Tips for Shopping in UO

[Xalan Dementia]

One of my pet peeves about UO shopping is seeing people paying outrageous amounts for an item just because its new. So heres some tips to help people save some gold.

1. Before buying an item, make sure you know how its acquired. Example - The puzzle rewards from SA. When these items started surfacing on vendors people were paying millions for them just because they didn't know where it came from. Now you can find them for pennies. If you see an item youd like but arent sure on where its from, check UOGuide or here on stratics for info.

2. Try not to buy any New to game items unless you truly need it. Example - Halloween items, easy to acquire yet people were paying large sums for them at first. When items first hit the game, greedy vendors will charge far too much for them just because they are new. If you have no way of acquiring the item yourself try to hold out till the item's price stablizes.

3. Shop around! Finding the best price can be time consuming but sometimes the gold you save is well worth it. Check out vendor runes you find, walk around popular housing areas (Ice Isle, North of minoc, Xroads, etc) Luna may have the most vendors but its usually the worst prices.

4. Find a vendor you like. When you find a great deal on a vendor be sure to watch them in the future for other good deals. Most vendor houses have Bulletin boards where you can leave a message for vendor owners, These can be a good way to meet your favorite vendors owner and possibly get other good deals.

Follow these tips and you can avoid being ripped off by the greedy. If you take anything from this post let it be this: Research an Items origin before buying.

Any questions? Pm me
Any additions? post em in a reply!

 

[Connor_Graham]

greedy vendors will charge far too much for them just because they are new.

Follow these tips and you can avoid being ripped off by the greedy. If you take anything from this post let it be this: Research an Items origin before buying.

No one forces anyone to pay whatever price any item may be marked at. It seems to me that the ones that are greedy are those that are willing to pay 1, 2, or 10 mil for an item just so they can be the first to have one. If a shopper is too lazy or in too much of a hurry to shop around, that's on them, not the vendor owner. Sure, there are those that will overprice some items simply because they're in Luna and they can, but if the buyer would take the time to look around, they'll more than likely find the same item for much less somewhere else. Don't blame the vendor owner because the buyer is lazy or has to be the first kid on the block with the new toy.

 

[Mapper]

I bought a cornocopia for 2 million on day 1 because it looks really cool and even though they are 50-100k now. I don't regret paying 2 million. Just depends what you have *shrugs*

Very nice tips though.

 

[Jhym]

Um... that's a "blaming the victim" approach.

Many people don't know what things are "worth" and have to go by what feels right. Some folks don't know how to shop, or don't enjoy it. Those people are the type to go into a car dealer and pay full price just so they can drive off with the blue car.

For a vendor to knowingly put up rediculous amounts on items just to pull in a "rube" (like how people occasionally will price whole pigs at 50K) to me is just mean, and I won't shop at that vendor once I see pricing that I know is out of bounds and intended to catch someone.

As for new item pricing -- I agree that you shouldn't jump on the first one you see, but, on the other hand, there have been times I've seen something on a vendor that I want for deco or other purposes, continue shopping, then come back 10 minutes later to find it gone. I'm more likely to pick up something because of that -- though with my limited resources I'm not spending much so it usually doesn't apply to me anyway.

I suppose I'm saying there's plenty of "blame" to go around on pricing issues, but mostly common sense is the best thing to have when dealing with other players.

 

[Xalan Dementia]

This thread was made just to help inform. Didnt mean to place blame.
Majority of vendors charge too much, why? Because a majority of the shoppers are uninformed on item worth or think they have no choice but to pay through the nose.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Majority of vendors charge too much, why? Because a majority of the shoppers are uninformed on item worth or think they have no choice but to pay through the nose.

You're really overgeneralizing here. What's "too much" for you isn't "too much" for the next person.

So... the majority of vendors are scammers, and everyone who buys the items are getting scammed? It's as if UO is populated only by schemers and morons.

No choice? They can just not purchase the item. Or they can go get it for themselves.

 

[Xalan Dementia]

You're really overgeneralizing here. What's "too much" for you isn't "too much" for the next person.

So... the majority of vendors are scammers, and everyone who buys the items are getting scammed? It's as if UO is populated only by schemers and morons.

No choice? They can just not purchase the item. Or they can go get it for themselves.

Too much means they are charging more than what should be charged considering how the item is obtained and or the time spent to obtain. By this, then yes the majority of vendors overprice items.
I said they are uninformed or THINK they have no choice. The richest of the UO vendors have made most of thier money from buyer ignorance, theres no debating that.
Again this is just a helpful post for ill informed shoppers, not a thread for vendor owners to gripe about how I'm a threat to thier empire. And with that the discussion is complete.

 

[Fink]

Caveat emptor.

I don't think people paying "too much" are quite the blameless victims as they are portrayed here. They are at least in part responsible for their own poor judgement.

There will always be opportunist merchants who overprice new items based on a perceived short supply. Let us not forget the other of the two basic governing forces for setting market price is demand, which is wholly the buyer's prerogative.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Too much means they are charging more than what should be charged considering how the item is obtained and or the time spent to obtain. By this, then yes the majority of vendors overprice items.

As I said, this is entirely subjective. What's the time worth?
Hour of killing Mongbats =/= Hour of killing Dragon =/= Hour of Champ Spawning
Whose Hour is the standard?
Someone who can make more gold per hour is naturally more willing to spend more on items.

I said they are uninformed or THINK they have no choice. The richest of the UO vendors have made most of their money from buyer ignorance, there's no debating that.
Again this is just a helpful post for ill informed shoppers, not a thread for vendor owners to gripe about how I'm a threat to their empire. And with that the discussion is complete.

Nothing against helping players. Heck, I've written a couple dozen Stratics pages.
If anyone has a question about how to obtain a certain item, just ask.
Rares Collector forum is also a good place.

Scammers actually don't make a very good profit. Sure, they might trick a few people for some gold, but there's really no consistent income in that.

No offense taken
Every good argument needs to have the counterargument presented as well.

Tip to Shoppers: You'll save boat-loads of cash if you scavenge the countryside for out-of-the-way vendors.

 

[Ivorythorn]

Every poster in this thread has made some good points. Some people don't want to spend the time shopping for the best deal so they buy what they want if it's within their price range as soon as they see it.

Me? I probably guilty of paying too much for something, but I know I am. Now, I'm not talking about millions, but I will pay a little more for something just to encourage a player running a vendor. It's just a game after all, and trust me I've run vendors that didn't sell that much at all. It's freaking sad, and I know I had reasonable prices on my vendors. Now I'm not talking arties, marties, rubble, or whatever just stuff I thought people could use.

My next attempt at vendors wil be more high end stuff, or products most people don't sell. ( If I do it all... )

Ivorythorn

 

[Basara]

I bought a cornocopia for 2 million on day 1 because it looks really cool and even though they are 50-100k now. I don't regret paying 2 million. Just depends what you have *shrugs*

Very nice tips though.

LoL

I actually found emptied Cornucopias on the ground at Luna bank, because people apparently didn't know they recharged. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

[EricVT]

These days everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, it seems.

 

[UOKaiser]

Most of UO have plenty of gold to spend. They pay for convenience. Todays 1 mil is yesturdays 1k. For those who remmeber in order to get your first boat which was around 12k or so it took a long while. Today it takes a minute. yesturday 12k is todays 12mil. In my opinion they charging too little compare to the inflation the market has become.