Aggregating Vendor requests

Having to create multiple item stacks for purchase or sale is a real pain.

We really need vendors to allow buying and selling of partial item stacks, so we only have to list one stack of items for sale, or create one buy order.

 

I was thinking about how selling partial stacks would work when selling something like Raw Cotton.

Say I want to sell 10,000 Raw Cotton at 4,200 gold per 1,000 Cotton. That would be 4.2 gold for each Cotton. Since there is no way to pay 4.2 gold for 1 Cotton, I would need to sell the Cotton with a minimum stack size of 10 Cotton for 42 gold.

So here is how I think the interface should work:
- Go to "Manage Inventory" tab on Vendor
- Drag 10,000 Raw Cotton to "Your Items Listed For Sale"
- Box pops up with two fields:
--- Stack Size:
--- Stack Price:

For the example above, I would input 10 for the Stack Size, and 42 gold for the Stack Price.
The Cotton would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x10 (1,000)", with a price of 42 gold.

If a buyer wanted to purchase 50 Raw Cotton, they would click the "Raw Cotton x10 (1,000)" listing. A box with a number slider would pop up the same way it does on NPC vendors. The buyer would input 5 for the number of stacks they want to purchase, and then complete the exchange.
After this sale, the remaining Cotton would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x10 (995)".

If I wanted to sell another 10,000 Raw Cotton at a discount for higher volume purchasers, I could create a listing with a Stack Size of 100, and a Stack Price of 415 gold.
The Cotton would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x100 (100)", with a price of 415 gold.

If a buyer wanted to purchase 200 Raw Cotton, they would click the "Raw Cotton x100 (100)" listing, input 2 for the number of stacks they want to purchase, and then complete the exchange.
After this sale, the remaining Cotton would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x100 (98)".

If I wanted to sell 48 crafted chairs (assuming they stack) in stacks of 6 at 150 gold per chair, I would input 6 for the Stack Size, and 900 gold for the Stack Price.
The chairs would be listed as: "Chair x6 (8)", with a price of 900 gold.

Edit:
If I wanted to sell the 48 chairs individually, I would input 1 for the Stack Size, and 150 gold for the Stack Price.
The chairs would be listed as: "Chair x1 (48)", with a price of 150 gold.

This system with just two fields in the sale interface should cover all the options needed for selling partial stacks.

 

@Wilfred Alternately, and perhaps more easily coded, the price is rounded up to the nearest gold. The buyer then has the power to get stack size exact or not worry about the .2 gold.

 

Sure, but then the seller would have to enter the price as 4.2 gold per Cotton, and it may be difficult to update the game systems to handle calculations with fractions of gold.

Edit: Also, for items like the chairs in the example above where you are not selling them for a fractional gold amount, you could just enter a Stack Size of 1 and a Stack Price of 150 gold.

 

I see, that makes sense.

Did you by any chance look at the mock up I created for an improved vendor UI?

 

I just read through it. Lots of good ideas in there.
Partial stacks for sales and buy orders is the critical upgrade.
I would like to see the developers get partial stacks implemented as soon as possible, and then work on other vendor UI improvements.

 

How Partial Stacks could work for Purchase Orders:

Say I want to place a Purchase Order on my vendor for 5,000 Raw Cotton at 4,100 gold per 1,000 Cotton (4.1 gold per Cotton).

Here is how the interface could work:
- Go to "Manage Orders" tab on Vendor
- Drag Raw Cotton to "Your Purchase Orders"
- Box pops up with three fields:
--- Stack Size:
--- Stack Price:
--- Stack Quantity: (Number of Stacks)

The Stack Quantity field should probably be added to the sales interface also, as well as the other two fields.
(See my previous post on selling partial stacks.)

For the example above, I would input 10 for the Stack Size, 41 gold for the Stack Price, and 500 for the Stack Quantity.
The Purchase Order would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x10 (500)", with a price of 41 gold.

If someone wanted to sell me 50 Cotton, they would click the "Raw Cotton x10 (500)" listing. A box with a number slider would pop up like it does on NPC vendors. The seller would input 5 for the number of stacks they want to sell, and then complete the exchange.
After this exchange, the remaining Purchase Order would be listed as: "Raw Cotton x10 (495)".

If I wanted to place a Purchase Order for 200 Beetles at 900 gold each, I would input Stack Size: 1, Stack Price: 900, Stack Quantity: 200.
The Purchase Order would be listed as: "Beetle Carapace x1 (200)", with a price of 900 gold.

If someone wanted to sell me 3 Beetles, they would click the "Beetle Carapace x1 (200)" listing. A box with a number slider would pop like it does on NPC vendors. The seller would input 3 for the number of stacks they want to sell, and then complete the exchange.
After this exchange, the remaining Purchase Order would be listed as: "Beetle Carapace x1 (197)".

This system should cover everything needed to implement partial stacks for Purchase Orders.

 

Another benefit of this Partial Stack system:
It would make it easy for any POT to set up a Commodities Exchange.

Just set up a group of vendors where each vendor is dedicated to buying and selling one commodity, or a few related commodities.

Require all listings of a commodity on the exchange vendors to have the same Stack Size for all Sale and Purchase Order listings.
Required Stack Size could be 1, 10, 100, or 1,000, depending on the rarity of the commodity.

For example:
Raw Cotton could have a required Stack Size of 1,000.
Beetle Carapace could have a required Stack Size of 1.

With all listings of a commodity at the same Stack Size, it would be easy for buyers and sellers to compare and adjust prices.
Buyers and sellers could then react quickly to changes in supply and demand for a commodity.
Players would be able to look at the listings and easily determine the market price for each commodity.