Originally Posted by SotiCoto

I don't approve of Rusty's way of doing things....

Key above all, I hate hate HATE WTS spammers... There is NO justification for such behaviour...
But on a slightly odd note.... neither do I agree about being constantly and consistantly polite and "professional". It just adds to an image of a person actually just being a selling machine and not something one can relate to.

Now I'm not one to sell things very often... but I've managed to sell quite a few things recently that seem rather difficult to shift... and I do it like this:

#1. Search function. Nobody uses it, but I do. The only thing I can do to encourage others to use it is to set an example... and though it hasn't done anything for me yet, I will always post the trade I'm making ON the Search function just in case. Furthermore, I will DRAW ATTENTION TO IT occasionally in the chat channels.

#2. Originality; never spam. No "WTS" ... If I have something for sale, I will type, in full words, that I have it for sale. It takes a bit longer, but it isn't as easy for people to just zone it out (it is fairly easy to ignore someone who is just spamming the same crap over and over).

#3. Avoid Pressure. If there is too much competition for messaging in Local Chat in District 1 (especially places like Kaineng Center, which seems to be THE trading capital on the European servers)... then go to District 2. Often enough there might be less people... but there is also a greater chance that a single message will go further and someone will notice.

#4. Humour. Face it... trading is boring stuff. Wasting hours trying to sell something can be a pain in the arse... Not only does it make matters more amusing if your sale-comments are humourous (often at one's own expense)... but others will pay more attention as well. Don't take yourself too seriously.... I spent most of my trading time satirising other traders and the real-life merchant trade in general. I sold most of my Byzzr's Benedictions by appealing to their sparkliness... ^_^

#5. If getting attention is tough... name-drop. It is ok to be cheekily insulting if you're not being serious about it. I have a fairly standardised tactic of watching the trade-spammers around me first.... and when I start to try and make a sale, I will select the worst of the trade spammers.... and offer up their mother for free with my sale. Sometimes it p!sses people off... but I've found it works (and helps my arsehole image too). =P ... If nothing else, mentioning the names of other characters WILL get their attention, if not that of anyone else who might happen to no them.

#6. [Warning: For the especially evil!] ~ If there are too many trade spammers soaking up the attention... attempt to drive them away. My greatest ever achievement in this respect was actually emptying Kaineng Center District 1 English of trade spam for 3 whole minutes. How did I do this? ... I told all the WTSers either that certain items sold better in X other place... or that I'd specifically seen a buyer a few minutes ago in X other place. For a few others I just got them to use the trade channel / search function instead. Two more... I just p!ssed off incessantly until they left. It worked wonders!





That is about all I've got to suggest.

I'm usually totally polite to customers... but I will do anything necessary to undermine the efforts of other traders in the vicinity... It just makes sense, even if some people would consider it "unethical"...

Originally Posted by Spazzer

You can get all self righteous about people selling in all chat--or you can pressure arenanet to make a real solution for character to character trade.

Originally Posted by fenix

Wait....so you hate people who spam WTS...but you'll insult everyone instead? Nice one.

Originally Posted by Ascalon Chariot

Well, everyone once in awhile when no one is talking in local chat and everyone is in trade chat, you wanna post one in Local Chat to make yours obvious(just a guess, dont flame)

Originally Posted by Mr. Undisclosed

Something I'm curious on how to deal with is the loads of people who ask to "see" the item. I mean if its a high end item most people who want them know what they're looking for but its jsut my point of view.

Originally Posted by Eldin

IMO, ANet should implement a filter so if someone types in the "All" chat something containing the strings "WTS, WTB, WTT, sell, buy, trade" then the message doesn't go through, or automatically the message is sent through as a trade channel message. People will find ways to bypass this filter through slang and such, but half of the people who sell items by spamming in the "all" chat aren't even smart enough to try and bypass it. :P

Originally Posted by Ariena Najea

I used to almost exclusively power-trade for money, and back then (month or two after Factions was released) you could typically make 100% profit under an hour, with very little difficulty.

This by no means reflects the state of the current market, where you can easily spend an hour without selling a single item at cost. In my opinion purely power trading is no longer an effective way to earn money, unless you're resorting to poor practices of ripping people off. Now, I'm not saying that everyone who has had recent success selling is selling unfairly, but nowadays many of the deals happening in Kamadan, LA, etc either involve one side trying to scam the other, or one side simply charging far more than something is worth. I'm not against making a profit, I'm against poor business practices of not giving someone a fair deal. Selling someone an item that's worth 50k for 60k is fine, but don't charge 80k+ and say you're giving them the deal.

I typically sell any high-end items here on Guru, it saves the "window shopping" time that inevitably wastes time in-game, and it's far easier to find legitimate buyers. People are more informed of prices and as a whole it's easier to have a smooth trade. Low-end items whose value is no more than 2-3k (player, not trader of course) I post up in Shing Jea, Ascalon, or the Sunspear Great Hall and sell for 1k or less. Usually these items sell right away if they'll sell at all, and you can make 3-4x the profit than if you'd sold to a merchant. Furthermore, you've not only helped out a newer or poorer player but as has been stated over and over again in this thread, expanded your trading network and increasing your profit making potential. Not everything sells, but many new players love having a max purple q9 weapon with 13^50 and +23HP. It's far better than what they could find at a merchant at that point in the game, and it's cheaper than the 5k + materials that a weaponsmith later in the game will charge.

