Tailor Archive
Thread: Master to Master resale
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Agent44
Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:42 pm
#1
I know reselling has been brought up before but most of the topics concerned master tailors being bought out and finding their items on the local bazaar. My questions is, has any other master tailors done it to other master tailor? (NJ, Aurther(sp)?)
My situation is this: I was in the Bestine cantina the other day and I noticed a bunch of ents talking about their new clothing they had recently purchased. I asked one where she had bought it and for how much since I always like to know who I'm in competition with. Turns out the ent bought a fleshwrap from this relatively new master tailor for only 2k. I was like, damn thats a good price. So I decided to head out to her vendor and check their vendors. Sure enough when I got there all dresses and master tailor items were priced all at 2k. Their vendor was full of items either priced at 1k or 2k. Natrually I was getting a bit worried. I thought to myself "Jesus 2k?? How can you possibly sell master dresses/body wraps for only 2k and make a profit".
I understand what this tailor is trying to do, but at the same time I was thinking that this isbad for allTailors, master and non master alike. (Its bad IMO because people whosee her vendorbeing to think that clothing is worth nothing, and pricinghigh levelitems at 2kgivesnon master tailors no chance in making money)I later learnedthis person had many combat skills and was selling crystals and rare loots etc. for lots of money. That's what really pissed me off,this personwasn't in tailoring for the money, it was just a side job and sincethis person israking in the money from loot sales, they could price tailor items for almost nothing. This person even gave shoes away for free to a customer who was custom ordering!
My question is, do I take advantage of this and resell their clothing? I dont want to come across as doing it out of hatred or anger, I just think that its hurting the whole tailor profession to sell that cheap.
I do have another philosophy however. Say this tailor has 50 customers a day and each one of them buys a fleshwrap for 2k. Thats a total daily profit of 100k. I normally sell fleshwraps for 6k. At that price I only have to sell one fleshwrap to 17 customers in a day to beat her profit (And I could easily do that with the bazaar). But thats assuming each customer only buys one thing. IMO I think this person is undercutting themself, but if every customer on the planet learns about this person,all the other big name tailors are forced to lower their prices. Suggestions?
(I've checked around other vendors and have been relieved to see master items at normal prices)
hakk
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:12 pm
#2
There was a post like this started a few weeks ago, and this is what i learned: First off, I want to say that I once sold master items that cheap to, when I didn't know better. But everyone told me that i would burn out and since most of those who told me that are long-time experienced tailors i did not hezitate to take their advice. There is no way a tailor can make a profit selling clothes that cheap. And if they do, and get a good reputation of selling cheap clothes, they will get many costumers every day and won't have time to do rancor missions, collect crystals or whatever. So sooner or later, he will stop tailoring if he is not doing it for the money, because he will not have time to earn credits in any other way then selling clothes. and with those prices, its not worth it.
Oh, and one more thing...Don't sell hi's clothes, that's just so wrong!
Oh, and one more thing...Don't sell hi's clothes, that's just so wrong!
Message Edited by hakk on 07-30-2004 11:13 PM
NJ62
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:32 pm
#3
I dunno, I've always considered it snarky to resell another tailor's clothes. He or she will burn out with those prices, or at the very least be unable to keep the vendor that well-stocked once word gets out. I wouldn't worry too much about it, I've seen MANY tailors burn out with low pricing because they just don't realize the time committment.
Agent44
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:40 pm
#4
I agree, I really dont want to resell. The only thing I'm worried about is that they are using loot to make the money while tailoring is their on the side just-for-fun job :/ IMO thats the worst thing you can do to people who rely on that profession to survive (income wise)
NJ62
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:43 pm
#5
If they're supporting themselves with loot, it means they're out looting, and not restocking. And when things start flying off the vendor, they won't be able to keep up. It's burnout from workload, not burnout from making no money. You'll see...
ArthurDentOnBria
Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:56 pm
#6
This question is a bit different than the other one though, so to answer your question, yes, I have and continue to do this "selectively". Let me explain. The situation where I actually frequently do this with my ArthurDent character is on the bazaar. Selling clothing on the bazaar my goal is simple: anonymously make moneywithout looking stupid, while at the same time providing a valuable service to the community. So when I have a situation where I want to offer something, and somebody else is offering a competing product but doing it stupidly, in such a way that it would make me look foolish if I were to offer mine, I buy theirs and either destroy it or relist it. Example. Perhaps I'll "be in the mood" to offer thin striped pants today. I'll look on the bazaar and there low and behold is someone offering a pair of thin striped pants for 500cr, and the listing is 30min old. That's an instant buy and resell for me, as it's "in my way". I buy it, resell it for 4k, and add 5 more in various other colors, also at 4k. Generally all 6 will sell within 48 hours or so, and I'll have made some nice pocket change. Probably that person whom I bought it from won't realize what's going on, and it's fine with me if they don't. I'm not doing it to grief, or be mean, or send a message or whatnot, I just do it for practical purposes so I can get my items sold at a more "normal" price for me. I would never buy and resell at my store, because there the goal is more to build up a positive reputation and so forth, more so than making money, so I naturally only offer my own items there.
