Tailor Archive
Thread: Some Tailor input would be useful...
I have recently put up a guide in the Scout and Ranger forums detailing which Crafting professions are potential customers for animal-based resources. On paper, Tailors appear to be a large potential market. However, my suspicion is that the current lack of repeat business limits the market somewhat and provides for quick saturation.
However, since I am not a Tailor, I am not familiar with the nuances of the profession. An experienced Tailor would have insight I lack, and could correct or qualify some of my conclusions.
So if you have the time and the inclination, your observations would be welcome in the following thread:
Volsted's Field Guide to Crafters (aka "How To Spot a Potential Customer From 80m Away")
Thanks.
I think you're way off the mark with tailors. At least this tailor. I am still just as busy as I was, especially with the bio engineered clothing. I still cannot keep up with orders.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record... I have to agree with Akaara. Repeat business is not an issue or problem with most Tailors. I have a waiting list for orders, and when I suggest that a customer might go to another tailor in the area for a bit faster service, I get the same reply. "No thanks, I would rather stay with you, just email me when you finish the order."
As for resources... I can always use hide and bone. My extractors take care of most of my needs, but there are times when I make the dreaded "Bazaar Run". Click on the search all of the Galaxy and hop from city to city and planet to planet to find the necessary hides. Doesn't matter the amount, I buy up what I can find and then bounce around the shuttle and starports picking it up. By the time a tailor reaches the Master level, they probably either have a heavy or medium extractor of 7 on chemicals and minderals. And since OQ isn't an issue for us, we just go for the highest percentage we can find. I don't even leave Moenia until it's time to gather specific hides.
A-Ti
Valcyn Server
Akaara wrote:
I think you're way off the mark with tailors.
That's why I invited your commentary.
The more useful I can make that document for Scouts and Rangers, the more useful, in turn, we Scouts and Rangers will be to those who purchase animal-based resources. Including Tailors.
Okay, now RL isn't hollering in my other ear and I had time to study your list:
I agree with the above posters that repeat business is very brisk for Tailors, especially those that are crafting the bio-enhanced clothing. I know myself, I have to set aside at least one or two days a week just for hide harvesting to replenish my supplies. (I didn't hold onto my Scout skills just for the terrain negotiation) I'd rather not city and planet hop to collect the dribs and drabs stacks of this and that. I'd rather find a nearby hide vendor that reliably has 2-5k stacks in stock.
Because Tailors must have on hand such a wide variety of stock and components, storage space is a major issue with me. Large stacks of a resource of a single class and type would be ever so much better than multiple stacks of varying types. By the time a stack of whatever hide gets down to 20, I often just destroy it and move onto the next stack of 500 or more. I need the storage space. A 5k stack of one type of leathery hide and perhaps 2k stacks of all others, including the specific hides (e.g. Tatooine Wooly) would greatly reduce my inventory clutter. And I'm not that busy of a Tailor (casual player) so Tailors who do BE clothes or who have a large and active customer base might probably need much more than that.
Yes, a 1k stack of Tatooine Wooly might last me a while, but it can also go in one day if I get a large order, or it's the only Wooly I have left on me and I burn it on items that really only needed a generic wooly.
If I could find a Scout or Ranger that could offer 2-5k stacks of Tailor-specific hides on my vendor, (at a previously agreed upon price) at least once a month... that hunter would be worth his/her weight in gold to me.
The main thing about tailors is that, since we don't have experimentation anymore (and it didn't actually do anything when we *did* have it), resource quality is totally irrelevant. We need hides in large quantities, and much smaller (though not insignificant) amounts of bone, but quality doesn't matter.
I probably do not get as much business asa Master Tailor so I do my hide shopping every one or two weeks. As others have said quality doesn't matter so we're a good place to dump low quality stuff. A tailor, even a not so busy one is a good thing to have on your friends list for a quick, hey are you low on hides 
Knowing that you folks are a big market for hides of any quality and any type is certainly a benefit for Scouts/Rangers. Now I can hunt for XP, and keep the hides I harvest for the Tailors as well. It's a win-win situation.
I appreciate the time you folks are taking to clue in a non-Tailor about your resource requirements. I seriously underestimated your needs, and when I get around to writing v2.0 of that guide, I will definitely be providing a more accurate representation of where you folks stand in the Animal Resource market.
One thing I recommended to all new tailors, when they asked for advice was to find a BE and to work with them. It's a great symbiotic relationship. Tailors get a BE as their very own, and BE's get great uxp from tailors grinding up their cloths. Now that I think about it, I will add scout to that list. A scout, BE, and Tailor working together would be an amazing partnership.
BE's need meat, lower quality for grinding, higher OQ for tissues. Tailors need hides, any quality, but we need them, and we also have a need for specific hides at that. I usually take hides in lieu of payment, or as a discount. Having a scout to provide us with a consistant source of meat and hides (and bones when needed) would be a huge boon. A regular source of income for the Scout as long as it wasn't a gouge. I don't want to spend 3-5 cpu regularly, not when I can get the same prices at the bazaar. If a scout is willing to go down to 1.5-2 cpu's for a sure thing, I would have no problem throwing them some enhanced clothing as a benefit and Splintt would have no problem throwing a Pet Stims and Vitalities their way or some clones.
Unfortunately, it's hard to find someone who is willing to jump into a partnership especially if the initial payout isn't as strong as dumping it on the bazaar. Long term business deals seem to be generally ignored by a lot of players, even though the benefits are huge in the long run. (By long term, I am talking weeks or months relative to this game.)
A-Ti
Valcyn Server