November 26, 200718 yr Before I begin, I will list my experiences with shops. I began a Fishing shop back in June of 2007. The shop floundered, sputtered, closed, re-opened, closed again, re-re opened, and finally died out not-so-peacefully. Then, in August of 2007, I decided to re-open my Fishing and cooking shop. Today, it is probably one of the most successful shops on tip.it. I feel as though I became a better owner of my shop through failure, rather than through immediate success. Now, I feel as though I should share what kept me motivated, what kept me moving forward, and what keeped me up to speed with the other shops one will compete with The guide will be using collapse-able menus and will go through various ways to grab attention of customers, and keep customers coming back for more. It will hopefully teach you what prices you can sell items for. I will try to show you how you can hire workers quickly, and keep them motivated as much as you are. The Breakdown: I. Getting your page up and Organizing it II. Hiring your workers III. Setting and controlling your prices IV A. Getting to work IV B. The road block V. Keeping workers around VI. Testing the market VII. Keeping customers coming back for more Section I: Getting your page up Ok, so you've decided to start a business. Remember that opening a successful shop will require large amounts of dedication. You cannot trust anyone but yourself to manage your business correctly. You must have complete faith in yourself to get the job done. First of all, you need to name your shop. Personally, I chose to name my shop "Nomore's fishing and cooking shop". Dont' for anything overly flashy. Naming your company "The Amazing Golden Glory Woodcutting Shop" isn't going to make anyone interested in visiting your shop any more than "Bill's WC Shop". Naming your shop is the LEAST important thing you can do, but you want people to remember your shops name so they can reccomend you to friends. Next, you need to decide the maximum orders of something your supplying. You don't want to offer 10k of any type of log. Your orders will get backed up, and will take a lifetime. I use 1,000 as a maximum. It's a nice round number. For things like Runecrafting, you can use a little more, since you will get bonus runes. However, for things like mining, smithing, fishing, cooking, woodcutting, or crafting, setting a reasonable max order will ensure your completion speed is good and your customers are happy with getting at least a decent amount for a good price with good speed. Next, you need to decide how your going to organize your page. I like to use the collapseable menus. However, you can simply list the things your selling. So, for instance, lets say your opening a woodcutting shop, and you sell Oaks, Willows, Maples, and Yews. You can set the prices up in various ways: The Collapseable Menus [hide=This is one option] Type of log/Price/Max Quantity/ [/hide] Or something more simple, such as Log---Price at 1,000 or less Oak---10 Gp Willow---12 Gp Ect... Then there are other options, such as listing coding. I am not familiar with coding, but if you look on the forums, I'm sure you can find a way to create a coded chart. Another option is just listing downwards. Make sure you show how everything is formatted BEFORE listing. Type of log/Price/Max Quantity Oak/10 Gp/1,000 Willow/12 Gp/1,000 Other things to take into account when organizing your page: Sensibility---Remeber to organize your page in a logical order. Don't list like this I. The current orders II. The Prices III. Worker Application IV. Order Form V. Rules It doesn't make any sense, and It's an eyesore. Try: I. Rules II. Worker Application III. The Prices IV. The Order Form V. Current orders Next you have to work on organizing the order form. Something simple always works best. RS Name: Type of Log: Quantity: Date: Total Cost: Then, you need to work on organizing your current orders, so you know who's getting what. Make sure you know who made the order, the date (In case you get 2 of the same order, who's getting their order first), the order, and who they should pick-up from. EXAMPLE: Current orders: Name/Order Date/Type and Quantity of log/Woodcutter Nomoredead/November 23/1,000 Maples/Chach09 Remember to keep things simple and organized. The best way to attract business is keeping everything simple, and using correct spelling. No one wants to see: W3lcom3 to our buzinesss. We offur: Oks, Maples, Willowz, and Yewz. It's annoying, and you won't be taken seriously. Section II: Hiring Your Workers You can't do it all alone. Your going to need reliable, friendly, and dedicated workers. This is often hard to do, so here's a few tips on how to hire these people. A. Offer full pay. Do NOT charge your workers fee's so that you can scrape a little money off the top. This will all but kill your chances of getting good workers. Think: Why would anyone want to pay YOU to deliver THEIR orders? B. Offer them some control over the company. Offer your workers the ability to control certain aspects of the company. Ask them about what prices they think will help attract more customers. DO NOT let them sell at their own prices, as this will create confusion if the customer re-orders and get a different price from a different worker. If you want, you can even offer a worker discount on goods they buy from the shop. Something like a 10-15% discount would help a lot. C. Treat them with respect. Never bash one of your workers. It can only hurt the reputation of your business, and could create turmoil that you never expected. If a worker is out of line, either let them go (AKA Fire them), or tell them to take a leave of absence. D. Post an application. Post an application ON your 1st post. Make sure it is easy to fill