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View Full Version : <HCLW> DEA Diablo Exchange Agency Clan rough draft, Recruiting begins soon!


aj2000
16-05-2004, 11:24
To those of you who didn't follow the two previous long @$$ thread ( chapter 1:"banking", and chapter 2:"DSE diablo stock exchange interest") that led up to the first step in forming the DEA (Diablo Exchange Agency), I'll provide a summary of the ideas and discussions that led up to this point. Those of you that already read the two full threads can skip this part. Go directly to my 1st reply, as I am replying to myself with the actual new draft for DEA.

Summary begins:

In the very beginning, I bought many items at a discount from rich ppls and resold them for more pgems/runes while using some of them myself. Ultimately this turned into today where I place 300+ pgems orders with rich mfers to stock me as a significant discount, they save hours of spam and trade, I make a hefty profit, and noobs get to use something they really needed, which woulda rotted on mules of the rich mfers.

Then I thought, pgems is very liquid (easy to trade for its value) but cannot buy higher end items due to 40 spaces trade limit. Why not form an exchange service that change pul to pgems and vice versa, that also gives me a bit of profit in return? The problem is that 40 pgems are like pennies, you can buy many small-mid items with them, whereas pul is like a 50 cents coin, and you can't break that up for a smaller item. So i thought of the exchange, This will bridge the gap and allow poor players who can't mf a chance to save up for items with an umph. Here is the very first idea i proposed:

I'll act as an currency exchange and stock plenty of the following:
400+ Pgems
20x Pul
6x Um
Which seems to be the most stable form of currency.

And I'll exhange Pgems into um/pul and vice versa, at a small handling fee.

The price exchange will be based on the price guide I wrote, being updated periodically.

Example according to my guide:
Pul = 35 pgems
Um = 70 pgems

So you can buy Puls or ums from me for 40 pgem / 80 pgem.
Or buy 35 / 70 pgems from me with pul / um.

And the rate can change according to whichever way the market demand shifts to.

If successful I can incoporate ss / shako / other stable crafting supplies such as jewels / ral / amn / sol to the exchange cycle.
Refer to the "banking" thread for the full discussion.

Then I proceed to an idea of forming a clan sort of thing, where I spelled out some of what this clan is all about, the DEA, Diablo exchange agency.

So here is a rough rough draft of what the DEA is about

There will be two segment to DEA which will be explained here:

A. currency exchange
B. distribution business (what I've always been doing)

The redistributor service I provide now is a totally different business then an currency exchange, which is a bank service. So basically the DEA really has two branchs, an exchange service and a redistributor business segment. They just so happen to synergize well together in terms of business sense hehe.

If you don't know me, then heres a breakdown of what i do:
I buy a bulk of items from suppliers, 120-300+ pgems deals, for a bunch of stuff, I then resell them into mainly: More pgems, runes pul/um, trade up for items that sells for more and faster. That's the basics of my redistribution service. The supplier saves time (not having to spam in channel all day and doing the trades and mules and what not @_@), and I make a profit. Its all good.

Mission Statement:
Segment A
A. Provide a currency exhange service
B. Stabilize prices of currency items and other commonly traded items.
C. Have fun

Segment B
A. Improving the ease of trading for all parties through redistribution service.
B. Make a profit
C. Have fun

Various responsibility:

Customer contact: going to all major forums and posting sales/exchange service, 1 person in channel at most times handling exchange and redistibution.
Supplier contact (Finding big time mfers and make them understand why this is good for everyone involved), also arranging purchase deals. Stimm/Jb my two homes
Communications: communication of all members, might be a website, a forum where we congregate, also setting up a channel on bnet might be good idea.
DEA internal affairs Honesty trust system does not work all the time, although we'll try to implement detailed accounting system (Econ this is all you) to keep track of all income and item stats and item numbers...etc, and internal security controls (accounts password management for example, just ways to tell if anyone stole what and to prevent dishonesty behavior)
External awareness + planning Checking hack forums periodically to protect DEA from disaster. Notice trends of changes in price and general relevant changes, then information is to be shared to the DEA through xxx(see communications) and specific information passed to the right person to change our policies in order to adjust. (for example: changing the exchange rate to balance supply and demand)
Update of a price guide every week. on our website or a forum.
Still thinking

Rewards:

- You'll be given a Pgem dividend base on a our total income, factored in with your contribution in the period (we'll find some way). which we'll keep on the books, of which you may spend to get Puls/ums/items with.
- The usual clan benefit, private clan games, runs, connections, oppurtunities, a group of homes you can trust.
- Usage of all items in redistribution pool, must return when your done or if customers requested last copy of it.
- You may buy the item at any time and at a small membership discount.
This is a great feature because basically you'll have a huge pool of item at your trading disposal, if you spot a good deal somewhere, and you dont have the items, take a visit to the DEA vault and pick em up, then take the good deal. Or buy it yourself to complete the set! You'll have 1st dips on the incoming supplies at all time. Also I've been offered arrangements for buying higher end items like Tal armor, wf, +2 valor ...etc the sale of these items might be available to members only.
- You may exchange gem/rune at a small membership discount rate.

