The best way to fix this over priced items in STO is to:
1) Have the sales end after a certain time. I also play Champions, I have had stuff on its AH for months...why? well I don't need credits and it a good place to store stuff for cheap.
2) Have it cost something to post items on the AH. I will think twice about posting a 500 energy item for 5000 if it will cost me something.
Another Idea would be to implement a bid ask price system and cluster all like items. So instead of needing to scroll through 100 posts of the same beam array mk ii with prices ranging from 1000-100,000,000 simple cluster them all into on post show that there are 105 items available and list the lowest priced version of that Item.
When you go to sell that item it should show the seller what the current lowest ask price is. If there are several available for 1000 and you know that if you post it for 2000 you item won't even be viewed until all of the lower priced items are sold you'll be much more likely to post a reasonable price.
On the bid side of things if there are no items available you should be able to list your highest bid along with everyone else so again if a prospective seller is going to sell something rare and sees that there are 50 people willing to buy it and the highest bid is 100,000 EC then he could post his sale and immediately receive the 100k.
Lastly its been stated but implement a small transaction fee that is a percentage of you're listed price that you pay regardless of whether the item sells or not. If you're paying 5% upfront at the time of the listing you're not going to post a mk I rifle for 1mil ec as it would cost you 50,000 just to put it up for auction. But you might be willing to pay that 50k upfront cost on a mk X blue torp launcher
Good post, but we have to remember: Common Sense is always in short supply. One only need look at some listings on EBay and see things listed for more than I can buy brand new in the store.
Unfortunately that's the way of the world... and now the Universe..... these days. Someone always looking to pull one over on the next guy/gal/weird green thingy.
As a former merchant on SWG I noticed a trend when browsing the Exchange - a lot of people are trying to sell items for a lot more than they are worth. The nett effect is that hardly anyone can sell anything and hardly anyone can buy anything. I went looking for a personal weapon yesterday and there was just ONE item out of maybe a hundred that was priced reasonably.
Here are some things to bear in mind when you post an item for sale on the exchange:
1.) In the bottom left of the item's description is an energy value - this is the energy cost as if you were purchasing the item from a vendor. While not all items can be purchased for energy credits, it gives you a guide as to the item's value. Do not price higher than this unless the item is very rare.
2.) Get to know the items for sale on the Sol vendors - if you are selling a Mk2 Phaser Sniper rifle there is no putting it up for sale for 5000 energy when I can buy it for a tenth of the price at the Requisitions vendor. - If you ARE selling something that's also for sale on the Sol spacestation, pick a value somewhere between half the item's energy cost and it's full price. That way you're making more energy than if you sold to your replicator but it's still a good deal for anyone who's shopping around.
3.) The items that came with your starter ship are NOT valuable. You would do better to sell them to your replicator for 2 energy credits than try to sell them for 1000 energy on the Exchange.
4.) Bear in mind how much energy credit people have. Look at your own energy credit right now - do you have thousands? Or maybe a few hundred? Think about the tier of player you are selling to and how much energy they are likely to have to spend.
5.) Loot - get an idea of the loot drops in game. If it's pretty easy for you to pick up a Mk1 Phaser array as a loot drop, then it's pretty easy for everyone else too. Just try the Sirius, Orion or any other patrol mission and you'll see how quickly you can loot good quality items for your ship. Same goes for certain ground missions for ground equipment. Keeping this in mind, don't overprice your loot. Again, if it's something you can buy on the station, don't mark it up above the full price. If you loot something that can't be purchased on station then you have the advantage and can sell it for a decent profit.
6.) Finally, and most obviously, check out the competition. If you're trying to sell a phaser rifle for 2000 energy and there are ten others up for sale for 500, it's very unlikely yours will get sold. For a quick sale, undercut the others and get the energy you deserve for being such a successful businessman/woman/thing.
I hope these 'rules of acquisition' will help you sell better and more often, and make The Exchange a place for people to pick up good deals.
