Commissioned vendors and pricing

It's happened before for the betterment of the game. Don't think it's absolutely off the table!

 

I think a great thing would be to have a time limit on the items so lets say after a week something doesn't sell the vendor sends it back and sends back a certain % like if it cost 25% to list maybe he sends back 15% so take the sting out of the reprice, a week might be to short but perhaps that might be the easiest and fairest way.

 

Commission free vendors are completely unfair as they are now currently in the game for all the reasons already mentioned. I get pretty pissed off every time I list something on my vendors. That's not really good for my opinion of the game.

Also, you should get your commission fee back if you take the item off the vendor. No sale - no commission made. Period.

 

At the very least I think you should be able to lower your price in the vendor without having to pay a commission again.

I've started using commissioned vendors, and am not really disturbed, but am very careful to only list items that I can leave on their until the end of time and will hopefully have the same price by then. So that's pretty limiting. Being able to change the price would be a great change.

 

That and refund of commission fees if removed. If they're worried about people using the vendors as a storage unit, then they need to come up with something else besides favoring the whales.

 

I'm not sure they'll ever do that, but I don't think it's a bad idea. Well worded questions/statements to them in the telethon is the best way to get your idea across, so I'd say let them know your feelings there and cross your fingers!

 

It honestly has nothing to do with favoring the "whales" as you say. It was a reward for kick starting the game. While I do agree there needs to be some type of change to Commissioned vendors, I do not think it fair to insult players who have Commission free vendors.

 

Agree 100% with the OP. Great suggestion!

 

It's not an insult. Imagine if you have two store owners selling the exact same products. One has to pay taxes, the other doesn't. One can keep their products up for sale indefinitely, the other will lose unsold products if they don't remove them from their shelves before seven days is up, and in addition to that, has to pay more taxes to put the same items back on the shelf. Which store owner do you think will make more money. There is nothing wrong with getting special items for supporting the game, but when those items put the rest of the player base at a disadvantage, then it's wrong. It's not the fault of the player who bought the commision-free vendor, but it doesn't make it any less of a problem.

 

The solution is simple. Just change all commission vendors to taxed vendors. Tax them like lots are taxed now. The sales transactions from the vendor would have no effect on the fixed rate tax. People would only have to worry about making enough profit to pay the monthly tax in sale activity. Anything in excess puts them on an equal footing with non-taxed vendors.

 

Well, the solution is to get the orbs which cut the vendor prices in half. If you get 2 of them then you have a tax free vendor. They did give an option by giving us those orbs as well. It is the same with the tax free lot deeds. So I guess I do not see the real problem with this. I would also imagine that those who missed out on the kickstarter you will maybe get another shot at some of this type of stuff in act 2? I guess time will tell. As a matter of fact I bought a taxable City lot deed and got 2 scepters and use them which gives me a tax free lot. So there are ways to get around taxes, you just have to obtain the items which do this. Not everything in the game is going to be fair for everyone. Same as in real life

 

Calling people Whales.... not sure that it isn't an insult.

Moving on, your comparison isn't of commissioned vs. non-commissioned, it's of commissioned vs. public vendors. Commissioned vendors don't have a timer, you can leave your stuff on forever.

It actually does make them useful in certain situations. If you can be certain that you have a product that will stay at its current price, then they are viable. That's a pretty high bar considering how our economy fluctuates, and it may wind up costing me a bunch of gold at the S Mart Dandy Department, but for the moment it is working with modest profits.

 

That may be so, however all it does is favor people that can either afford bundles or pay RL cash for one now. It's entirely unfair. Don't believe me? Ask the people that chose not to play because of these and other examples (quite a few of my own guild mates from the past 20 years.) Edit to add that I go into a lot more detail here.

 

I agree that commission vendors should be better than what they are now. There's really not much reason to use them other than if you're basically giving something away or using it for something that's purely for fun. Unless someone has a primo lot location, which they probably don't if they don't have a commission free vendor, it's a lot more likely for something to sell on the Owl's Head public vendor or some other high traffic spot, even with the time restrictions.