The other circumstance where I do it, is for a very different purpose. On my non-artisan toons, who need ways of earning money, I do it more opportunistically. I know clothing, I know what people are willing to pay and what demand is for various items, so I use that knowledge to earn some credits to buy armor and weapons (and yes, clothing oddly enough, lol). I will actually scan the bazaar looking for grossly underpriced items just simply to make a profit in marking it up, and I won't hesitate to do that. It's pretty rare for me *not* to have 2 or 3 "marked up" listings on the bazaar at a given time. Just yesterday one of my combat toons (when hunting no less) ran across a little peewee tailor shop in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't resist so I walked in and had a look. The vendor contained maybe 30 items or so, mostly high-end women's clothing, box 4 and master level type stuff. Nothing was priced over 3k. So I'm thinking... hmmm. that's a minimum of 3k profit for each item I buy (assuming 6k sales price on the bazaar), easy money. You can bet I'll be back there and buy a few select items that I think will sell particularly well on the bazaar. Again, no malice or ill will, I'm not going to "clean them out" or anything of the sort, just being a little bit opportunistic and taking advantage of some in-game experience.
In your situation though... hmm... that's a really tough one. It really depends what your goal is in trying to do it. If you are hurting for money and need a quick buck, sure, go ahead and take advantage of that. If your goal though is trying to build your own business, and increase your customers base, and build up a good reputation, then you'll probably only hurt yourself by doing that since those other customers already know of that other tailor and probably have quite a bit of loyalty to her/him. So I'd probably just walk away from it. If it's a case of you just not being able to compete due to close proximity or whatnot, maybe it's time to move, or work out some new angle (custom clothing? bio clothing? being in a more convenient location?). That's really a toughie though, I don't envy you.
Message Edited by ArthurDentOnBria on 07-30-2004 03:39 PM
xPREDATORx
Sat Jul 31, 2004 4:24 am
#7
Reselling is all part of the business it called "free market enterprise"
look if you are feeling guilty dont they set the price that they want, u take it all of there hands and resell. they get the cash from what u bought it off them, they are happy whats the difference between mrxxx buying 10 peices of clothing at 2k each making 20k in all or 10 people buyin 1piece each ....none the seller still made his/her 20k
what happens after ward is out of their hands.... and they shouldnt get mad if they got a brain ....lets say they constanly made cheap clothes and u constantly bought off them they got a constant flow of cash how can they moan? they cant
its all about who can get what and and what price the how never comes into it unless its illegal! and reselling isnt ilegall unless patiented and authorised by some kind of governing body to say other wise which would technically be the empire and since the game aint that in depth resell all u want
Sunikka
Sat Jul 31, 2004 4:55 am
#8
Agent44 wrote:
This person even gave shoes away for free to a customer who was custom ordering!
I give away something free with every custom order... for ladies it's usually dress slippers or an emerald pendant, for men it's usually a large pendant, gloves or uniform boots,,,It dependson the type of order, how long they have been a customer and whether they are smacktards or not...
Vij
Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:36 am
#9
Have you thought about sending this person a tell and discussing prices with them? It can be done in a way that helps them and not makes them mad. Perhaps they do not know that their prices are too low, after all not many combat professions worry about clothing, they use armor. When I first started out a Master Tailor did that to me...I was floundering with my pricing and couldn't figure out what to price items at. She helped me and mentored me. You just never know how you might find a good friend.
thanks
Vij
Vijere Thine, Master Tailor, Master Doctor on Gorath Server
Visit my Merchant tents in
Nexus on Corellia at 1940, 571
New Aldera on Naboo at -5786. 6400
Aibyouka
Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:21 am
#10
Personally I'm against the reselling other people's product thing. If a tailor wants to sell that low then more power to them. One of two things will happen, they'll be able to keep up or they won't. I sell relatively low but mostly because my cost is pretty low. I don't buy resources and even after factoring in all expences (harvesters, factories, the shop, and vendors) my prices are still pretty affordable to everyone. I do this because everyone should be able to buy the clothes they want. Now if someone were to come along and buy out my inventory and resell it at a higher price, well ok sure, I get my money but the service that I'm trying to provide to the community gets killed andmy name is attached to the item that just got sold at a higher price. I'm not trying to take away from other tailors and they can charge whatever they want. But they need to understand that I can too and that it's unfair to clean me out just because they don't like my prices, are afraid I'm taking their customers, or whatever. I work hard to provide a service to the Valcyn community and if some other tailor cleaned me out and destroyed my things or resold them at a higher price it would really bother me. All my work and the service I provide just got tossed away. I think it's more than price that will bring a customer back. Personality goes a long way. If a cheap tailor is never around or treats customers as an annoyance then people will go somewhere else reguardless of price. No one wants to deal with a jerk. So my point is just this, before you resell someone else's things stop to think why the prices are so low in the first place. Sure it might be someone doing it as a side gig or even maybe just cleaning out their stock before they drop tailor. Sometimes though, it might be someone that just wants to providea service to the community and you could be messing it up. It all comes down to ethics. You can call it competition if you want but reselling someone else's work is wrong in my opinion.
Neela Darkstar
Master Tailor/Master Artisian/Master Weaponsmith
co-founder of Darkstar Industries
protector of Squishy the purple wookie pillow
-1019 -3633
1400m NW of Coronet (Valcyn)
xPREDATORx
Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:00 am
#11
i repect your views but u cant stop it from happening and as i pointed out before its called "free market enterprise,"
its real life term and is used in trading in real life.
captenjonny
Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:43 am
#12
I'm with preditor on this. You can sell for whatever price you want, but if I find fleshwraps at 2K I'm going to buy every stinking one I can and resell them at my price. THAT is the function of the market. It's set up to be competitive and I look forward to the new guy doing the heavy lifting for me. It won't take him long to figure there is a better market for his stuff and he'll raise his prices.
So Yeah! I'll buy his stuff, mark it up and resell it - Jezums! I sometimes send a thank you note!
So Yeah! I'll buy his stuff, mark it up and resell it - Jezums! I sometimes send a thank you note!
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