out. Something like this would be fine: Rs Name: Woodcutting Lvl: Favorite Log to chop: E. Let them choose their orders. Let a worker choose which order they want to do, rather than assigning them. If after a few days, an order isn't claimed, ask your workers to pick it up, and if they don't do it yourself. If the worker is un-willing to pick up an order, and they aren't currently doing an order, you should learn that they are un-dependable. Section III: Setting and Controlling Your Prices When creating a business, you need to have the ability to attract customers. Start your company off with discount prices. I would reccommend you stock pile whatever your selling prior to opening your company. This will ensure that you have a speedy delivery time, and gain customers respect. This in turn will help you when hiring workers, because they will want to work for a shop that has regular orders. Gradually, over the course of several weeks, (could be longer, depending on the market of what your selling) your shop will earn respect and people will be reccommending your shop to their friends. Now is the time to raise your prices a bit. Try to match your prices to your competition, without going over. If you feel comfortable selling a bit lower than your competition, it will certainly help, but is not necessary. Now would also be a good time to check with your workers and make sure they are satisfied at the prices the company sells at. Money controls a lot of things in runescape, including egos. Remember to keep your workers and customers equally happy. Section IV: Getting to Work Now that your company is up and rolling, it's time for you as the owner to make sure YOU keep working. Unless your merchanting your good and re-selling them for more at your shop, it is necessary that you do your part for the company. You should be your employee of the month every single month. If your dedicated enough to open up a shop for a specific skill, you should be dedicated enough to work your butt off for it. The Road Block: After about a month, a shop will experience what I refer to as "the road block". The road block usually comes from a mixture of things, ranging from lack of workers, lack of money made, boredom, or being overwhelmed with work. Here are a couple solutions to these problems: Boredom and Overwhelming---Remember, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT burn yourself out on a skill. Don't get from 75 to 90 Woodcutting in one week. You won't want to woodcut for a looonnngggg time. This will seriously hurt your business. If the owner isn't interested in their skill, how can he expect his workers to be. Work on other skills and come back to finish your orders if you get bored. Lack of workers---Shut down your shop and go to a popular spot where your shops skill is being performed for long periods of time (like the fishing guild) and hire workers there. Post on your page that you are looking for workers, and when you get X amount of workers, you will re-open. Lack of Money---Work more. If you aren't completing your own orders quickly, find something that you can do WHILE doing your skill. If your fishing, try playing something else at the same time. BEWARE OF RANDOMS!!! I would know, losing full wizzy (g) while watching T.V. is bad news. Section V: Keeping workers around I'll keep this section short and sweet. There are a couple BASIC ways to keep workers around your shop happy, and involved. Genuine Praise---Remember, there is nothing better than being TOLD you did a great job. Always remember to thank and praise your workers for a job well done Discounts---Worker discounts on your shops goods which you sell to them PERSONALLY is a great way of making friends with your workers PMing In-Game---Talk to them in-game. Find out what they like best about the game, and what they like to do in their spare time. Don't be overly in-depth, it's creepy. Give Aways and fun events---It's not necessary, but it's always nice to recieve an invitation to a drop party, a DK'ing trip, or a 99 Skill party from your boss. It bonds the workers together not only between you and them, but themselves and the other workers as well. Section VI: Testing the Market Now that your shop has become a little bigger and better, it's time to test the market. You can now do several things: -Expand the shop's order capacity---Allow more orders to be placed by one person, or allow more orders to come into the shop in total. For instance, if you had a limit of 4 orders at any time, try 5 or 6. -Create a higher max ammount---If you only offered 500 of something (for instance, yews), try 1,000 as a max order. It will be more difficult, but it WILL attract more customers. -Raise prices---Now that you've assured customers that you have a great company with speedy completions, you can raise prices A BIT. Lets say your offering yews for 320 Ea. Try 325 Ea. Remember: You MUST complete these orders faster than the competition, because people are willing to pay a little more if their getting their goods THAT much faster. -Offer discount packages---Offer something like 500 of item X and 500 of Item Y, at a discount price. For instance, if you sell yews at 350, and Magics at 1100, try combining their prices and cutting them a bit so that people are more inclined to order EXAMPLE: 1k Yews is 350k, 1k Magics is 1100k, but 500 Yews and 500 Magics (at 340 and 1050 ea) is now 695k (and you could even round that to 700k for a little bonus cash). If you just rose your prices, this won't matter price wise relative to your last price, but it will offer the customer the ability to kill two birds with one stone. If you try something and see a significant drop in business, regress, and change things back to the way they were until your willing to try