January 30, 2012

Merchanting

Introduction:

Gold farming
is playing a massively multiplayer online game(MMORPG) to acquire in-game currency which is then sold to other players.People in China and in other developing nations have held full-time employment as gold farmers.

While most game operators expressly ban the practice of selling in-game currency for real-world cash,[1] gold farming is lucrative because it takes advantage of economic inequality and the fact that much time is needed to earn in-game currency. Rich, developed country players, wishing to save many hours of playing time, may be willing to pay substantial sums to the developing country gold farmers.


This is where the Trading House located.

So you’ve got yourself a PremiumTrading House Ticket and now all too bored to go hard-core dungeon running. Don’t worry because there’s a lot of gold farming techniques aside from dungeon runs. This one that is discussed in this guide is the gold farming/money making method common to all online games – Buy-and-Sell.

Merchanting is occurs in almost every MMO . If you are not familiar with merchanting, here’s a quick definition. Buy for less, sell for more. It’s self explanatory. You simply hunt in the market/all chat to see if anyone is selling something underpriced. There will always be that impatient seller who is willing to sell for less. Take advantage of that and buy from that seller, then sell that item at its original price. This method requires patience, if you do not have the patience to sell, then I recommend you try out the other methods.

The first dilemma of an online game marketer – what item should you market? Here in Dragon Nest there are many. Starting from Jewel Stacks, Epic Grade Intermediate Codes, Epic Heraldies(3rd Stat), Set Equips, and Accessories, to Cash Items. If you’re starting low however I suggest you go for jewel stacks as they’re of the least risk. But if you’ve got the guts to Gamble your gold, epic set equips and heraldies (w/ good 3rd stats) are the best investments. This is because rich gamers always searching for 3rd Stats heraldies to achieve full potential for their character. So , if you able to get a good 3rd stat heraldry, it can sell a very decent price up to a few thousand golds.

This 2 pictures show the difference between 2-stats heraldries and 3-stats heraldries. This is how you earn some extra money by gambling.

Once you’ve found the item of your choice, RESEARCH its price all over. Knowing the right price is the most crucial step. The Trading House is always a good start. But only take note of the first few items both in the premium and non-premium section; they’re the lowest priced ones and often are around the real price. The TH however is only good for scouting low profit items (jewels, epic codes and 2-stat heraldies). Highly priced items (epic set equips and 3-stat heraldies) here are often overpriced. And, if you don't have Premium TH Ticket, simply pricing item will waste a lot money for nothing because of the tax.


Now here’s the point where low-risk and high-risk marketing separate from one another. For definition purposes, low-risk marketing sells jewels, epic codes and 2-stat heraldies. High-risk marketing on the other hand involves over-upgraded epic equips, set items, high-stat skill accessories, and 3-stat heraldies. Aside from the risks involved, the differences is that low-risk marketing profit by volume and thus sells more easily while high-risk marketing profit by piece and therefore requires more effort to sell.

Low-Risk Marketing ( Jewels, Epic codes, 2-stats Heraldries, Rare Material)

As to what was discussed above, low risk markets include those items that are somehow ‘easier’ to sell. This type of marketing mostly involves farmer (supplier) - dealer (distributor) partnership. You play the role of a dealer by buying in bulk then selling by piece. Since the risks involved are low, the rewards for each stack of item sold are also low. The primary benefit is that you are able to play safe. When prices fluctuate, your losses are minimal.

The key to profiting huge in this kind of marketing is by knowing how to play the ‘game.’ Here you play with your customers and suppliers, and if you don’t know how to manipulate the former and bargain with the latter, you lose.

Rule 1: As the supplies increases, the price decreases. As the demand increases, the price increases.

Ah, the Golden Rule of online game entrepreneurship (also maybe in real life). This is the reason why you should buy in bulk. Now if you would ask why is this so, just put yourself in the shoes of your suppliers. You’ve got so many loots that it’s a problem with your inventory and storage, you only have a limited amount capable of selling in TH, and it’s hard work and a waste of time selling by piece. Then you might just want to drop off all your loots to someone able to cash it all out. Yeah, that might be it. But hey, if you’ll think about it, these reasons are all too simple.

Truth is the reason behind is economics. And uh uh, I won’t elaborate it so your nose won’t bleed. Just accept as it is and think of it as a way of life. That way it’s easier for the both of us.
The point is if you have someone capable of selling bulk to you, bargain for a reasonably cheap price.

Rule 2: Master the DN player psychology

Just like Google search, it’s the front page that gets the most exposure. And logically, it’s the page where selling is easiest. Of course players would wander of the other pages looking for the cheapest goods but if you’re playing in an overcrowded market (like rough agate); the premium section covers at least 8 pages. You may want to get your item at least in the first or second page.

How to get to the first page you say? Simply sell your items cheap. Most of the time players would use the ascending price/pc sorting function so if your items are cheapest, you’ll grab the first spot.

