i hate customers!!! (ironic, no?)

[Shoi Bloodbow]

this post is written from a fletching perspective, although it could be viewed in the same way with all tradeskills.. i just dont know enough about the other respective markets...

karana has been hit with an influx of gimp fletchers.. you know the ones im talking about, the ones that have mules in bazaar 24/7 named 'imakarrows' and undercut you for 12p just to be the lowest price in the bazaar.. im an avid believer in the free market, but its just kind of sick.. SO, as a result.. i rarely sell in the bazaar anymore, instead i make a macro "GM fletcher taking orders" and spam it when im running through a zone...

sorry for being wordy.. im getting to the main point... now, i dont know what YOUR definition of an order is, but "i need something better than X" is NOT to me.. seriously, next time you go into mcdonalds, try and order something "better than a hamburger." im sure it will have comical results.. im not going to waste my sanity trying to figure out what is 'better' in your opinion.. because, really.. 'better' is relative on several KEY points.. so those people, i ignore.. good luck to you..

on the flip side, if you send me a tell and say "i need something better than X, im a warrior, i have about 400p to spend" that's GREAT! i love you, and i can help you out.. i am not a salesman that is going to hold your hand and show you the stats of every bow i can make, it doesnt work that way... so if you dont know what you are ordering, dont message me.. ever..

some people might say this will hurt, as people will read it, think im a jerk, and thus never buy from me or warn their friends/guild/etc etc.. i dont care, SOMEONE had to say it!!

PS. any of you smiths or tailors get that very often? the 'i need better than X' tells..?

Just throw it back at them...

If they don't know much, offer them a bow you have lying around, and offer it for double market value.



If you can't beat the guys in bazaar 24/7 though, join em.

I actually do the opposite with brewing, I 'overcut'. There are 3-4 people currently selling Grobbs Liquid meat at various times in bazaar. One person is always at 4pp 6gp, no matter if anyone else is on or not. 2 are at 5-6pp, I set up at 8-10pp.

I stay up for 16-18 hours at a time, set it up when I go to bed, take it off at night when I play a bit. In that time, I sell a lot of Grobb (100-200)...

Breaking it down a bit, it costs roughly 1.5pp each to make, so at 5 they make 3.5pp each, at 10 I make 8.5pp... so I have to only sell Half as much as them, and I still make more profit than them.

If they are spending endless hours making thousands and selling that many, then they deserve their higher total profits, I prefer to work a bit less.

This may only work in low priced items, but if you are the only one on... (which must be what happens throughout the day, because I don't think people come to me for my looks) people will buy from you.

[Lilosh]

Darn, I was expecting another Tech support rant.


*walks off, disappointed*


-Lilosh

[Iannyen]

Darn, I was expecting another Tech support rant.

Figured you'd bite at that one.

[Cigarskunk]

Hitting the folks double the market value of whatever you've got laying around as a punishment for not knowing how to express themselves isn't kewl.

If someone want's something better, then I'll send them a link to whatever I'm selling or give them a recomendation for what I can make that would fit thier class/level.

It doesn't take too long and if they turn out to be a d00d, I'll figure that out by the second or third tell, so that isn't a problem either.

As for "I hate customers" being tech support only - pah - you've never done retail - imagine having all the same stupid questions you get asked in EQ while selling being asked of you in RL by someone face to face who you can't simply put on ignore or even "accidentally" hang up on?!?!?!?

[Sevhina]

Ugh

Pre-Luclin.....

/ooc Grandmaster Jeweler now accepting orders
Customer_001: What kind of jewelry can you make?
JCer_001: I have materials for all of it, what do you need?
C_001: I don't know
/who all C_001
JCer_001: What slots did you want to fill and how much did you want to spend?
C_001: I don't know
JCer_001: I can make Item A for 200p, Item B for 400p, or Item C for 450p
C_001: I like Item C, but I only have 50p, is that ok?
JCer_001: Sorry, it costs more than that to make Item C
C_001: Would you take 50p and a Split Paw Eye?
JCer_001: Sorry I don't take trades
C_001: Would you take a SPE and 10 orc belts?
C_001: PLEEEEASE I really really need Item C
/groan

This is why I gave up jewelry for profit...too much whining.

[Tassrin]

The same thing happened to me...

Jewelry did this to me in GFAY last night.

I have a policy. One that I try to abide by. If I don't have a buyer, I don't make the item. I don't like to have too many extra pieces sitting around (since I am only in silver and I can't easily sell em, even in the bazaar).

So I walk into GFAY and /AUC Fine Jewelry for sale, increase your stats for little cash!

My standard opener. Got a couple of bites this time. One of which I sold a couple rings and earrings too, bout 8 1/2 P profit. The other, I could tell had money. The reason I know this, is I had grouped with her 2 days prior in CB, had seen her equipment, and now had seen that she was around 6 levels higher in under 36 hours. So I think, "Okay, I can probably market some of the more expensive items to her." Well as any jeweler knows, the expensive stuff with silver isn't really that great (well not for a warrior which is what she was). So I told her about Silver Opal Engagement Rings (+2AGI/+3STA).

I can't believe how thick people can be.