again. Section VII: Keeping customers coming back for more There are 3 key aspects to assuring your relations with customers. A. Offer to do things their way---Go to their world, and their place to sell to them. That way, the customer only has to go to their nearest bank to buy your items. This helps you more than you would think. A customer LOVES to not be drawn away from what their doing, and will thank you for it, and remember your kindness B. Say thank you---Remember your manners. Say thank you and welcome the customer back any time they want to your shop. Remind them of how happy you are that they chose your shop over all the others, and assure them that you are always willing to serve them C. Remember to keep in touch---Add your customer. The second you complete their order, let them know. Tell them they can pick up any time they please. This again makes sure they aren't pulled away from their current happenings. That does it for my guide. As your shop grows, you can experiment more and more with prices, benefits for your workers, and size of your shop. If you create a very successful shop, you can even open another shop in a different skill. Remember, this is very difficult, and it is very hard to do two things at once. Make sure you have a trusted employee and friend to help you manage both shops. Rate 1 to 10 :D. Please offer any and all suggestions. I am very open to expanding this guide to other aspects of ownership of a company. If you have any questions I did not answer, or you would like me to clarify on something, please post, and I will try to make my wording better and easier to understand. I tend to run on sometimes... : Enjoy!
November 28, 200718 yr Good guide. :P I'm thinking of telling my boss about this guide. :) (Not that he has a bad shop, just that this is a good guide. XD)
November 29, 200718 yr Very well written guide on how to make a shop here... But really whats the purpose? What do you gain when opening a shop? If you don't get any profit from maintaining and shop, then why make one? Pretty much your just making a specific place within the forum so people can gather and buy/sell wares. Like a mini-mini-forum. Instead of opening a shop, you can just get the raw materials, then just post a topic saying, "Selling () for ()ea" You would make the exact same profit as opening a shop, as well as it will save you time and effort. You would also be able to find perm buyers of your wares, which is better than having to deliver your stuff every 1k or so. So to sum up, just answer this one question, What do you get out of creating a shop?
November 29, 200718 yr Author So to sum up, just answer this one question, What do you get out of creating a shop? Good Question. Hopefully I can answer that quite well. : Opening a shop helps you in runescape by helping you get a GAURENTEED market for your good. Once you get a good stock of your good, you can sell IMMEDIATLY without wasting any time at your price. This was almost nullified by grand exchange, but the GE doesn't gaurentee you the abilitly to sell at your price all the time. People are often looking for a gaurenteed price. Also, even if someone is using the GE, they most likely won't get all of what they need. That is where your shop could come in and fill in the missing 500 or 1000 of whatever they need. You will indeed get gaurenteed profit from your shop at any time you want. The great thing about a shop is that it links you to buyers who will love your service, and always come back for more. So, lets say you find yourself a seller of lobs at 220 Ea in game...and your shop sells for 230 ea. You buy 10k raw lobs, and WHAM!!! 100k gaurenteed profit from your loyal buyers. Of course, you'll only have loyal buyers if you manage your shop correctly and effectivly, which is why I created the guide. Hope that answered your question 8-).
November 30, 200718 yr Opening a shop helps you in runescape by helping you get a GAURENTEED market for your good. Once you get a good stock of your good, you can sell IMMEDIATLY without wasting any time at your price. This was almost nullified by grand exchange, but the GE doesn't gaurentee you the abilitly to sell at your price all the time. People are often looking for a gaurenteed price. Also, even if someone is using the GE, they most likely won't get all of what they need. That is where your shop could come in and fill in the missing 500 or 1000 of whatever they need. You should get perm buyers, they will usually always buy your stuff. Also,if your using the GE, you most likely will have your "order" filled. It usually either never fills, or always fills. It will usually never just stop halfway, unless halfway, the price had a huge change. You will indeed get gaurenteed profit from your shop at any time you want. The great thing about a shop is that it links you to buyers who will love your service, and always come back for more. The question im asking is if you open a shop, do you get profit? That means that If i run a shop and im not a worker, will i get any profit? The answer is no. So if you don't get any profit from making a profit, why create one? So, lets say you find yourself a seller of lobs at 220 Ea in game...and your shop sells for 230 ea. You buy 10k raw lobs, and WHAM!!! 100k gaurenteed profit from your loyal buyers. Of course, you'll only have loyal buyers if you manage your shop correctly and effectivly, which is why I created the guide. You said that in a shop, you have a maximun per order, therefore, this would take you multiple trades to get rid of them. Put them in the GE or any forums, and they would be gone in one trade. Basically, im saying that you can do all this without making a shop, which requires time and effort, so there's really no point in making one.