Of course to the really rich ppl this really don't mean anything for you, but do become an associate of DEA. It will provide you with many convient arrangements, such as redistribution and hooking up with ppl you can trust to say character lvl for you for a reward a member likes, and I'm always up to an idea or two (suggestions taken) in terms of ideas and arrangements that make your diablo experience better.

Stress points:
-A somewhat formal control sturcture because DEA does deal with very technical and complex accounting of trades and rewards, BUT I want the atmosphere to be light and causal, to best possible for members to just have fun, up to the point of not exploiting this motto, as there are some work and from what i understand a formal sturcture neds to be worked out. But hey rough draft, so no worries to balance this issue.

-We're here to Have a good time and enjoy the game, sometimes when we became start to have lotsa good items in D2 we lose sight of the fact that we'll playing this game to have a good time.

-We want good members, mature, somewhat responsible, understanding...etc yap yap yap. So strict memberships, most likely limited to the people of this channel with a good history. for non-forum interest, they will have to register and go through a review period ...etc.

-I hope you like to trade, you'll be doing lots

emergency measures:
vs hack
Monitoring of a few big Diablo hack forum, when a hack that adversely affects DSE is loose, DSE will stop all transaction until further notice.
Bankrupt
If too many people trade in pgems for pul, we'll have say 3000+ pgems and 0 pul. I'm thinking on this one, as im sure people find a lot more 40 pgems then pul for example. This is have to be played around with.

That is all, and this is a rough rough draft.

heres some important stuff we discussed in the thread:

Accounting for goods and sales:

The problem is that the items we get all have different prices, they even change from supplies to supplies, so we'll have to track individual cost to these suckers (thank you excel). Also to keep the items that are IDed where %ed res ...etc matters, we'll have to record that as well. Then once they are sold we have to ensure that we know how much they sold for. Then at the end of say each day we'll record any items sold and find the gross profit (total sales - cost of goods sold), while keeping track of which items are sold in order to update sales list. A good account system along with good security measures will help ensure that there'll be less errors or shady dealings.

Member quality issue might arise once DEA gets bigger then say 5 or 6 people and incorporate non-forum members. Though I don't think it'll be that big an issue with just us forum goers.

Spotted problems:
When a DEA member is selling in the channel and finds a buyer, he can easily buy the item at a discount himself and resell it for that problem. Also he can sell items for a little more and keep the difference. For the 1st part, I have a good solution too (in my next draft), as for the second part, still working on one.

Another idea to you rich suppliers:

Salesman service
You can create an account full of mules, and fill each of their stash with stuff your trying to turn into pgems. We log onto this account and sell the crap for you, while taking say a 33% profit on each item we sell. If we have enough interested members then we can also include this service.

Though there is a long term weakness in the idea, if the DEA causes an increased effort of gem hunts, more gems = more skill gc, and price of skill gc will go down, causing item to become more valuable relative to skill gc, which will make pgems' value to go down, that'll crash the whole exchange and redistribution segment as it revolves around a currency with theoretically unlimited demand (pgems). But thats too long down the road to worry, and who know how long this will last (if it even begins).

For full disscussion and replies refer to the "DSE diablo stock exchange interest"

SUMMARY END

There's the summary, so people don't have to go through the two threads and read everything. Although it'll help you understand a little more if you do go through them.

In 5 minutes I'll reply to this thread w the new draft and new ideas, and an status update on how I'm coming along in terms of starting this Organization.

aj2000
16-05-2004, 12:54
Update:
Pgem volume turnover = 300 - 450 pgems handling currently
Pul = 10 (only 10 more to go)
2_Please has graciously applied (more like offer :clap: ) to help me out with communications in the clan, including web stuff. Also he has suggested to be able to do rushes for the DEA members, of course I expect members (including myself) to pay your hellforge for his time.

Here is the rough draft to the sturcture of the DEA organization, if your interested in joining it is required that you understand what the DEA is about.

There is info here targeted to potential members and suppliers/affliates alike!

