[Gardening] thoughts on marketing new plants

[Beastmaster]

Now that we know what the new plants are, how the system works, where we have to get them, etc. does anyone have any thoughts about how they will sell them? Like hedges in lots of 5, slightly less than individually. Or all plants individually. What sort of prices do you think they will bring on your shard? Since anyone can grow them I figure the only folks that will buy them are those with money to burn. I think typically those that are into the whole deco thing probably have plenty of cash. So I hope they would pay nicely for the convenience we provide.

I'm a month old gardener without a shop at the moment so I welcome any feedback.

 

[Petra Fyde]

I don't know about prices, but I'm already growing for someone who can't be sure to log in every day to tend them and doesn't want to keep them in his back pack because he's a pvp char who doesn't want to carry them around with him.

So the assumption that anyone can grow them, while essentially accurate, doesn't actually work out that way.

 

[Farsight]

I suppose it would also depend on if all the plants are as common as all the other plants. For example, if I kill 4 kappa, will I average 1 hops vine? If a plant is more rare, then it wouldn't have as much point to sell them in bulk.

On the other hand, for things like shrubbery, I'm pretty sure that most decorators won't want to buy them one at a time. I know I'll be in the market for at least 5 hops in each direction when I start buying plants (Gardening ain't exactly my thing, but I'm saving seeds for a friend who is unavoidably away from the internet). I want my beer garden!

As far as prices go, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting my garden from friends, but if I wasn't, I would pay significantly to have a quick garden. But be prepared to have the prices drop quickly as the availability of the plants increase.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Noone dare to guess anything yet? I would be interested in knowing what will be the normal price after the first weeks. Im going to sell some but im not interested in ripping ppl off the first days and im normally selling on the cheap side.

Theese plants definitely should cost more than the old ones... but on Europa for some reason its hard to find shops with plants at all, and yet if you find them they often cost 250-500 gp!! If people dont want to make the effort to grow the plants..(and im one of them nowdays) .. how come they are not more expensive?

 

[Crysta]

If people dont want to make the effort to grow the plants..(and im one of them nowdays) .. how come they are not more expensive?

Probably because the people that are willing to put the effort in are doing it for the satisfaction and not the cash.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Probably because the people that are willing to put the effort in are doing it for the satisfaction and not the cash.

Are you such person? If so how much do you charge for old plants and do you have any idea about the new ones?

I run 18 vendors already so I just use to sell leftowers from decorating and grow some now and then. My dilemma is if I sell to expensive ill get our guild shop a bad reputation. If I sell too cheap someone clean oput my plants and resell them for the double, it happens with everything else.And empty vendor pouches look bad too. Im not interested in the cash, I want to find some balance so the plants stay long enough on the vendor for real customers to find them.

 

[Hyssmaye]

I agree with Petra - everyone can grow the new plants, but some people won't want to bother, and others will get tired of gardening after the initial frenzied period. I think that many of these people will end up buying the new plants from people who enjoy the gardening playstyle and are willing to collect the new seeds each week and do the work of growing the plants.

SO - initial pricing. Maybe 5k per plant initially for me (Chessy server, non-Luna shop). I already sell the regular plain deco plants for 2k per and have a hard time keeping up with demand on the most popular types.

I'm not selling the new plants yet because all I've managed to produce so far are two small hedges and one scattered snowdrops

 

[feath]

on europa, i sell plants from 250gp to 500gp. 500 are the plain champs, poppies and .. ech, a few other plain plants. 250 are for cactus (very poor seller) and colored plants, those few i sell at all.
the new ones i'll prob put up around 5k, see if they sell, and drop as needed. or raise. it'll depend on demand.
there are a lot of people who cant be bothered to take the time to grow them. those are the ones that buy. there are lots of them lol

 

[Hyssmaye]

At some point someone had done an analysis on the average cost of growing a plant, but I can't find it at the moment.