But also remember there is a sucker born every minute in MMO also, thus the people buying tribbles for 5k when you can easy loot and breed them
The two items so far that I've listed -- I don't return to the barn very often -- sold within 3 minutes, combined. I didn't even look at the "npc buy" price, but just put on something in the friendly three or four digits and listed it.
The exchange also makes a nice bank. With the limited bank space, put an item up for sale for an outragoues price therefore you don't have to worry about anyone buying it. Its also a good way to transfer credits to an alt. With no penalty for listing items these 2 reasons will continue.
I agree that I think some people are using it as a bank slot. I think that if an item does not sell in 3 days, than it should be put back into your Bank. If your bank is full you should gt an in-game mail saying that your item needs to be picked up within x hours or it is gone.
Someone was selling 50 Mineral Samples for like 400,000. This is insane. They probably do not want to just dump them, but also lack bank space. Solution, outrageous price.
2nd, it should be much easier to search for items. Ex/ I was looking for a Regular Deflector Dish Mk VI to use for crafting. But because every dish has the word "Deflector" in it, the most I could do was narrow it to level VI and common. I had 4 pages of Positron Deflectors and other kinds I had no interest in buying.
3rd, sort by price. It sure would help.
In general, I have really gotten into trying to make money with the exchange. It is kinda fun to take time away from grinding missions 24/7.
I agree that I think some people are using it as a bank slot. I think that if an item does not sell in 3 days, than it should be put back into your Bank. If your bank is full you should gt an in-game mail saying that your item needs to be picked up within x hours or it is gone.
I agree there should be a time limit but three days is a little short. SWG used a 7 day timer (30 days for private owned vendors) and that seemed to work well - it was a good compromise between giving the seller time to sell and keeping their equivalent of the 'Exchange' clear of slow moving items. The same or similar should work well for ST:O and should also help to keep prices closer to where they should be.
The problem is that the economy in STO will not stabilize.
Think about it... we have wealth being created (loot from PVE missions and rewards), but there are insufficient credit sinks to bleed it back out.
Sure, at low levels you'll spend your energy credits buying weapons, extra ships, etc.. but what happens once there are a number of people who own every ship in the tree, and have them fully outfitted with items that can be purchased? Prices will skyrocket because these topped-out players have tons of cash (energy credits) and nowhere to spend them. Eventually all prices go up, and we have runaway inflation.
In order to have a stable economy, there needs to be some way of bleeding cash back out of the economy... whether by means of death penalties, ammo / fuel / supply purchases, or some other method. Using EVE for an example again... yes, the death penalty is extreme... but it's one way they keep the player-driven eeconomy balanced.
I see your point but also, being more easily able to search for what you are looking for can help. Ive made almost a million dollars selling items on the exchange, and my strategy is simple. Under-cut everyone. I am not greedy and most prices are insanely high. I usually find the lowest priced item and sell it for a few thousand less, assuming it makes me a profit.
Earlier I sold a Blue Covariant VI sheild array for 45,000. Most of them at the same level were priced near to 100,000. It cost me nothing to get, so getting what it was worth was fine for me and 20k more than id get if I sold it to a vendor.
I was able to do the same thing with deflector dish's I craft at Mem Alpha. Eventually when I get to access to MKX stuff, I plan on buying enough items to outfit everyship I own with that gear, even my light cruisers.
A more decent tip is look true the exchange & sell your stuff bellow the lowest price you can find +/- whit of course the idea in mind you might still make a profit
& by example if you're item isn't up there, by example I had some 5Quantum Weapon Enhancer Mark-X-Rare) never seen those in the exchange put it up for a ridiculous price because didn't really want to sell it but O well you can't hug all the good items, turned me out a sweet profit, whit that profit i was able to get a a stap closer buying a ridiculous overpriced bank slot for our Fleet.
6.) Finally, and most obviously, check out the competition. If you're trying to sell a phaser rifle for 2000 energy and there are ten others up for sale for 500, it's very unlikely yours will get sold. For a quick sale, undercut the others and get the energy you deserve for being such a successful businessman/woman/thing.
