UO Second Age

Starbucks charging $5 for coffee isn't unethical, it's what the market will bear. Ditto Walmart. Why do women pay 2-3x what men pay to dry clean a shirt? Because they put up with it. I don't blame the dry cleaner, I blame the women.

A good capitalist will maximize profits but also keep an eye on the future. Screwing people over is never a sustainable business model.

In the investment world, which granted has more than its fair share of ethical issues, I constantly see examples of doing what it takes to keep the client happy for the long term, when it would be easy to just screw the client and book a larger profit now. Often a company will eat a loss to keep a client happy.

Of course, if you don't care about a sustainable model, then you have an incentive to rape the customer.

IMO selling large properties in UO, if you intend to do it over the long term, is at least a little dependent on the buyers' impression of your business ethics. If you screw people over too many times, people will be more cautious about buying from you.

Let's just keep this thread going on about business. I also like how this brick just got upgraded to a "big house"

I think Menkaure pointed out exactly what I sent to you in PM Budner. I'm more of a company than an individual, and I don't have re-visit clients too often since people hardly ever move out of their first houses.

Budner wrote:Starbucks charging $5 for coffee isn't unethical, it's what the market will bear.

Then you go on to point out that it's what someone will accept. Yeah, Starbucks has a majority stake in that market, so they control the prices. No one would bear $5 a coffee ten years ago. It was like half of that 10 years ago, they just constantly expanded themselves in the market and raised the prices until their margins were so ridiculous that they were satisfied.

Edit: You're arguing capitalist ethics without conceptualizing the basis of American capitalism, shareholding.

Vega wrote:Let's just keep this thread going on about business. I also like how this brick just got upgraded to a "big house"

I think Menkaure pointed out exactly what I sent to you in PM Budner. I'm more of a company than an individual, and I don't have re-visit clients too often since people hardly ever move out of their first houses.

Budner wrote:Starbucks charging $5 for coffee isn't unethical, it's what the market will bear.

Then you go on to point out that it's what someone will accept. Yeah, Starbucks has a majority stake in that market, so they control the prices. No one would bear $5 a coffee ten years ago. It was like half of that 10 years ago, they just constantly expanded themselves in the market and raised the prices until their margins were so ridiculous that they were satisfied.

Edit: You're arguing capitalist ethics without conceptualizing the basis of American capitalism, shareholding.

I'm approaching this from a retail angle. The heart and soul of capitalism, where the rubber meets the road, is RETAIL. Selling something you have to someone else, hopefully for a profit (though not always!). Your particular situation is different, in a UO context, than most people, because you have a syndicate. Whereas most sellers are like me, individuals. Not companies.

However, whether you're an individual or a company-like entity, I think the same rule applies - your reputation as a seller has some value over time. Admittedly, you aren't selling over and over to the same customer, BUT if the members of this forum view you (as the figurehead of your company) as unethical for whatever reason, that has the potential to alienate potential buyers to whom you have never sold before. Also admittedly, the impact of your handling of the sale that is the subject of this thread is marginal. But if you do the same thing again, you might not attract as many bids next time. Which means, probably, lower prices being paid for your houses.

We are discussing this (not really arguing) kind of in theory only. I do agree that your behavior probably won't have much of an effect on your business. But if the behavior repeats itself, it might have an effect.

*yawns* oh god I've bored MYSELF

You bored me too, I'm done :/

Budner wrote:Vega, I'm impressed. You've been playing 5.5 months and you've already mastered the housing market along with Courtney Love and a few others.

Wow thanks for the mention!