Bazaar Not-a-Rant

[Eumerin]

As the title says, this isn't really a rant. Its more of a "what are they thinking!?" type of post.
Bazaar pricing is commented on a lot here, but one thing that kills me is this - people who take vendor stocked items and price them HIGHER than what a vendor sells them for. I needed a bunch of gems for the paladin quest spell (Divine Might), so I went to the Bazaar the other day thinking I'd be able to save a few plat by buying the spell gems of players instead of shelling out the cash for each gem to a vendor (106 for a sapphire, iirc). The only gem that isn't available as a standard item on a vendor somewhere is a diamond, and I even managed to locate one of those on an NPC with a little effort (fortunately, I got one in Sebilis before I blew the money on it).
Boy was I in for a surprise. Not only was no one selling them for less than the vendor list, but a number of people had them marked much, much higher than the vendor buy price. I saw one sapphire for sale for 500p, and there were a number of others that, while not quite so high, were likewise outrageously priced.
Are these players really so ignorant as to not realize that you can buy these things off of half a dozen vendors scattered throughout Norrath for less than the players are charging?
Or are people really wasting that kind of cash for gemstones?

[Krazick]

Whether it is gems, or any other item provide in unlimited Quantities from NPC Vendors, the PCs in the bazaar as traders are gonna mark them higher. Why you ask?

1) Convience - People will buy the item because it is what they are after, and the price "seems ok".
2) Travel/shipping expense - If, for example, the item is "Cheese", the only NPC vendor that sells them are in Jagged Pines. If a player wanted to go there and buy it... sure they can get it cheaper. But if I have it for sale in the bazaar, you are paying for the time I spent collecting it for you. Note: Not all people have the time to run around collecting these items. Nor do all people have a druid/wizard at their beck and call to port them hither and yon to support that collection.
3) Ignorance - Some players might not know where the NPC vendor is that sells them. Or that the particular item is available in unlimited quanties from a vendor in the next zone over.

Personally, I rarely buy such items from PC Traders, because I will go out of my way to collect what I need. And if I can't find the NPC vendor selling it... I go look it up. I don't have 50K plat sitting in my vault collecting dust. I have at most 4K... and can spend 10-20K easy with upgrades if I had that available.

As for "what are they thinking?" - They are thinking I can trick some fool into giving me their money. Right? Are you one?

[xaanru]

NPC sold items

My favorites are the goofballs who sell batwings and water in the bazaar for 1pp and up. Not only are these sold by NPC vendors, but they are sold by NPC vendors IN THE BAZAAR.

I think some of them just don't know the items are sold by merchants, or they're hoping you don't.

I guess if someone parked themselves RIGHT NEXT to the forge, they might find a smith rich and lazy enough to pay 1pp each, rather than run back to the center building and pay 1 silver.

[Magrath]

To Krazick's list, add:

4) Faction. My bazaar mule just started carrying Louie's Thick and Hearty, and Deep Cavern Toadstools (enduring drink and food) for a bit more than the vendor charges. But how many people can wander into Chardok and buy them for themselves?

[Krazick]

Thinking about that... hmmm... Set up a trader mule next to the forge, with:
1. Water Flasks - 1 GP each (not 1 PP Each)
2. Metal Bits - 1 PP each (need to check actual make cost)
3. Metal Sheets - 10 PP Each (maybe more)
But have TONS of each, 2 or 3 Satchels Full of them (QTY 200, 400, 600)

But really, as a smith, do you really want to do skilling in the bazaar? with all the lag involved? Or for that matter any tradeskill? I certainly don't want to in qty. Too much lag, Auction, Shout, OOC, etc going on.

But when I set up with Pre-Brewed Tempers (like Earthen Temper), They don't sell, but the Lava Rocks, and Mercury does... strange.

