Question on speculative trade goods.

[Shchenya]

When buying speculative trade goods, if the players buy weapons, what is stopping them using the weapons or armour in the crates?

In Merchant Prince for example it says if the players remove the locks from Prototype armour, the supplier is unlikely to sell to them again. Was wondering why this is the case if speculative trade is buying the goods outright? Perhaps the party are buying in on a share of the final sale price rather than buying the goods? Kinda like multilevel marketing's product thing?

 

[hdan]

Once they crack the crate open, buyers may not be willing to buy potentially sabotaged goods.

However, there's nothing preventing the players from breaking open a crate they own, taking some of the goods for themselves, then attempting to sell the rest as-is. If they can use the entire contents of the crate and they got the goods at a decent discount, then good for them.

 

[CosmicGamer]

When buying speculative trade goods, if the players buy weapons, what is stopping them using the weapons or armour in the crates?

In Merchant Prince for example it says if the players remove the locks from Prototype armour, the supplier is unlikely to sell to them again. Was wondering why this is the case if speculative trade is buying the goods outright? Perhaps the party are buying in on a share of the final sale price rather than buying the goods? Kinda like multilevel marketing's product thing?

I have thumbed through a copy of Merchant Prince so can't say for certain but I believe the rule is there regarding speculative trade that is going to be resold.

If the goods are not resold it should not matter much and even if for some reason it does, who is going to report back to the supplier. Unless you tell them yourself, they wouldn't even know what happened to their goods after you purchased them.

If the goods are being resold as new, here are a couple thoughts just off the top of my head.
- If opened, used and sold "as new", the product could start getting a bad reputation from customers that realize the product is not new and the seller/manufacturer might not want their product or even their entire company to get a bad reputation and perhaps reduce sales.
- The person the goods are sold to might report the receipt of the fraudulent/tampered with supply and require it to be replaced or perhaps opt not to purchase from this manufacturer again.

I'm not sure, but I don't think speculative trade covers selling used goods.

In regards to taking a portion of a larger package of goods. If you go to the store would you buy a package that normally contains 6 pairs of tube socks if it is open and one pair is missing? The other 5 pair are perfectly fine. Perhaps if it is discounted - and more than by just 1/6th for the missing pair, otherwise I'd just buy a full, untampered with package. Again, while this type of sale may be possible without incurring disfavor from the supplier, it probably isn't something covered.

 

[Treebore]

I am assuming your referencing the normal process of they buy goods on one planet at the best price they can negotiate, and then sell it on another planet where they hope to get big profits. IF that is indeed the scenario, they own their cargo and can do whatever they wish with it. They just better be sure to also have the appropriate required permissions and licenses for them when and most importantly, where, they use them.

Now if they are true speculators, where a small portion of the money is out of their own pocket, and the rest from loans (oil speculators are probably the best known example of this process) then the only reason they would have problems is if they fail to sell what they don't tamper with for enough profit to cover all debts.

So either way, and likely any way, or any set of circumstances, as long as they ultimately cover all debts when they cross the deadline for those debts, its all good.

If they fail, then its going to get ugly, real quick.

 

[F33D]

When buying speculative trade goods, if the players buy weapons, what is stopping them using the weapons or armour in the crates?

In Merchant Prince for example it says if the players remove the locks from Prototype armour, the supplier is unlikely to sell to them again. Was wondering why this is the case if speculative trade is buying the goods outright? Perhaps the party are buying in on a share of the final sale price rather than buying the goods? Kinda like multilevel marketing's product thing?

Nothing is stopping them. HOWEVER, if one were to use the items, someone probably would not purchase them as a "new" item. The "supplier" has no way of knowing. Just delete that from the text in the book.

 

[far-trader]

In Merchant Prince for example it says if the players remove the locks from Prototype armour, the supplier is unlikely to sell to them again. Was wondering why this is the case...

Just delete that from the text in the book.

I think the key might be "Prototype" here. If the locks are removed or tampered with the buyer isn't guaranteed they have the genuine article. Acquiring a prototype is more about getting a leg up on the competition than getting a working item. If the locks are removed or tampered with I'm going to be suspicious that someone else has that information, and that I may not even have the actual prototypes. They could be a fake to send me down the wrong research path in my reverse engineering, wasting valuable time and resources. So no, I won't be buying them.

The bigger issue I have with a locked set of prototypes as speculative cargo is it sounds decidedly like industrial espionage more than it does speculative mercantile trade. Rather than delete the line about not buying it I'd delete the whole thing as not appropriate.

EDIT: Or, on second read, it's the supplier of the prototype that isn't going to sell to them again, that makes it even less sensible. That is not speculative trade, that is contracted secure delivery. And yes, if you snoop in secure delivery items you're going to loose your bonded status and be blackballed by all such shippers in my opinion. Again, that doesn't belong in speculative trade.

 

[F33D]

Rather than delete the line about not buying it I'd delete the whole thing as not appropriate.

True. Who would buy a prototype from anyone other than the manufacturer? (Play clip of Han Solo selling these on some backwater planet)

 

[IanW]

When buying speculative trade goods, if the players buy weapons, what is stopping them using the weapons or armour in the crates?

In Merchant Prince for example it says if the players remove the locks from Prototype armour, the supplier is unlikely to sell to them again. Was wondering why this is the case if speculative trade is buying the goods outright? Perhaps the party are buying in on a share of the final sale price rather than buying the goods? Kinda like multilevel marketing's product thing?

Absolutely nothing.

Selling goods on consignment ("A share of the final sale price") also has a very long history ... so for example, Our Heroes could be gunrunning to somewhere or other, and Colonel-General Stok could have provided them with a containerload of lost-in-the-paperwork weaponary, on the understanding his cousin will pay him half of what they sell them for on the other side of the frontier.

Remember, with Trade campaigns, the cargo is the patron