Pricing for Tradeskills v3.0

[Shaoleet]

Now with research and new items making tradeskills even cheaper, and me only rarely needing buffs (and yes, I still have IPs left AND my defenses and the one or other weapon skill maxed. it works. try it!), I only charge little fees for jobs that require a lot of clicks.

For Alien armor, Arul Sabas, some new Albtraum stuff I usually ask for a 1-2mill tip, or 500k for medium-work things like VTEs or nano crystals. This DOES include ME purchasing consumables like nanowire, furnaces, carbon rocks etc. (getting the parts myself saved me from a lot of hassle dealing with people who either do the math wrong or are too confused to buy right QLs etc..)

I don't get mad at people who don't pay, I just take mental note of their names and will adjust my reaction time to their OOC inquirys accordingly in the future.

I DO, however, get openly mad at people who try to sell crafting tools (MRRs, Alptraum tool, SL buff rings, FF helpers) at 50-100 mills to tradeskillers who provide their services cheap or free. Want tradeskills done cheap? Don't charge a premium for our tools.

[CometicComs]

Hmm, perhaps we need a new tradeskiller list thread thinger to see who still tradeskills on what server. Akin to the "who is your tradeskill engineer" but having a list with name/server. I'd make one but atm my net access is limited so I cannot update list frequently.

Hmmm...

Name: Pillowwolf
Server: RK2
Capabilities: Can make 300 AI armors, Implants etc.

alternately, you can PM Hperas for TS as well. He's my disciple. LOL

[ppcitis]

Only when people come up to me and ask for things done, ill tell them pricing up beforehand. They either agree or just dont answer in 30 secs on tell.

Normally imp making up to ql200 is free, unless it are multiple imps
General i'm asking 5-7m a piece for combined ql 250+ ai armor, the 1800 psycho still isnt easy.

Tradeskilling isnt for me a main method of making credits, therefore i can afford the luxery of being a bit picky on the work.

Lowbie tradeskilling I normally do for free, its nice to get the little toons on their way

[Luziciona]

...

I DO, however, get openly mad at people who try to sell crafting tools (MRRs, Alptraum tool, SL buff rings, FF helpers) at 50-100 mills to tradeskillers who provide their services cheap or free. Want tradeskills done cheap? Don't charge a premium for our tools.

I couldn't agree more...

Btw: It would be nice if we (tradeskillers) helped educate the new players regarding skills needed for low QL stuff. Most 200+ players can do low implants and even carbonum, if tools are provided. It isn't necessary to find an engineer. Traders, fixers, MP's & even docs have gear/buffs/trickledown etc into various tradeskills. Crats & enforcers (psychology) shouldn't be forgotten either...

And: I am getting a little reluctant to helping people as often as I used to. The reason is that some of the guys I help for free keep coming back asking for more and bigger favors, and hardly offer a thank you in return.

[Berael]

We need pricing for:

5 gem aruls
S10 stuff
alappaa stuff

I'm suggesting:

10m for 5 gems, both sides (for high skill and tedious process)

Alappaa stims - 250K-500K each
Armor upgrade tradeskill - 1m
Gem melting - 2m each (high chem needed)

I honestly don't know s10 well enough to judge the skills needed.

[Anisherl]

How many creds shoud we take for making 5 gem aruls ?, someone just asked me if i got 2270 EE, i guess that TS was for the bracer. Need to reset some perks for that EE skill, thx.

[Berael]

I'm asking 10m (if you read the post above yours)

[muha]

S10 stuff all reqs 450 ME or something negligible like that. I do them for free, or 1m which is my minimum fee.
I charge 10m for each side of 5-gem, as it is a real bitch for me, I need to swap 20 items to get the skill, and I need enfo buffs to put my armor them back.
Gem melting I charged 1m each, it's just a matter of going to the HQ.
Also add adding the last gem for 5-gem. I would charge 3m for this, but I said no to someone who asked, it's just not worth the 1-2 hours it will take me.

[Berael]

anybody else have an opinion on this?

Specificaly:
- S10 tradeskill prices
- 5 gem bracers
- alappaa tradeskills

[Uaintseenme]

For the sheer amount of clicks involved and the fact that having the skills (easily) obtainable for 5 Gems costs us in other areas, im charging 8-10mill per bracer depending on how many i have allready done that day and on who the customer is.

Im not charging anything for allappaa loot, since i wouldnt even bother doing the stims as they are next to worthless and i count the defrosting of gems in with the price of the bracer if they are brought to me in a frozen form.

Since the alien tank in S10 requires the wearer to have 450 ME anyway, they generaly end up doing the whole process themselves. (everything in s10 requires 450 ME so if you can do the tank you can do the rest)

Regardless of that my minumum fee for anything is 2mill, so if someone realy was impatient and didnt wanna look for another engie, i guess id do the s10 stuff for that since its a no brainer.