But when determining cost, you should consider:

• the time it takes to gather seeds
• the time it takes to tend the plants for 10 RL days (seed to deco-ready plant)
• the cost of making or buying greater potions for plant tending, including alchemy failures (higher for greater poison, etc)
• vendor fees

I'd grow plants even if I didn't also sell them, because I like doing it, and have occasionally donated plants for in-game good causes, or just given them away to friends. But when selling plants it's just practical to figure out your initial costs and make sure you charge more than that, so you don't lose money.

 

[Flora Green]

I sell all 17 plants currently on Origin. Prices are lower here so keep that in mind when/if you get around to setting up a shop, Beastmaster. These are my prices.

Plain-800gp
Colored-300gp
Black-10k
White-20k
Quest-2500gp
Vines-800gp

When I bother with bonsai I put them up for 100gp ea. I'm lucky to give them away.
I figure I'll start the new plants around 2-3k each and adjust accordingly based upon demand. I'm definitely charging more for them based upon the method used to gather and grow them.

At the moment, unless it's a very lucrative offer put forth, I don't plan to take special large orders for the new plants. It's a major inconvenience with this current system to have to grow plants I don't need/want just to get the one requested.

My shop has 17 vendors and their respective plants on each. I plan to add 3-4 more vendors to accommodate the new plants, stock them a I grow them, and group according to type instead of individually. i.e., Vendor 1=flowering, Vendor 2= trees and so on.

IF I keep my second account open, I may expand the selection of new plants as I will have more characters to devote to gardening (I already have 3) and another house to use as well.

 

[Lord Gareth]

On the Chesapeake shard I help run the guild OkuC and we have about six or seven people that do their own gardens. We can sell Campion, poopie, snowdrops and elph ears from 5-7,500k. Blaze, Aqua, purple and pink for around 8-9k.

Do the crappy ones will prolly hit at 5k each. Hedges will be the one of the big ones so 10,000 per. Were going to have a shop purely devoted to Plants so it will be a one stop shop for the new and old plants which there will be between 10-15 vendors.

having such a shop you can sell these for that kinda price. *Smiles*

 

[Hyssmaye]

Maybe I should raise my prices! What sort of volume do you do - about how many of the old plants can you sell a week? If you don't mind telling

 

[Lord Gareth]

I get orders all the time for plain compion or Dark blood red. Sometimes the order is 5 sometimes its 40 and I sell for about 5k with bulk orders per plant.

We can talk more if you like over icq. 267944224

 

[Beastmaster]

We can sell Campion, poopie, snowdrops

Just goes to show anything will sell in UO!

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Just goes to show anything will sell in UO!

Im buying new plants for 25k a piece.
Let me know if you are selling.
Time limited offer till market is glutted in a few days.

 

[Eslake]

I don't know that I'll be selling the new ones, but if you plan to - do it now while they're worth something.

Most respectable gardening vendors take pride in being able to keep their plants stocked, but the new plants don't allow for that. You could plant 50 seeds from monsters in the right group and still not be guaranteed of getting even 1 of a specific plant.

For example, in this first wave, I planted well over 200 and didn't get a single plain cypress tree.

For the moment that will keep their values high, but people will get frustrated at being unable to reliably buy the ones they want/need for their deco purposes, and stop trying.


If we could convince them to allows us to ItemID the seeds.... maybe...
(Yes, the surprise factor is fun, but when you're trying to maintain a reputation as a reliable merchant, it is alltogether different)

 

[DHMagicMan_1]

Im buying new plants for 25k a piece.
Let me know if you are selling.
Time limited offer till market is glutted in a few days.

Which server are you looking to buy on? Which plants? I have some Deco'd on Lake Austin.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Which server are you looking to buy on? Which plants? I have some Deco'd on Lake Austin.

Im buying on atlantic only. Sorry.