DEA Overview

There will be two segment to DEA which will be explained here:

A. currency exchange
B. distribution business and services (what I've always been doing)

The redistributor service I provide now is a totally different business then an currency exchange, which is a bank service. So basically the DEA really has two branchs, an exchange service and a redistributor business segment. They just so happen to synergize well together in terms of business sense hehe. For Exchange service refer to the beginning of this post where I talked about exchange in the summary.

If you don't know me, then heres a breakdown of what i do:
I buy a bulk of items from suppliers, 120-300+ pgems deals, for a bunch of stuff, I then resell them into mainly: More pgems, runes pul/um, trade up for items that sells for more and faster. That's the basics of my redistribution service. The supplier saves time (not having to spam in channel all day and doing the trades and mules and what not @_@), and I make a profit. Its all good.

Mission Statement:
Segment A
A. Provide a currency exhange service
B. Stabilize prices of currency items and other commonly traded items.

Segment B
A. Improving the ease of trading for all parties through redistribution service.
B. Provide useful services to the richer segments.
C. Make a profit from A. and B.
D. Have fun

Various member responsibility:

Currency Exchange: Maintain the currency exhange, with the right amount of pgems and Puls, and dealing with customers/contacts through forum.
Customer contact: going to all major forums and posting sales/exchange service to sell items we get from suppliers, 1 person in channel at most times handling exchange and redistibution.
Supplier contact Finding big time mfers and make them understand why this is good for everyone involved, also arranging and completing purchase deals. Stimm/Jb my two homes
Communications: communications of all members, might be a website, a forum where we congregate (Im working on this with Zappa to get us a spot and affliate), also setting up a channel on bnet might be good idea.
DEA internal affairs and accounting Honesty trust system does not work all the time, we'll try to implement detailed accounting system (to keep track of all income and item stats and item numbers...etc, and internal security controls (accounts password management for example, just ways to tell if anyone stole what and to prevent dishonesty behavior)
External awareness + planning Checking hack forums periodically to protect DEA from disaster. Notice trends of changes in price and general relevant changes, then information is to be shared to the DEA through xxx(see communications) and specific information passed to the right person to change our policies in order to adjust. (for example: changing the exchange rate to balance supply and demand)
Price guide update More important then it seems, in fact all the DEA biz revolves around a price guide.
Service provide Here we provide service to rich ppl, for example, leveling a character for them (because we are a trusted organization that will not tolerate stealing and such, rich ppl can trust us). Finders service, salesman service and more to come perhaps.

Note: each member does not have to be stuck with one, at this point im working out whether each member have very specific responsibility, or a somewhat shared responsibility type deal (exception of webmaster and such). Also perhaps a portion be communal responsibility? Like anyone can sell at anytime ... hmmm still working this one out.

Issues:
We will have a somewhat formal control sturcture because DEA does deal with very technical and complex accounting of trades and rewards, BUT I want the atmosphere to be light and causal, to best possible for members to just have fun, up to the point of not exploiting this motto, as there are some work and from what i understand a formal sturcture neds to be worked out. But hey rough draft, so no worries to balance this issue.

Technical internal accounting info:
The problem with account for our huge amount of items is thatall have different prices, they even change from supplies to supplies, so we'll have to track individual cost to these suckers (thank you excel). Also to keep the items that are IDed where %ed res ...etc matters, we'll have to record that as well. Then once they are sold we have to ensure that we know how much they sold for. Then at the end of say each day we'll record any items sold and find the gross profit (total sales - cost of goods sold), while keeping track of which items are sold and who sold it (for dividend bonus) in order to update sales list. A good account system along with good security measures will help ensure that there'll be less errors or shady dealings.

Please note that I will create a system that will not promote sales hogging, as I will assign a major part of the dividend bonus on general performance such as activeness in clan activities or whatever role you play (for example, someone who never does sales but does all forum and web service will get a good dividend bonus)

Rewards:

- For certain services such as lvling a rich pplz character, you keep 100% of the reward, basically the DEA gives you a trusted name and hooks you up with many oppurtunities to get good rewards from rich ppl for providing services that requires trust.
- You'll be given a Pgem dividend base on a our total income, factored in with your contribution in the period (total volume of sales and pgems generated, added to work you have done such as forum update, webmaster work ...etc.) which we'll keep on the books, of which you may spend to get Puls/ums/items with.
- The usual clan benefit, private clan games, runs, connections, oppurtunities, a group of people you can trust.
- Usage of all items in redistribution pool, must return when you log off or if customers requested last copy of it.
- You may buy items from DEA's item pool given a small waiting time (once a buyer shows, to prevent you from just buy it yourself and sell it to him for profit) and at a small membership discount. Waiting time undecided, most likely two days after you request the item, title of the item will be given to you (item becomes reserved and cannot be sold, but you cannot keep the item until the end of the waiting period)
-I've been offered arrangements for buying higher end items like Tal armor, wf, +2 valor through pgems ...etc the sale of these items might be available to members and other VIP buyers only.
- You may exchange gem/rune at a small membership discount rate.

