Weaponsmith Archive

Message Edited by evetsleep on 05-03-2004 04:31 PM

---

evetsleep wrote:

just making adv 3 and having a master title is not going to get you instant business. You need to develop a customer base, which comes from those first few who come to your shop. If they like your shop they will come back and even recommend you to their friends.

Only way

the key word... everyone say it together now.....

patience

It takes time to build your customer base. advertising/spamming/whatever helps but it will still takes a while to build a good customer base... many people are slow to leave their "normal" smith or check a new one out. Also don't forget to think about what "kind" of shop you want to run when you plan your advert. strategy. Advertising on the trade boards is a great way to up your buisness... but if you have great weapons and don't want to run a huge shop it can bring in too much buisness and burn you out. I've seen many many smiths burn out from the work load. So, chose a strategy that will help you get your buis. to the size you want. good luck!

Ok, want some advice from a somewhat popular mws on Chilastra? This is what I did to break into the market. First, I made a ton of weapons, usually around 50 of each. They weren't my best but they were good. I got them all sliced (I have a second account which is a master smug). Then kept the 30+ slices aside and put them on a vendors one for each hand vendors for Sliced Pistols, Sliced Carbs and Rifles, Sliced Melee and Slice Krayt and Geo. The last Vendor was the clearance vendor.

I put anything under 30% slice on it for 4k. Yes OUCH! The vendor had a few thousand weapons on it from flame throwers to t21's. Then did the thing where I went to coronet and set up a spammer. (My store was outside coronet.. location location location. I hate to say this but on our server EVERYONE goes through coronet) The clearance vendor sold out in about 6 days. But I made damn good money on the 30%+ slices, usually 100-200k per item. What this got me was exposure, it took a long time but I found that by keeping 25-50 of each weapon sliced on the vendors keeps most of my clients very happy and I do about 3-7 million a day now. I still practically give away any sliced weapon under 20% but I no longer am clearinging anything under 30.

The next thing to do is collect all the artwork from around the universe. Make it "look" like you are classy. No one want to buy from a weapon hocker... they want to buy it from a fancy weaponsmith... don't ask me.. it just works. So I have a very nice store outside coronet. It took me about 3 months to groom the clients but from there out it has gone smooth as clock work.

Deceptus

I've been to your shop. It's very nice.

When I get people coming to me for something that I don't have the parts for or in my inventory. I've sent them to you.

Since I don't have access to a Master Smuggler, I only sell weapons that have not been sliced. I have just found it to be easier in general and it allows me to keep my prices to a minimum.

I took a lot of time hitting MWS myself. I have never worn the tag because I am quite aware of the tell-hell that can go along with it. After setting up the shop, decorating it nicely and stocking weapons with good weapons at competitive prices, I had the same experience as you.

A couple of weeks later, a player city was offering up merchant tents. It was a pretty well known city on Tat with a research center bonus. After a little wrangling, I opened up there. It wasn't a huge success, but after a couple of weeks I was doing a pretty steady business.

But honestly, my business really picked up after I devised the somewhat garish tag at the bottom of the post. It may be a total coincidence, but when I posted locations on the tag, business went up overnight.

Also, try posting on the trade forum with prices on special items you make well. I sell the theme park guns for 10k - a lot cheaper than most people. A lot of people come for those. Once you can get a few folks to take a look, you'll start to build the busines. Realize that people aren't going to leave their regular smith unless you offer something special - low prices, better weapons, location.

The final and most important thing is location. I love Talus, but the bottom line is that my Tat shop does 7-8 times the business than the Talus shop does. If you are in a good sized player city with traffic, people will show soon enough. But if the city is not really established or is in a bad spot, you will struggle.

Bottom line is you still have some work to do. Advertising on the global is a help. Spamming at Coronet or Theed can work. You can use the bazaar to advertise. The trade forums are also an excellent tool.If you are wearing your tag, put some crated weapons in a backpack and do a tour of the big cities and theme parks/dungeons. If you sell a weapon like this, send a thank you note with a waypoint attached. If your stuff is any good, you'll be droppingthe tag soon enough.