 

[Flora Green]

(Yes, the surprise factor is fun, but when you're trying to maintain a reputation as a reliable merchant, it is alltogether different)

That has been precisely my point ALL along since Regine announced the bonsai system would be used. She completely overlooked how impractical this system is, especially with no see ID, for merchants. That is also why I have argued so passionately for self-pollination vs. cross-pollination. I will have to devote an entire account and another house to the new plants in order to stock them as I can the original 17. Taking mutants, hued plants and cross-pollination out of the picture, the new plants need to produce seeds. And there is NO reason they don't except she chose to do it this way.

 

[gandolfofaol]

Im buying on atlantic only. Sorry.

If you want to provide me with seeds and some gold to buy potions I have some chars on atl I'll grow plants for you. Obviously at this point if you need them in a hurry I can't help.

 

[Lady Lava]

I plan on selling them for 25k each on the Great Lakes shard. Time and sales will determine future prices

 

[Amathist of PoC]

The Pirates of Cove are currently having a house team competiton (we have 4 house teams in our guild) to gather the new seeds we have some mixed boxes and we have others from specific monsters and at the end the house team to collect the most seeds will be rewarded but then we are going to have a seed auction and auction them off in lots of 100 seeds.

all fund going to more guild and shard events and our new auction house.

 

[Beastmaster]

Gang don't make the mistake I did.

I priced my plants from 15-25k each. Brand new shop. Dropped some runes and sold out in 30 minutes!!

 

[Pawain]

LOL I shoulda listened to you. I put the cypess and hedges at 10k, the rest at 6k.

Hedges and cypress were gone in 5 min...

The spider and juniper were also popular.

Also the cocoa tree sold fast.

Set out runes and mark those babies up! If they dont sell in 10 mins, you can mark em down tomorrow.

 

[Rix/\]

?


I didn't even wait till mine were on the 8th day soon as they popped out the pot I tossed'em on the vendor at 8am put like 16 plants on there, 4 cypress trees at 100k each the Cocoa I put 3 on for 250k and the rest hedges,poppies,snowdrops all at 50k each sold out by noon. That was few days ago 7 days after the publish. So I took adavntage of the newness of them and was able to make a decent profit. Now I see all sorts in Luna 50k each so the value droped fast and anyone who planted the first day or so of the pub has their first batch of plants.

 

[Jafanarae]

?


I didn't even wait till mine were on the 8th day soon as they popped out the pot I tossed'em on the vendor at 8am put like 16 plants on there, 4 cypress trees at 100k each the Cocoa I put 3 on for 250k and the rest hedges,poppies,snowdrops all at 50k each sold out by noon. That was few days ago 7 days after the publish. So I took adavntage of the newness of them and was able to make a decent profit. Now I see all sorts in Luna 50k each so the value droped fast and anyone who planted the first day or so of the pub has their first batch of plants.

I hope your customers know how to tend them and turn decorative mode on, otherwise surely they'll end up with dead plants?

 

[feath]

i just put my new plants on a vendor at what i consider to be ridiculously high prices. I'll find out if its going to sell

 

[Phaen Grey]

Plain-800gp
Colored-300gp
Black-10k
White-20k
Quest-2500gp
Vines-800gp

This is common pricing on Cats, I will be dedicating my time to growing for friends before putting the new plants up for sale [*smiles* A beer garden in the freehold sounds fitting Farsight!] 5k sounds about right to start out and then adjust as demand or lack there of dictates.

 

[Kaimei]

I literally sold my first batch, except for the foxglove, the day they were set to deco. On Sonoma, I charged the following -

Cypress - 200K
Hedges, juniper, spider trees - 75K
Hops - 35k
Lily pads - 30K
Poppies, cattails, snowdrops - 60k.

Hops and tall hedges were gone in no time, but I didn't have the time to keep an eye on how fast everything else went. Mossy cypress were a big seller too, those are all gone. I didn't try to sell the orfluer, foxglove (those are mine!) or cacti.

I think that my prices might have been a little high, but I made almost 2mil & didn't quite sell out. Tomorrow I'll drop my prices a bit more for the rest. This is the first time I've ever used a vendor (I'm relatively new to the game) and someone else advised me on prices. I think I got a jump on the prices because of the novelty and no one else on my shard seems to be selling them yet.

