Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: How to Build A Successful Weapons Business
Acelin- wrote:Your piece has really inspired me.
Right now I'm 0100 WS. I heard to grind on either them metal staffs or rifle barrels. I don't know, they both take extremely long. Also, all the resources I have gathered are really good quality. I have alot of this steel with 4 stats over 900. Copper with over 970 conductivity. I really hate to use these resources for mindless grinding. I feel I should save them for when I actually need the quality. But if I save them I am left with nothing to work on.
I have a similar problem. The generic steel that was 200 meters outside my door was 900+ in heat resist, shock resist, and unit toughness. Two of those were over 950! Sell half of what you harvest for 6 cpu or more and then use that money to buy grinding material at 3 cpu or less. That way you keep half your good stuff for later and still have just as much grinding material as you harvested.
The grind isn't really as bad as folks say for "true newbs". Since we have to wait for our harvs to get us grinding material we get to do other fun things while we grind, like make marksman and brawler gear and run missions/shop. It definitely makes the hour or so of grinding a night more bareable. I could definitely see how 4-5 straight days of "crystalline genstome, metal, metal, metal, metal, wait for next crafting session" could get old though
Wow, this thread ended up being a pretty big hit.
Great responses. Thanks all.
I think the middle ground for overstocking vendors is to have at least 4 vendors and load them like mad. It's one thing to have to scan 5 pages to find a laser carbine, it's another to scan 2 pages in a vendor that you know will have it labeled "Unsliced Carbines".
In regards to resources. Our profit margin is too high to not overstock on resources. There were times where my profits were flat for weeks because I was overbuying so many resources, but it's better to be poor than to become a second tier weaponsmith. You have to look to the future.
To our correspondant, please sticky this thread. Most servers have seen too few weaponsmiths thrive and it's time for the new guys to have a guideline to succeed in this tough trade.
One other thing I'd like to add: Use the Forums!
I know this sounds a little lame since we're obviously all using the forums to follow this thread but I can't tell you how important it is. Most 'serious' SWG players follow the boards, and personally, I don't take any competitor seriously until they've made a name for themselves on the boards in their Galaxy forum. If you sell a good product, your name will start appearing, if you don't, it won't. It's that simple. Post often, post frequently and remember, in a game with fairly poor communication abilities, posting to the forums is essential for any upstart crafter with a quality product to sell.
There's little point in being the "low-price" leader in the weapons business in SWG, mainly because there's really no way to achieve any kind of economies of scale in the game. It costs just as much to mine poor resources as it does to mine good resources; it takes just as long to run bad weapons in a factory as it does to run good weapons; short of partnering, there's no way to really ramp up production enough to take advantage of selling a lot of inexpensive weapons. And even if you do partner, you still aren't achieving any real economies of scale. So, if you're going to be a WS, you might as well make the best you can and sell them for the most you can get; price cutting is only slitting your own throat -just look at whatArchitects did to their industry.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
AgeOldMyth wrote:
""Hey everybody, number 2 is 40% cheaper than number one, but not quite as good". Do you really think this is going to cause a stampede into number 2's shop?"
Yes.
Actually, no. Hate to say it but from my experience on the server price is actually not a huge selling point for weapons. Most people want what they want, and will come to your shop one one of a handful of missions:
1) Specific Item: I want a Scout Blaster (stats tend to be mostly irrelevant unless your item is complete crud)
2) Referral: They saw XYZ using your weapon/heard good things/were referred by friend/guildie (price/quality tend to be secondary, they've been told you make good stuff and want it).
3) Repeat Customer: S/He's decided you're his/her source for weapons, so to you they go.
4) The Shopper: Wants the best of the best, of the best.
5) The Browser: Wants the best quality for the price.
In general the only one that .really. cares about price is #5. Competing against the other high-end WSs on Ahazi (not saying I am one, but they're the competition and only our customers can say if we are or not) I've had exactly one customer that pointed out that he chose my weapons because price was a factor. The driving factors I do hear about? Quality, and Selection.
Its true that there are stupid people out there who think that 1-2dmg more is godly and theyll go to the other smith. Its true there are knit pickers out there who know 1-2dmg isnt a big deal, but they want the very best and will pay whatever it takes to get it. Its also true there are smart people out there. People who know that 1-2 dmg doesnt make a substantial difference.
Agreed, but they're a niche market, and they're also a very dangerous niche to rely upon because they're also prone to going to another smith depending on other factors, convenience, selection etc.
