Shout goes REALLY far actually - So its unfortunately just the latter 
https://boundlessskill.com/shops-item-catalog]
This website seems good for comparing prices and seeing what is in stock but no one has really added their shop to the list
Thanks for the link, but yea relying on a 3rd party website with a game like this with a low population of players doesnāt seem as effective as an in-game search. i just did some searches on that website and nothing comes up for some of things iām looking for like power coils.
I think the main problem is shop keepers not using it, otherwise it would be really handy
Iām not in favor of a universal list, I think itās great that there can be āhidden gemsā of shops out there and sometimes you can get great deals if youāre willing to travel off the beaten path. Maybe thereās some other way to make it less tedious without losing that sense of exploration.
The more i think about it more i think a localized search like in EQ1 Bazaarās would be best for this game. a local search that just searches immediate area like region your in and next region over. still requires you to explore.
So for example you search for Saltpeter, on your compass you would see all shops highlight that currently sells saltpeter. you can then quickly see at a glance what shops have them as you walk down streets just by seeing it on compass.
This type of system would probably fit the nature of this game better, make it a little easier for shop owners to sell stuff, players to find the stuff. while not hurting exploration as you still have to find the shop areas to begin with. and hopefully will be ok with all the players who are against a universal search system.
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That sense of exploration isnāt lost though, thatās the point. You can still explore. No one forces you to use a list. Just like no one forces you to shop on Amazon or use Google Maps to find a restaurant. You can still drive down city streets and explore.
Implementing a system that allows for too much information about the market will result in this scenario above. The major players in this game will simply do what Amazon.com does, undercut the competition by playing the volume game.This prices out the small shops. While the crafting tree is deep, itās not deep enough to allow for small shops to specialize and compete against the big shops yet.
I think a world or regional chat would be a great feature and a step in the right direction from both a buyer and seller angle. This helps people who donāt want to be bothered with visiting the out of game forums and just focus ingame.
With this said,how much of this also falls on the burden of the seller? Iām about to setup a specialized shop this week and will be implementing both simple and creative solutions that will, hopefully, send buyers my way.
There are alot of shops that simply donāt advertise and that burden falls on them too.
I"m fairly confident in saying that 2 years from now, we can look back at the current game features and mechanics and realize how young it still currently is. And hopefully 2 years from now, it will mature with more features and robust QOL features
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I donāt explore shops for the scenery, Iām looking for good deals. Thereās no point in doing that if the lowest price is posted for all to see.
(Not to say i donāt enjoy the scenery 
itās just not why Iām there)
What about this: what if each player had the ability to post one and only one shop stand to a universal list? So shopkeepers would have to pick what they want to advertise. And as a buyer, if youāre feeling lazy you can just look for the lowest price on the list, but there is still potential to find a better deal if youāre willing to explore.
If you read the other posts in the thread, the workinā theory I had was it just shows a list, thatās it. Not a list of prices, a list of locations.
So no price list
But even if there were, big shop keepers canāt be like Amazon, the limit of how long their prices can go is identical to that of a small shop owner. This is a game. The only difference between two players is skill and what level their characters are.
So eventually, small shop keepers could lower their prices to the exact number as big ones.
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I could maybe be okay with a plain list without prices. Thanks for clarifying, the OP mentioned an āin-game searching of shop items for sell with pricing/locations listedā so I assumed thats what we were still talking about.
If it has no prices then I stick with the shops I know like Omni, Grump Store and hopefully soon the Gemporium I have no interest in wandering the universe for an hour to find the lowest price. I will just assume between the 3 stores I can find the item and buy from whoever has the lowest price. Everything in the game (except maybe some of the forged items) is a commodity. There is no difference in a refined block or a machine from store a or store b. Commodities are driven by lowest price.
Amazon also offers home delivery. People like the convenience of being able to have things delivered to their door. Amazon does not always have the lowest price, but I will buy certain things from them in order to save having to go get it. So far, that is not possible in boundless. A shop close might be more attractive, but if I do not know what they have and how they price, I will go not be going there.
Also the volume game, can the larger stores not already be doing that? if they buy all the resources and only make a 2% profit why not? This is a game it is not like they have to meet payroll or will have to close down the shop if they do not make enough profit. As long as someone generates a surplus of coin they can stay in business.
That was just one example, i also suggest more localized search where you search an item and shows you locations on compass too. whatever works as a compromise is ok with me,anything is better then nothing at all. iām intent on using shops and working with others to progress in game, but so far iām selling tons of ore, coal, wood, and more. and not able to find things i need back in return except for more tools to get more mats, where are people turning these mats into things i need to progress my quests, build up my base and maybe one day be able to forge things?
the fact that iāve spent my whole day off being unsuccessful in making progress on my goals is a fail in my opinion in current system that is supposed to be designed to make players work together, yet way i see it, strongly encouraging people to play game as single player right now. Not to mention iāve spent hours today waiting to access areaās due to portals being full just exaggerating this problem even more. . So just doing only thing i can do, keep gathering basic mats so i can sell them as i find people willing to buy, building up currency that i can maybe use to buy stuff i need back. perhaps in months from now game will be much better established in this regard and iām going nutz over nothing, but i feel a search of some kind would help all this.
Really dislike the idea. Only encourages undercutting and kills any potential to play the market in buying low and selling high.
Iām not sure how to word this but like, Iāve played other games with auction houses that you can sort by price, and trust me, 100%, people buy low and sell high.
This wouldnāt change that. There is real world, factual evidence that proves it.
Maybe you are not considering that kind of games has PvP.
There is a risk involved (to get ganked and lose all your loot).
Eve, Albion, EQ? have this feature because it encourages players to travel far away to buy low and gankers can set up their ambushes in strategic commercial routes.
Risk vs Reward.
But that system will not work in Boundless because there is no risk.
Only ultra rich players who will undercut everything forever.
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That works in Eve and similar games due to completely different mechanics that donāt exist in Boundless. Right now you can buy low at one shop, take it to another hub and flip it if you know the markets and prices well enough.
An auction house will make that incredibly easy, will show everyone the prices in (insert location distance here) and make it so that higher prices donāt exist as everyone will literally go to the breakeven point for a sale and those without the tax skill will 100% be undercut. Right now itās not required (should have it tho) but you will guaranteed make no profit if thereās a show price in x location feature.
A Rich Level 50 Shop Owner hasāto spend the same amount of time gatherinā materials as a poor Level 50 Shop Owner.
Thereās a hard ceiling. if it takes 1 hour to collect 300 diamond, it takes both the rich shop owner, and the poor shop owner, the exact same amount of time to collect 300 diamond, therefore, their prices are going to be identical.
Havinā your items be listed in a shop guide in-game would help you GAIN money, not lose it.
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There are non-PVP MMOās that introduced auction houses and traders still exist and can still affect the market.
Why is this bad? Most other MMOās have auction houses and traders do just fine.
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