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A real soltuion to the exchange, and problems with just a lsiting fee

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
So I know that we will be getting a listing fee, and depending on how it is done, will determine if the exchange will even survive. If you must pay to place an item on the market, as I first though when hearing the news, then all that will do is discourage people from even posting items to the exchange, and exasperating an already desperate situation. If it is implemented where you loose a bit of listed price, as a fee, then all you do is drive up prices.

So to start, I'll go over the basic principle of making money on the exchange, and then I'll suggest what should really be done to improve the market and lower prices on items.

STO Exchange 101: Making money

In order to make a profit on the exchange, you need to sell the item for more than half it's listed value. The reason is, any good vendor will give you half value for any item you sell to them. If you go to the exchange and find that you would have to sell for less than half value on the exchange then you stand to make a better profit from vendors. If you have to pay and sort of fee for services on the market, you then need to add that to your listing so that you can break even.

here is and example.
I have a 1000 Ec phaser array.
a vednor will gladly pay me 500 Ec on it.
if I go to sell it on the exchange, with no listing fee, then I just need to sell it for more than 500 ec to profit from the exchange.
If I have to pay a listing fee (lets say 15%) then I have to sell my item for more than 650 Ec just to make a profit.

As you just saw with my example, a listing fee will just drive up prices. If I am forced to have to pay this before the item is posted, then I stand to loose a lot of money, as there is no guarantee that any one will buy my item in the first place. And that is not adding in the fact that the time is returned after 14 days if not sold. If I have to pay every time to replace that item on the market, that vendor is going to look a lot more appealing. if I'm got a decision between loosing money in a gamble or a guaranteed source of income, there is no reason to take a risk. And thus we drive people away from the exchange, and there will be fewer items even listed, and fewer people buying.

That is not what we want in an economic system. We want to encourage people to sell and buy in as large a quantity as possible. But we also want to stop people from selling their items for ridiculous prices. So how do we go about this. And what other improvements must one do?

Simple: (You can use some or all of these, but the underlined ones are of the greatest importance.)

1) Competition. if you want to keep prices low, then you need to make sure you have competition. The idea is to get you to sell lower than you might have, but not so low that you aren't making any money off the transaction. The way we can implement this is having the game fill the market place with "stock" items and a few random rares that are priced at about 150%-200% of their listed base value. That way people have a goal to shoot for, and it also guarantees that there will always be items on the exchange. Why 150%-200% So that people can sell under that and still make over the 50% required to make profit, but also make it so that prices aren't to high for an item.

2) An demand graph. yes you heard me. If I'm going to post an item, I want to know if it is likely to be bought. If demand is low, I might want to post something else, instead of wasting my time. It could be done very much like the stock exchange where it shows the buying and selling trends over a period of time, and you can see how it would do in the market.

3) Forcing the items to be sold with in a percentile range of it's base values. I'm thinking anywhere from 0% to 300% that way people can not abuse the system. However, i feel that this one isn't as necessary, becasue there should be enough competition to keep things over 200% in most cases. But this is a valid solution in of itself.

4) Re-evaluate base value. I'm not too clear on how the prices for rares works in this game, but from what I have noticed, if there was any difference between a common and a rare of the same mark, it was tiny. It should be based on a larger scale. 100% for a common, 150% for a green, 200% for a blue, and 300% for a purple. That way, the rares will be more expensive from the get go, to show their rarity, and innate desirability.

5) be able to search items in a price range. self explanatory.

these would greatly improve the market/exchange with out destroying it, or driving people away from it.
and to any one that wants to point out that there are other post out there. I have seen them, read them, and posted my opinion in them. I wanted to start a new one to get my ideas better organized and have a better chance of people and devs seeing them instead of buried deep in some one else's thread.

thanks.
Post edited by Unknown User on

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