Curse

Hyper.nl · May 11, 2009, 07:51 AM // 07:51

I always negotiate. In-game, the buyer is king. There are many sellers and there is always one who is willing to accept a lower price. That's the one I'll do the trade with.

Back in the time, I made much money by buying and re-selling DoA Gemstones. Just by WTBing below the general reserve (not asking!) price, and re-sell to anyone who pays more. When the price is 40k per gem, there is some profit to make.

LeoX · May 11, 2009, 10:17 AM // 10:17

I've been on other MMOs, and I never bargained really.
Well, I mean I didn't PM someone who was selling an item 100k, and asked if he would sell 90.
If I wanted it at 90, I would just spam it a little, but I guess that's kinda the same.

It's only when I got on GW, I saw that everything you try and sell, you will almost all of the time get a PM offering lower. And I went with it. Now I always offers a few platinum below when I see someone selling something I want. Although if I really need the item, and I know there are lots of people on it (like for example a scythe mod I bought yesterday), I take the price advertised.

Same goes for selling, sometimes I get bored and just sell at asked price.

Medion · May 11, 2009, 10:28 AM // 10:28

The difference with real-life is that in Guild Wars, there's no such thing as 'reputation' or 'good-will' when looking at buying/selling.

I grew up in a town of a few thousand people and negotiating with the local bicycle-shop owner was (and is) doable. Because when he lowers his price a bit, or gives some extra free service, I'll remember and be more likely to go him again next time I need a bicycle repaired. So in the short term, he loses, but he understands the chances of me returning are higher than if he sticks to his price.

In GW, most people will have forgotten the name of their trading-partner within minutes. Especially because you don't often buy or sell the same items. The exception to this are people who provide a service as they often do the same service often for a period of time.

Quote:

when buying people should stop being a pain in the ass trying to budge 1 or 2k on miniscule things like elite tome for 1k more or 2k w/e , its under standable to try talk them down on items worth well over 100k but other than that i wouldnt bother wasting time

2 years ago or something like that, I did a bit of powertrading. While 1-2k may seem little to you and a waste of time, as a powertrader, I spent most my time in Kamadan/Lion's Arch/Kaineng anyhow. Also, it happened that I was talking to 3 or 4 people at the same time. If I can earn 2k for each of those 4 people, I earned another 8k by a bit of bargaining.

glacialphoenix · May 11, 2009, 11:17 AM // 11:17

This is why if I'm buying items in game, I don't spam WTB - I just hang around quietly and scan for a couple of WTS. If I'm looking to sell stuff, I hang around looking for the WTBs.

Frequently the people shrieking WTS and WTB over and over again are the ones who miss out on the good deals. I got a few bunnies at 50g/per once - the seller didn't have many and just wanted to get rid of them - and this was in the middle of Kamadan AD1 where just about everyone was shouting WTS BUNNIES and WTB BUNNIES and whatnot.

HayesA · May 11, 2009, 02:37 PM // 14:37

I normally hate trading actually, as I tend to price higher expecting a haggle. But I think most people taking my price to be set in stone. But this weekend, I was doing a bunch of dungeon runs to get my dwarven rank up. (r8 baby, almost there! booyah) Well, as a result, I had a pile of unID'd golds. First sale was for 9, I set 7k. Got an offer via pm for 5k. I said 7unID's normally for for 5k, so I think my 7k asking price was reasonable. Guy came back, and offered 6k. I accepted figuring I don't think i'd get them to go higher.

Then sunday with 7 unID'd golds, I started asking price to 5k. Had a guy PM me an offer of 2k (lol... no way. Thats too low even for me.) Explained to them that this was normal price for 7unid'd. Came back at 2.5k, and I ignored him. 2 minutes later they were sold to someone else for 5k.

So i think haggling is still in the game, but it's uncommon. Last few times before that trying to sell my crappy white mini-pets, setting starting asking price (obo) at 8k/ea. No takers, and I still have em. But the point was set high, haggle down.

Afterall, you know what they say, "A fool and their money..."

Fitz Rinley · May 11, 2009, 02:54 PM // 14:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boneyard Spleeneater

Thoughts?

First, I have pretty much always detested the trade system. There are reasons for this. I played Price is Right through a lot of my child hood and I have gotten very tired of all prices never being right. ($25.00 T-shirts - pffft, Fail! When I was growing up they were $3.00 max - for a Package of the good ones.) Second, there was no inflation in D&D, AD&D, Harnmaster, Starfrontiers, Traveller, Mechwarrior, Castle Faulkenstien, White Wolf's games, etc. etc. etc. You look it up, you pay the list price. Third, I have been to haggles as a kid. I never approved of them from early childhood. X needs to buy it, and Y needs to sell it. X has this much and Y needs that much. Do we talk truth? No we face off with various masks of deceit and greed to see who can take the other and feel like they gave the better rooking. Sorry, no use for this. The hireling is worthy of his hire, and there I stop.

