Marketing Guide/Tips
Hi guys, this is my first contribution to epvp, so here goes.
Ok, I know there are A LOT of guides out there about marketing, I would just like to add my 2 cents to the billion dollar pile. Some of it IS common sense stuff, but I find that a lot of people still dont do these, so if you know them, just use it as a reminder.
*Note* All this is just from MY own experience. I did not steal any of this information. If there is a double post somewhere (which there probably will be) please notify me and I will remove it and/or give you credit.
Ok, now for the few tips:
1. Find out the best selling times on your server.
For example, on my server, the best time is somewhere between 3:00am-7:00am in the morning, NZ time (13+ GMT) so that would be: 2:00pm-6:00pm. I find that there are many people on at this time so obviously more people = more sales. Also if you sit around near the warehouse man for a while you get people who go: "Selling mets 100k!" and the like. So those of you who havent figuired it out, buy low, sell high.
2. Get your self front row in market.
Before your "optimal time" get your character ready. When the optimal time hits, your items will sell themselves
3. Hawk!!!
If you look in market, there are a lot of people NOT hawking, therefore, it stands to reason, if YOU hawk, YOU will get the buyers attention.
4. Be aware of your appearance and reputation
You'll be surprised at how much better items sell on high level characters (especially archers) than low level "n00bs." I also believe that girl characters might possibly sell better than males (just a superstition). Also set yourself an action to get peoples attention. I personally like to wave because it looks friendly and gets attention. I dont really like dancing and the like because often it looks annoying and sometimes blocks your character's store (makes it harder to click).
~KrystalSelect suggested that tros can wear 2 roses with elegance on. If you want that extra bit of flair (to look like a rich man), you can wear supers/elites/misc. items. Personally, I quite like the christmas caps ^^
5. Learn what sells best.
If you intend to full time market, find out what items sell best. Obvious ones would be dbs and mets. However let us take exp pots and balls for example. Now lets say you have 10 of each. You afk market in front row for 10 hours. When you get back you have sold 10 exp balls but only 6 exp pots. So next time you market, you have 12 (or more) exp balls and 7-8 exp balls. This way you will optimize your selling (so you sell items faster, making more profit). Remember, your goal as a marketeer is to make PROFIT. Therefore, buy low sell high. This should be your motto.
6. Advertise
Go advertise on epvp forums, official forums etc. And also with the new broadcast system, maybe you might want to invest a few cps in that. Get yourself a good reputation as a seller and that you help increase your profits.
If you are known as a pker or scammer/hacker, I suggest you make a new account. Btw, do not spam! This will lower your reputation. Most people see the chat log and either they will want to buy or they wont.
7. Haggling
A few tips on haggling. NEVER accept the first choice. E.g. someone offers you 30mil for a elite +2 ring. You want 25mil for it. Essentially you want to offer 20 mil to begin with. Then he works downward, you slowly move upward to eventually get your price of choice. Remember, be reasonable with this. Too low and the person will just walk away.
8. Look
Spend about 30 min everyday just looking in market. Without realising it, after a week or so, you'll start knowing most of the prices. Also this is a good way to snap up bargains. Say you see a db for 30 mil everyday. One day theres one for 25mil. Now you know you can make 5mil profit off it which isnt too shaby.
9. Lesson on profit
Any profit is good profit. Dont go, "bah thats only 500k, not worth my time." Say you have a met that you bought for 200k. You sell it for 300k. Thats 33% profit approx. Thats a lot in profit terms. Imagine if you did this 10 times (as you usually do with mets). Thats 1 mil. 100 times = 10 mil etc. Try imagine it in percentage terms. Besides, the more selling/trading you do, its gonna add that much more experience to your repetoire of buying/selling.
10. Be aware of your fellow marketeers
Another common sense thing. If you sell exp balls at 4mil and everyone else is selling at 3.7mil, then no one will buy your wares. One crazy way to get around this is to buy out the market's stock of your item. WARNING this will obviously not work for mets, dbs, pots etc. but might work for gems, health wines, sky tokens etc. Once you buy out the market, there will be no stock and ppl have no choice but to buy at your ridiculous prices ^^
11. Demand
Now this brings me to my last point (wow that was a lloooooonnnnng post :P)
Demand is a little something off econmics. A demand curve/graph sorta looks like a hyperbola. This just means that the cheaper you sell, the more demand, the more expensive less demand. So, if you sell 10 mets at 100k, theyll all be sold in less than 10 min. Sell them at 500k and it will take you 999999+ hours. Now this is an exaggeration, but is true, yes? So where to define this fine line? Well this depends on your server, what items you're selling and when you are selling. The only way to find out your opitmum price for an item is to sell, re-sell and record. Basically through trial and error you will find out the best price and most efficient amount of stock to sell over a certain period of time. *Note* this will only work for items you sell in bulk e.g. mets, dbs NOT super +9 2 soc clubs etc.
Now that was a VERY long post :P Remember, this is nowhere near all the things you need to know to be a successful marketeer. This is just some common sense tips to get you going and/or remind you. Many things will have to be picked up by yourself through trial and error + experience.
Also check out Impeccable's guide on scamming to protect yourself from getting scammed.
P.S. An idea i also had was for people to contribute their own tips here. If I deem them worthy ^^; I will post them up. This way this thread will become a useful resource for many ppl to come and check
Lastly, have fun playing the game!
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^_^!