November 30, 200718 yr Author Opening a shop helps you in runescape by helping you get a GAURENTEED market for your good. Once you get a good stock of your good, you can sell IMMEDIATLY without wasting any time at your price. This was almost nullified by grand exchange, but the GE doesn't gaurentee you the abilitly to sell at your price all the time. People are often looking for a gaurenteed price. Also, even if someone is using the GE, they most likely won't get all of what they need. That is where your shop could come in and fill in the missing 500 or 1000 of whatever they need. 1. You should get perm buyers, they will usually always buy your stuff. Also,if your using the GE, you most likely will have your "order" filled. It usually either never fills, or always fills. It will usually never just stop halfway, unless halfway, the price had a huge change. You will indeed get gaurenteed profit from your shop at any time you want. The great thing about a shop is that it links you to buyers who will love your service, and always come back for more. 2. The question im asking is if you open a shop, do you get profit? That means that If i run a shop and im not a worker, will i get any profit? The answer is no. So if you don't get any profit from making a profit, why create one? So, lets say you find yourself a seller of lobs at 220 Ea in game...and your shop sells for 230 ea. You buy 10k raw lobs, and WHAM!!! 100k gaurenteed profit from your loyal buyers. Of course, you'll only have loyal buyers if you manage your shop correctly and effectivly, which is why I created the guide. 3. You said that in a shop, you have a maximun per order, therefore, this would take you multiple trades to get rid of them. Put them in the GE or any forums, and they would be gone in one trade. Basically, im saying that you can do all this without making a shop, which requires time and effort, so there's really no point in making one. 1. What are you to do if the order never fills? The shop GAURENTEES that the order will be filled. 2. I thought it would be implied that you would work for your own shop. Opening a shop allows you to get your own goods sold, without any hassle whatsoever. The point of expanding the shop is that it makes sure you sell your order quicker, rather than immediatly or not at all. I'd rather wait an hour than wait for an eternity, especially since I can't find a seller of raw lobs at my price in the GE. 3. I RECOMMEND that you have a maximum order of 1k. Many shops have higher maximum orders than 1k. It's a good option if your a starting business and need to get gaurenteed sells. 1k is a nice, round number. There absolutly IS profit in making a shop. As already stated, you don't need to bother wondering if your goods are going to sell in the grand exchange, nor to a "perm buyer". I mean, if your going to run an herblore shop, what are the odds of finding a perm buyer for 1k guams? It's nearly impossible. A shop is only worth it to those who know what their doing, and how to market your good. You can't deny results, as I myself have made of 25M from my shop.
December 8, 200718 yr You can't deny results, as I myself have made of 25M from my shop. You didn't make 25m from your shop, you made it from skilling. What are you to do if the order never fills? The shop GAURENTEES that the order will be filled. It does not guarantee it. If your prices are too much above the grand exchange, it will not sell either. I thought it would be implied that you would work for your own shop. Opening a shop allows you to get your own goods sold, without any hassle whatsoever. The point of expanding the shop is that it makes sure you sell your order quicker, rather than immediatly or not at all. I'd rather wait an hour than wait for an eternity, especially since I can't find a seller of raw lobs at my price in the GE. You acutally create more hassle when opening a shop, because you have to constantly keep it updated while using the GE, you don't have to update anything. Also, opening a shop doesn't mean your order will sell quicker, im pretty sure that if you have a good price, selling on GE will be much faster than selling thru a shop. And mostly if you can't find a seller of your raw lobs at GE, you will never find one(unless you are selling major major bulk). As already stated, you don't need to bother wondering if your goods are going to sell in the grand exchange, nor to a "perm buyer". I mean, if your going to run an herblore shop, what are the odds of finding a perm buyer for 1k guams? Get more than one perm buyer, its that simple. Im sorry to say opening a shop is useless. Joining a shop is actually better than opening your own because you don't have to update a post.
