Think the main reason people craft for free for mats is because of the crit chance (and how much money can be made off a crit ona 72 item) and also because of how hard the mats are to come by.

On my server, the MMG's sell for approx 450-500k each and the Isotope 5 goes for 200k each. That's a lot of credits for one piece, which equates to a lot of grinding credits through dailies or whatever.

Still think it's not unreasonable for a crafter to ask for a fee, purely for the time spent crafting the item, which could have been spent crafting other items which then could be sold to make credits, plus it's only a crit chance. I don't really have much experience of it, but would have thought somewhere in the region of 100-200k tip/free wouldn't be unreasonable.

Plus you can still make a lot of credits crafting the 66 mods, armorings and enhancements.

Hi

 

What I don't understand is people expect me to craft them grade 31 items for free (Including the premades) with mats even if they know that you are practically the only one on the server that can craft a certain item.

 

Do crafters do free with mats even if they are not in a competitive market many suppliers? Or is this a justification for lower prices by the buyers?

.

When I was the first person on Prophecy of the Five to learn the Resolve Hilt 30, I absolutely charged a HUGE "tip" to craft it for people. I had to re-engineer 7 resolve main hands before I learned it (which were not easy to get. I had to pay off people to trade their main-hand tokens they won). I knew that if I started to do it "free +mats" that there would be a ton of other sellers within days. By keeping by price big, I eliminated the amount of people that would learn the schematic cheap. If someone else was going to learn to schematic off my crafted hilts, I was going to be sure they paid a lot of money to do so. A lot of people refused to pay my price, but a lot of people did. Some of those people that paid a lot for multiple hilts learn the schematic. Good for them. I made a lot of money, now they could too. After a few weeks the price came down because a lot of people learned the schematic. But to answer OP's question: Yes people will want something for free, it's human nature. But there are also a lot of greedy people that will pay a lot of money for your stuff that will surely make up for those that don't

First, you can do business whatever way you like. No one's disputing that. But of course people don't want to pay a fee/tip. They know you keep the crits, which is a another item for "free". That's what they give to you when they give the mats, a chance to get an item for you for "free".

And as you well know, crafters have been doing hundreds of millions crafting for "free". Funny how that works.

The way you word this is very misleading. First, crits are not garunteed. So its okay to give out free crafts on an off chance that I crit? More often than not, we don't crit. So I get nothing?? Nice. Second, a crit gives another item for free. That implies that you actually get to keep the first item. You don't. Its suppose to go to the person who gave you the mats. So instead of saying, a crit gives you "another" item for free, a crit gives you a chance to make some money off your service. If not, o well. That's what they give you when they give you mats? A chance to get another item for free?! Wrong! They are giving you mats so that THEY can get their item and you MIGHT get an item to sell. MIGHT!! Last, yes some people do this and make credits, I however have never done this and have made 100s of millions of credits.

I'm torn on this when it's specifically about items that provide a 2nd item upon a crit. For that I would say seller's preference and let it be. You do get the 2nd one that you can sell on the GTN.

For items that don't give a 2nd when you get a crit, absolutely charge a fee. There's NO incentive to craft relics/earpieces/implants/etc for "trade for mats."

The way you word this is very misleading. First, crits are not garunteed. So its okay to give out free crafts on an off chance that I crit? More often than not, we don't crit. So I get nothing?? Nice. Second, a crit gives another item for free. That implies that you actually get to keep the first item. You don't. Its suppose to go to the person who gave you the mats. So instead of saying, a crit gives you "another" item for free, a crit gives you a chance to make some money off your service. If not, o well. That's what they give you when they give you mats? A chance to get another item for free?! Wrong! They are giving you mats so that THEY can get their item and you MIGHT get an item to sell. MIGHT!! Last, yes some people do this and make credits, I however have never done this and have made 100s of millions of credits.

First, yeah, of course crits are not guaranteed. that's why we call them crits.

Second, no crafter gives out their crits unless they are crafting for a friend or guildie.

Third, yes, it is about people giving you their mats so you can have a chance of getting an item for yourself. It IS a very profitable approach. Everybody knows this. But you seemed outraged about it, like people are trying to take advantage of you or something.

First, yeah, of course crits are not guaranteed. that's why we call them crits.

 

Second, no crafter gives out their crits unless they are crafting for a friend or guildie.

 

Third, yes, it is about people giving you their mats so you can have a chance of getting an item for yourself. It IS a very profitable approach. Everybody knows this. But you seemed outraged about it, like people are trying to take advantage of you or something.

