Tailor Archive
Thread: Business/Finance question for my fellow Tailors
My goodness! I am impressed. I just look everyday to see if my bank account got bigger while I was sleeping and most of the time it does. BE clothing is really the best way to go if you want more profit. Also the crafters aprons can make you a huge amount but it requires careful shopping and being smart about how you get the material and schematics. Same with BE tissues. I never buy tissues that cost more than 3000 credits per tissue.
Don't know if that helped or not but it sounds like you're going in the right direction.
It sounds terrible, but I don't keep track. Basically, pricing is one way, but not the only way, to regulate workload. It also sometimes brings you a different sort of clientele - when I undersell myself I generally attract the scruffy types who are impolite. The scruffy types usually have a lot of money, but because my prices are so cheap, believe they can treat me like a personal slave after throwing a couple k at me.
This is a personal service craft. We have to hand-make everything. Time does matter, it's not a straight c/p/u issue.
Don't judge by your income, judge by your workload and whether you are doing what you feel is fun.
Thx ladies, sorry, i guess i should have qualified this thread by noting i am only 3-3-2-1 at the moment. I am working slowly up the Tailor tree. I've checked my prices compared to other tailors around, NJ, and I'm pretty much in line w/ there prices, so no scruffy types are buggin me, yet, lol, plus a rarely do custom orders at the moment. I just hate telling folks, "Sorry, I don't have that schematic yet, try so-and-so they are a master." Not really gonna worry about custom stuff until I finally reach master.
But thx for the advice so far, I've gotten lots of tips off this forum so far and they seem to be paying off, plus i'm having a blast!
Well, I've never botherd to track things that extensively, it's easier just to look at my bank account and see if it's going up or down, lol, but 75k and 40 itemsin a month sounds abysmal to me (sorry, nothing personal). That's barely 1 item per day, and that's not good. I doubt you're even covering your expenses in terms of running the shop.
That said, I know what it's like on Dant, as I live there myself. There are houses and towns everywhere, but very few people on the planet at any given timeand it's a horrible place to shop. And since the global map advertisements are now useless I'm sure it's a huge uphill battle to get a steady flow of customers even if your shop is incredibly awesome.
I think when I ran a shop near coronet my clothing sales were closer to 10-15 items/day which would be in the 400-500 items/month range. That level of business was directly proportional to how much restocking I was willing to do, so had I been willing to do more, I would have had more sales since people can't buy what's not on the vendor. It's a mixed blessing though, believe me. Running a busy store is rewarding, but also a big time sink and a lot of work. I probably sell about 10 items of clothing now per monthoff my vendors and I love it, lol.
If you desire to be busier, and want to stay on Dant, what I'd suggest is that you seek out some other like-minded artisans (masters), get yourself a good location as close to one of the outposts as possible, get on the global map, and open a mall. If you're going it alone, on Dant it's gonna be tough.
Message Edited by ArthurDentOnBria on 02-29-2004 03:20 PM
I don't keep close track of sales. I use Nivea's pricing guide with a little tweaking for what's hot at the moment. My prices are about mid range for my area. I don't do BE clothes unless I get a few crates of tissues at a good price, and then only as custom orders. I have a great location near the shuttle port in a player city for my main shop, and two vendors in a mall on Corellia, in another player city, both of which get lots of traffic. I average 25-40 items per day, per vendor, off 4 vendors, 2 of which are Wookiee only. My other 2 vendors are a custom order only one in my main shop and a Smuggler vendor in one of my business partner's cantina.There are days I get zilch, and days I get hammered. The chefs wanting trim crates by the hundreds haven't hurt the finances either.
I "support" 3 other players who supply me with various resources, services and lots. I maintain a fleet of harvestors, 8 houses, 6 vendors, 4 factories. Money isn't a problem. Finding time and energy to micro manage all this stuff is. I don't play my tailor on weekends anymore. Too much tell hell. I keep my vendors stocked with 300 - 700+ items. If they can't look there first, they can mail an order I will do later in the week. I go play alts on the weekends. I have to, to keep the tailoring fun. Double-edged sword. Good business can mean too much to do and not enough just fun.
Hmm, again I thank you all. Arthur, thank you very much, that's the kind of feedback i was looking for, hehe, even if it that i'm doing abysmally (sp), lol. Our player city has a mall and that's where i'm located, so i'm expecting business to begin picking up as word spreads more, but thank you very much. I didn't think it was very impressive either, so that confirms it. I just wasn't sure if my expectations were to high, lol.
I have just opened another vendor outside of coronet in an area littered w/ shops and malls, but believe it or not very few tailors. So i'm hoping this one will be a little busier, i'll keep y'all posted. 
This was posted several months ago , but you might try making some "Jedi" signet rings and some "Jedi" metal bracelets. I usually sell the ones I make for 2950,,black, red and blue are the "hot" colors. Also, make up several and place them on the bazaar in Coronet. You might be surprised how fast they sell, and its also a nice profit,
If you will also take one or two hot selling items, and place those on the bazaar as an auction with you bidding 6000, you can put a message in seller remarks that will help to advertise your shop.
I guess what I am saying is,,,dont forget the power of the bazaar,,,it can really boost your sales and begin to establish you as a quality tailor for your server.