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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vyvyan Basterd" data-source="post: 4569664" data-attributes="member: 4892">So some think magic shops with whatever magic item you wish to buy are rediculous, others think that travelling merchants are equally as ridiculous. People have made very good points in both scenarios. Either type of vendor seems to cause gaps in plausibility. Especially when you assume characters can buy and sell whatever they want without concern for supply and demand, security, etc.Another poster has repeatedly brought up residuum and I think this is where the answer lies."Merchants pass through regularly...and any good merchant has far-reaching contacts across the region." - 4E DMG, p. 154The merchants work as agents on behalf of their contacts. This helps preserve the anonymity of the contact. They buy magic items for their raw material value, the residuum.The residuum is much easier to store."[Residuum is] a fine, silvery dust...; 10,000 gp worth of residuum weighs as much as a single gold piece and takes up slightly more space..." - 4E PHB p. 225When a character wishes to purchase a magic item, the merchant is able to get him what he wants because he can order any magic item from his contacts. The Enchant Item ritual takes one hour to complete.The cost for the contact to create the item is 100% of the value (because he paid 20% of item which is full value for the residuum), plus a finders fee for the merchant, plus the cost of Disenchanting items into Residuum. So he charges between 10-40% above market price to still make a profit.By disenchanting items the magic item creator doesn't have to worry about how soon an item will move "off his shelves," how to protect his assets, and can be more flexible in the wares he offers.EDIT: I think even our retail expert in this thread would agree that a method of converting whatever items you purchased into exactly what your next customer wanted would be a really good business model. Not having to worry about finding a buyer for a specific item, but instead being able to meet the specific demands of your clientele has to be a profitable venture.</blockquote>

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