User talk:Quizzical/Discount

Guilt
Here I was feeling bad about asking guildees for market value for items. Thanks for voicing my concerns about that practice.

My rule of thumb, when I was (briefly) in an uberguild, was to avoid offering unless:
 * player was relatively new to GW (e.g. few toons, worked on NM early mish)
 * request was for baseline items (e.g. mats for max armor vs. elite armor)

Even then, I would still sell at lower end of market value (e.g. if steel is WTB 190/WTS 90 at trader, I might sell for 120 instead of 140+). I doubt I would give away large chunks of cash ever, as GW begging drives me batty (anyone who can't earn 20k in NM isn't trying very hard, esp. considering the gold generators available since the arrival of the two Nicks).

My current guild has an intriguing practice: a couple of the advanced players horde tomes, giving them away to players establishing new toons (and sometimes selling at not-quite market rates to 1334er players). It's more socialist (each according to needs) than capitalist, but seems to work out okay. Those donating the tomes rarely need the cash and have little patience for trading small ticket items. Those helping themselves are few in number, as most of my guildees prefer to earn every last item, skill, etc.  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 22:18, 12 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The difference between giving away your own goods and giving away someone else's goods is the difference between charity and larceny. That's a really important difference that some busybodies sometimes just don't catch.
 * For goods that are traded at vendors with a vendor buy price well above the merchant price (so that there are about as many buyers as sellers), either the seller or trader in any exchange could easily go make a trade at the vendor. The advantage of trading directly is better prices that lead to economic gains from the direct trade.  For example, if an item has a vendor buy price of 200g and a sell price of 300g, then by making a trade directly, the vendor is cut out of 100g.  That's an extra 100g (per unit) to divvy between the buyer and the seller.
 * Suppose that the trade involves 100 units, so that it is an extra 10k saved by making the trade directly. There is 10k to distribute between two people.  What's the fairest way to distribute it?  To argue that making the sale at halfway between the vendor buy and sell prices is too high is to argue that splitting the 10k at a 50/50 split is somehow fundamentally unfair.
 * Really, though, sometimes the fundamental issue is that some people's idea of what is "fair" is to have prices skewed in their favor. In Puzzle Pirates, I noticed that often it would be the same people complaining that market value on one good was unfairly high, while market value on another was unfairly low.  What was the difference?  They wanted to buy the former and sell the latter.  Quizzical 01:27, 13 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I will generally give discounts to guildmates (or alliancemates) who frequently assist me with missions, quests, etc. If they've helped me out, I feel I owe them something in return. So, when someone needs something for personal use, and I happen to have it, they get it at a discount.
 * The key thing there is that I keep my marketplay and guildmate trading strictly separate. For example, I do not buy ectos from guildmates, I do not sell them to guildmates. If I were to do so, I would incur massive profits at the expense of these people. I know there is plenty of money to be made in powertrading, and other guild/alliance mates know that as well. When I need an item, I will ask my alliance, and I will pay normal price, unless they offer a lower price. And again, I only buy things from alliancemates that I need for my own use, never to resell for profit.
 * I think that about sums it up for me. RevelationOrange 06:03, 19 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Player A has apples and wants oranges. Player B has oranges and wants apples.  Both could profit by trading player A's apples for player B's oranges.  But they don't, because they're in the same guild and don't want to profit off of each other.  Kind of an absurd result, no?  Quizzical 06:19, 19 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Again, it depends on what the player is going to be using those apples for. If they're buying them because their character would benefit from having apples (say, some weapon useful to them) then yes, I'd trade. If they were just trading with me at a discount to go sell it on the market and make a profit, then no. Of course, I suppose there's no way to tell which is going to happen if the player simply lies about what they're going to do.
 * Maybe I should probably clarify- I will trade ectos to guildmates, but again, only for personal use. If they're just going to resell them, I won't offer them. RevelationOrange 06:21, 20 August 2009 (UTC)