So last night I get a message from someone about how expensive my starship parts are. Kind of surprising since I am the cheapest sucker out there. I take the cost of running the missions and double it. That is how I figured out standard cost. Grade 2 ship parts are around 2-3k. Next seller up is 4-6k.

 

So I am talking to this person because its kind of surprising since I hadnt put any ship parts up in several days. That is when I checked out the GTN and found all my ship parts up on the GTN for 6,000+. Over double what I sell em for. Ok whatever. I told the guy to check the seller name. Its a middle man. So I asked him what it was he wanting and made it for him right quick. All's well that end's well.

 

So my advice to everyone. When buying items on the GTN that are crafted, check the creator and the seller. You might be paying alot of extra credits to a middle man.

 

Tyr

Not sure the point. If you are happy with your profit when selling below what the market will pay, why do you care someone is making a profit off your stuff?

 

When you sell well below what the market will bear, you rarely help those who will not pay a lot, you help those who know how the market works. They will almost always be purchased by resellers.

I think he is saying be aware, if those two names don't match the seller likely bought out the whole batch of some type of item, then marked things up, so if you don't mind waiting a bit you will probably be able to get yourself a nice discount comparatively speaking versus the instant gratification of buying from the middle-man.

I think he is saying be aware, if those two names don't match the seller likely bought out the whole batch of some type of item, then marked things up, so if you don't mind waiting a bit you will probably be able to get yourself a nice discount comparatively speaking versus the instant gratification of buying from the middle-man.

 

This..

He could also be saying "Don't yell at me for charging high prices for my goods if I am not the one selling them."

He could also be saying "Don't yell at me for charging high prices for my goods if I am not the one selling them."

 

This is what I am saying. Since my first post in this thread I have had another person yelling at me for my supposed high prices. Yet I have not been posting anything on the GTN in awhile. Been busy with my story.

 

I dont care if someone wants to buy out everything and resell it. I still get my money. I can and will make more. Its just disturbing that people can see the seller right there before they even look at the part but instead they highlight the part and look at the creator name then send them an IM....

 

Its not my fault someone out there wants to price gouge the market. I have no control over who will and wont buy my items. So please look at the seller and creator. If they are different you are looking at a middle man.

 

Tyr

Its not my fault someone out there wants to price gouge the market. I have no control over who will and wont buy my items. So please look at the seller and creator. If they are different you are looking at a middle man.

 

Tyr

 

This is the beauty and the terror of an open market

I understand the point of your post and why you're frustrated.

 

However, take this from someone who played the AH extensively in WoW and is for now just observing before stepping into the TOR economy: don't underprice too much. I know that you want things to sell fast and you want to make items available at fair prices, but it seems that your server has people who are already playing the GTN. The general population will never get to take advantage of your prices due to them.

 

The only thing you're doing is working for the middleman. You're the one who paid for recipes or took an opportunity cost loss by learning them instead of selling them. You're the one gathering mats and sending companions out on missions (whose cost is also covered by you). The middleman is not only making profit off your time, but has the freedom to do his own missions. So all you're doing is lining his pockets.

 

I could tell you how to discourage him or make him burn through a lot of credits, but you probably just want to quest and do other things. For now, just undercut him by smaller amounts; if he still wants to profit off you, he'll have to jack up his own prices and people might not buy at those prices.

 

Long-term, you could try a more personal approach to selling.

 

Step 1: advertise your wares in General and always add this: if it's made by you, but not posted by you, they're getting ripped off.

 

Step 2: orders by mail, goods delivered in person only to people displaying their legacy names (so if your guy wants to buy from you secretly, he'll have to pay for another account). This way, you'll always have control over who buys your items and you'll be able to safely offer prices you're comfortable with. If you're nice and reliable, they'll tell their friends, word will spread, and anyone who wants the best price will come to you instead of buying from the GTN.

Basicaly what i do when im going to sell items on the AH that are crafted or crafting mats, is ill put the item in the box to see what the current price is going for and if i feel that its high or low ill do a search on the to buy section and check that list of the items for their prices.

 

I allways just place my prices under the highest items unless its a "middle man" upselling the item then ill reduce it accordingly. This is how i screw the middle man because the next person will more then likely price thier's around my price and so on. Worked well on wow

 

Sorta off topic but its not. Who even comes up with these insane prices for crafted green and blue items when the player doesnt physicaly do anything to make them or gather the mats....Purple items i understand as it takes time to find the schematics from reverse engineering or what ever the craft may be.

i also wouldn't have helped out the person who was so rude to private message me oblivious to the reality of the GTN.

 

i flip things on the GTN all the time. if nothing else. to eliminate that one jerk who undercut me by like 1 credit. i look at those fools and think. great you undercut me by a few hundred credits. np. i'll just buy your junk. resell it for almost pure profit.

 

as mission cost pricing is always tricky. it's almost easier playing the suckers on the GTN for mats and items.

I believe the OP have a sound advice. I think it is gear toward people not yelling at the maker if they bought it from a middle man.

 

Regardless of the price, there will always be middle man. There might be someone artificially raising the price by buying out the competition and repost.

Not sure the point. If you are happy with your profit when selling below what the market will pay, why do you care someone is making a profit off your stuff?