[Bummel]

I usually don't charge anything at all but i will always accept. Beside the fact that im a pure tradeskiller and don't have to swap anything, im pretty much always available to those that know me. Unless someone askes me how much it's going to cost him, i usually tell him that's up to you. But if they insist on knowing how much it's going to be, as far as the 5 gem aruls goes i usually stick to 5% of the market value which thus far wasn't a problem.

I don't like robbing people of their credits so i tend to go by this logic: if people are low on credits, they will tip you less then those with alot more.

And it's not really an issue when you are payed below average as long as your customer population grows

[Berael]

While I respect that it is your desire to -not- work for credits, this thread is specifically for those who -do- work for credits or for those who want to know how much they should expect to pay for a service.

Ultimately, this way of doing things is not robbing people of their credits any more than a baker robs a family for making their bread or a restaurant robs its patrons for making their food.

Engineers and other tradeskillers have skills that the majority of the population do not have, and should be acknowledged for that instead of being taken for granted.

[Berael]

Its about time again to take an informal survey of those people who charge for tradeskills and see how much they charge. The purpose of this is to keep the tradeskill pricing guide up to date with the current trends and mindsets for what tradeskillers feel is reasonable to ask for a service and what people feel is worth while to pay.

Please take a look at the list in the first post and answer the following questions, if they apply to you.

Please keep posts on topic and avoid posting about how you do not charge or why people should not charge.

1. If you charge for your tradeskill services, do the prices in the first post seem reasonable to you? If not, what would you change? (raising or lowering prices).

2. Are there processes or items not on the list that you feel should be included, or groups lumped together that should be separated. (i.e. "making combined commando should charge more than other alien armor").

3. Alternately are there items on the list that should be taken off or lumped together for some reason? (i.e. "Albtraum stims should be removed since nobody uses them")

4. Do you have any suggestion about how to present the information or change the layout so it is more readable or user friendly?

5. Is there information that should be added about business etiquette that would help make the process of charging money for services easier?

[Luziciona]

1. The Prices seem fair and just to me. I use them as guidelines, with discount or added fee depending on Ingredients, Order size, the customer (neutral discount, of course) and so forth. They are somewhat on the low side, especially for the valuable items.
2. S10:
   500k for processing the various materials, translating or activating.
   1M for work creating the various augmentation devices (value).
   The results are often Unique (the TradeSkiller have to replace/exchange his/her items from bank/twink bags etc...)
3. ...
4. Add Colour to Headlines, perhaps? Also, what about prices on top, reasons and notes on the thread etc at bottom of post?
5. More focus on the three main reasons for charging:
   Knowledge, Value & Tools.

Berael, thank you for maintaining this thread. It is very helpful to have a source and reference to point to. Surprisingly often I find myself having to justify my modest prices. People seems to dislike the handling fee the most; "I farmed this myself" is a common statement. It is funny that these skilled and resourceful people do not recognize the knowledge and experience in the tradeskiller they seek help from.

[Uaintseenme]

My personal favorite comment on charging for trade skills is the "but i just spent all my creds on xxxxx item and cant pay you for making it"
Then when 15 mins have gone by and said person cant find another trade skiller, they come back to me with "oh i checked my player shop and found the EXACT amount you quoted as a fee in there!"

what good fortune, what luck, what a shame i then double my price!

[Luziciona]

Classic )

[Berael]

Thanks for the reply Luz.

I find that a lot of miscommunication about tradeskills happens when people do not actually have experience playing a tradeskill profession seriously, and start taking the services of charity (free) tradeskillers for granted.

When people tell me that they spent all their money on the components than I generally tell them to go see their org engineer and make them feel useful.

[Koizumi]

*starts charging $$$ for MoP/RI* ;P

[Susi]

Is the updated price list the one on the first page of this thread? If so, I kind of think that Tier armor pricing is a bit high, then again maybe I'm just cheap. Still, I've quite often done several glyphs at those prices.

Tier armor these days is often the pick of people who cannot afford AI armor and are levelling their first toon and thus are too gimpy to really have fun on BS for OFAB. I kind of compare making T1 nowadays to making lowbie implants...I'd expect about 500k-1m tip of an armor of 6 glyphs.

Then again, at 220 I've moved from fixed pricing to expecting a tip so my point of view is somewhat changed. A lot of my customers are friends and they know what I'm giving away by having the high tradeskills so the income has remained rather similar.

Slightly off-topic, is there a discussion somewhere concerning tradeskill fixer pricing vs. tips?

[Berael]

Hey Susi,

If you feel the pricing guide is too high considering the current market, we could always take another look at it. Ultimately though, I would like pricing to be based largely on the skill numbers and tools required to complete an operation. This way, most prices would stay some what static over time, unless there was a big change in the value of money itself.

In terms of 'fixer' pricing vs tips, are you referring to prices for the Fixer profession or fixed prices for any tradeskills?