Pricing in Project-Entropia
How do prices get set.
Project Entropia uses a real world model of an economic system. All items have what is known as a 'TT Value' which can be thought of as the item's worth as scrap, the item will have a higher value than it's TT if it has a use to a player.
If the item is of no use to a player, then it can be recycled for it's scrap value using the Trade Terminals.
Useful, or rare items are sold between the players for a price agreed between them, the more useful an item, or the higher the demand, the higher the price will be - just like in real life.
Why pay so much for items?
Items in project-Entropia can seem very expensive at first glance. Who would like to pay 300$ for a virtual item? To answer that question we can take a slightly different approach to the whole "value of an item" problem. In real life you are happy with your paper money. The paper on which they are printed is not worth what the number on the bill say, yet you happily exchange that paper for an item and vice versa. Why? Its all about trust. You know that everyone accepts that paper as a valid way of paying for an item. The same is applied in Project-Entropia. MindArk guarantees that you can change your virtual money into US Dollars should you desire. In essence, money in Project-Entropia is real money.
Inflation
Since Project-Entropia is a free to download and use people often tend to forget that MindArk has to make money from the game. MindArk earns money each time you use an item. To compensate for this loss people demands much for their items. Since everybody will loose a bit each time they play they have to make up for their losses when they sell.
An item that you purchase today, may go up or down in price, if it's particularly rare, you may find that it goes up in price by an unexpected amount.
Trading
Why trading
As you move around in Project-Entropia you will acquire items. Those items can be worth a lot of money. Since you need basic equipment, as ammunition or mining equipment, all the time you will need to sell some of your items in order to earn money to be able to purchase those items. A trader can either work for himself or be a contractor. If you work for your self you can be a part time trader or a full time trader. A part time trader only sell his own items in order to convert his gains into PEDs. A full time trader often invest in products and re-sell them when the prices on the items are high. A full time trader can also receive work from a contractor. The contractor then often supply the trader with items the trader must sell. The trader will then, upon selling the items, receive a fee for his services.
Different kinds of trading
There are 3 different ways of selling items to other participants in Project-Entropia. You can sell an item on the street to passing participants, via auction houses or via your own personal shop.
The most often used way is street selling closely followed by auction selling. Selling via a personal shop has yet to prove itself. More of this later.
Street selling
When you are selling items on the street etiquette is everything.
The reason for this is that you need to use the chat function to let the other participants know what you are selling. If you spam or flood the chat (Type the same message over and over) people will often get angry with you. And angry people do not buy your products. The selling message has to be relative short and direct. You can also type too long a message and flood the chat that way. Here's two examples of trading, guess which one is the best:
1: Selling: Very good gun for taking down large animals AS-129, Excellent mining equipment MD40. Also a lot of very nice clothes. Come have a look. I am very cheap to deal with.
2: Selling: AS129 TT + 100 (TT = 20), MD40 TT + 85 (TT = 40), various clothes (M&F).
The two sellers are selling the same items, yet the second message is shorter and more informative, why? This is due to the fact that the second seller is leaving out the information I don't want to hear. I know what the different items are and can do. The second seller furthermore informs me of the prices, both the Trade Terminal value (TT) and what he want in total for the item (TT + X). If you dont know what the different items are it is advised you check auction or ask the seller. He will gladly answer all your questions as he is trying to sell the items.
Selling via auction
Selling via the auction is a very good alternative to the method described before. When you sell your items via the auction its a bit like "Release and forget weapons". You select what you want for your items and the item will be available in all the auction houses in Project-Entropia. This is a very good service for the person who doesn't like standing on a street corner trying to sell his items. To use the service there is a 0.50 PED fee though. If the sale price exceeds the "Starting Bid" price, MA will take a nominal service fee which will never exceed 50 PED. The fee is a small percentage of the sale price. When you have sold your item the PEDs are automatically transfered to your account. If your item hasn't sold within the period you have selected, you will be notified and the item is returned to your avatar upon your next visit to the auction.
Selling via shops
Player run shops are the latest addition to the traders arsenal of different trading methods. This method is a very expensive method though. The reason for this is that you have to own a piece of land where you can place your shop. When you have bought a piece of land you then need to buy a shop keeper who will sell your items. The total price for a player run shop is around 3,000 - 4,000 PED
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