Actually...I was surprised how fast they were gone at those prices. I tried selling them more out of curiosity than anything else.

 

[Calla Lily]

I'm pricing (and selling) most of the new plants between 35-50k. We had hedges set at 50k, but they were selling at auction for 100k, with cypress trees going for 300-350k, so I have those set for 100k and 200k respectively. Time will tell if the high prices break or not. I don't have any cocoa trees on the vendor yet, as I'm not sure yet if I'll sell trees or seeds or just the resources.

 

[Flora Green]

This is common pricing on Cats, I will be dedicating my time to growing for friends before putting the new plants up for sale [*smiles* A beer garden in the freehold sounds fitting Farsight!] 5k sounds about right to start out and then adjust as demand or lack there of dictates.

I've spoken with a few people and am getting feedback of 35-60k for the new plants! I was not anticipating that. I'll have some I can set to deco tonight and think I'll start at 50k and adjust from there. My other prices will stay the same for the old plants.

 

[Beastmaster]

Flora, all hedges and tall trees will easily bring 200k. Get it while you can.

 

[Flora Green]

Oh I want to, but those prices are crazy.

 

[Jafanarae]

I play on a very small shard. I charge 10k for the new plants and they are selling very well. I thought charging 10k was a bit cheeky, but I have seen a couple of other vendors with similar pricing.

Someone nearby is charging from 25k for the snowdrops to 200k for the hops and the trees. They are selling very slowly, if at all. Personally, I don't think many people on my shard would pay the very inflated prices that a more populated shard can support, and I don't want to get a reputation for being a rip off merchant.

I see people come back to my shop, bringing their friends who then buy from me. I quite like that.

 

[Flora Green]

I also am on a small shard, Jafanarae which is why I'm reluctant to charge the higher prices. I have been told by a few people that they will pay 50k+ for certain plants, but I am still undecided. I do have a Foxglove and Cocoa tree up for 40k each. We'll see what happens.

 

[Flora Green]

Any of you had to lower your prices yet? I wasn't selling anything at 50-65k so I lowered to 30-40. Sold two at 35k. Since I lowered to 25k a few more have sold, but not many. Today I saw some on a vendor for under 1k.

 

[Pawain]

On LS:

I marked my first batch of plants at 6k and 20k for the trees and shrubs. They were all gone in minutes. I did get a note left on my BB, thanking me for reasonable prices.

My second batch I put the cypress at 100k, the rest at 20k. No shrubs. I put a still living cocoa tree at 200k. All were gone in 12 hours.

Mark em high, you can reduce prices later. The trees and shrubs sell fast.

I bet I could sell the tree grown cocoa seeds for 10k each.

 

[Flora Green]

Well, I dropped the prices to 15k and sold nothing. There was no reason to keep them high and lose money. I, and others on Origin, just keep lowering with the exception of one vendor who has them at 25k. I am selling a few here and there at 10k which they are all priced at now except the cactus at 5k. I know what is selling from watching my own internal inventory sheet. Juniper trees, sugar canes, orfluer and cactus are not among them. Logically there is no reason to grow those in bulk, but we don't have that choice. Thus I am losing vendor fees as well as gold/regs for kegs I could use elsewhere.

IMO the initial prices were stupidly high and I have no problem lowering them. But, I'm not going to sell them for the same as or less than the plain plants from the original system considering the extra work involved in getting the seeds and lack of control over what I'm growing. Which then begs the question, at what price will the new plants stablize at and will it be worth growing them when some are just throw away plants.

I'm interested to see how sales are doing on other shards since Pawain and I last posted. Perhaps some of you will post your shard plant happenings.

 

[Gwenyth]

I'm currently selling my cypress trees and tall hedges for 100k each, all other plants with the exception of the sugar cane are priced at 45k. I cannot keep my plants in stock...except the same 3 sugar cane that are now marked down to 20k and still no one wants them. This is on Catskills shard.

