The reason merchants make profit is because they have access to other economies. They have options on where to buy and sell.
They take advantage of the dips and peaks. The immediate value of the things bought is never an issue as long as there are those who value it more.
A loss is only a loss if nothing can be gained. A loss of monetary profit can be allowed if it opens doors to new business avenues.
As long as you know what sells more at which place and what sells low at where, you can turn a profit.
"Thank you for the patronage! Unfortunately, I don't have any more fabrics to sell. I will be frequently visiting this town, so please look forward to it in two weeks."
"Do you still have any more chairs?"
"Ah, yes ma'am. I have a few types of chair left here. Which one will you want? I have a comfortable recliner, a desk chair and a stool here."
"Hmm, I was only looking for a short chair to do some work. However, the recliner does sound nice."
"The choice is not difficult, ma'am. I'll sell both of tem for a special price. It would have cost 6 silver coins and 43 copper coins for both of them. As a special price for buying both, how about 6 silver coins?"
"Hmm, it is still a bit expensive for me."
"Ah, the miss here is a great haggler. How about just for this moment, I'll lower it to 5 silver coins and 50 copper coins. A very special offer for the miss!"
"My, 'miss' you say, how sweet of you. Well, I guess I could afford it. You did lower the price for me that much. Very well, I'll take them both."
"Thank you for the sale. You'll be happy with the quality. They came from the Boulder carpentry house in a beaverkin town."
"Oh my, from that place. They do have the reputation of making quality items."
Flattery and acting like you lost on a deal is the basic operation.
If you raise them up while pretending to lower yourself, they will buy what you sell.
However, lowering yourself can only earn pocket change. Once you build up enough of a reputation, your very name will be the brand. That brand will do all the flattery, all the negotiation, and all the talking before you even greet the customer's hello.
In the meantime, most of your income is the price difference between regions. To put it simply, the guaranteed earning is the shipping cost. The markup is simply a variable income that you lower during negotiations. If you can walk away from a haggle session with at least half of your markup then it's a very good day.
"Turtle boss, it seems that we had a good sale today."
"Yeah, everything sold very well. The profit is very good too. It's like we arrived in the middle of a shortage."
"I heard that some passing rich kid bought most of the things in town to impress someone."
"Is there a rich family near here?"
"This is the territory of the molekins. Most of the mining is done by them and they chose this region because it is very rich in minerals. They have a lot of rich families here."
Is it something like a mining family that struck gold? In contrast to the amount of wood available in this continent, the amount of metal isn't that much. It is close to what you can call a rare commodity but at the same time it isn't.
Metal weapons are still present but I think they are more of a primary weapon. They are like a spear during warfare. They are used to kill everyone easily at a distance but when one on one battles start, they switch to a shorter and easier to handle weapon of their choice. In the beast continent's case, the more popular option are claws. Most of the beastkin have strong claws, though they have taken to the idea of wearing gauntlets with sharp metal claws since it better protects their arms when they attack.
"I am wondering what that rich kid is thinking though. Even if that rich kid is trying to impress people, why would they buy textiles meant for the common people? What do you think, turtle boss?"
"It should be because textiles are expensive here. If, like you said, the rich kid is from a rich family in this territory, and they are trying to impress someone, they would choose something expensive. Also, if the one they are trying to impress is also a rich kid from this region then they would be used to ores and crystals, so the only option is to flaunt their buying power."
"Hmm, I wonder what they would do with all of those things?"
"To further show off they would probably present it as a gift. Those items would be made use at their house or just stay stored in a corner in their warehouse."
"It seems like it would be such a waste."
"That is for those who have money to decide."
"I guess that is true but is it really alright for a kid to waste that much money? If it was the adults then it was just them reaping their own actions but it's iffy if the one doing it is a child. I'm not sure if they know where and how they even get the money they spend."
"It's fine. If the next generation bankrupts the one before then that would be that. It isn't our problem. The only thing we need to make sure of, is that we are there to receive the money they are flaunting. Rich kids like those tend to spend without thinking of what to do afterwards, so they won't even haggle for prices. They might even state a ridiculous amount multiple times higher than what your product is worth to boost their ego. Those are the kind of customers we need to quickly grow our business."
"Uwaah, first that little stunt at the tigerkin territory now targeting gullible customers for money. How far are you going to go for money?"
"This and that is different. As long as they are willing to buy then I am willing to sell. I know what I'm doing, this is standard practice for merchants, you know. Compared to other merchants, I might be on the better side of the scale."
"Ok, ok, as long as you don't cross a line you shouldn't cross, I'll just keep on watching."
"Don't worry, I know that."
It would actually be helpful if we met that rich kid. It would make acquiring metal ores much easier.
I'm not really tricking anyone. It would just be a transaction, I'm a merchant after all.
If I somehow happen to sell a very realistic copy of the hero's armour and it happened to catch the attention of a spoiled rich scion.
The item I would make would not have the same properties of the actual armour of the hero but it would still look the same. It is normal to charge a lot of money for it. If someone can't pay for the item, then as a merchant I have to ensure that a compromise can still be met, so I could make a sale. Bartering the armour for some coins and a wagon full of ores should be enough to offset the cost.
I get the proper amount for my item, the customer gets the armour and all the bragging rights of wearing a hero's armour(Replica), everybody wins.
"Let's go buy a few things and return to the sheepkin territory, beaverkin territory and the squirrelkin territory."
"Returning already, turtle boss? I thought we would stay here for some time because you wanted to buy ore? Oh? That evil look on your face. Have you already hatched a new scheme?"
"It's not a scheme and I don't have an evil look on my face. The sale went better than I thought so we have enough money to pay for the first instalment of the loan. I'm going to use the leftover money to buy some things and sell them back to the other territory."
"I thought you knew how to forge, turtle boss? Wouldn't it be cheaper to get the raw materials and make items of your own to sell?"
"It would but I don't have a forge here. I don't even have equipment here. We are making steady profit now. Let's just continue this a bit more."
I could use my skills as a [Blacksmith] but I want to avoid it if possible. When it comes time to actually do some smithing, I would need to rent out a workshop here.
"Hmm~ If you say so."
Stop giving me that 'sure, sure, whatever you say you scheming devil~' look. It's true that we made great profit. It's thanks to that rich kid but we can still make use of this situation.
I need to inquire about the news a bit but if one rich kid here is showing off to another rich kid then an arranged marriage might be happening between two rich families in the area, or at least that is the intention of the one showing off, maybe.
If that is true then I can take advantage of this situation to sell some wares that would make great engagement party presents.
I wonder if the monkeykin territory is close here. They should have some good fruit wine I could put in a very well crafted and extravagant box to be used as a gift. Even cheap old wine would taste several notches better if it is presented in a lavish box, so I don't have to worry much about quality.
