You open Marlene by double clicking on her. You can then place whatever
items you wish in her pack. Be warned, however, that if you place an item
other than one of the above mentioned exempted ones, and take any other
action before assigning that item a price, the item will be automatically
priced at NPC shop levels!!
Editor's note: This
can be used as a simple form of Arms Loring player made items. The item
will be priced according to it's quality. For example: Exceptional bows
will be priced at 51 gp. Any bow you place in this manner that when clicked
shows a price of 51 gp can be removed and re-labeled exceptional.
All the others are above or below average depending on what price is assigned.
Organization is everything. The popular vendor will have all of her items
neatly arranged in differently coloured bags for easy identification. Marlene
has 3 bags for armour (all the same colour) and bags for swords weapons,
archery weapons and mace weapons (all differently coloured). My customers
who use swords always know into which bag to look, and don't have to waste
any time trying to figure out where the goodies are. All of the bags are
labelled, as well (e.g. "Top Quality Items for the Archer"), for easy reference.
Label the bags rather than placing labelled books near them so as to reduce
your item count.
I also recommend that you place a couple of books on Marlene offering
your customers information and advice. Both the title of the book and the
description that you type in as you place it on Marlene will be visible
to your customers if they click on it. An excellent suggestion that was
sent in to me is to have a book with the description, "If you're short
of funds, Marlene can do direct withdrawals from your bank account!" Not
all players are aware of this, and I was told that it increased one vendor's
sales by 30-40%!
Even more important than organization is proper labelling. Item ID and
Arms Lore are vital skills for the successful merchant. All of my items
are fully labelled, including state of repair. Use the label to emphasize
the special qualities of the merchandise. An example of a good label is
"FORTIFIED Surpassingly Acc War Axe of MIGHT - Brand New". You can leave
out the name of the item; it will appear below the item whether it is labelled
or not. In the previous example, the words "magic war axe" would appear
directly below the item if someone were to click on it - thusly:
FORTIFIED, surpassingly accurate of MIGHT - Brand new
a magic war axe
Except for bows, crossbows and other unrepairable items, you should never
stock items that are not in full repair. You will get a lot less repeat
business if that war axe breaks over the head of the first orc your customer
tests it on.
To actually price an item, place it in Marlene and type the following:
Price,
Description. For example: 400, FORTIFIED EMINENTLY Acc Lgswd
of MIGHT & Feeb (23) - B. New. If you're short on room, you don't need
both the comma and the space, as long as you leave one or the other between
the price and description. Once it has been placed and priced, you can
move it about in Marlene's pack without having to redo this step. If you
want to change an item's price or description you have to remove it from
the pack entirely and then put it back. It's a good idea to type out the
description first, then place the item and hit [Enter].
If you wish to make an item not-for-sale (only books, containers, key
rings and items within a for-sale container - e.g. a full suit of armour)
merely type the description without a price first: for example, "MASSIVE
Plate Arms of GUARDING - Brand New". If this item is within a for-sale
container, it will be listed as not-for-sale (i.e. you have to buy the
container itself). If this item is not within such a container, it will
be assigned a price automatically (for this item, approximately 225 gp).
Note: Since patch 32B,
some changes have been made in vendor item pricing in response to the 'vendor
key' debacle. If you place a not-for-sale item in a not-for-sale container,
the container will be assigned a price based on
shop values of the items inside. This assignment will occur
even if only one item in the container does not have a price, and even
if you then assign a price to that item. My recommendation: type in the
price and description BEFORE you drop the item on Marlene, then hit enter
once the item has been placed. Frequently single click on the containers
to make sure that they have not been assigned prices. Once a container
has been assigned a price by the system, the only way to fix the problem
is to remove all the items in the container then remove the container and
start all over again.
Furthermore, I would not take any chances and would not place any not-for-sale
items in the root container except other containers, books and key rings
or any other item of little value that you wish to use as a marker - I
like to use wheels of cheese.
If you place a container that already has some items in it on Marlene,
the items inside will have no special labels. To label those items merely
click on them, hold them in the air for a moment, then place them where
you want them. Remember, if the container that they're in isn't for sale,
they will be priced automatically at low rates, as will the container.
This last method can be useful in two regards: firstly, if Marlene is
located in a hostile area, you can store the items safely while you sort
through them (although they can be bought for low prices if anyone is around);
secondly, it is the most efficient way to place items that you wish to
sell as a set. |
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