Player Vendors
So you want to be a wealthy merchant, or perhaps you are a packrat needing to clean house. This is a basic guide to vendors. Whether you are new to UO, new to UOGamers, or just new to vendors, the information you need should be here.
Vendors
The first thing you need is a location.
Player's vendors must be placed in a house/house plot.
The house or house plot must be set to public.
While any public house will do, those with steady traffic from another source (nearby road or dungeon, or another vendor house already established for example) will increase your chance for an early success.
Classic Style Housing
If your location is a classic house style, you must be friended, co-owned, or the owner of the house.
It's a good idea to have the owners permission if you don't own the place.
Next you will need a contract of employment deed.
These are purchased from a banker or minter. Standard cost is 1025gp, however with faction taxes this can be as low as 718gp or as high as 4100gp, so shop around.
To place your vendor, stand on the tile where you wish the vendor to be and dbl click the contract of employment deed.
You do not get a target so be sure to be standing on the correct tile.
Now you have a vendor.
Keep the following in mind. In a classic house, the owner is able to transfer or sell the house while vendors are in place. The house owner can also demolish the house, causing the vendors to fall. The vendor's stock is placed in a backpack on the ground at that location. There are no contract options for regular fees or length of contract.
Custom Style Housing and Plots
If your location is to be in a custom house, you don't need to own the house, and the owner does not need to friend or co-own you, for you to have a vendor.
The house owner will use a vendor rental contract for vendor placement in a custom house. The vendor rental contract allows the house owner and merchant to define contract options.
The house owner places the contract in the location the vendor will stand. This is done by dbl clicking the deed and targeting the location. (Use the I wish to release this command to remove it). The deed will move to that location. A single-click on the deed will allow the house owner to access the options.
Contract length can be set as 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or a month.
Price Per Rental will be the cost to rent the spot. If the contract is set to renew, this is also the amount charged per renewal period. This amount will be removed from the renters bank each renewal period, and transferred to the landlords bank.
Renew On Expiration is a toggle and both Landlord and Renter must have it toggled on for rental renewal. As a Landlord, click the arrow and the 'no' turns to 'yes'. Once rented, the renter can do the same and the contract will renew automatically at the end of each contract period.
Once the contract is ready, it can be offered to a merchant by dbl-clicking the deed and targeting the player character. A gump will appear to them. If they accept the offer, a vendor will appear where the rental contract deed was. Once placed, contract options can be accessed by a single-click on the vendor by either landlord or vendor owner.
Vendor Customizing and Stocking
A single click (shift+click) on the vendor gives the option of opening the paperdoll. The backpack in the paperdoll can be dbl-clicked to open the stock inventory.
If you double click the vendor and the following gump appears.
# of days Vendor salary is paid for: this is real days. If this drops to 0, your vendor will run away.
My charge per real world day is: this is the vendor fee for one real day
Gold held in my account: your profits and the account from which vendor fees are pulled.
Shop Name: set by the owner from the right tabs
A little information for you:
Vendors charge in the following manner:
There is always a basic flat fee of 20gp. This covers your first 500gp in stock on your vendor.
After that, for every 500gp in stock on your vendor, you owe 1 gp.
So, if you have 75000gp in stock on your vendor it is calculated as:
20 + {(75000-500)/500}= 169gp per uo day.
169x12= 2028gold per real day.
For the main part, I try and keep 10-15 days worth of pay on the vendor. This covers me for server glitches, computer problems, and life commitments.
Vendor customizing is accomplished through the right-side tabs.
See goods - opens the vendors pack for stocking (more information on stocking later).
- If the vendor owner is outside the house when picking this option, the vendor will appear outside the house beside its master. It will not move within the house or to the inside of another nearby house. After two minutes it will return to its position by itself, or can be returned by the vendors gump
Rename Shop is the vendor's name on the house sign gump (as seen below).
Rename Vendor is the vendor's name. Both names are limited to 20 digits.
Open Paperdoll opens the vendor paperdoll. This is how the vendor is dressed. Items can be dragged on and off the vendor, including held items; in the same manner you would dress your own character.
While your vendor comes with clothes, customizing can help your shop sales. Clothing colors can be all the same for vendor shop coordination and continuity. For vendor malls with multiple suppliers, each player can choose a color scheme to help identify their vendors for buyers.