December 8, 200718 yr At this time, I would really love to say SHUT UP, but that's rude...Oh, never mind, I just said it. You can't deny results, as I myself have made of 25M from my shop. You didn't make 25m from your shop, you made it from skilling. Wheres your proof? You can't just imply that he made it from that, that's ignorant. Grow up, this guide shows how to build a shop and make it more successful than perm buyers will ever make it. What are you to do if the order never fills? The shop GAURENTEES that the order will be filled. It does not guarantee it. If your prices are too much above the grand exchange, it will not sell either. Try something before you talk. I've been buying iron ores at 80 each at the exchange, and on world(s) 1, 3 and 5 selling them for 100 each. Why is this, you ask? Because the people don't want to wait to get that many ores. I had to wait forever to get the ores, and that's something many people don't like doing. I've also been killing Hobgoblins and collecting red spider's eggs, then making strength potions, and selling them to someone for 2k each strength potion, knowing about the exchange. "It' all about having the item, rather than waiting 2 days to get strength potions," that's what he said to me. I thought it would be implied that you would work for your own shop. Opening a shop allows you to get your own goods sold, without any hassle whatsoever. The point of expanding the shop is that it makes sure you sell your order quicker, rather than immediatly or not at all. I'd rather wait an hour than wait for an eternity, especially since I can't find a seller of raw lobs at my price in the GE. You acutally create more hassle when opening a shop, because you have to constantly keep it updated while using the GE, you don't have to update anything. Also, opening a shop doesn't mean your order will sell quicker, im pretty sure that if you have a good price, selling on GE will be much faster than selling thru a shop. And mostly if you can't find a seller of your raw lobs at GE, you will never find one(unless you are selling major major bulk). Tsk. Selling on the GE takes forever, I'd rather have a lag happy computer in a crowded world and sell fast than go to the GE and wait forever. The prices are cruddy at the exchange, they've been sinking every day, and people have been selling for normal prices again outside of it (Well, some people at least). Not only that, but if you can't find a seller on the GE for raw lobs for a while, you never will, not even if you have 700k lobs. This is because you never see who you're buying from, the GE picks someone with that item and price, takes an increment wanted for the buyer, and leaves you with money. Plus, you would have less of a hassle buying it outside of the exchange. The GE should allow you to scroll and buy from who you want, with the old marketing prices. (i.e. 200k full rune) This way people won't be able to control the market but merchants shall benefit, and the prices won't sink. You're probably thinking, "dis g0ez frm wat i waz sayin n00b!!1" It does, but doesn't. While the prices slump, people would rather go to a buyer outside of the exchange and have a guarenteed price, and the GE slumps lower and lower everyday. Sellers won't sell, and soon the entire economy will lose the exchange, forcing JaGex to allow old market prices and, if we're lucky, allow us to buy from who we want to buy. As already stated, you don't need to bother wondering if your goods are going to sell in the grand exchange, nor to a "perm buyer". I mean, if your going to run an herblore shop, what are the odds of finding a perm buyer for 1k guams? Get more than one perm buyer, its that simple. Im sorry to say opening a shop is useless. Joining a shop is actually better than opening your own because you don't have to update a post. You can still make money. You can still make money. You can still make money. Need me to say it again? Not only do your workers get cash, but if you take orders, you can, too. And while hiring workers, you get a relationship with your workers that can grow in friendship, thus making new friends. So it isn't useless, and being biased doesn't help either. If you want t continue this discussion, PM me rather than spam a guide, okay? I say good job, 9/10. There are no pictures, but I don't think you can put any in with this kind of guide. :D Hoping to get a new Signature (with matching avatar) soon. :D In the meantime...Steam username: )I'll rewrite it later (add me if you want)
December 8, 200718 yr Oops, double post. Sorry 'bout that. :) Hoping to get a new Signature (with matching avatar) soon. :D In the meantime...Steam username: )I'll rewrite it later (add me if you want)
December 9, 200718 yr Author Thanks a lot sephiroth king. I appreciate your kind words. He has some good points about the GE though, I must say. However, the GE will cause prices to drop, and you're right, eventually sellers will stop selling at such low prices and force the market for things like fish back up. PS: Yes, this is very true, I did make 25M from skilling. However, you must remember, it is only because I had my shop that my goods sold at my price, rather than me being stuck somewhere and having them drop slowly. Again, thanks to you both :D.
December 9, 200718 yr Rate 1/10 :D. :-s well.... 1/10 :lol: Just kidding. 9/10 All against the new updates, don't log in!But I want to play... What if I log in, but put all my chats on 'off' so they don't know I'm on.
December 10, 200718 yr So it isn't useless, and being biased doesn't help either. If you want t continue this discussion, PM me rather than spam a guide, okay? I know its not completly useless, but just the creating it doesn't give you any money. You can have the same experience just joining a shop, which will be less work on your half. And if i didn't "spam" this guide, how else would it get bumped? Anyways if you guys want me to stop, i will, but don't complain when this guide falls off page 2.
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