Explaining Merching

[Alphung]

Hello everyone,

This is kind of a reply to another post titled "Let's talk about Merching" and they asked questions like why do they low ball so much? why do they offer such low prices?

I saw a lot of comments and replies to the thread with people that said put them on ignore list, waste their time, and even report them ...

I'm going to be explaining what merching is, why people offer low prices to merch, and why you SHOULD NOT put them in your ignore list.



First of all, for those who don't know:
Merching is when a player purchases an item for a cheaper price than the value of the item and sells it at the valued price point for a marginal profit.

Now for Merchants to make gold, they need to purchase for at least 15-20% less than what it's worth, and sell the item for 5% less than the valued price.
These percentages vary on many factors such as: rarity of item, demand, future value.

TO THE GOOD PART
--------------------------------------

Why do merchants offer low prices?

In order for merchants to sell their items, they need to list them in the auction. They can of course spam chat, but the chances are slim. Not to mention if it was possible, the person with the item originally would just sell it at original value in towns.

SOOOOO merching happens when a player can't sell an item and just wants to get some gold to get a decent portion of it's value to get rid of it.


Now that we know merchants HAVE to auction, we should know the auction takes away 5% of the value you list it for. Example: if you list a 100m item, 5m will be taken by auction.

In that example, if the player wants to merch an item worth 100m, they HAVE to buy that item for 5% less for auction fees and 5% less to beat competition prices.

Meaning right off the back they HAVE to offer 10% less than the value. Now for them to make gold and make it worth their while to check forums, list on forums, check auction daily, list on auction whatever they would like a 5% - 10% profit.

Meaning if they want to merch an item, they have to offer 15-20% ATLEAST less than the original value.

Now some item are really hard to sell. Meaning the merchant has to:

List in auction
Advertise in town
List on forums

and check all 3 listed above daily ^^^

That's effort people who sell to merchants don't want to go through. That's why merchants exist.

SO
--------------------------------
If you want to sell to a merchant, make sure they offer 15-20% of what your item is worth. MINIMUM


NOW why do some merchants offer 10-15m for a 30m item? Shouldn't they offer 24m instead according to the percentage ratio? NO

some items like artifacts, speed sets, gl items, luck items, PVP items are VERY UNPREDICTABLE. Meaning the merchant either will not be able to sell them SOON or it will take a very LONG TIME. So ... when Merchant offers a very low price under the 50% value of the item. it means there is no demand on that item OR it is hard to sell.



CONCLUSION

Everything I said only applies for authentic merchants. If you know for a fact that your item is high in demand the merchant is in fact low balling you to make a fat profit, ignore them (not with buttons, with your mind)

I still don't suggest ignoring low balling merchants because they might sell an item that YOU are looking for less than the auction price. The 5-10% price competition/auction fee that they will decrease to sell in town YOU can take advantage of that.

I hope this helps clarify what authentic merchants do and what to do with real fake low ball merchants (just wait for them to look to sell items and take advantage by offering 5-10% less)


Last words I want to say. Most people say they get their wealth from merching and they have 1-3 B worth of items ARE 99% fake. They're usually scammers, wearing their friends gear/vanity, they're plat users, hoarders/investors. As a merchant running a merching guild & friends with many authentic merchant I can ASSURE YOU we don't make that much. AT MOST a merchant makes 10-20m per week. Which is nowhere near as much needed to buy 1-3b worth items.

I hope you all have a good day!

[Ploid]

It's annoying to see people spamming "Buying Merch" in towns...... this wouldn't get u anywhere. The wealthiest merchants don't do this.

Secondly, merching isn't very profitable, and is super boring.

Thirdly, offering 20-30% of less than its actual worth is super low. It's very annoying. If your item is worth 100m, and someone offers 70m. It would piss anyone off.

I used to be a merchant, and used to make 10m per day while I did that. How? I never used to list items in auction... not many good merchant do. So therefore, for an item worth 100m, I'd offer 90-95m. You see? The owner wouldn't get pissed, and I'd make an actual profit.

There is an *Enhanced Merching* tactic I use nowadays. It isn't really merching, but it gets the job done. I don't have to stand in towns all day anymore.

Tldr: 20-30% margin is TOO MUCH

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

[Alphung]

What you are referring to is easy to sell items. Cases like that happen very rarely. Read your reply, you contradicted yourself a few times but anyways:

If you buy a 100m item for 90m and sell it for 100m in a day, that's very unlikely. If it's that easy to sell at original price then the original owner would do it and not look for a merchant. If you don't stand in town yet you find items worth 100m I'm assuming you do it in forums which is a technique I put in my post.

All good merchants use auction and forums also like I listed in forums. What you are referring to when you say merchants don't use auction is LB items and items in HIGH demand like maul, balloons, dessert set. items I too sell quit frequently. They are easy to sell and high in demand. This is not what the post is about tho. This post is about the non LB merchants that buy items under 100m that are not HIGH in demand.

