The Price of Sweat
Firstly, this is not a guide concerning How To gather sweat. There are plenty of these, and I see no need to repeat this information.
For information on gathering sweat, see the following link:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2030
The intention of this guide is to establish an economical understanding of sweat and the collective selling power of the sweat gatherers (newbies) as a group.
We as new players are granted a golden period in the beginning of our gaming experience where we are the sole producers and source of a vital commodity: Sweat. Older and more experienced players simply cannot produce it for themselves, therefore they MUST buy it from us. This is a very powerful idea and should not be taken lightly: New players have a monopoly on sweat.
What is sweat?
Forget the game mechanics, think of sweat as the product of your time and effort, which has a value because, as the old saying goes, time is money. If we accept this as true, then time has a value, therefore, the time you spend collecting and selling sweat is money and should be considered just as much an investment into PE as if you had pulled out your credit card and plugged in $20.00.
The value of sweat.
I will use the current range of value for illustrative purposes, but do realize that the price of sweat is an idea, based on several factors, partly supply, partly demand, but more importantly, the established value of sweat, like the value of many things in real life is based on the collective PERCEPTION of the buyers and sellers actively making trades.
The current price range as of this writing is as follows:
The Low Range
1.8-1.9pec
The Median
2.0pec
The High Range
2.1-2.2pec
The Premium (Bulk)
2.3-2.4
The differences here are small, but consider that tens and hundreds of thousands of units of sweat may be traded in a given hour.
Say you have 10000 bottles of sweat to sell:
10000 sweat at 1.8 PEC will result in a sale for 18000pec - 180ped - $18US
10000 sweat at 2.2 PEC will result in a sale for 22000pec - 220ped - $22US
Since bulk amounts of sweat seem to fetch a +.1 to +.2 or more premium:
10000 sweat at 2.4 PEC will result in a sale for 24000pec - 240ped - $24US
That small difference in cents results in an extra $4-6US in newbie buying power, not a small thing.
The question is, do you consider your time worth the extra $4-6?
How to use the price range effectively:
First of all, take your time and observe the current market, identify WHAT the median value is, what the high range is, and what the low range is. Once you have this established, you’re ready to move in.
The Median
Most business will take place here. Feel no shame in accepting a sale at this price, you’re making money and building up your own buying power. However, this should be the lowest value you will EVER accept.
The Low Range.
Avoid the Wal-Mart mentality and never under any circumstances sell your sweat here. Not only are you allowing yourself to be sold short when the median value will be easy enough to sell at, you are ACTIVELY lowering the perceived value of sweat, therefore reducing the collective buying and selling power of ALL newbies.
At the same time, watch religiously for other players willing to sell at these prices. Some players don’t care, want to make a quick buck, quit sweating and buy a gun. If you’ve managed to sell enough sweat to build some capital, and you see someone selling in the low range, BUY and resell at the median or higher rates. You accomplish two things here: You net yourself a small profit and you help prevent reduction in the overall value of sweat.
The High Range.
This is your target range, ADVERTISE your sweat at these price values. The goal is partly to sell your sweat high, but more importantly to convince your fellow newbies through the united voice of those advertising their current stock, that the accepted value of sweat is actually this high range. In essence, if you convince every newbie who has just walked into the game that their sweat is actually worth 2.1 rather than 2.0, you have in effect altered the median price of sweat to 2.1.
You may or may not have success selling sweat at these values, but with patience you may attract a buyer with cash on hand and low patience who will buy a large quantity at a higher price. Just like in the real world, some people will pay a premium for convenience.
Sweat and sell in union.
Regardless of where we’re from and who we are, we all start out the same way, sweating our butts off to get a start. Treat your fellow newbies as co-workers, not competitors, you are not competing for the sales, there is an active demand for sweat and your sweat will find a buyer. If you undercut the other gatherers, you sell yourself short, and you make it harder for everyone else to sell their own sweat without lowering their prices. If however, everyone sells with an intent to maintain or increase the value of sweat, we build our own buying power and prepare ourselves better for our continued futures in PE.
-Dionnsai
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. I for one, will not be selling any further, until the prices go back to 1, at least, and I urge others to do the same. Also, if you see someone buying for less than 0.7, or at 0.7, then go ahead and do some bad advertisement for the seller.