Lets share this week's two highlights.
Here is someone who knows everything, and tries to instruct me on his knowledge of things. We must consider his opinions for their intentions, rather than their implications. He says the glyph I sell for 4 Gold is worth 12 times more than I offer it for. You also notice the first whisper immediately below my /trade macro, is someone coming to buy a glyph. Clearly I cannot sell glyphs for 4 Gold, because this person says I will lose Gold. So let's consider this.
If I make glyphs, I research which I think will sell, and put up for auction these glyphs.
If I don't check back within 24 hours, chances of being undercut are 90%.
If I am undercut, on my server market, there will usually only be 1-2 of any glyph sold that day.
Original item returns to me, unsold. I lose very minor posting AH cost. I have inventory not sold.
Versus
I am moving product in and out of my shop, which increases my rate of profit per hour, and I earn very good reputation with customers. Many times they ask if they can /add me to friends and ask for future business. I get word of mouth, people want to buy one of Every glyph for their class COD just for the heck of it. I'm the person they want to buy from, not the undercutters on the AH.
So now, Who is missing out on Gold? This person who whispers me is, and asks me to please stop taking his money because he does not want to work for it.
This one is a more important example, because it shows the closed-mindedness some people have. This person thinks many false things, and it is important for him to make me think them too. He says:
You cannot make any money with Inscription.
My prices are cheaper than his.
It is wrong of me to price lower than 5g.
The market is to be shared by everyone, not taken by entrepreneurs/working people.
This person is right in his belief, knows everything, and I am wrong for taking his Gold. (Also, since there is no Gold to make in Inscription, what is it I am taking?)
Lets explain how important it is not to think like him. Here is my Inscription breakdown:
I purchase a stack of 20 herbs for 11 Gold. I mill these herbs into pigments. I receive on average 1 Snowfall Ink, and 3-4 Ink of the Sea. Each glyph I make uses 1 paper that costs 40 silver from NPC (can't get cheaper) Snowfall Ink sells on AH for 35 Gold. So, I earn 15 Gold for buying stacks of herbs. I would have to destroy materials in order to loose money doing Inscription.
So as long as I sell a glyph for at least 51 silver, I am continually increasing my Gold amount. 4 Gold is 600% profit on top of this.
So, we know we can make money with Inscription. What about his topic of 'It is wrong to take business away from others? Well, if that is the case, how come you can post anything on the AH for any price you want, even if there are other auctions of the same item? What about free market economy? If I can produce more of item X than him, am I only allowed to post as many as he does? If I can produce item X for cheaper than he does, do I have to pay him a fee by not selling my entire inventory?
This person is lazy. He is unhappy that competition has come and ruined his lazy business. He does not want to find a new way to make money. He wants me to give up my business for his sake. And he asks me to do this in rude/condescending manner.
Do not be this person! Always realize that there is thousands of gold being transferred on the AH every day! You do not owe anyone a fair share of this gold, as they don't give it to you! Take whatever you can and make as much profit as possible. If you think like this person does, 'communism, good for everyone' mentality, you will always be poor and giving help to others that say 'please' but do not earn/work for it. You are a person who will work for it, why don't they?
The lynch pin of your entire system is that snow fall ink sells for 35g. What you are actually doing is subsidizing your glyph sales with snowfall sales. Looking at your costs you are giving your glyphs away at cost not making 600% profit.
ReplyDeleteThe person in the first whisper was right, you are just leaving gold on the table for a quick sale. Who cares if you don't move it immediately? Furthermore, why are you going for a quick sale mentality? You should be going for a gold maximizing strategy. Glyphs priced at market or just below market will sell just fine. A glyph sells readily for 12g that you sell for 4g you've just left 8g on the table just to get a quick sale. A sale that has to be subsidized by your snowfall sales or you make no money and waste your time. If the snowfall market falls out you are going to be left with glyph prices that aren't supportable. Watch the reactions of all the people who "love" you for being so cheap after you have to raise your prices. There is no loyalty in a commodities market.
Seems to me you are using this strategy because you aren't posting enough glyphs. 100 is laughable, expand this x10 and you'll start to see a market price strategy work out much better. 90% of the undercutters aren't in every glyph and they don't repost every 24 hours, they do it sporadically. You'll inevitably sell all the glyphs you make assuming they are actually used by players. A word of caution there, even glyphs you might think are terrible sometimes have a niche use. It's best to make a few of every glyph with a supportable market price and see how they sell and keep listing it for a few weeks to build up some solid data.
I like this point, and my most recent posts regarding strategy take it into consideration.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm doing research with the 4g prices more than anything else. And I am still selling glyphs with my bankers, but you're right in that I need to increase the volume.
Lets see how this goes this weekend.
*edit*
Part of my job right now is to fight out the competition, so that over time I can make the inscription markets usable again. You yourself quit because the competition was too rough? I was hoping to make many more inscriptionists quit with my 4G propaganda.