[Discussion] Rares Investment Venture Capitalists In A UO Economy Please Share Your Success

[Nails Warstein]

BUY LOW + SELL HIGH

This is a staple feature in most MMOs. Lately, 26 Silent Auctions later, I have noticed all the bargains my bidders have been getting at my auctions. I am proud of you all, but yes I am jealous also. After nearly 15 years of playing, this is something I wish I had time to do that many players seem to do for fun. Interestingly most of these guys are not typically rare collectors. Where would rare collectors be if these enterprising investors didn't bring these items to our attention?

I was wondering if any players would like to share their success. Post which rare you bought for how much, how much you resold it for, and where did you buy it. (vendor errors excluded)

Rare Name:
Purchased For:
Resold For:
Purchased Where:

 

[Manticore]

I am not sure if anyone is "Buying Low" these days. Other than the .001% who just so happens to buy a package for cash at a discount then reselling it or finding a treasure trove at an IDOC, most items especially the new ones are sold high automatically since they are gotten by a small group of players. Not there is anything wrong with that as they so eloquently put it "anyone can do it, just build a suit and you can start getting items too". It's just the way the current drop system works and those who are diligently enough to work at it will monopolize it. As for the statement of where would Rare Collectors be if these "Enterprising Investors" didn't bring these items to our attention, the answer is probably they would have more gold in their pockets.

The ugly truth is for many of these collectors the model is "buy high and keep it forever or f__k it and take a loss and GTFO".

My opinion is buy what you like, if you like it and no one else has it then pay The Piper and enjoy the item. I fall in that category myself.

 

[Nails Warstein]

I am not sure if anyone is "Buying Low" these days.

I guess you've missed many of my auctions, I have a following of players who win my auctions cheap 20 - 100m, throw their winnings on a vendor for 175m.

 

[Flutter]

I'm not sure anyone wants to admit to buying something at a low price or bargain because it will publicly lower the perceived going rate of that item.

 

[Manticore]

I guess you've missed many of my auctions, I have a following of players who win my auctions cheap 20 - 100m, throw their winnings on a vendor for 175m.

That's true. Didn't think about that angle.

 

[Nails Warstein]

I'm not sure anyone wants to admit to buying something at a low price or bargain because it will publicly lower the perceived going rate of that item.

Are there no braggarts among us? I guess privately some will feel more comfortable sharing these stories. I just thought maybe perhaps some could share at least one story of a deal they got. I disagree that bargains devalue items, because I know quite a few experts who know how to buy an item right after an event for a lot less than what they resell it for here on stratics. If I were to answer my own questions, think this is by far and a way the best bargain I got.

Rare Name: 15th Anniversary Robe
Purchased For: 400m
Resold For: 1100m
Purchased Where: Europa, and Auctioned off at Hokuto's rares festival.

 

[Flutter]

I dunno, I see a lot of people looking things up and telling me "well the last one sold for 20M" when I am trying to sell things.
Or I'll get a PC from a friend on ICQ and then end up having to sell for less than half the price check here on the forums.
I find myself being the opposite of a "Venture Capitalist".

 

[Manticore]

"I know quite a few experts who know how to buy an item after an event for a lot less than what they resell it for here on stratics"

While this statement maybe true in the past but hasn't been lately for the past year. Not since the domination of the 3 groups and The Lone Ranger of players dominating the drop system. Yes, on occasion you might find a random player here or two getting lucky and end up with an item but for the majority of the instances it goes to these groups; especially on a 10 drop shard. Am I jealous heck ya but too lazy to change my templates so just have to pay the Piper

But what you identified up there is a new way of thinking on how to make gold, but again have to be diligent and know the market which takes time and energy something that only the few will make it work.

It's like all those Self-help authors and Self-made millionaires, they don't mind at all telling you how they did it, in fact they make more money by telling you how they did it with no hidden secrets but the truth is it takes more than just knowing the recipe, personality, drive, motivation, wisdom, intelligence, luck, and a whole list of other characteristics that if one doesn't possess the right combination they will never make it no matter how much you spoon feed them. Oops, getting out of focus here LOL. This kind of educational lesson I normally charge 75-100 bucks an hour for haha.

 

[Flutter]

"I know quite a few experts who know how to buy an item after an event for a lot less than what they resell it for here on stratics"

While this statement maybe true in the past but hasn't been lately for the past year. Not since the domination of the 3 groups and The Lone Ranger of players dominating the drop system. Yes, on occasion you might find a random player here or two getting lucky and end up with an item but for the majority of the instances it goes to these groups; especially on a 10 drop shard. Am I jealous heck ya but too lazy to change my templates so just have to pay the Piper

But what you identified up there is a new way of thinking on how to make gold, but again have to be diligent and know the market which takes time and energy something that only the few will make it work.

It's like all those Self-help authors and Self-made millionaires, they don't mind at all telling you how they did it, in fact they make more money by telling you how they did it with no hidden secrets but the truth is it takes more than just knowing the recipe, personality, drive, motivation, wisdom, intelligence, luck, and a whole list of other characteristics that if one doesn't possess the right combination they will never make it no matter how much you spoon feed them. Oops, getting out of focus here LOL. This kind of educational lesson I normally charge 75-100 bucks an hour for haha.