Or select outfits to suggest items the vendor sells. (such as a pirate outfit and fishing pole in hand for fishing goods, a robe and mage hat with a spellbook for items like regeants or spellbooks, etc ).
Collect Gold the vendor will ask how much you want. Enter the amount.
Dismiss Vendor will dismiss the vendor. It does not ask for confirmation so dont choose this by mistake.
Stocking
Of course, you want to stock your vendor.
The vendor begins with enough for one UO day. In other words, he needs gold fast. Drop gold on the vendor to give him a floating income. This amount is retrievable if unused.
To stock:
Open the vendors backpack and place an item inside. You will be prompted to enter the price and a description. Type in the price and hit enter. If you want to add a desciption type in the price, hit the space bar and then the description, hit enter. The description is optional and shows along with the items regular name.
Caution: The default price for vendors is 999 gp. If you forget to price an item, this will be the price the vendor will use. Always check your items after stocking.
Bags and other containers can be used to organize stock within the vendors backpack.
Place the empty container in the vendor's backpack and hit the escape key. This sets it as'not for sale'. Optionally, you may enter a description(no price) and hit enter. The container will not be for sale but will be named. The same applies to books and BoD books.
If you place a container in a vendor with items inside it, the bag must be priced and all the items inside will be sold with the bag.
Vendor commands:
Vendors will respond to 'spoken' commands as well as the options on the vendor gump.
(vendorname) collect
The vendor will ask you how much you want to collect. Leave enough to keep them paid if they are to be used further. Enter the amount you want to take and hit enter. A check for that amount is deposited in your bank.
vendor collect
the closest vendor you own from a tile away will deposit everything they have in your account.
(vendor name) dismiss
The vendor disappears. Be sure everything you want to keep has been taken off the vendor.
To turn your vendor to face another direction:
Stand where you want them to look (the tile in front of them for them to face forward, for example) and do one of two things: drop a small amount of gold on them, or open the customize menu and right-click out of it.
Vendor Termination (custom housing)
To remove a vendor from your house (not owned by you) use one of two methods:
- Set the contract renewal so it doesnt renew. At the end of the contract the vendor will be gone. or
- Pick terminate contract from the vendor gump
You are asked how much you offer the vendor owner to terminate the contract. The player who owns the vendor must be online at the time. Enter the amount offered for ending the contract.
The vendor owner receives the following gump:
If the vendor owner declines, the house owner will need to wait until the contract expires.
If the vendor owner accepts, the vendor disappears and the gold and items from the vendor can be retrieved by the vendor owner via the house sign.
Shoppers can now access vendors from the house sign. A single click on the house sign gives the vendor gump. Choosing this opens a window listing all vendors in the house (by shop name). Picking any vendor will open their pack for shopping.
The number of vendors on a custom plot is dependent on plot size. The largest houses allow for 42 vendors, a 7x7 plot will allow 10. Classic housing retain the old rules and there is no limit beyond space for vendors.
Some other tips.
It can be handy to have a good location in a high traffic area such as around moongates or outside city limits, however even without this your vendor can be busy.
Your vendor shop should be pleasing to look at and be in. A plot will work as well however players will be less likely to linger and browse.
Always keep your vendor stocked. If it's found empty often, you will soon lose business.
Provide something else others use/want: libraries, idoc times, specialty vendors are some ideas.
Open gates in town for others to use. Advertise where it goes, but do not spam. Spamming only annoys.
Sell runes on your vendor for those wandering by. If you sell runebooks always include one return rune to your place inside.
Mark runes, rename them and sell them at the mage shops in town, especially Britain. The npc mages will then sell your runes for you to other players.
Players do not like opening bags and bags and bags to find your wares. Keep a happy medium between organization and visual appeal.
Advertise on the forums with visual and written directions. Once the post is made, add a link to it in your signature for contant advertising.
Try and have at least one repeat seller as opposed to all one time sale items. Repeat traffic is where you make the most gold. Potions kegs, bulk regeants, bulk materials such as boards, leather, cloth, scrolls and bottles, empty kegs, BoD's and bolas are all good example of repeat sellers.
That's It. Now you know everything you need to know. Happy Selling!
