Inuri/Emile's Guide to Merchanting

[Emile]

Yes, there is a guide on making money. But it's way too general! Sure you can read up on it, but there's so many ways, and so many different choices... is farming worth it? Is fishing any good? What about life skills? Yes, yes, these are all good, but the key to financial success in any MMO is...

Merchanting

IMPORTANT TERMS ARE IN BOLD.

Part I: Market Value

“Economy is the method by which we prepare today to afford the improvements of tomorrow”

-Calvin Coolidge

The most important part of merchanting is Market Value, or MV for short. Why is this so important? You're going to be abusing it. Buying low and selling high is the key to successful merchanting. The graph that follows will be a basic outline of the typical path that item value follows, though not always the case:

The red line is price, or how much the item will sell for, and it is compared to the blue line, which is time. Let's start at the bottom left corner. This is the beginning of time, where the item is first introduced into the game, and the bottom of the red line, so it has no price. Then, the first person gets it right after it comes out, because it won't be long- I can guarantee it. Now, they might not sell it, but it has a value regardless. This value is high, due to supply & demand. Everyone wants it, but the supply is low- there's only one! As time goes on, more people get it. The item has been out for longer, so it moves right on the blue line. The item is worth less now, so it moves down on the red line. Soon, it becomes forgotten about almost entirely. This is the drop you notice in the graph. The right merchanting items, though, rise up like you see. Dyes! A perfect example. These are important because they are now considered something close to money in terms of trading. When they first came out, the first few were worth a lot. Then people realized, so many are being sold, it's not even worth that much. The price dropped and created the "10k Dye" age. Good times... They stayed more steady rather than drop, and people like Suzanna worked to make sure it rose in value. But then, they disappeared! This is the big drop. Now, they are worth more, because they're rare.

So, as you can see, while not everything follows the graph entirely, MMOs have very similar markets and observing an item and buying it while in the low phases of price is your chance to make a quick buck when they rise up again.

Buy low, sell high.

Part II: MMO Inflation

“Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair.” -Sam Ewing

Many people think that inflation cannot exist in an MMO. This makes sense, because in reality, it's nothing more than how much of our money is actually backed up by the government's supply of bullion (gold & silver). But of course, it manages to get us even in games. How? Well, it's determined by the item value and ways of earning it rather than how much it's backed up.

Seeing how I couldn't kill a wolf in reality and get money from its corpse, money is not infinite in reality. But in an MMO, where you earn money and any methods create inflation or deflation. Here is a list of ways inflation and deflation happen in Mabinogi.

Inflation:

• After a Profitable Dungeon is Released
• When Gachapon is Updated
• Double Gold Events
• Otherwise New means of getting Money Easy

Deflation:

• A Popular Item is made More Common
• After Long Periods of time Without Updates
• When Gachapon is Updated

You may ask, why is "When Gachapon is Updatred" in both lists? It causes inflation due to the fact that the new items are in higher price and drops the gold value, but at the same time, old ones have less value and are more common.

When an item is limited edition and now gone though, it's a novelty, or something treasured for its rarity and ancientness.

Part III: Mabinogi Market

"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." -Warren Buffett

The Mabinogi Market is very similar to other MMO Markets. How is it different? Dyes, for one. They are like a secondary money. Secondly, the way the game works is very different. Clothes do not have a set value of "____ to ____" gold. They are judged upon a few things like durability, color, attack range, etc. All of these are part of the thing that makes this market so realistic: Quality.

An item with 13 max durability is worth more than the same item with 12 durability. However, both are worth less if the item is regularly 15. You see, something above average quality is worth more- simple as that. That is why blacksmiths make so much money- the profit from buying raw materials and selling finished products is immense. This is better at high ranks due to this quality we speak of. Higher attack, durability, and even production signatures on your crafted item.

If you want to succeed, you have to abuse the market to get quality items.

Part IV: Conclusion

What can I do in this game then to become rich? I'll give you a ton of choices.

This is also the TL;DR!