With this ideology in mind, here are all of my suggestions for selling:

Sell low-end items for a quick buck and a longterm buyer:
Sell your max purples, blues, and otherwise servicable goods to players in early parts of the game. Aim for 2-4x the merchant price depending on the item. Suggest the buyer add you to their friends list in case they need something later, or just help in the game.

Giving freebies away makes friends:
If someone is looking for a cheap max weapon, offer to get a collector item for them. Those 5 putrid cysts that you could have sold for 125g at the merchant don't net you any money right away, but that buyer is happy for a free item and will buy other things from you on the spot, or in the future.

Know when to allow window shopping:
If you're selling a rare and unique item (such as the HoD sword) anyone who can afford it likely knows what it is. When selling my HoD sword a couple months back (although I kept it in the end...) a couple people asked to see it and then complained it wasn't even max damage. Allow window shopping on everything but specific items (like a HoD sword, gemstones, materials, mods, etc...) but require that they show you the money.

Know where to sell the item:
LA may be the major selling capital of GW (you could also argue Kamadan of course) but it's only a waste of your time to try and sell daggers there. There aren't too many PvE assassins out there, and most of them are only in Factions. Sell non-core profession weapons in NF or EoTN locations. Sell unique weapons where the market isn't flooded, don't try and sell an Icy Dragon Sword in Droknar's Forge, sell it anywhere else!

Be friendly:
Never lose your temper when dealing with people, even if they're being obnoxious. Always thank the buyer for looking even if they didn't buy anything. Many people remember how friendly a seller is!

Guru versus in-game:
Some items can be worth a lot of gold, however, you need to find the right buyer for them. For example, a friend of mine has a q9 Exalted Aegis, -2 stance, +1 Death Magic 20%. Perfect for an MM using Conviction, but most players will call you a noob since it doesn't have the "all important" +30HP mod. Don't try and sell these kinds of items in-game, you'll only get heckled and you won't get a good deal. Sell items of that kind here on Guru, and sell generic items in-game.

Price range:
Don't try and sell an item for too much more than it's worth. There's nothing wrong with a profit, but trying to sell something too high will leave you both economically and morally bankrupt. A good rule is to buy about 10-20% below the price, and sell for 10% above. If people looking to buy see you're charging too much, they often won't PM you to haggle, they'll just move on and find another seller.

Integrity:
Never try and rip off another player if you intent to remain selling. Doing little tricks like shaving 500g off each purchase might seem lucrative, but it's unlikely that person or their friends will ever trade with you again. Don't pretend you're "glitched" or feign ignorance when they mention to you that you have nothing in the window. Not only are all of these dirty and poor business practices, you have a good chance to have your account banned.

Contacts:
Although some of the previous comments on the usefulness of contacts imo has been exaggerated, there are times when good contacts can make the difference between making a small profit and selling at a loss. For high-end items, keep contacts, for low-end I wouldn't bother. High-end buyers are often on the lookout for "random" high-end items and may be interested.

Maintaining inventory:
Everyone who frequently sells moderate-highly valuable items knows that people like to offer several less valuable items for what you're selling. Odds are that the sum of the prices of those items is less than that of what you're selling, and if this is the case don't bother. If they're offering more, take the time to decide what things you could use, and what could easily be sold. If you need gold, don't accept a trade which will be more difficult to sell than what you started with. An exception to this general rule is that if you're a serious seller in for the long run, you may benefit from having a few extra low-end items. If you're selling one of several swords in your inventory and someone offers a bow, consider the offer if you don't have any bows for sale as you might be able to add it on to someone's cart later.

What to show in the trade window:
I've argued with other traders on this before, but if someone asks to see something you're selling you can consider putting a couple similar items they may be interested in up as well. Some other sellers say this wastes time and annoys the buyer, but more often than not in my experiences the buyer will be interested in the other items.

Format for trade chat
Emphasis on trade chat, please don't spam in local chat. If you're planning on staying in one district for a while, write your search bulletin first. I use the following:
[S or B]| [Item] [Stats Desired or Item's Stats (sell)] PM
For trade chat I use the following:
[Selling or Buying] [Item1 Stats] | [Item2 Stats] | ... | PM
The reason for the Selling/Buying as opposed to using WTS/WTB is that not only does it not replace the smaller string size Party Search, is also sets you apart from other sellers. You want to look professional, don't use caps obnoxiously, act as if you're giving a sales pitch to a company.

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I hope these tips help some people who may have been confused by the conglomerate of posts in this thread xD

Originally Posted by Malice Black

I have issues with this. You've never dealt in the high end market.

1. Selling for a 10% profit? you'll stay poor with that attitude. Aim for maximum profit always, unless you see sure signs of interest dropping.

2. Contacts are not over rated. Even for low end items, knowing who will buy what from you is time saving. Time is money.

3. Your B/O should always be over what you are expecting to actually achieve. This allows room for negotiation. Mark up your price by an extra 5-10%.