I also suggest you stop lying, a two year old can see the contradiction in your reply lmfao.

[marblealaena]

Let's normalize using the word reselling instead of the non existent word many use called merching

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[Ploid]

What you are referring to is easy to sell items. Cases like that happen very rarely. Read your reply, you contradicted yourself a few times but anyways:

If you buy a 100m item for 90m and sell it for 100m in a day, that's very unlikely. If it's that easy to sell at original price then the original owner would do it and not look for a merchant. If you don't stand in town yet you find items worth 100m I'm assuming you do it in forums which is a technique I put in my post.

All good merchants use auction and forums also like I listed in forums. What you are referring to when you say merchants don't use auction is LB items and items in HIGH demand like maul, balloons, dessert set. items I too sell quit frequently. They are easy to sell and high in demand. This is not what the post is about tho. This post is about the non LB merchants that buy items under 100m that are not HIGH in demand.

I also suggest you stop lying, a two year old can see the contradiction in your reply lmfao.

Where did I lie rofl.



Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

[Oakmaiden]

Merchant = Middleman. Unnecessary person imo. I look to sell to the player that is buying for themselves. If nobody wants it, the item sits in my stash til needed. The “problem” is that middleman shouting he’s buying when really he’s lowballing. Wastes a players’ time..imo

[Repent]

let’s normalize not selling items to “merchers”

[Ploid]

let’s normalize not selling items to “merchers”

I ain't ever selling my items to someone who's known for yelling in towns "Buying Merch (NHTS)"

LMAO

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

[chiiwawa]

Buy as low as you can
Sell as high as you can.
there... I just explained merching.

Thats doesn't mean scam, lie & cheat your way to a profit. It means what it says. Being an honest buyer/sales person is a rare breed of animal but they do exist.

[Lawpvp]

People should think of merches like a Pawn shop. I've never watched Pawn stars on tv, but I've gone down a few Youtube rabbitholes lol. Lots of times they call in an expert who gives an evaluation of the item. They ask the seller how much they want, and usually the seller says the same price as the expert. Then the pawn shop offers them typically 70% of that number. If you are walking in to a Pawn shop, you should expect quick cash, not full value. That's the point. Same with merches.

But merches serve a purpose. If I'm selling something worth 9m, I don't mind selling it for 7m to a merch so I don't have to stand around in expedition camp for 2+ hours. Am i going to sell something worth 90m to a merch for 70m? ofc not. Just like you woudn't try to sell the Mona Lisa at a pawn shop. But some junk lying around in your garage that you can get $500 for? Sure why not, take it to the pawn shop.

[Alphung]

Well said,

Congratulations on understanding the concept of marching. You are intelligent.

Many people don't understand you DON'T sell LB items at merch price. You don't sell 50m+ as merch price. You give items at merch price that are hard to sell, you need to quick gold for, or you simply want to get rid of it. Merching is exactly like a pawn shop thank you for writing!

[Encryptions]

Join me in the world of hoarding.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

[QuaseT]

Quite sad to hear what Merching has become - on both sides: what other people think about merchers and what merchers themselves seem to do. I recognized that in the thread you mentioned already. I remember merchers as several communities in 2014-2016 who were known for offering exclusive items in towns. Items that aren't listed in auction on a daily basis or at least not for that specific price. Also as players you can rely on to get an instant offer for your items. To me - as someone who only merched during that period of time - I do not consider these as merchants as in its og sense.
I'm saying, you are right for the most nowadays but it's a quite drastic regression from back then. I solved this by ignoring random pms and by not starting merching myself again. I believe if someone really wants to sell an item to me for some reason he finds another way to contact me anyways. Worked so far.

[Alphung]

Quaset the days you are talking about is when only 10-20 players on Arcane Legends actually farmed for LB and got exclusive items as drops. Nowadays there is no such thing as exclusive items. You can find whatever you want on forums or auction and the price is literally set. There is no question on what something is worth anymore. Merchants cannot make any gold if this is the case. We have to be able to buy for cheap and sell for more right? If no one sells for cheap because they know the price of everything because nothing is exclusive anymore then it's just a matter of who just wants the item off their hand faster.

[QuaseT]

Quaset the days you are talking about is when only 10-20 players on Arcane Legends actually farmed for LB and got exclusive items as drops. Nowadays there is no such thing as exclusive items. You can find whatever you want on forums or auction and the price is literally set. There is no question on what something is worth anymore. Merchants cannot make any gold if this is the case. We have to be able to buy for cheap and sell for more right? If no one sells for cheap because they know the price of everything because nothing is exclusive anymore then it's just a matter of who just wants the item off their hand faster.

Yes I agree that these days are over. It's unfortunate for that party that lb rewards are bound nowadays. Tho I expected that to shift to items due unique awakes but people either buy high-tier gear for themselves/their teams or just basic gear u can get from auc.