Great advice! But unfortunately it goes the other way too. If there are three items posted at 25000 and one at 3000, buy the 3k one and sell it for 24,999.
The only way that this doesn't work is if people boycott the Exchange. If something is too high, don't buy it. It's like buying credits. If no one did it, there wouldn't be credit sellers, put them out of business!
People seem to be greatly underestimating just how many energy credits are floating around the market right now. I'm at 9 mil (was 10 mil 2 days ago) with little effort, and I'm sure there are other people with far more energy credits than me. Items are worth a lot of credits on the exchange simply because credits themselves are worthless.
Sure, the standard phaser arrays for 20 mil are a joke, but ignoring the outliers most items are being priced around what the market will bear.
i got an item free, all I want to sell it for is something more than its scrap value, every cred above that is a bonus
This. Love it.
My merchant goal in STO is to sell items at a reasonable price. I do not need a lot of money in this game. I'd rather someone be happy with their item and have a good time with what they bought.
For instance, I fly from zone to mission and along the way the DEVs have conveniently placed resources, floating in space with big flags flying to get my attention. DUH. How hard is it to veer over a little and pick them up. hahahah I'm not working for them. I'm not doing anything at all except changing my heading a little.
Those items should not be priced as SUPER-RARE-ITS-A-MIRACLE-I-FOUND-THIS-ITEM prices !! I mean come on guys. Why the hell are you selling a sample for 10,000 credits?
Weapons, ship shields, personal shields, personal armor... the quests give you enough to outfit yourself, your away team AND fill up your inventory. Why would you price something so plentiful so high? [*]Gather your items that you want to sell in your inventory [*]Open the Exchange and select the BUY tab. Search for your exact item name. [*]Examine the other prices to see where everyone is at. Be sure to notice if there are multiples. [*]Choose a price that you can live with. I find the lowest price on the exchange then price my item at least 50% less. [*]Post each item separately. You'll draw more eyes to your item's low price than if you post multiples at a low price. People forget to look for quantity and think you are overpriced. [*]Sit back and watch the money roll in. I usually get sales within 30 seconds of posting. [*]Anything not sold the day you post is probably priced too high. Be reasonable, make money.
My current main character is a Lt. Cmdr 3. His Science ship is loaded with very very nice items AND he has over 150,000 credits. It is not rocket science. Post items at reasonable prices - make lots of money.
As a former merchant on SWG I noticed a trend when browsing the Exchange - a lot of people are trying to sell items for a lot more than they are worth. The nett effect is that hardly anyone can sell anything and hardly anyone can buy anything. I went looking for a personal weapon yesterday and there was just ONE item out of maybe a hundred that was priced reasonably.
Here are some things to bear in mind when you post an item for sale on the exchange:
1.) In the bottom left of the item's description is an energy value - this is the energy cost as if you were purchasing the item from a vendor. While not all items can be purchased for energy credits, it gives you a guide as to the item's value. Do not price higher than this unless the item is very rare.
2.) Get to know the items for sale on the Sol vendors - if you are selling a Mk2 Phaser Sniper rifle there is no putting it up for sale for 5000 energy when I can buy it for a tenth of the price at the Requisitions vendor. - If you ARE selling something that's also for sale on the Sol spacestation, pick a value somewhere between half the item's energy cost and it's full price. That way you're making more energy than if you sold to your replicator but it's still a good deal for anyone who's shopping around.
3.) The items that came with your starter ship are NOT valuable. You would do better to sell them to your replicator for 2 energy credits than try to sell them for 1000 energy on the Exchange.
4.) Bear in mind how much energy credit people have. Look at your own energy credit right now - do you have thousands? Or maybe a few hundred? Think about the tier of player you are selling to and how much energy they are likely to have to spend.