Agree. I used to get a drop maybe one in every four or five events I went to. Now in the process of changing templates to join the crowd just to have a chance.
I do find that I am surprised at how cheaply some items go for and how much others do. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to me. 1 of 10 or 1 of 15 matters very little, some things go for what I consider "stupid" amounts of gold at one time, then the next day the price is so low I am suspicious to buy it. I've paid a good amount for the things I like. I've seen some items drop in value very fast and others go up almost as quickly.

Some folks may not want to post in this thread because they bought an item from someone here and resold it for 175M and they don't want to make that person feel bad about selling it. Others, like I said, are trying to keep the known prices high. I cannot count the number of people that didn't allow me to win an auction because, quote "I can't let it go so low sorry". Can't let it go so low? Because they own one and don't want the value to drop.
*shakes head*
*grumbles*

 

[Smoot]

I got a few good deals at your auction nails. i think the best one was that dragon's tooth for something like 16mil. (i didnt buy to sell tho and still have it)
I find that buying rares for "low" and then selling high is NOT easy. its much easier to do with everyday items there is a high demand for like arties, and for pvp items. that stuff sells its self.

Call me lazy, but it seems like the only way to actually sell most rares "high" is to put Alot of time into it. like if you play Alot, and devote alot of that time to advertising, displaying rares, convincing of high worth or tracking down that buyer that is willing to pay a premium.

Of course vendors are different, id be interested to know how many of those actually sell for the markup tho, or if they are just taken down.

No selling stories come to mind here. I bought a lantern a while back just when the price spiked for 100 mil, and traded it for about 250 mil worth of stuff. i guess that was pretty good.

 

[Smoot]

I know what you mean tho. Like the last auction, the Smoldering Daemon general skull went for like 400mil. I paid 800 for mine back when prices on everything were high. I almost wanted to bid on it just because i had paid almost double, and im sure someone could sell it for 500 or 600. But not me.

 

[Riply]

Interesting topic Nails, can't say I totally agree that many of these purchases are being bought low and then resold on vendors for a much higher price. I tend to shop around the Atlantic shard in Luna looking
for things of interest to me. I see some things being resold, but that seems to be small percentage. I believe what were seeing is some very successful hard working players with Atlantic vendors spending some
of their excess gold on items that they would like to collect. I'm not seeing these particular players placing their recent purchases on their vendors for resale.
I'm also noticing that some old collectors are cashing in/or liquidating there collections for what ever reasons they may have. But were also seeing an influx of new collectors, and some returning collectors into the game.

As far as wide variations of prices that have been noticed recently for the same items. This could be due to several factors, first being the players that were wiling to pay those prices have purchased them now. But the
players that were just below them bidding on those items are no longer playing or have gone in a different direction of themes. Thus just like any collectible supply and demand plays a big roll on values of those
items. So if there's less demand then the price falls, if its an items that has been seldom offered and you have a number of people interested in that item the price rises.

Also keep in mind especially on Atlantic were seeing a lot of auctions and items being sold each week, this will contribute to falling prices due to the simple fact that the average collector needs sufficient time
to recover there supply of gold to purchase more latter on. The collectors who are actively selling just normal items in Luna such as Barbed kits etc have been doing pretty well these past few months This is just
one example, there are many more. It takes time and dedication but has it's rewards.

I find myself doing some selling and buying both on Atlantic and my home shard Europa, but were talking items that sell from as low as 125k for POF's to 120 mage scroll that I can buy for lets say 16 mill and sell latter
for 20 million. For me that's kinda fun and profitable at the same time. I tend to save my gold for my own niche of collecting, this way I have the gold when I really need it. If something becomes available that I really
want, the chances are it will be in my collection. But I'm not buying those items for resale, it's purely for my own enjoyment in the game. I think there are a number of collectors who also have their own niche in the game
of collecting and when you have two or three after the same item, that's when the prices really shot up beyond any one's expectations. Simply supply and demand really.

 

[WootSauce]

I will bite.

Rare Name: A Blackrock Encrusted Mortar & Pestle
Purchased For: Approx 250 mil
Resold For: 2.5 Bil
Purchased Where: One of the last rares fests that only had a live auction (no silent auctions)

Details in the thread below...

http://stratics.com/community/threads/blackrock-encrusted-mortar-pestle.207579/

I will echo the sentiments expressed throughout this thread that the changes in the drops have concentrated the EM item drops into a small handful of players (unintended consequences Ms. Mesanna). I used to schedule my UO time around events on all shards and had viable chars on each. Did fairly well in terms of following events and having a chance at getting an item. Drop rule changes have given the program over to two templates from what I have seen. Again a change that was made to make things "more fair" has resulted in a very specific temp / playstyle completely monopolizing the fruits of the program. All that said, I will still try to buy drops that really interest me, but I won't make the stock "event winner" template on every shard. I'm pretty sure many others are in the same boat.

 

[Flutter]

Maybe Mesanna will see this post and give some consideration to re-changing the drop rates so that it's more random and less "top attacker" friendly. I am sure that there's a way to make it a random roll for anyone who participated by attacking the monster or helping healing (and ressing) those who are attacking. People who res are the ones who "suffer" the most item wise, and most of the time they are the most worthy (IMO). The people who take the time to stop and res and heal me up are the people I most admire at EM events.

 

[Flutter]

Sorry wasn't trying to thread hijack.