I do occasionally, rarely buy something in trade. It is as rare as I can make it. I only go there if, and only if, the drop I need or am after has refused to occur after weeks or months of effort. Then I begrudge going and I do not want to haggle with someone about price. Further, everytime I see anything - I repeat Any Thing, for sale at 100k + XXX Ecto I am disgusted.

Since Ecto are so restricted that in 3.5 years of play I was able to get one while doing a spider run, I have finally started buying them from the merchant for armor. I won't buy them in trade. I will not support the economy of 'GW is only for these 2-3 build Nazi builds and if you don't ahve them on the specific class listed then you can't be successful in the game/dungeon/mission' etc.

Further, I don't log in to play Trade Wars. I log in to play Guild Wars. I am there to form-up, ride-out, and eliminate the enemy. Passing through Spamadan is an occasional necessity, and on unique occasions logistically unavoidable. If there was any effective or realistic alternative to trade, I would never trade in GW.

Yichi · May 11, 2009, 05:39 PM // 17:39

It is because items/commodities now in the game are available at a much higher rate. Trading or bartering in prices, is almost a moot point on both sides. Set prices are used more frequently because If I think the price is too high, I can wait a bit and find someone selling it at a lower price, or if I am selling and I want a price for an item/commodity, I can wait because if you don't buy it, there is always someone who will.

FoxBat · May 11, 2009, 09:30 PM // 21:30

Another difference for GWs vs real stores is that most players are moving limited quantities of product. If a store sells out they can always order more inventory, as long as they got a decent profit out of it they can afford to cut the price a little to move them faster. A player on the other hand only has say 20 keys from the XTH this month, so he's likely to spend a little more time finding a good price since he won't have another 20 coming the next day or week. The same hold fairly true of farming ectos or whatever, more product = more time, so they can save time on farming if they invest more time into a good price.

Power traders on the other hand do have virtually "unlimited" inventory, but they don't have much room to drop prices, since they won't make profit without selling for above average price.

BadgerznPie · May 12, 2009, 12:11 AM // 00:11

Haggling is uncommon, yes. This is because I don't count:
WTS 50k
{i buy 10k} As haggling.

kazjun · May 12, 2009, 01:52 AM // 01:52

It depends on how much a player values their time as opposed to in game currency. Nowadays, I usually price things cheap so I can just sell it within 5 minutes rather then 20 so I can play instead of scanning trade channel. Likewise when buying, I don't bother looking at anything without a list price. You may be able to get a better price by negotiating with someone asking for offers, but that can take time and is not always a done deal. Scanning a listed price is like 2 seconds and there's no complications with the deal. You know what they want and it just comes down to whether you're willing to pay that price.

Pistachio · May 12, 2009, 01:56 AM // 01:56

I have no stomach for trading in GW. I usually sell items for a lot lower than I could make because I hate standing around spamming on the trade channel for hours. It's worth it for me to just get a little less money a lot quicker and be able to play or buy whatever I needed. Besides, it is just a video game and I can't see actually caring that much about fictional money.

Bluefeather · May 12, 2009, 03:31 AM // 03:31

Haggling is not the best practice anymore. your knowledge about the prices is important.

Yesterday i was looking for Luck of the Draw in Kamadan. I was thinking i will spend 6k for it. Nobody offered so i went to LA. Someone offered 10k and i said no. I went to KC and someone offered 4k, I didnt think twice.

Usually, there are many players selling the same thing. (Armbrace,Heavy Equipment Pack, Etc.), if you stay a while you will find some price difference and you can easily decide if you will buy something or not.

Usually, when I see someone selling something for cheap but i dont immediately need it, I would ask the seller if i can buy it few gold less. If they say yes, then ill buy it.