Note:
These benefit will mean nothing to rich ppl i know. Instead I came up with a system where you become a trusted DEA Affliate (dont know how to spell heh, will call this Aff.), where we help each other out. Details in the afflilate section. Basically you become a VIP supplier and buddies to our organization.

Service to rich ppl:

Official:
standard Redistribution service - Our main service to you, We will email you a list of items on demand and the price we pay for them in pgems at a discount, and you email back with availability of items and exact price revision you want. At which point we'll set a time and make the trade. You save time from not having to deal with the channel spam for each item and get pgems outta stuff you dont use, and we make a profit off this, while noobs get to use stuff they really need which would otherwise be rotting on your mule.

Finder service - If you are looking for a particularly rare item (dueling, rare, crafted), our large number of connection and various members can help finding it and hooking up a seller to you, if the deal is sealed and you completed the trade, we only ask a small Pgems credit (to be paid in supplies or any other form you prefer).

Affliate (Gold Vip rich ppl) service -

Salesman service - you dump your crap in an account, we sell it for you in pgems and take around 33% of the profit. Basically you drop and forget, come back in 2 days and find lots of pgems instead of items you'll never use.

B]Gold Redistribution service[/B] - Our main service to you, We will email you a list of items on demand and the price we pay for them in pgems, and you email back with availability of items and exact price revision you want. We'll then PM you with the acc/PW where the gems are kept, and you can go into our account and dump the items/take the pgems. It is recommended that you come in with a mule who has a cube and about 15x rerollable grand charms, this will save time.

Bonus kickback - our standard practice is to start high in our sales of good, for example if item is worth 30 pgems in price guide, we might spam for 40 pgems, gradually we'll lower that to as low as 25 pgems if no one buys. However if we manage to sell a lot of good higher then we expected and/or faster then expected, we'll give you a bonus kickback in pgems.

Other private service - These including lvling characters for you, for these services you will have to work out deals with individual members, and they will keep all of the profits for themselves, DEA simply provides a free route of contact for trusted services. (kind of like church, ->some<- people join that to meet girls and find connections. :lol: )

Others - We'll always try to come up with more services! If you have anything we can do for you please don't hesitate to make suggestions.

Stress points:-

We're here to Have a good time and enjoy the game, sometimes when we became start to have lotsa good items in D2 we lose sight of the fact that we'll playing this game to have a good time.

-We want good members, mature, somewhat responsible, understanding...etc yap yap yap. So strict memberships, most likely limited to the people of this channel with a good history. for non-forum interest, they will have to register and go through a review period ...etc.

-I hope you like to trade, you'll be doing lots

emergency measures:
Hack
-Monitoring of a few big Diablo hack forum, when a hack that adversely affects DSE is loose, DSE will stop all transaction until further notice.
Bankrupt
Supplies shortage
-If too many people trade in pgems for pul, we'll have say 3000+ pgems and 0 pul. I'm thinking on this one, as im sure people find a lot more 40 pgems then pul for example. This is have to be played around with.
internal affairs
-Member quality issue might arise once DEA gets bigger then say 5 or 6 people and incorporate non-forum members. Though I don't think it'll be that big an issue with just us forum goers. But once expanded the control system to prevent theft and what not will be significant, therefore we will set up security measures accorded to internal analysis of risk. Another solution is to keep the DEA under 10 members, and have very stringent member selection.
Long term economic issues
-Though there is a long term weakness in the idea, if the DEA causes an increased effort of gem hunts, more gems = more skill gc, and price of skill gc will go down, causing item to become more valuable relative to skill gc, which will make pgems' value to go down, that'll crash the whole exchange and redistribution segment as it revolves around a currency with theoretically unlimited demand (pgems). But thats too long down the road to worry, and who know how long this will last (if it even begins).

END

Thank you for reading the new draft.

Constructive comments are very welcomed! Any ideas and what not would be great.

Man im Burnt out :yawn:

Regards,

AJ

aj2000
17-05-2004, 02:49
My apologies to 2_fingers, above post I said 2_please, but its 2_fingers. Also he can't do hell rushes *yet*. Anyhow thanks for your offer 2_fingers! I'll take you up on the offer when I begin recruiting! :thumbsup:

aj2000
17-05-2004, 09:50
I'm getting a bad feeling that the draft is looking too complex, so quiet :cheesy: