Answer. Try AlexChance on SMP2 or Call_Me_Dejaja on SMP6. Don't go to shops much, but when I do, I go to theirs.
That's debatable between the "biggest" and the most profitable. Also, most shop owners don't release how much money they make.
What rainbow said more or less. Successful can be different than profitable, which are both independent of size. There's a number of shops that sell one item in bulk, and are extremely successful in doing so. Their purpose is to sell said item, and they achieve that extremely well. Most big shops have extremely low profit margins (1-2 rupees per transaction). So it's a long time to make large profits, but the inventory is somewhat self managing. That being said, mega shops are by far not the fastest way to make large amounts of rupees. I don't know whether he'd like me to go spreading his name around - for fear of people begging - but there's a player who gave away all his rupees and has set a goal to make 1 million rupees in the month of November. He's made 450k so far - basically doing random tasks. Right now, the money is in wither skulls / beacons. Tomorrow it might be iron - who knows.
I'm just wondering because I'm currently working on a project and I wish to be the primary supplier of goods in the Empire. To supplement this, I also want to aim to buy the most popular shops. It's all to fund the outpost I'm running.
While I admire your ambition, it's extremely unlikely you can pull this off. First off, the shops are run by players, and there's nothing saying they have to sell them / can't start another shop. Many of the shops generate a revenue high enough over time that you're going to have to have a giant upfront payment to convince a shop owner to close them. I'd estimate 1-2 million rupees per mega shop on the low end. So long and short, the empire is built on the idea that anyone can be a part of the economy. There's not any real way to control it. The minute you'd buy out one of these mega shops, the market would have a void that someone else would fill.
... 72Volt with another crazy idea. I actually do want to see if he could buy someone out though. *edit* I don't think AlexChance would settle for anything less then 20 million rupees.
Most shop owners, including myself, have no interest in selling our shops (I've had people ask before). Although I cannot speak for everyone, I do not suggest that you not attempt to buy out shops as it doesn't work quite like in the real world. Corporate mergers between shops on the empire normally end up in an epic argument between owners that results in a dissolving of the merger and two unhappy parties which isn't good for your profit margin. As for becoming a primary supplier of goods to the Empire: There are 10 servers to market to and a cross-server vault fee. Most people choose to stick to buying on their home server in an effort to avoid the vault fees. In addition, there will always be undercutting of the big shop prices on every server. The trick is to find the price that allows you to make a profit while also maintaining stock in the shop. I will use leowaste as an example. Although he only logs in every once in a while to maintain his residence, even I sometimes purchase items from him for construction if I can't find the items anywhere else. Yes, he is overpriced on some of his items, but he is in stock when I need it so I keep going back. I do wish you luck in your endeavor and look forward to seeing/shopping at your establishment once it is available.
There's no need for any hostility, at no point did I suggest I was going to control anything. If I do anything, it will be fair to the entire community, especially the original shop owner, it will not be detrimental to their play experience or the play experience of others and it would merely be business. I doubt I could pull it off, the LSCC shall likely buy reasonable shares in the big shops once we get a foothold with our economic operations. No craziness, no problems, we're all out of your way anyway. We aren't harming nobody. I'm not attempting to control EMC, there is no need to propagate such drama. I'm not attempting to buy them out, I merely plan to make investments in such big shops, making the recommendation that the money is put towards expanding the business, while taking a fair share of the profits proportionate to the investment as agreed with any owners. Then that is what we shall raise.
In my opinion, there is no way to actually buy a shop. You could pay for the right to use the facilities or pay for the inventory, but the heart of what a shop is is the player who builds it, maintains the inventory, and relates to people that come to it. And no one is going to give that up for a price that can be profitable. Not when they know they can do it for themselves and keep it all. Let's say I want to add enchanted items to my shop. That means I need to add chests and, of course, start enchanting items along with obtaining the raw materials for the items. What is there in this that an investment of rupees from you will resolve? In the end someone has to obtain these items and they aren't likely going to want to give them up for less than they are worth in order to let others profit from them. Would we hire a person to do this? How will there be a profit if the person doing the enchanting just starts selling the items for themselves? You can add all sort of agreements with stipulations that the people involved do certain things, but in the end you'll have an empty shop that no one is actively running and no customers. Another point I think is important is that we are generally fickle, have short memories and mostly are a bunch of kids playing a game. The type of agreement you have in mind is likely to not work because someone will forget the details or that they ever made it, decide they want to do something else like play football, or just get tired of playing minecraft and move on leaving the agreement behind.
Speaking from the view of a shop owner: Tracking profit margins and appropriate percentages of a shop is RIDICULOUSLY HARD. My rupee logs are roughly 3000 pages long. I have had people attempt this with me as well and there simply is no way to calculate the profit and the subsequent percentage that the business share would entitle you to. Speaking from the view of a moderator: There would be almost no way to monitor the correct amount that should be paid out and therefore, if they shorted you and you reported them for it, we really wouldn't have a way to prove it and thus would not be able to pass judgement. It's a dangerous situation for both the original shop owner and you in the long run.
I'm posting again because I figure I should take the time to explain to you how business works here (and somewhat in the real world). I've seen all the threads with revisions of the various ideas you've come up with, and they all have merits within them. If I can give some advice: Don't start so drastically huge in scale. Just like in the real world, people (banks) aren't going to just give you money because you seem to have a good idea. They want something tangible, they want to see your profits, see your work, before they invest. Even then the early investors should be promised some sort of return on investment. The real world expects this model, and so do the members of EMC. Why am I someone worth listening to on this? My undergrad degree was in business, but really that has no verifiable meaning. However - lets take a look at this: http://empireminecraft.com/threads/expansion-to-blue-ribbon-hotel-to-four-lots.10358/ This expansion project was started by krysyyjane9191 and I before either of us were moderators. It's nearing completion now, but that's a tangent. The point is - to my knowledge, its the largest ever amount of donations to a project on EMC - a staggering 1,087,705 rupees! The reason behind this is because it has always had verifiable progress and incentives to donate. Any donations go to the cost of the room when completed and the order of donations is the order rooms are chosen in. And that's what you need. Make a great idea and provide reasons why people should support you in it. Show progress in your creations and people will want to join - offer them something in return - something more than just a title. If I'm donating 100 rupees to you, I'd at least want to see a name on a sign. Buying shops is probably impossible - but some of you other ideas aren't - you just have to prove that it's worth someones time. Start small and you'll be surprised how fast it grows.
Good point. Okay, new strategy! Set up wild base. Set up the farming and gathering of resources. Ship the resources and distribute them to the highest bidders. Use the money on internal outpost activities. Spend some money on commissioning a franchise across the ten servers. Alternate between supplying this shop and auctioning. Undercut prices whenever possible, supply every possible item. Accommodate for anyone who loses business to this venture by commissioning the construction of a wild base on every other server and opening them up to employment. Each of these wild bases will be of a similar design to the main LSCC base, except each base will be a resource factory in its entirety and allow for limitless membership, except by the means of server limitations. Keep all money balanced between internal LSCC operations and external wages and such. Good idea? Or have I screwed up somewhere along the line?