She asked easily 5 times. "What were those stats?", then she started asking "And what does that do?" talking about the stats themselves. So I am thinking, okay, maybe she has never played a tank before, doesn't understand STA or AGI, so I try and explain a bit.

Well now I am in a time crunch. I have to log off, and I need to know if she is buying. She seems interested, so I get off my duff in Felwithe and buy the gems. Of course I still don't see the money, so I don't plan on making them yet, but like I said, time crunch and I didnt want to have to zone back into felwithe for more gems if I failed a combine. So I put them together, zone, and head toward Kelethin.

Then she chimes in. "I don't really think thats any better then what I have."

What does she have? She's walking around in Dervish Cutthroat, some 2AC earring she got off an orc, and a silver bloodstone.

I ask, do you have a proccing weapon for that DEX?

No

/boggle

I easily wasted 25 mins of the hour I was on last night with this one person. If I had sold the rings I would have madeabout 40P profit. As it is, I have two rings in my possession and 40P less in the bank.


Sorry for the long post. I logged off, and headed off to church feeling very unworshipful.

[Shoi Bloodbow]

If someone want's something better, then I'll send them a link to whatever I'm selling or give them a recomendation for what I can make that would fit thier class/level.

/seethe

what's "better" to you might not be "better" to someone else.. maybe im just a jerk for not wanting to spend 20 minutes finding out what you really want for a whopping 30p..** im not a salesman, i dont have 20 bows i can link for you, i make them on an individual basis, as stats can change easily mixing strings, and carving tools..

/math_time on there are 6 different bow staffs (not including nightmare of BFT)

there are 3 different bow strings

there are 2 different carving tools (plus option of not even using one)

that right there gives us a possible 54 bow combinations.. and of course, on 3 of those you can add bow cams to the mix...

/math_time off

the best customers that i get are the ones that know EXACTLY what they want.. right behind those people are the customers that at least have an idea of what they want.. you want damage? no prob.. want long range? no prob.. my officiall response now, will be telling those people to come to EQTC and find the bow they want, and not message unless they know what they want... at least now they have no excuse of having to log off..

**not that im only chasing the big sales.. i will make bows for people even if its for a dinky 5p profit..

[Draggar]

I've seen those undercutters, too... They can be a killer for those of us trying to work on skills and just make our money back.

While others, who have a very high skill, make these just to make money, and then we're out.

The bazaar has been the best and worst addition to the game. It makes what would normally be impossible to get items available to everyone, yet the free-markey (well, player based market) people check prices before they sell items as a trader and try to undercut others (I'll admit, I'm guilty, but 20PP for a leather padding does seem rediculious!).

What I found out for the best is to either go to GFey (Kelethin), Surefall, or Qeynos / West Karana areas (highest number of archers). Make some basic bows and 2 stacks of basic arrows, /auc them for 5PP for the set (bow & 2 stacks of arrows). also add in 'taking special orders too'.

Sure, the profit margin on the kits is high (cost is usally about 0.160 for the 2 stacks of arrows, and roughly 1.000 for the bow), but when others start sending you tells for orders, then you start pulling profits, or breaking even when you're trying to raise the skill.

Blacksmithing is another one, /auc your armor in newbie cities (Freeport is a good one, GFey is also a good one).

Sure, undercutters are out there, and they can be annoying, but if you know where and how to take full advantage of a player based economy, then there are huge profits to be made.

(Arrows sell like crazy in Lake of Ill Omen, the Karanas, and sometimes in Paudal (sp?) caverns. No fletchers there (except WK/SK). People will run out of arrows. :twisted:

[Dunthor Warsmith]

"I want something better than X"

-"What do you define as better?"

"Just better"

-"More range? More damage? Better ratio? or overall improvement"

"Just better"

That's when I get annoyed.

I'm a smith primarily ... I did most of my auctioning in the banded/FP days, pre cultural, but still in the dieing days of FP. I got a LOT of complaints about my lack of variety lol, and people contantly asking if I had anything better than their gear, or if I had something better than X, or Y ... no links, and consumers not wanting to tell me stats ... not fun.

[Cigarskunk]

/seethe

what's "better" to you might not be "better" to someone else.. maybe im just a jerk for not wanting to spend 20 minutes finding out what you really want for a whopping 30p..** im not a salesman, i dont have 20 bows i can link for you, i make them on an individual basis, as stats can change easily mixing strings, and carving tools..

LOL - the trick is to simply steamroll those types - I did retail for nearly three years in RL and very quickly learned how to keep customers moving so that I didn't get tied up with some moron who wanted me to describe EVERY feature on EVERY item we had when all he really needed was a battery.

I don't carry 20 bows with me either - my bread and butter is the Stingers. I printed out the page with the stats for all of the other bow combos so if a Stinger isn't "better" then I find out what bow they've got, what level/class they are, how much plat they want to spend and then make an educated guess from that and tell them that, at this moment in time, ______ is the best bow for you.

Of course, if the person isn't even pretending to be useful and willing to work with me in very short order then I'm willing to cut them lose, but otherwise, you'd be surprised how far ahead you can get by just taking a few minutes.