However it’s not always the cheapest price that you should go for. Just go by the average per piece and don’t worry, it’ll sell. By saying average per piece I do not mean the average computed for you by the trading house, it’s overpriced. It simply means the average of the first 3-5 cheapest items available.

Another thing that you shouldn’t do is selling by full stacks. It’ll be better if you sell by /5pcs for a 20-stack item (jewels) and /pc for 5-stack items (epic codes). Abide by the first rule and check the cheapest price available per piece. Remember that players will likely buy only in the sufficient amount they need unless they plan on using them hardcore. (Like over-upgrading)

If you would notice, I emphasized on the price per piece. Why? Simply because it’s the most common mistake merchant players in Dragon Nest do. They scout and sell in full stacks and never realize that you can profit more per piece. Selling in lower stacks (ex: 5pcs/stack) offers greater profit and CHEAPER selling fee.

Another thing you should remember: Take advantage of rush sellers. Simply those that can't afford to wait for their items to sell. Check the trading house often. These people sell incredibly cheap and provides the best bargain. Why? Simply because better bargain = better income.


Rule 3: Play by the average

What sucks about selling low priced items is that the competition is fierce. What’s more? They’ll kick your items out of the front page by selling cheaper. Hey, don’t worry about them, just keep your cool. Play by the average and you’ll definitely sell.
In the trading house, there’s not much you can do to outperform your competition for low-priced items except by selling cheaper. (Yeah, it’s an online game. It sucks but that’s the way it is.) But as I always say it’s not always best to do so.

Rule 4: Monitor the market

This one’s very important. Whether playing low risk or high risk one thing that you should consider is to always monitor the market for price fluctuations. When does this happen you say? Prices fluctuate primarily after new important patches.

Especially during level cap increase, gameplay changes, and new item introductions. As a consequence, always think twice when bargaining for items before a major patch. Buying items during these times are always a gamble. You may pay off big but likewise, you may also lose big-time. I remember a colleague of mine buying several jewel stacks before the v42 patch. After the patch when the prices heavily dropped to almost 50%, he lost at least 1.5k gold.

Another situation is the introduction of incomplete seals. Prices of some items (epic equips and heraldies) dropped significantly due to the introduction of more items to the market. Remember this especially for high-risk marketers. A level cap increase would severely affect price drops on lower level equips. That’s why for a high-risk marketer it’s best to clear up your selling inventory even before a major patch if you can’t risk losing money.

High Risk Marketing (3rd Stats-Heraldry, Coding Set Equips)

So you’ve decided to go all out with your buy and sell eh? Yeah, the profits here are huge, but so do the risks. Here the rules of the game are entirely different. You do not use the Trading House, you sell by chat-rooms, forums, and possibly channel/server-wide broadcasts. It takes effort, but the rewards are promising.

The most crucial aspect of high-risk marketing is knowing your item’s right price. You can take a look at the trading house but don’t rely on it. The best move here is to go on your server’s marketplace forum. (Cherry Credits DN forum)

The forum's website is over here : http://forum.cherrycredits.com/forum/view/dragon-nest

And, always go look for your items average price. Also take a hint at your item, epic 3-stat heraldies for example, value more (around 2000-4000g) if the 3rd stat is an attribute, critical, or +atk/+matk. Overupgraded equips increases value by 30-40% per upgrade (+7-+9) and almost doubles for +10 and above.

Cherry Credits Marketplace
Selling is also tricky, you can post in the forum and wait for the best possible offer, or loiter around and wait in a chat room in-game. Thing is, you should do whatever it takes to get a prospect buyer with your dignity still intact. And when you’ve found one, don’t offer all out and never subdue to their offer thinking that you might not find another buyer anymore. Find the deal you are both comfortable with, if he can’t keep up with the right price then go for a take-it-or-leave it approach. Don’t worry because you’ll find another buyer if you would continue with your efforts.

Also remember that rule #3 and #4 above still applies. Now to tell the truth, I can’t clearly direct you on what you should do to sell highly priced items. It’s just that the selling approach is entirely unique from one player to another. Aside from the rest of this guide, what I would just advice is that you must be creative with your approach. Connections, like in-game friends and guild do matter. In an online game like Dragon Nest, it’s always best to have mates to do business with.

For coding set equips, this is because most players hunting set equips to achieve higher status and attack power. So, most probably they will need a good potential for their equip as well. For example , an Acrobat would need a complete Set Armors with potential like Agi%, HP%, VIT% as they are low in hp. Once you able to get this kind of potential , you don't have to enhance them. Just sell them as a clean piece in TH and you will get your profit significantly. But, don't forget that you will have another chance to get worthless one.

For your information, Gold Farming or Merchanting's technique is applied in all games as long as you need to earn more money. There only slight difference between the trading style.

Credits:
http://www.dragon-nest-guides.com

1 comment:

  1. events come in useful too (ex. items required by irine(lets say during xmas and holloween) sells high during the first 2 days but sells 200% less after). i earned 2k gold during xmas alone

    ReplyDelete