• Buy low rank enchants for 3k to 8k each through the mail. Use these to rank enchant, and then create a monopoly of cheap enchanting. In reality, though, you can charge as much as you want if you're the only active enchanter.
• Keep a party ad up buying all dyes for over 15% cheaper than they're worth. In Ruairi, for example, I could buy tons of dyes in bulk for 85k apiece, and then resell them for 100k to 130k.
• Use all your ingots and AP to rank blacksmithing! Blacksmiths can make hundreds of millions. Dedication is key.
• Tailor! Everyone loves tailors. Get your own materials or have friends help.

DYE MERCHANTING

:

Buy low, sell high.

(Art by Inuri)

You have no idea how much people rely on life skills of others. If you want to become rich, you have to give the dedication into it. If not, merchant! Buy low, sell high! Make sure to read Section 1 thoroughly again if you want to merchant.

Maybe soon I'll add pictures and common money-used items like dyes & leathers. But adding market value is hard since it's different in diff. servers. Until then, have fun merchanting and making big bucks.


-Emile (Inuri of Ruairi)





TAGS: Inuri mabinogi win money cash sexy time lol wut lolwut rich wealth success supply and demand market ruairi mari tarlach alexina hairy beast waxing legs mabinogi furry jazzneo dyslexia cloud awesome tags emile server dye

[Nakishu]

Nice start.

[Chihaya]

If you're making a merchanting guide, you might wanna add the items that are highest in demand as well as their prices, and their stability.
Just a suggestion =P
(can include leathers, silks, fabrics, HW, ingots, herbs, dyes, etc.)

[Emile]

Updated completely until I decide to add pictures and maybe market value. :D

[Syrion]

could you please explain why long periods without updates cause deflation? From my personal experience, this would cause inflation because the amount of gold in the market is constantly increasing while the lack of updates decreases the number of venues on which to spend.

everyone is richer=>everyone can spend more=>people charge more=> stuff costs more

im not too familiar with the mabinogi economy though and that is just the situation i come across in most games

[Osayidan]

could you please explain why long periods without updates cause deflation? From my personal experience, this would cause inflation because the amount of gold in the market is constantly increasing while the lack of updates decreases the number of venues on which to spend.

everyone is richer=>everyone can spend more=>people charge more=> stuff costs more

im not too familiar with the mabinogi economy though and that is just the situation i come across in most games

My theory:

long periods of no updates = everyone obtains everything (not litterally, but you get the idea). If everyone who can afford something has it already, they will not buy it. Therefore people who want to sell those things in order to get money have to compete with each other, selling those items for less. You can see a short term version of this during events with special item giveaways, on the first day or two everyone is willing to chop off their arm for it, after a week people drop them on the floor.

[Swordslayer]

lol nicely done. Some of the quotes made me laugh

[Ashabella]

Nicely done, me myself I am very wide reseller of NPC goods. NPC goods in PURE Colors in otherwords: White,black,gacha blue,and neon purple,red have been some my past Colored items from npc. I buy like lets say i see NPC selling BLACK ROBES, for bout 2k each. So i stock up my inv and one my pets with them. I then resell them for about 10k or so dependin on the robe. (I USUALLY use shopmule!)

[Emile]

My theory:

long periods of no updates = everyone obtains everything (not litterally, but you get the idea). If everyone who can afford something has it already, they will not buy it. Therefore people who want to sell those things in order to get money have to compete with each other, selling those items for less. You can see a short term version of this during events with special item giveaways, on the first day or two everyone is willing to chop off their arm for it, after a week people drop them on the floor.

This is true because as I stated the inflation/deflation is not determined by amount of money because there is an infinite amount coming from monsters and leaving through NPC purchases & repairs. Therefore, long periods without updates simply make the items less rare. However, the next update being delayed only makes the items that come with it that much more exciting and expensive.

[Kaldo]

This guide = Otherwise easy way of making money.
Ergo, get ready for some inflation.

J/king. Great guide