5.) Loot - get an idea of the loot drops in game. If it's pretty easy for you to pick up a Mk1 Phaser array as a loot drop, then it's pretty easy for everyone else too. Just try the Sirius, Orion or any other patrol mission and you'll see how quickly you can loot good quality items for your ship. Same goes for certain ground missions for ground equipment. Keeping this in mind, don't overprice your loot. Again, if it's something you can buy on the station, don't mark it up above the full price. If you loot something that can't be purchased on station then you have the advantage and can sell it for a decent profit.
6.) Finally, and most obviously, check out the competition. If you're trying to sell a phaser rifle for 2000 energy and there are ten others up for sale for 500, it's very unlikely yours will get sold. For a quick sale, undercut the others and get the energy you deserve for being such a successful businessman/woman/thing.
I hope these 'rules of acquisition' will help you sell better and more often, and make The Exchange a place for people to pick up good deals.
Are you really an ex merchant gonna buy their stuff?
I don't think prices will ever be reasonable for reasons others here have already stated. There are a lot of credits in the game, and nothing to spend them on except items on the exchange. Really, NOTHING. I can buy all the uncommon items i want with exploration badges, can craft rare items, and I could still easily do all my missions with common items 2 tiers below my level.
The OP said that he was a successful merchant in SWG. SWG had something that made crafters and merchants necessary(evil words coming!): item decay.
Stupid question time about the price you list for your item. Is that not the price for each? Say I place a stack of 50 radiation samples for sale on the exchange and list it at 50. Did I just sell the entire stack for that price? It certainly seems that way.
I refuse to buy anything off the exchange, it is just too stupid. Instead i just repeat exploration missions and buy uncommons and rares aswell as buying from actual game vendors. Yes it takes longer but i save a whole lot of cash than wasting it on idiotic prices.
Have made millions off the exchange - supply and demand - I supply things people need, there aren't many of the items around, so I can charge 100Ks and sell things instantly.
Stupid question time about the price you list for your item. Is that not the price for each? Say I place a stack of 50 radiation samples for sale on the exchange and list it at 50. Did I just sell the entire stack for that price? It certainly seems that way.
Yes, you did.
When you list a stack of 50, that is considered a single "item" on the Exchange. So the price you list, is for the entire stack. The game does not allow for posting 50, and selling one at a time.
For all the "tactics" and "techniques" of selling better...
If Cryptic would just allow for Sort By Price, it would all be solved.
And I've noticed a few people talking about selling loot to their Replicator? FYI, selling to most vendors will net a slightly better price than the Replicator.
And I've noticed a few people talking about selling loot to their Replicator? FYI, selling to most vendors will net a slightly better price than the Replicator.
While this is true, the replicator is still pretty darned handy for when your hold is nearly full but you're not ready to hike back to the nearest Starbase quite yet. 40% return vs 50% isn't that big a difference and is certainly better than spacing an item to make room for more. That being said, I make sure to keep any high ticket items (shields, deflectors, and engines in particular) until I reach Starbase and try to only dereplicate relatively inexpensive items when clearing a hold for another mission chain.
Replicator is only available in space. The button is greyed out when you are on an away mission, probably to keep people from just mass producing healing items in the middle of combat.
However... why can't I access my Replicator while I'm on the Bridge?
Nice to see another former SWG crafter
It's so obvious that it shouldn't have needed to be posted, but unfortunantly it did. The ones that pay attention to what you said will be the once that actually sell thing on the exchange. It would be better if the items were listed by price so if you did a search for a mk2 torpedo for example you wouldn't have to look through all of them with prices bouncing all over.
I have had several on there, always a little less than value from 20-500 under depending on the item with very few sales. Likely because no one can find it due to all the rediculously high priced items filling the screen.
Yeah...the prices for common and uncommon items on the exchange is ridiculous. Problem is there are plenty of people out there who would actually shell out 10,000 credits for a MK2 phaser bank rather than walk two more sections over and buy it from a vendor for 1,000. Rare and Very Rare items are the only ones that can justifiably be sold for more than their base worth. And even then the markup should not be any more than %50 above base. I have made tons of money by selling quality loot at prices slightly below base. I make almost twice what I would get from a vendor and the player gets a substantial discount over the price form the same vendor. It's a win-win situation.
