I’ve recently returned from a long hiatus and I’m trying to build up a bit of money for some (overly ambitious) projects. I have 1 idea and I am hoping to figure out if this is worth spending my time on.
What is the core of boundless? Blocks. Mining blocks, building with blocks, etc. In order to mine efficiently, you need forged tools. This means that forgers will always have work. This also means that hunt drops and unforged tools will always be in demand. The whole economy revolves around this aspect, I believe.
Are there many forgers who buy their hunt drops or ingredients? Many who buy their unforged tools? If there are at least a good few, would it not be profitable to start a business selling gums, compounds etc, and unforged tools in 1 shop?
I have already made a few forging ingredients because i had a ton of hunt drops left over and they give great XP. I also made a few unforged tools. I’ve set up a small stall at GTG mall and I have a small shop near the Dzassak TNT hub, selling unforged tools, compounds and some other stuff i crafted/found.
Do you think it would be worth it combining everything and become like a 1-stop-shop for forgers? Is this something forgers would have interest in? It would mean less time spent on looking around and more time forging. Win-win right?
I never bought the crafted forge ingredients, because the price was always (haven’t checked in long time) higher than if I bought the raw materials and crafted myself.
So, what I’d love to see is a shop selling all these things listed above and a nice price and sell in bulk.
For example, display a “catalog” with pricing info, and let’s just say I could pm you and submit my order, and the date/times it’s needed by, etc.
Could even charge a little extra for rush shipments xD
This also works good for the shop owner, since money isn’t being thrown away into oblivion via the tax system.
I definitely get your point, no use in paying a 100% markup for things you can get much cheaper.
But what if somebody were to sell (even on custom order) those ingredients and tools, for only a 10-15% markup? They have reliable stock, so it saves you from having to scour planet after planet trawling through BUTT trying to get everything together. You just go to 1 place, get everything you need, pay the 10-15% extra, but save hours worth of time. Time you can use to forge more, and probably make back that extra you paid by being more efficient!
Not to mention the convenience of having what you want, immediately, no need to wait for craft time. No spark-cost, no repair-cost. They may be small, but they do add up over time.
I would obviously love more players, no argument from me there. But prices have not changed much since i stopped. In fact most have dropped a fair bit. This means the economy is pretty stable
Unless you have a different definition of economy?
I forged some of the first AOE tools in Boundless history, and have been forging ever since.
A few things about that:
It has always been easy to sell forged tools
It has always been extremely time consuming selling (good) forged tools
It has always required fairly extremely amounts of materials to make (good) forged tools.
I have never bought finished forging materials, largely for the same reason that Nick mentions.
However, I know your shop on Dzassak (man i really hope i can talk you into moving that shop, it’s in a really bad spot considering the rest of the hub, but we can talk about that another time )
And i was actually pretty close to buying something off you. I dont usually impulse buy, and the fact that i almost did in your shop on Dzassak does tell me something, so i think you may actually be on to something here.
The number one problem is going to be your prices. If i can still save a substantial amount of coin buying raw materials and doing the crafts my self, i will, which means your prices have to be so low that you almost won’t be making any profit your self (if we were to presume that you bought your materials).
This might be ok for you in the beginning, but i don’t think it’s a long term solution. At some point, the profit will be too low for you, when considering the time you have to put in to make it, at which point you will raise your prices, and sales will stop.
There’s a reason why there’s only ever been like a few shops that successfully sold finished forging materials, and it was a massive task, cause his prices were so good that everything got ripped off his tables every time he restocked, and in the end, he didn’t last long doing it (RIP Southi or whatever his name was, sorry i can’t remember).
Lastly, in regards to the economy. It is definitely harder to do pretty much anything, when the economy is slow (few people sustaining it), however, it’s actually in a better place right now, than it has been for the last couple of years, with more players, and more acitivity in the economy.
I’m not sure that it is strong enough to support the project you are talking about here though.
I would however highly encourage you to try it out, and i would definitely try supporting it.
PS. If you would be willing to talk about your placement of your shop on Dzassak, shoot me a PM. We could easily get you a much better spot, that aligned much better with the hub as a hole.
No worries there! It is a completely temporary setup just to set up my shop. I’m still looking for a good spot for my full shop (and a builder to create my vision as im not very creative lol)
Yeah for now my prices are the best in the universe, but i haven’t tuned my profit-margin yet as i want to build up stock before my grand opening
I will be aiming to do custom orders too, avoiding the taxes, for bigger clients.
Good luck with it. Suji would make massive volumes with tiny profit margins when starting out. You’ll be a slave to glass and reactive lamella, be prepared!
Honestly, if I need anything, I go to either TNT or GTG. If I can’t find what I need going through there, then I just don’t need it that bad.
I also get most of my forged tools from either GTG or @SeleneRati. I’d honestly check what they have available and their prices and use that to gauge if you’re willing to compete.
)
(and a builder to create my vision as im not very creative lol)