Tailor Archive
Thread: Do I have to run a shop to make Master Tailor?
I'd like to be a successful crafter as a side profession, but I don't think I want to be bothered with managing a house and vendor, not to mention spending the skill points required to do so. Will I be able to make enough money without a shop to make it to Master, disregarding any income I get from running missions?
Thanks for your time and opinions.
Yes, but you will need harvesters, and because we're disreguarding money from missions it's going to be a long, slow journey because you'll need to sell enough clothes to continue paying for the harvester, thus precluding you from having multiple ones (Unless you sell A LOT). Your prices will typically be a bit high to cover expenses, but people will still pay them. The hard part will be in aquiring factory made items. The higher level clothes require factory similar items. But you don't have to make them to earn master tailor, it's just no fun if you can't. 
Its a tough life, but more than doable. But then again, having the shop and the vendor makes for a tough life too, so... 
"Your prices will typically be a bit high to cover expenses"
Actually, his prices will be lower since he's locked into a 3000cr limit by selling only on the bazaar. So he'll be losing out on a lot of sales and money since he can't charge market price for things, nor can he sell when he's not online, or not where people want to buy things, his costs will be even higher since he'd have to travel a lot to deliver items to bazaars in other cities and so on.
Guess I'm wondering why someone would want to be a tailor and not have a shop, why even go through the trouble?
My reason - I like making clothes. I dont like being a salesperson though, nor do I want to use skill points in business or merchant. I do sell clothes in person, and support my habit by taking bounties on various critters
Ivanova - Master Tailor without a vendor.
I became a Tailor for the same reason i became a DE, to entertain myself, and to make myself cool stuff, not to make $ and sell to other players, for that i have a Fighter type char whom can do missions for much much more $ then i could make selling junk. (if you dont believe that just see how long it takes to make 4k off of gnorts, were talkin like 20-25k an hour here.)
I just like being able to make my own clothes since my appearance is 1/3 the part i enjoy about games, looking cool.
"Actually, his prices will be lower since he's locked into a 3000cr limit by selling only on the bazaar. So he'll be losing out on a lot of sales and money since he can't charge market price for things"
I must be undercharging by a long shot then, because I can't think of a single item of clothing below master tailor that is worth more than 3000 credits, unless maybe its gunman's dusters. In any case, trying to sell clothes on the bazaar is time consuming, irritating, and slow, unless you're just seeding it with high demand items like cloaks and dusters, which it takes a long time to work up to anyway.
I can't imagine not having a shop though. People like to browse for clothes, and I prefer that people have an idea of what I can make rather than trying to explain it to people who don't have any idea what they want, much less what my clothes look like. Pick a busy city, buy a small house, and set up some display clothes. Then when people ask you to make clothes for them, ask them to come out to your shop to browse and then you will have an easier time making them an outfit they're happy with. They'll come back next time they're looking for clothes, and your life will be a lot less frustrating. On top of that, if you keep your vendor well stocked, you'll be generating merchant xp faster than tailor xp, which you can use to get some neat vendor options.
I've been doing quite well as a traveling tailor since I have no desire to set up a shop. I mostly like to travel to different towns and dance a while (I am also a Dancer).
I'm not right by most standards but I have over 100k credits, various solar power harvestors and a few regular harvestors. I am also trying to buy a crafting droid.
The key is you are limited to the bazaar and crafting on the spot (that is why the crafting droid is important). So much of your sales is limited to 3000 credits but you can also sell one on one by folks seeing you tag and asking for something on the spot. Key is having lots of resources handy to meet those folks with impulse buying.
Right now I am finally seeing a huge demand in standard stuff but in non-traditional colors of black or white. What a relief. So you might want to make sure your Tailor Experimentation skill is high to meet these color requests.
Anyway ... good luck on your business adventure.
Novice Merchant, more you dont need. It allows you to slam a bazaar style vendor machine into your house. House and vendor have low maintanance. Sell low value items on the bazaar with an ad to your house in the descriptions. And that's it.
RJSinn wrote:
Is it viable for an aspiring Tailor with no Business or Merchant skills to support their trade by only selling their wares on the Bazaar or by special order?
I'd like to be a successful crafter as a side profession, but I don't think I want to be bothered with managing a house and vendor, not to mention spending the skill points required to do so. Will I be able to make enough money without a shop to make it to Master, disregarding any income I get from running missions?
Thanks for your time and opinions.
try to find a merchant around your area, if you prices are right, some might stock your items into their vendor.
Kylania wrote:
Actually, his prices will be lower since he's locked into a 3000cr limit by selling only on the bazaar. So he'll be losing out on a lot of sales and money since he can't charge market price for things, nor can he sell when he's not online, or not where people want to buy things, his costs will be even higher since he'd have to travel a lot to deliver items to bazaars in other cities and so on.
I've just finished my spreadsheet to calculate tailoring prices, and with the base resource, etc price I've set now I'll never, not even at Master Tailor, need to charge more than 3k for an item. The highest price I have in there is like 2.5k I think, and I might up that a little if I feel like it. But the bazaar limit is just fine for posting any clothes I'll ever be able to make.
I also don't get the "losing out on a lot of sales and money since he can't charge market price for things". If I sell below "market price", won't people be even more eager to buy from me? There is no quality to our items, so it's not for quality that you can charge. What are you exactly charging these higher prices for?
Right now experience is slow coming, but that's not because I don't have a vendor. It's because where I live there is only a small population, so few people to buy my things. I constantly keep the bazaar stocked with 25 items, including cloaks (at 1k)and military travel packs (at 750), selling a couple of them each day. Why wouldI need a vendor? If I'm not even selling the bazaar nearly empty every day a vendor is only going to cost me money.
At some point I'll likely get a vendor and set up a little shop. But not because I think it'll increase my sales or help me up the path to master (in fact, I can imagine it'll only be when I've already reached master). It'll be because I like the idea of running my own little tailor shop, displaying items to sell to people.
Right now I'm enjoying the game and steadily working my way up to master. There's no need for a vendor, that just seems like extra overhead.
- A. Kimusume
My answer would have been that, yes, you definitely need a shop to be a successful working tailor, but I guess that's not necessarily so. It's pretty necessary for my personal style, though - I don't want to have to be out on the streets hustling *all* the time. I like being able to mix things up, and keep making sales even when I'm not around.