make malls and players shops worthwhile again ..

BabyOxide

Guardian
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Posts
211
Problem:
- the auction has pretty much replaced player stores in the recent times,
- player store deposition is less advantageous compared to auction,
- auction is way more accessible,
- a lot of work is required to maintain a successful shop,
- most people do not have all the locations to the player shops,
- player shops items see less publicity,
- player shops do not sell as much any more,
- mall owners loses out, due to lack of sales,


The idea:
In some games, there is both a world auction and a player store system. In the player store system, player usually pay a premium to buy cash item or pay a premium to broadcast their goods to the public, similarly, in Entropia, this is the owning of a player shop, but there is no way to bring the shop to the players, players can only explore and find out, but given there is already an auction, and the auction mostly have the same items, people tend to ignore most player shops unless they already know where it is and what it sells.


Suggestions:
- Bring the player stores to the players,
- Accessible like the auction,
- Small auto-listing fee, 10pec
- fee is deducted from sale revenue, along with mall taxes,
- allow store owners to decide items to auto-list
- only auto-list items with sell value, (pre-caution checks, avoid decorations being sold)
- allow inter-planet use, with existing fee and delivery rules,
- menu for each planet, to allow easier integration with inter-planet use & delivery,



How it works:
- player place item in player shop,
- player set sell value and chooses the "auto-list" option
- item is listed into a database, and then into the "new auction"
- upon sale, fees are deducted from sales,
- auto-list fee goes to auction, (as with existing auction)
- mall fees goes to mall owners,
- sales revenue goes to shop owners,


Outlook:
This idea gives player who own shops a value added back, it will bring back the value of the shops, and the value of the mall, more people would then own player shops again. Player owned shops will be ale to complete equally with the auction and has equal publicity. This will likely improve the odds of shops sale generating revenue for MA. It should not affect the existing balance as players who do not own shops can continue to use the auction. Players who run out of shop space could also continue to use the auction. More items will be available to sell and browse, and it will be more accessible, shop owners can list more items when they own shops as a perk, economy should improve again. This translates to more PED flow, more sales, more items to buy and sell, more taxes, more fees, also better for MA.


and it should not be too hard,
Assumed understanding and inner workings:

- every item listed in a player store is likely already in a database,
- this database is similar to the auction,
- add the existing auction interface but with a few slight changes,
- add the interface to the existing auction as a menu, or a new terminal,
- disable all other features, only the buy and search remains.

- fee for the new auction changed,
- Mall owners, their own taxes, and 10pec per item sold goes to MA,
- collate all the database from individual shops after checking,
- show the collated database in the auction listing,
- no time out, 10pec fee
- add auto-list option when player list item in shop,
- most of the interface and scripts are already existing, very little alteration I would assume.

Possible difficulty:

- Scripts to determine shop location versus players location,
- Scripts to achieve player purchase and removal of item from player shop,
- Payment to listing fee,
- Payment to mall owner,
- Payment to Shop owner,
- Adding the "Auto-List" option into individual items place in the player store,
 
Last edited:
Let items in shopkeepers, shops and malls appear on auction for a small fee, with a different colour (eg green bar)

A small fee for making it visible on auction paid weekly (optional for owner to opt in or not)

You have to visit shop / shopkeeper to retrieve item. This encourages more shop browsing and possibly more purchases.
 
Good idea... but last few times something's been mentioned on this front, Mindark simply said that it's on the bottom of a long to-do list on paper... perhaps it'll get implemented in another decade or so.

Copy of related info from the link list on this front:
-------------------------​
[/URL]
 
Let items in shopkeepers, shops and malls appear on auction for a small fee, with a different colour (eg green bar)

A small fee for making it visible on auction paid weekly (optional for owner to opt in or not)

You have to visit shop / shopkeeper to retrieve item. This encourages more shop browsing and possibly more purchases.

No need for the fee... they did away with the rent long ago... but yes, make it optional on each item... because it's very easy to just put tt+1 in shop on accident before you go back and check markup and that would suck if every time that happened auction sniper got it.
 
No need for the fee... they did away with the rent long ago... but yes, make it optional on each item... because it's very easy to just put tt+1 in shop on accident before you go back and check markup and that would suck if every time that happened auction sniper got it.

I'm not talking a big fee here, just a bit above what a non shop owning player would pay.

Some players tend to only use auction, so there has to be a small fee otherwise shop owners would get around the 30 limit the rest of us have, listing hundreds per week you see. Also green items would stand out more.

Details of the small fee whether a few % or a ped amount to be worked out by MA, but it wouldn't need to be prohibitive, and it all goes into the loot pool apparently.

I dont own a shop but I would like to see what shop owners have stashed away by browsing the auction terminal. Everyone wins as far as I see?
 
alright, fine make a fee, but add it in to the tax fee, not the up front fee, so that way if the auction doesn't result in a sale, it's no biggie.
 
I like the concept. From owning multiple stores over the last 4 years, I can say if the UI was better for the shop owners & buyers, We'd defiantly enjoy utilizing the shops more :)

I love those ideas:
-Auto set price of an item (if u stock same item all the time)
-price set based on MU% and tt+ (atm annoying to set prices for ESI, etc).
-an Auction-type system as well as the current one.


I wouldn't have mind paying a little higher tax for doing it that way. Not sure about listing fee though.
It's all the little things in user interface that matter.

The TPs part, and how the shops must be found. I don't think it should be changed tbh. I like it the way it is.
 
How long we ask for a shop directory already?

10 years now, well once again.

I am all for it, OP suggestion is very good!
 
@BabyOxide

Interesting ideas. I don't own a shop and I have to admit that I haven't been spending much time looking for stuff in shops. If there are more gamers like me, I think your ideas should improve the sales for shop-owners since it would be much easier to find what you want to buy.
 
I once asked how much it would cost to get booth to my Land area. They said its impossible. Anyway Nea's have one even its impossible and for sure it wasnt always there ;). Would be nice to be the......
 
This is a area of the game that could use some attention. The Auction have become quite an pillow for everyone ingame and simply 99%'s go to place to do business. A shame really...

Why?

Because Auction made forums less important, Shops less important, "street" trading less important. IMHO those are activities that brings life and dialogue back to the game and forums. Having to sell or buy on a forum makes you check out the forum while you there = More activity on forums. Selling on street generates more need to socialize and other more passive activities. And it would bring back more revenue for shops

Auction should in my book only be "Real" auction. SB of TT+0 and then put a end date. Making instant buys & Sells to be dependent on shops, Selling in towns and forums. :)
 
Shops were made to fail alongside the auction. There is almost no reason why a player would own a shop when all inconveniences are considered.
 
I once asked how much it would cost to get booth to my Land area. They said its impossible. Anyway Nea's have one even its impossible and for sure it wasnt always there ;). Would be nice to be the......

How about.. a hangar at your landarea? Visit club sweat... I think you can.place shop keepers in a hangar.
 
Back
Top