Comments
1) Have the sales end after a certain time. I also play Champions, I have had stuff on its AH for months...why? well I don't need credits and it a good place to store stuff for cheap.
2) Have it cost something to post items on the AH. I will think twice about posting a 500 energy item for 5000 if it will cost me something.
Exactly. I've seen this happen alot, and I think it's also one reason for the crazy prices.
When you go to sell that item it should show the seller what the current lowest ask price is. If there are several available for 1000 and you know that if you post it for 2000 you item won't even be viewed until all of the lower priced items are sold you'll be much more likely to post a reasonable price.
On the bid side of things if there are no items available you should be able to list your highest bid along with everyone else so again if a prospective seller is going to sell something rare and sees that there are 50 people willing to buy it and the highest bid is 100,000 EC then he could post his sale and immediately receive the 100k.
Lastly its been stated but implement a small transaction fee that is a percentage of you're listed price that you pay regardless of whether the item sells or not. If you're paying 5% upfront at the time of the listing you're not going to post a mk I rifle for 1mil ec as it would cost you 50,000 just to put it up for auction. But you might be willing to pay that 50k upfront cost on a mk X blue torp launcher
Unfortunately that's the way of the world... and now the Universe..... these days. Someone always looking to pull one over on the next guy/gal/weird green thingy.
But who exactly has 100,000,000 already?
I know RMTers use this tactic to cleanly transfer funds, same with dupers on other games.
But also remember there is a sucker born every minute in MMO also, thus the people buying tribbles for 5k when you can easy loot and breed them
Someone was selling 50 Mineral Samples for like 400,000. This is insane. They probably do not want to just dump them, but also lack bank space. Solution, outrageous price.
2nd, it should be much easier to search for items. Ex/ I was looking for a Regular Deflector Dish Mk VI to use for crafting. But because every dish has the word "Deflector" in it, the most I could do was narrow it to level VI and common. I had 4 pages of Positron Deflectors and other kinds I had no interest in buying.
3rd, sort by price. It sure would help.
In general, I have really gotten into trying to make money with the exchange. It is kinda fun to take time away from grinding missions 24/7.
I agree there should be a time limit but three days is a little short. SWG used a 7 day timer (30 days for private owned vendors) and that seemed to work well - it was a good compromise between giving the seller time to sell and keeping their equivalent of the 'Exchange' clear of slow moving items. The same or similar should work well for ST:O and should also help to keep prices closer to where they should be.
Think about it... we have wealth being created (loot from PVE missions and rewards), but there are insufficient credit sinks to bleed it back out.
Sure, at low levels you'll spend your energy credits buying weapons, extra ships, etc.. but what happens once there are a number of people who own every ship in the tree, and have them fully outfitted with items that can be purchased? Prices will skyrocket because these topped-out players have tons of cash (energy credits) and nowhere to spend them. Eventually all prices go up, and we have runaway inflation.
In order to have a stable economy, there needs to be some way of bleeding cash back out of the economy... whether by means of death penalties, ammo / fuel / supply purchases, or some other method. Using EVE for an example again... yes, the death penalty is extreme... but it's one way they keep the player-driven eeconomy balanced.
Earlier I sold a Blue Covariant VI sheild array for 45,000. Most of them at the same level were priced near to 100,000. It cost me nothing to get, so getting what it was worth was fine for me and 20k more than id get if I sold it to a vendor.
I was able to do the same thing with deflector dish's I craft at Mem Alpha. Eventually when I get to access to MKX stuff, I plan on buying enough items to outfit everyship I own with that gear, even my light cruisers.
A more decent tip is look true the exchange & sell your stuff bellow the lowest price you can find +/- whit of course the idea in mind you might still make a profit
& by example if you're item isn't up there, by example I had some 5Quantum Weapon Enhancer Mark-X-Rare) never seen those in the exchange put it up for a ridiculous price because didn't really want to sell it but O well you can't hug all the good items, turned me out a sweet profit, whit that profit i was able to get a a stap closer buying a ridiculous overpriced bank slot for our Fleet.