[Eumerin]

Thing is, though, the one that caught my eye wasn't something that's difficult to find. I mean seriously - how hard is it to find most gemstones? Its not as if you have to go to the bottom of a dungeon to find one, or as if there isn't a vendor you can use that has gemstones. Even the less common gemstones usually have at least one accessible vendor for every gemstone.
And paying for convenience?
I could see paying a few extra plat out for the convenience. I don't think it would be worth it, but I could see it. But no way am I paying 200+ plat per gemstone on a gemstone that vendors sell for just a little over 100 - I don't care how much cash I have. Yes, there were some prices below 200 (one or two that were close to the vendor price, but none actually under), but at least 75% of the sapphires for sale were in the 200-500 range.
The other gemstones that I looked at were similarly skewed in pricing, and I'm only mentioning sapphires as those were the gemstones I mentioned in my original post.

[Glatius2]

I wouldn't do a significant number of combines in the bazaar under most circumstances. Far far too laggy. I prefer the forge near the bank in Shadow Haven. Only problem is you have to get the plate molds in the bazaar.

[Quesci]

I ALWAYS smith in the bazaar. No weight encumbrance makes my 90 STR wizard VERY happy. Vendors, bank, and forge in a few steps of each other. It is a perfect smithing zone for me. I just drop my clip plane to zero and I have no lag.

[Danae]

Re: Bazaar Not-a-Rant

Bazaar pricing is commented on a lot here, but one thing that kills me is this - people who take vendor stocked items and price them HIGHER than what a vendor sells them for.

First item that came to mind was Fuzzlecutters. Everytime I buy 10-12 stacks and throw them on my bazaar mule at 15pp a stack, they sell out within a day or so. Why? Convienence, pure and simple. I've even caught my guildmates buying from me once in awhile, and they KNOW I'll fetch for them for free. And while the bazaar vendors sell to everyone, the ones in SH don't, and not everyone knows where to find things in PoK... etc etc etc. There's also times when folks are just behind the curve ~ a friend sent me a tell the other day asking how much to charge in the bazaar for a copy of the level 60 paladin spell "Brells Mountainous Barrier". This thing had sold for up to 10kpp a few months ago, down to 2kpp before PoP released. Now? It's on vendors in PoK for like 3pp. But they didn't realize that some of the spells that were SoL drops are now sometimes vendor sold. :roll:

[Angelsyn]

The only problem with the spells in PoP is that they are No Drop. Sure you can buy BMB in PoK... but if you don't have PoP you can't have a friend go buy it for you.

Smartest thing Verant ever did.

[Carmaris]

Only the new PoP spells are no drop. You can buy BMB for 3pp and give it away if you want.

[Haawk Wolfheart]

What bothers me is when I'm searching for the handful of dropped shaman spells I'm still missing, and I see common vendor sold shaman spells for sale by traders for hundreds of plat. For example, there's a lvl 59 charisma buff that's sold by the Fironia Vie shaman vendor for 20-30 plat (don't remember exactly but in that range) and I saw someone reselling it for 500 plat in the bazaar. EXCUSE ME??? Are these people not aware of what they're selling or just hoping the buyer isn't? /sigh

[Minta Rose]

Sarnaks like me lots an' lots an' lots 'cause I got lotsa xp off of HEAPS of dead gobbies! an' I can fish in Chardok an' pet the dinos an' everything. . .but I can't find the vendor at ALL!

[Ladyskunk]

The worst one I've seen so far..

50th level Beastlord spell, bought off a vendor for 2gp 3sp and 9 cp, Sha's Lethargy.

PC vendor in the bazaar had several for sale for about 90pp.

Ah well,

Take care all.

*hugs*

LS

[Boleslav]

Bazaar Not-a-rant

You aren't likely to find gems for cheaper than merchant price because gems sell back to the merchant for about 90% of the cost you pay to buy them if you have decent CHA and faction. If I am going to take the trouble to sell some sapphires on my mule, I would want to make more than 10% or so profit in the event that I actually sold one. So trying to fit between the 105pp I have to pay to buy a sapphire and the 94pp I get when selling one back doesn't leave much room for profit.

Boleslav