 

When you sell well below what the market will bear, you rarely help those who will not pay a lot, you help those who know how the market works. They will almost always be purchased by resellers.

 

 

I would call it a "buyer beware".....if the maker is not the seller, you can likely get the item cheaper by directly contacting the maker.....

 

If you pay attention to much of the dialogue options, it's pretty clear the light side frowns on "profit for profit's sake" meaning those folks would likely want to approach pricing by means of fairness and availability to all, vs. squeezing the market for all the juice there is....

Actually the technique of buying competator's low priced stuff and reselling it, is listed in the post about making a profit in this game. It's sound advice in this and other MMOs. You are not in touch with the market price. If he is wrong. keep putting them out there with a low price and this guy will loose his shirt. Otherwise, he's playing it smart and knows the market better than you do. Edited January 18, 2012 by BebeLeBozo

Buying stuff from people who are ripping themselves off and reselling it is something I do all the time.

Actually the technique of buying competator's low priced stuff and reselling it, is listed in the post about making a profit in this game. It's sound advice in this and other MMOs. You are not in touch with the market price. If he is wrong. keep putting them out there with a low price and this guy will loose his shirt. Otherwise, he's playing it smart and knows the market better than you do.

 

I've done this before. I paid 60k (which I felt was a fair price) for the Cybertech level 50 speeder schematic. A week later, I saw the same schematic posted for 9k. I started to get upset that I paid so much, then realized I could buy the schematic and relist it at a significantly higher price (basically covering most of the cost I spent buying the one for my personal use). Sure enough, someone bought it at the higher price.

 

Sometimes people will do this because they don't want to see the economy crash because people are way underlisting items (either unknowingly or intentionally). The server I'm on is one of the least populated servers, so we have virtually no economy to speak of, so I try to do what I can to help.

Buying stuff from people who are ripping themselves off and reselling it is something I do all the time.

 

I aint ripping myself off by selling low... I would rather sell 100 items at 1,000 credits in one day then one item at 10,000 credits in one week. And I do it all the time. I guess that's why I maxed out gold on three separate servers and toons in WoW in just a few months on each.

 

As for people outbuying me I dont really care either way. I have even been known to do it at times... Its why my guild controlled the economy in two separate games. Only time I took exception to it was when someone bought all my stuff then sent me an IM calling me a noob. That guy I havent seen play again since the next evening.

 

I filled my cargo hold with the parts. Then put 5 of them up at the usual price. He bought them. Then I put 5 more. He bought them. I kept doing this over and over. After about 2 hours I guess he got fed up and tried to undercut my price. But in his frustation he put all the parts I made and he bought, up at half what I would price them at... So I bought them all back up.

 

Havent seen him since.

 

Its just annoying when people assume because your the creator that you posted the item. So check that first. That is all I am saying. Of course its also weird cause in WoW and SWG I have never had that issue before. Eventhough they have creator names as well.

 

Tyr

Auction Houses in MMO's are a playstyle, it's just as valid to mostly ignore the AH/GTN playstyle as it is to ignore roleplay or PvP. Like roleplay or PvP zealots, Auction House zealots will insist that everyone should participate in this aspect of the game. The best way to ignore the GTN, yet ensure you get paid is to take a quick look at prices and undersell, you get some money and nothing else that follows is of concern to you, allowing you to craft, adventure, explore, PvP, space battle, roleplay or do whatever you enjoy doing more than studying market economics.

 

I haven't had it happen yet, but if someone mails me for underselling, I'd take it as an excellent opportunity to set blasters to ignore! That's one high strung individual I don't want to be grouping with.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Swage

Why do people care if a middle man buys low and sells high. Once he buys ur product he owns it and can do whatever he wants with it.

Why do people care if a middle man buys low and sells high. Once he buys ur product he owns it and can do whatever he wants with it.

 

Please read the entire thread before replying next time. I said I dont care either way if people buy my stuff to resell it. I am still getting my money. I would rather sell 100 items at 1,000 credits in one day then 1 item at 10,000 credits in a week.

 

What I am talking about is people that see the creator name on an item in the GTN and then IM that person to complain about the price when the creator didnt post it, a middle man did. Its disheartening to say the least.

 

Tyr

Heaven forbid you are like me and have a mid lvl toon you just leave on the fleet and mail everything to instead of having to pull various crafting alts in from around the galaxy just to list items.

one thing i want to point out, i do make things on one toon, mail them to my "bank toon" and my bank toon sells them on the gtn for me

 

why do i do this? comes down to ocd, i hate seeing that little mail icon and makes me go run to the mailbox all the time, i would much rather just log into my bank toon and pick up my mail all at once

 

there are lots of ppl who do this, so dont just assume that the "made by" and "sell by" are not the same person

i dont even look at the creator, and very rarely will i look at the seller too, i look at the price per unit, if its lower, i buy it hah

Not sure the point. If you are happy with your profit when selling below what the market will pay, why do you care someone is making a profit off your stuff?

 

When you sell well below what the market will bear, you rarely help those who will not pay a lot, you help those who know how the market works. They will almost always be purchased by resellers.

 

he probably doesn't care, just upset at the fact that someone gave him a hard time over someone else price jacking his goods.