Smart shoppers are the best shoppers. Right now there are a shortage of these, but Im sure that as time passes and people stop being newbies {we are all newbies even if we started playing on DAY1}, people will learn this and the current trend will change.
I like smart shoppers, I take the time to discuss the process with them, what goes into the process and generally what's going on at each stage of a custom build or large custom order. But they're a selective market, and they generally consume a large % of time compared to the return on profit.
To be completely capitalistic about it, the 'best' customers depending on how you define 'best' are probably:
1) Casual Gamers: They'd don't go through ALOT of weapons, but they also don't have alot of time to flit around and they're generally understanding about how much time things take. They seem to choose a source and keep going back to that source until they get burned a few times.
2) Holo-grinders: Yeah I know, they're really hell for the crafting lines? But for weaponsales they're EXCELLENT customers. I'd guess that a large percentage of my .newbie. weapon sales go to grinders that have previously bought a high level gun from me. They come in and buy 1 or 2 of every weapon in a profession, and then they come back and do it for their next set. The only thing that compares for bulk sales is guild buyers.
Yes, 1 or 2 points more damage means alot because those 1 or 2 points helps build up your reputation. And it's a big part of why I'm still playing weaponsmith - the ego thing of trying to be the 'best'. I'm not going to let myself be stuck with a full inventory of weapons with 1 or 2 less damage than the next weaponsmith. It's a waste of the other top-notch resources(especially the power-handler ones that are 900-990+ OQ that spawned a long time ago) when one of the other resource components goes obsolete, which can happen any week.
If you're active enough, DON'T OVERSTOCK. It's really a waste of your valuable resources when one of the components goes obsolete.
Also, don't underestimate being a well-known community member. There are many people on my server who still worship the first master weaponsmiths of my server, even though they retired a long time ago and several remaining weaponsmiths have far surpassed them in resource quality, prices, and selection. One of them used to make up quests with krayt weapons as prizes, even though his resources/weapons were never really that great. I personally don't have one single role-playing bone in my body though
Greets ...
I have to disagree with a few posters and agree with a couple of other ones.
I have 3 vendor locations right now ... one is melee only, as they have a ranged vendor only, and the other 2 are Ranged/Melee vendors.
I could not keep all of them stocked if I didn't stock hundreds of items on each vendor. I used to go for 100 item per vendor ... now I shoot for less then 100 items on a subcategory listing. (hard for pistols).
I stock my vendors in sets of 10-25 of each weapon depending upon what it is and in what location. Stocking larger numbers of weapons causes them to stay together nicer on the display as well as gives the customer a good feeling that your a quality smith. (Having lots of good weapons at a good price and a wide variety).
I may lose a customer or two that doesn't know how to hit next ... but I think I gain more customers then I lose. (My best day was 120 unsliced weapons just last week).
I also disagree with the person that said "only make a few weapons, as another better resource is just around the corner" ... although that is good advice to a new smith that just jumped on ... it's only good advice if you don't know what the best resources stats are.
Once you know you have a *best of server* spawn ... get them in 500k chunks or more if you can ... they may have to last you several months till something equal or better comes along. And of course if you are using best of server stuff, you can comfortably do bigger runs of your weapons knowing that you have top quality stuff.
So ... if your going to work hard and get to the over 100 weapons per day level .. plan accordingly ... gets lots of the best resources ... always keep your vendors overflowing ... thank each of your customers ... and ask them to refer their friends to you. Be nice and don't bite their heads of ... if somebody get's irratating just tell them you have to run off to tend to one of your factories ... that works every time :-)
***Another Tip For Advertising***
Belong to a guild! Mass e-mailing is a great way to get a steady flow of customers coming your way, and before long, they recommend your shop to friends outside the guild, and the word goes along. Make your e-mail attractive; give the stats of the hot items out there (right now republic blasters, and the commando "baby" boom has ended, but flamethrowers are still hot!), and add whatever spice you want to make your customers drool on their keyboard. Make sure to include the waypoint (obviously) and other information that may be potentionally valuable.
Important: Ever notice there is a "flavor of the month?" It went BH/Pistoleer (dx2's were hot), Commando (flamethrowers were hot), then the TKA outrage...(then of course, vibro knucklers were a big seller - and still are!). Then, everyone figured out that Republic Blasters can be used by anyone (auto-cert) and because of their great stats, everyone's buying them up. Know what's hot & meet the demand. Right now though, this tip could hardly matter, because of the holo-grinders, everyone is buying up every weapon! This is the time that weaponsmiths are in their prime...