[MUD-Dev] Are eBay sales more than just a fad?

[Dave Rickey]

----Original Message-----
From: Vincent Archer <archer at nevrax.com>
>
>An alternate "model" for this kind of business is taking over EBay sales
>by adding something they can't provide: goods escrow. If you link your
>own on-line auction site with the game engine, you may provide for the
>buyer a guarantee that the seller's merchandise exists (see the scam
>referenced in the original article) and provide a guarantee that the
>seller can't delete, use, or trade the merchandise except to the
>legitimate buyer.
>
>Your revenue is then the cut you take from transactions, not the
>manufacturing of virtual game aids.


    But why (from an executive's viewpoint) settle for making $15 on the
player-to-player sale of a $150 UberWeapon, when you could sell the same
thing outright and take the whole $150 as pure profit?

    That's why I say it's like being a "little bit pregnant".  The game that
takes the first step makes higher profits than the one that doesn't.  The
game that takes the second makes yet higher profits.  Higher profit margins,
more money you can get the execs to kick loose on marketing, more marketing
means higher player numbers.

--Dave Rickey




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