SUG: Market buy orders

[Trislan]

I saw some requests for market buy orders on another thread, and I think it is an excellent idea for the following reasons:

1. Buy orders would greatly reduce the need for potential buyers to advertise their willingness to buy along with the prices they are willing to pay. They would also allow people to offer higher buy-prices if they more urgently need a resource. Potential sellers could alter their production if they know their products are in immediate demand.

2. Buy orders could establish a minimal price for all goods. I expect that some people would act as resellers and offer to buy almost all resources at some low price for later resale at a higher price. Competition between resellers should keep the minimal price reasonable.

3. The current game without buy orders heavily favors those who can very frequently check the market for desired/needed resources. With buy orders a higher offered price would be more important than the ability to frequently check for the needed resources.

4. Buy orders could allow intermediaries to more efficiently convert between different kinds of resources (when there is a profit involved, of course). For example, suppose local producers have too much bronze but need leather, and a remote (but reachable) area needs bronze but have excess leather. One could offer to buy the excess at a low (but reasonable) price with buy orders, then transport and resell it at the remote area.

[continued in next post]

[Trislan]

I think I have figured out a way that buy orders could be easily added to the game. Instead of adding new market screens, simply allow the user to sell *bread* in exchange for the desired resource.

The main interface changes would be:

1. Adding a checkbox named "buy" or "sell bread" (default not set) to the add listing area of the marketplace. If that checkbox is selected, then the order will be a buy order (selling bread) for whatever resource is in the dropdown menu.

2. The listing dropdown menu of resources would have to include all resources, not just the ones you have available for sale. (Possibly the dropdown could be filled when/if the buy order is checked.)

3. Under current listings, Bread would be added to the dropdown menu.

4. The "bread cost" column header would be changed to "cost".

5. In the "cost" column, the type of resource wanted will be listed next to the numbers (bread for all non-bread resources, and the requested resource for bread sales).

Internally, the bread sales would act very much like a regular sale--the offered bread would be taken immediately (and returned if cancelled), and the listing fee would also be subtracted from the bread-seller's balance.

Note that the lister of the buy order will pay the listing fee--this should greatly reduce non-serious offers.

Ideas and further suggestions for improvement are welcome.

--Trislan

[Almost321]

Hey I think this is a great idea...

I had a different idea for an interface.

Next to "Current Listings ¦ My Listings ¦ My Sales" in the Market, you could have "Notices ¦ My Notices"
which could open new market pages.

In notices, you could view others requests for goods in visible Nomes, similar to the Current Listings table, though "Buyer" would replace seller.

This is pretty much the same as the interface below, though requests for goods would be under a different button.

[Torgen]

The neat part about this idea is, "middlemen", as in "physically between two others" would act as a bridge between two cities that were too far apart to see each other. In the bronze/leather example above, if those two cities were 7 nomes apart, they couldn't see that the other was selling what they needed, but a third party that was between them and had a big enough market *could* see them both, and buy low/sell high, while providing a needed service to both of the others.

He would know that there was a market from seeing the buy orders, rather than bankrupting himself by trying to resell random goods.

[Reed]

Yep, planning on this. Will hopefully be in soon.

[Nighteyes]

score!!!!:D:D:D:cool::cool::cool:

[Czech Centurian]

As in I'm willing to buy 10 Jewelry for 20 each if the sellers happy he can except and sell to you?

[Torgen]

As in I'm willing to buy 10 Jewelry for 20 each if the sellers happy he can except and sell to you?

yep.

[Tahngarth]

Hope this happens soon as it will make the market much more liquid for all goods!

[Trislan]

Yep, planning on this. Will hopefully be in soon.

Great! I expect that by version 1.0 we will have full stock exchanges with derivatives and margin trading. :D :D

[Rama-Seph]

I'll be the first to open my city for trading Credit Default Swaps...I just hope I am fully upgraded and have my monument(s) built before the market tanks.

[Mia'cova]

This could actually work well with the other SUG about market upgrades being two-way.

So basically, the scope of your market upgrade allows you to see the products for sale of those nomes' within your market range AS WELL AS letting those same cities on those nomes see your to-buy ads, regardless of their market level.

[Deguar]

Hey I think this is a great idea...

I had a different idea for an interface.

Next to "Current Listings ¦ My Listings ¦ My Sales" in the Market, you could have "Notices ¦ My Notices"
which could open new market pages.

In notices, you could view others requests for goods in visible Nomes, similar to the Current Listings table, though "Buyer" would replace seller.

This is pretty much the same as the interface below, though requests for goods would be under a different button.

I love this idea and the buy orders one, to go a little old school programmy.

Set Minimum bread at "200"
<--->so that you don't inadvertently starve all your workers
Buy "Cedar" at "<=" "10" until stock level = "100"
<--->so that you don't inadvertently buy up 600 cedar and lose it through not having the appropriate warehouse facilities/bankrupt yourself.
<--->stock level is the really tricky one as you would need an algorithm that was able to quickly determine that if you already have 95 cedar, you don't really want to buy that bundle of 100 cedar that just came on the market. Maybe even a simple "100" (potential overstock of +25) comment/restrictor.
<---> "" are used to denote selectable/drop down/+- fields

As computational power costs (insert your favourite exchange rate here)s initially you would want a limit of maybe only two buy orders at a time, which would also help to alleviate any deliberate market manipulation/vacuming.

Deguakay
Town of Hetephinushr
Nome of Raka

p.s. is there a signature option for the forum? haven't found it yet.