I've never purchased a bundle and I have a few commission free vendors that I bought for 400-500k igg each. They're pretty expensive, but they're not unattainable, and they have an extremely stable value. It might take a while to save up for one, but it's worth it, and it will still be worth just as much if its resold later.

 

I mean no disrespect but life is not fair, but if you really want something you can get it with in game gold. For example, what if I get a super rare that you don't have. Does that mean it is unfair because you can't have it too? This should be about the commissioned vendors being better optimized. NOT about what someone has that you do not. I do not want to turn this into a troll fest thread, but as I said just about everything you want can be bought with in game gold. You just have to be WILLING to work for it. And THAT is as fair as it gets.

As for those who you say will not play because they have to buy a package or bundle? Why do they? You can play this game and never spend more than the 45 bucks to buy the game itself. They could have a lot deed and again as I said before just about anything they want for in game gold. So all I see here is an excuse to use that as a basis for a debate over something that honestly is a moot point. However I do agree the cash shop prices are pretty high. So I will just try and buy stuff with gold that I want and let others do the buying in the shop

I will also quote a part of what @Berek said in your last post that was locked.
"We are not overtly changing the fundamental structures of the game at this point (or the store and how we are funding the game), or many of these already well established systems that actually have gotten the game off the ground and into the hands of the players throughout development. All that we have done has been a necessary part of getting this kind of game to you, and continue as we approach Launch and beyond. We are excited to have gotten this far, and are well on the road to that Launch, so there's no need to worry about it not happening.

There were several repeated mentions of the game being 'just a cash shop'. You can do everything in the game that makes SotA meaningful without even ever looking at the store. We do have the addon store to help fund the game, as all of you are well aware. What seems to be missed is the many times more items that are added in the game that are craftable and support the lifeblood of the in-game community. We need to do better here to show this in places like SotAWiki.net, which I hope you all will help to continue to contribute toward."

 

Ah, so at least you admit the game is not fair. Newsflash, that person selling the item gets the gold for the RL cash they spent and becomes richer in-game. It's all the same.

Edit to add that I'm done. You're talking in circles. (Apologies to the OP for probably getting your thread locked).

 

Buy a commissioned vendor and put it in Brittany Alleys in the new tent market. Commissioned vendors are only 20k, sometimes less if you find it on someone else's vendor.

This is what I'm doing with the Dandy Department, it's a commissioned vendor and I'm experimenting with it to see if all the complaining has merit or is just complaining. Can money be made with a commissioned vendor?

So far sales have been good. The location is good, rent is cheap for a high traffic area, 35k a month. The proprietor has also told me that the last spot open spot can have its first 2 weeks of rent for free, so someone should take him up on it.

So there you have it, my money is where my mouth is. I'm paying rent, I'm using a commissioned vendor. And it seems to be working, I'll give you an update after my first month is up (I didn't get the 2 weeks free, btw. Someone should jump on that.)

The change that I still advocate for Commissioned vendors is that proprietors be able to adjust their prices, or pay the commission on sale, as this gives them repricing flexibility.

 

I do appreciate this and you make a lot of good points. However, it doesn't take away the fact that people are paying commissions, they cannot move their vendors without losing their commissions and that 10% is quite a large sum of money once it starts to add up.

If it doesn't make a big difference, why not just make them all commission free and be one with it? As Starr once said, that people may use them for cheating or storage. I can appreciate that too. However, isn't there a way to do both? Time limits on items listed, perhaps?

 

Or you make it a skill tree, like Eve Online.

Not going to flesh out a framework, but that skill system allows for adding more items to sell on the vendor, reduced listing fees, and other aspects of a merchant’s lifestyle.

 

I believe SWG had a vendor tree didn't it? Or business or something. I forget. That's an AMAZING suggestion! Thank you @Stryker Sparhawk!