1.) agree

2.) If someone tips me for my service, I will. They paid for it.

3.) People aren't giving me their mats so that "I may crit" with them. They are giving me their mats so that I can craft THEM THEIR item. They could care less if I crit or not, they just want their item.

I'm not outragged by it, I just don't buy into the line that it benefits me. I know trickery when I see it. Bottom line, they are giving you their mats because they either A.) can't make it themselves, or B.) don't want to buy it off the gtn cause they are cheap. If the finished product was selling for less than the mats, people would just buy the finished product. The whole, you can get the crit if it does indeed crit, is just an accuse people use to be cheap. Like I said, I don't do business this way and I'm stinking rich in this game. Yeah I put the time and effort into crafting to make credits. My approach might not be like yours but judging by the OP, I am not alone in my thinking that all this crafting for mats business is for the birds.

Here's an example for you, a friend gives you 5.00 dollars and says, run to McDonalds for me and get me a Big Mac meal. I say, what's in it for me? They reply, well, if McDonalds is having a buy one get one deal going on now, you can keep the extra meal, if not, o well, thanks for getting that for me.

Also, the extra advantage here is that if you get a crit, you get an extra item gratis

That's not the "extra advantage," it's the top line of your revenue model. Those crits ARE your income from crafting. Crafting "for mats" means getting people to loan you an endless stream of free mats to roll the dice with. You waste no time farming, and you don't need to dump tens of millions into high end mats, so your cost of production is nothing more than your time. And with the number of people who want items crafted, you get access to far more "rolls of the dice" sitting on fleet and spamming than you ever would wasting your time to actually farm the mats.

The "culture" of crafting for mats is the culture of simple economics. It's the most efficient way to turn time into credits for those who have access to high end patterns.

Like I said, I don't do business this way and I'm stinking rich in this game.

Those who craft for mats alone stink a whole lot more.

2.) If someone tips me for my service, I will. They paid for it.

Why would they tip you for something that may or may not crit ?

See ? I can do that too.

In any case, unless we're talking about a friend or guildie, very few people will take the word of a stranger "you know, no luck, the crafts didn't crit".

There's no way to know if a craft didn't crit or not. Only your word on the matter and, no offense, that's not much for potential customers. If customers had a way of knowing with absolute certainty that a craft had a crit or not, the mats + tip approach would be more popular.

3.) People aren't giving me their mats so that "I may crit" with them. They are giving me their mats so that I can craft THEM THEIR item. They could care less if I crit or not, they just want their item.

How they caring or not is relevent ? Would you stop asking for a tip if they tell you they care ?

You are doing business without the need of mats. That is what matters.

And FYI, some people do care. Crits make crafters happy. Happy crafters keep things competitive. That's good.

Why would they tip you for something that may or may not crit ?

See ? I can do that too.

 

In any case, unless we're talking about a friend or guildie, very few people will take the word of a stranger "you know, no luck, the crafts didn't crit".

 

There's no way to know if a craft didn't crit or not. Only your word on the matter and, no offense, that's not much for potential customers. If customers had a way of knowing with absolute certainty that a craft had a crit or not, the mats + tip approach would be more popular.

 

 

 

How they caring or not is relevent ? Would you stop asking for a tip if they tell you they care ?

You are doing business without the need of mats. That is what matters.

 

And FYI, some people do care. Crits make crafters happy. Happy crafters keep things competitive. That's good.

I think you are miss understanding me. I don't charge tip on a chance to crit, say I'm crafting a 31 hilt for someone, if they pay me 150k and SUPPLY the mats, then yeah, if it crits, I give it to them. They paid me for my service, SUPPLIED the mats, its theirs.

And I am not doing business without the mats, I am providing a free service when ot doesn't crit and doing business when it does. So roughly 30% of the I'm doing business and the other ~70% I'm doing pro bono work lol. And end game mods and gear take what, between 40 min to an hour to craft? What a huge waste of time if I don't crit. I can make more credits running dailies, crafting and selling my own stuff.

At this point, the major crafters on each server have so much money there is really no need for them to have a service charge. When I'm supplying someone with my own mats for a crafted item, I will usually tip anywhere from 100-150k for them being nice enough to spend a crafting spot on me, and I usually will tell them to keep the crit if it crits. Crafters that I have come in contact with have generally been extremely friendly and gave me the crit on top of the item I requested. In those cases, I generally tip them around 300-350k because they could have easily made some quick cash on the GTN.

Also, stop calling it a tip when you make it mandatory. If it's mandatory, then it's a service charge which is definitely not the same thing as a tip.