. You've well-earned your reputation for being the most fun and "easiest to work with"master tailor in the Coronet area. I first bought from you after I hit novice dancer and wanted to dance insomething a little nicer than what I could make myself and a friend referred me to your shop. While thereare less expensive tailors (and several more expensive)I bought from you because I had seen you around and you always seemed so pleasant and helpful toward everyone.
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to model for your fashion show. That still ranks as one of the best, most fun, times I've had in this game (& I hope you will ask me again sometime). While I've replaced other items in my wardrobe with clothes I've made myself, I've kept the ones I wore that night (how could Ievergive away That Dress?!).
After hitting master tailorlast week,I've opened a little annex to my partner's pet store on Tatooine where I'm selling clothing. My selection is still quite small as I own all his vendors and spend much of my time running from planet to planet keeping them filled with pet stims. My pricing is a little below your's. But I'm the only female in a small player town 4.3 km from the nearest city. If I ever sell a fleshwrap it will likely be becausea richdancer got terribly lost in the desert! I haven't sold a master item yet and I won't be disappointed if I never do. I knew the limitations of this location going in to it but am having wonderful fun playing there.
You have a devoted clientelle, excellent location and a reputation for being the tailor to hook up with when your customers can't figure out what it is they want. Those who price lower than you are certainly no threat to your business!
Esharra,
Thank you so much! I enjoy working with everyone who comes to me, I love running my shop and doing fashion shows. I love my work!
Thank you so much, I feel 100% better now!
You brought a tear to my eye...
By the way, you were fantastic in the fashion show! Thank you.
hugs,
Chiana
Part of the problem is the Dev's fault. The best clothing should be much more difficult and expensive to make. The "break-even" point is just too low, especially since there is no way to make better quality versions of the same clothes.
I couldn't agree more. Clothes that *should* be rarer should also be proportionately harder to make.
But claiming "ethical" reasons for not charging more than a mission's worth of money for the best item we can make, is ridiculous. Your moral compass is pretty much broken if it tears you up to see a newly created character unable to afford (sob) the best clothing in the game. The horror!
Several misconceptions exist in that paragraph:
- I don't make my prices based on mission rewards. I make them based on what it takes *me* to create the clothing.
- I'm not a master tailor, and not selling master tailor items. When I am selling them, I'll still base my price on what it takes to make the item. I don't have the schematics yet, so I don't know how much that will be. So the best items *I* can make are from Casual Wear III, and the most expensive of them goes for 625 in my shop (that's for High Quality Boots, which take Tatooinian Wooly Hide... and I'm on Naboo, so that costs more).
- I don't care when people created their characters, or think they should be able to afford the best clothing in the game. I'm not even *selling* the best clothing in the game. When idiots say "Can I have 500 cr for a ticket home?" I kindly point out that they can take their cowardly gurreck out to a mission terminal and earn that money in no time flat. But basing prices on a multiple of mission rewards wouldn't help much anyway... if you charge 15k for a revealing fleshwrap, that means that it takes a brand-new character running 500 cr missions 15 rounds of missions to earn it. That's... why, more than an hour! You've improved the economy immesurably.
- I myself can't deal with the idea of arbitrarily saying "This item is worth X*5" because everyone else says so. Maybe I'd feel differently if I wasted my time grinding like crazy to get to Master Tailor, rather than enjoying the trip and taking the scenic route. But then, if I felt cheated by the experience of grinding to the top, it would be my own fault, and not something that I need to make everyone else pay a penalty for.