Qing Guang · May 12, 2009, 04:06 AM // 04:06

I'm really weird about trading in GW.

a) I almost never WTB, unless I'm looking for something nobody's going to be WTSing, like Geodes or summat.
b) I usually set my prices a tad high and let the buyer haggle me down to something that's reasonable - say an item's going for about 8k, I'll put it at 9, they'll demand 7, I say let's go with 8. Occasionally I'll catch someone who's desperate and is willing to buy at my price. Usually, though, most people will get it down to a normal number. I don't really overcharge, though - usually no more than a k - and if I see someone WTBing for way more than the thing is worth I'll let them know.
c) If there are a lot of other sellers around and I'm in a hurry or figure I'm making enough of a profit not to worry, I'll deliberately set my price lower than theirs, even if what they're charging is the current market price that people are willing to buy for. Case in point: Traveler Gifts. People were asking 7-8k, I pop into Kamadan and put up "WTS gifts of the traveler 5k ea." and have 3 buyers in about 5 minutes (took them a while to see it, then I got them all at once). Sold out my stock nigh instantly and left the other poor saps in the dust trying to sell their stuff at a normal price in an oversaturated market.
e) I'm still too scared to try and haggle purchases. I'm always afraid the seller will say "screw you" because they know other people are willing to buy for more. I just shop around instead (Lawdy I hate that trade list in the party menu - new things get added so fast I can't read it). The only time I haggle purchases is when I'm getting stuff off guildies, since I know I've got leverage with them (but most of the time it's just a 1-1 trade alc or party for candy).
f) I give up on trying to sell something if there aren't any buyers within 10 minutes. I haven't got enough time to waste on trying to sell stuff when I could be out saving the world.

CyberNigma · May 12, 2009, 04:26 AM // 04:26

I would agree with a previous poster that a lot of it is still cultural. I grew up with set prices even in a small town for most things. Having traveled much of the world I learned to negotiate in places where it was commonplace, even in actually stores, not just with street vendors - everything from food to movies, to clothes (especially clothes).

In some places it was more common to see people casually making a counter-offer than it was for people just accepting the price. In big chain stores that's not the case of course, rarely anywhere. In the medium (maybe a local chain even) stores and especially street vendors it was quite common in some places and rather uncommon in others. This was especially the case in parts of the Asia Pacific region, even in Japan where you will see quite a few foreign vendors - Indians are fairly common in the region.

I don't know if you'd see that in GW really since it mainly seems to support first world countries, whether eastern or western. I can't really say though since I'm mainly on the North American servers. In these countries you can still see negotiations being common for higher priced items such as homes, boats, cars, etc etc. It may be more related to the convenience/hassle and the value of money in those places.

NeHoMaR · May 12, 2009, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Auction House

DarklingKiller · May 12, 2009, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Tbh, I was one of those guys who gave a set price but it was pretty high. Why? Because I had a huge amount of money and I chest ran for plenty of elite tomes. I was able to buy everyone in Kamadan's elite tomes for cheap and control the elite tome market there for hours at a time. It's not even that hard to trade, turn off all chats and spam your trade message, just look for the blue whispers while doing HW or reading.

You guys may think I'm an asshole for not bargaining but in reality, it was just to make my money back (Chest running in HM was expensive) and I usually gave discounts to frequent buyers or those who buy in bulk. It was also a lot easier on my part because I didn't have to argue with those guys who tell you, "ok 1k, 3 purples, and a rare green wand." If someone really needs the item, they'll buy it no matter what the price. If they still insist on bargaining, just tell them you're the only current seller in Kamadan.

glacialphoenix · May 12, 2009, 06:46 AM // 06:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarklingKiller

If they still insist on bargaining, just tell them you're the only current seller in Kamadan.

This is why I don't bother buying tomes in Kamadan. ^^

xron · May 12, 2009, 07:15 AM // 07:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arduinna

I hate trading. That's why I will always buy for the asking price. If someone wants my 10k worth item for 7k, and I think it's a fair price, I'll sell for 7k.

I'd rather have a fast trade so I can be on adventuring again.

I agree with this...

I often sell for lower than the market price at that time to get rid of it quickly and get on my way.

However I agree with another poster.... that when people try to lower an already cheap price thinking you're stupid or an idiot... then that annoys me and I tend to ignore them then.

Gforce · May 12, 2009, 08:43 AM // 08:43

I make all my money in GW selling zkeys (at the standard price, no negotiating involved) and sometimes selling highend items (Crystalline from halls, heavy equipment pack). Anyways, the items I buy are usually other highend items which go by auctions, or item mods (for example +10 vs slashing shield inscriptions).
When I want to buy item mods I go to kamadan and just spam a wtb with higher prices than normal ones. I dont like standing there waiting to trade so I give higher prices so people actually bother to check their mules for the mods. I have plenty of money and it gives me more time to do fun things.

Elephantaliste · May 12, 2009, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Some pple are selling to a fair price enough to avoid wasting time, aswell for seller than buyers.
Some pple think they can do a little more profit then sell/buy at different prices but are open to negotiating. Some of them add a such a low margin, that aren't worth being negotiated...

But seriously, why are complaining about lack of negotiating ?
there is no point in wasting your time in low end item negotiating.
And most of high value items have either a negotiating part or an auction part.
Please concret example OP.