Great advice! But unfortunately it goes the other way too. If there are three items posted at 25000 and one at 3000, buy the 3k one and sell it for 24,999.
The only way that this doesn't work is if people boycott the Exchange. If something is too high, don't buy it. It's like buying credits. If no one did it, there wouldn't be credit sellers, put them out of business!
Sure, the standard phaser arrays for 20 mil are a joke, but ignoring the outliers most items are being priced around what the market will bear.
This. Love it.
My merchant goal in STO is to sell items at a reasonable price. I do not need a lot of money in this game. I'd rather someone be happy with their item and have a good time with what they bought.
For instance, I fly from zone to mission and along the way the DEVs have conveniently placed resources, floating in space with big flags flying to get my attention. DUH. How hard is it to veer over a little and pick them up. hahahah I'm not working for them. I'm not doing anything at all except changing my heading a little.
Those items should not be priced as SUPER-RARE-ITS-A-MIRACLE-I-FOUND-THIS-ITEM prices !! I mean come on guys. Why the hell are you selling a sample for 10,000 credits?
Weapons, ship shields, personal shields, personal armor... the quests give you enough to outfit yourself, your away team AND fill up your inventory. Why would you price something so plentiful so high?
[*]Gather your items that you want to sell in your inventory
[*]Open the Exchange and select the BUY tab. Search for your exact item name.
[*]Examine the other prices to see where everyone is at. Be sure to notice if there are multiples.
[*]Choose a price that you can live with. I find the lowest price on the exchange then price my item at least 50% less.
[*]Post each item separately. You'll draw more eyes to your item's low price than if you post multiples at a low price. People forget to look for quantity and think you are overpriced.
[*]Sit back and watch the money roll in. I usually get sales within 30 seconds of posting.
[*]Anything not sold the day you post is probably priced too high. Be reasonable, make money.
My current main character is a Lt. Cmdr 3. His Science ship is loaded with very very nice items AND he has over 150,000 credits. It is not rocket science. Post items at reasonable prices - make lots of money.
Are you really an ex merchant
The OP said that he was a successful merchant in SWG. SWG had something that made crafters and merchants necessary(evil words coming!): item decay.
STO could use that, too. There, I said it.
Yes, you did.
When you list a stack of 50, that is considered a single "item" on the Exchange. So the price you list, is for the entire stack. The game does not allow for posting 50, and selling one at a time.
For all the "tactics" and "techniques" of selling better...
If Cryptic would just allow for Sort By Price, it would all be solved.
And I've noticed a few people talking about selling loot to their Replicator? FYI, selling to most vendors will net a slightly better price than the Replicator.
While this is true, the replicator is still pretty darned handy for when your hold is nearly full but you're not ready to hike back to the nearest Starbase quite yet. 40% return vs 50% isn't that big a difference and is certainly better than spacing an item to make room for more. That being said, I make sure to keep any high ticket items (shields, deflectors, and engines in particular) until I reach Starbase and try to only dereplicate relatively inexpensive items when clearing a hold for another mission chain.
Replicator is only available in space. The button is greyed out when you are on an away mission, probably to keep people from just mass producing healing items in the middle of combat.
However... why can't I access my Replicator while I'm on the Bridge?
It's so obvious that it shouldn't have needed to be posted, but unfortunantly it did. The ones that pay attention to what you said will be the once that actually sell thing on the exchange. It would be better if the items were listed by price so if you did a search for a mk2 torpedo for example you wouldn't have to look through all of them with prices bouncing all over.
I have had several on there, always a little less than value from 20-500 under depending on the item with very few sales. Likely because no one can find it due to all the rediculously high priced items filling the screen.
Because the replicator is in the ready room, and the conference lounge. Not the bridge
I dont worry too much about who is buying the goods and how much they may try to re-sell it for. Just keeps the items moving and the cash coming in.
I have been living by these maxiums and I am sitting nice at Cpt 4 with 5.5 mil energy credits.