 

[Flora Green]

Thanks, Gwenyth. I have a feeling the problem is on the lower populated shards, maybe even Origin itself, and not across the board.

 

[Beastmaster]

I think the prices are falling everywhere quick. Perhaps not as low as what you are seeing on Origin but drastic none the less. I dropped down to my original pricing today and the scalpers moved in once again to clean me out. Hardest selling item seems to be the sugar canes. I would expect them to reach a normal price of about 1k within this next week. Those were my cheapest item and finally moved at 5k today. I haven't had any foxglove or orfleur to sell since my first round as I've been concentrating my hunting for hedges and trees. Snowdrops and cactus are my next worst sellers. When I had poppies they moved about like snowdrops.

my perceived popularity highest to lowest

top for now rare fire red cactus (probably change with whatver patch happens)
rest in 9 groups with groups 5 and 6 being very close to each other
1 mossy cypress
1 plain cypress
2 tall hedge
3 short hedge
4 juniper bush
4 hops (either way)
4 spider tree
5 cocoa tree
5 foxglove
5 orfluer
6 cattails
6 water lilly
7 snowdrops
7 poppies
8 cactus
9 sugar canes

 

[Flora Green]

Interesting. I've sold only two plain cypress and no mossy ones. Also haven't sold any tall hedges.

 

[kittykat]

I have limited results because no one seems to find my shop unless i drop runes (even though it is in zento). About a week ago I dropped runes and sold a good deal of plants for 25k each - nothing has sold since (although I have been lazy about marking them down - I intend to do that tonight and perhaps drop another batch of runes tomorrow). When my plants did sell, one person bought a major bunch of them (watched them while hidden that day) so I am betting it was a reseller. Anyhoo...

Sugar cane will not sell at all - didn't move even one of them. Cacti sold at first, but not after I restocked (which I did restock once during the time when my runes were out there). The surprising ones to me that didn't sell at all - the poppies and snowdrops. No one wants them.

This was Sonoma shard btw

I have a feeling the cypress trees will stop selling after halloween...

 

[Flora Green]

I'm wondering if the size of the poppies, snowdrops and sugar cane is an issue? On the other hand someone(s) made a big purchase of original poppies yesterday.

 

[Petra Fyde]

poppies and snowdrops don't look right unless they're on grass or dirt because they're scattered, however they're very nice on top of original poppies, blending out the 'square tile' look, especially when several are used in a border. Bringing attention to that might improve the sales?

I think you can see what I mean in this planter?

 

[kittykat]

you'd think someone that decorated (that would be likely to be the one buying the plants to begin with) would think of that. It's just really odd, I so expected those to sell well because of the really nice added deco they provide.

 

[the 4th man]

I am currently waiting for new batches to pop, but, prior to that I sold out almost instantly.

This is before more and more plant vendors started popping up. My shop is strictly flowers and plants, always has been.

Nothing sold for more than 55k either.....I have a feeling I have been bought out for resale, but I don't care....I'm not in it for greed.

Been growing for 6 years, and loving it.

 

[Pawain]

To help sell them. Put out some arrangements so people can see how they look combined.

I put out runes when I want to sell. With the old plants I have flowering at 800 and others at 500.

The new plants are going for 20k on LS now. I have more variety so I have some marked higher.

On LS the popular ones are cypress trees and tall hedge.

I generally make more on thorns and petals than plant sales.

These are new. You will get players who have not seen them yet.

I am happy with the original 1.5 mill I made.

I put out a couple of rare fire cactus today.

They sold in a few minutes for 200k a piece.

 

[Fink]

I've been selling the new plants for 1k each on Oceania.

The hedges move quickly, as expected, but nothing else seems to budge. I think people are either growing their own or have no interest in plants.

 

[NuSair]

On Atlantic, I sold my first batch for mostly 10-15k each (about 400 plants), and every day since then, I am planting 50-75 new ones each day, so I have a 'constant' supply of plants.

After that first batch sold out, I've been selling them for 50-60k and still can't keep anything in stock. My shop is at the Yew Moongate in Tram.