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<blockquote data-quote="jelmore" data-source="post: 4269536" data-attributes="member: 56412">Ever sell books to a used book store? I would be absolutely floored if they bought your books in cash for 1/2 of the price of a new copy (or even 1/2 the price of a used copy, for that matter).If I'm a merchant, I don't have an unlimited amount of space to store my merchandise, and limited funds with which to purchase inventory. Spending 150 gp to buy a 300-gp +1 sword (assuming that's the sticker price) means that if I can't sell that sword, I've just thrown 150 gp down the drain. And if 80% of my inventory is stagnant, that's a lot of wasted money.Buying that same +1 sword for 60 gp? That's a much more comfortable risk for me to take; if it doesn't move, I can slash the price by 25% or even 50% and still make money. Or maybe I can offer it in trade to acquire something of higher value to me: giving someone a +1 sword that is &quot;worth&quot; 300 gp in order to acquire an item that I would have offered 200 gp in coin is a sweet deal on both sides.As for magic weapons not depreciating, sez who? I can think of two whole categories of magic items (scrolls and potions) that are single-use only. Who is to say that 40-50 years of constant use won't wear down the blade of even a holy avenger?To have even the semblence of a real economy, supply and demand have to play a factor. Rather than force DMs to learn how to run a business, WotC abstracted it to say that &quot;magic items can be sold for 20% of their list price&quot;. You are free to treat your merchants as dispensers for unlimited funds and items if you wish.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jelmore, post: 4269536, member: 56412"] Ever sell books to a used book store? I would be [i]absolutely floored[/i] if they bought your books in cash for 1/2 of the price of a new copy (or even 1/2 the price of a used copy, for that matter). If I'm a merchant, I don't have an unlimited amount of space to store my merchandise, and limited funds with which to purchase inventory. Spending 150 gp to buy a 300-gp +1 sword (assuming that's the sticker price) means that if I can't sell that sword, I've just thrown 150 gp down the drain. And if 80% of my inventory is stagnant, that's a [i]lot[/i] of wasted money. Buying that same +1 sword for 60 gp? That's a much more comfortable risk for me to take; if it doesn't move, I can slash the price by 25% or even 50% and still make money. Or maybe I can offer it in trade to acquire something of higher value to me: giving someone a +1 sword that is "worth" 300 gp in order to acquire an item that I would have offered 200 gp in coin is a sweet deal on both sides. As for magic weapons not depreciating, sez who? I can think of two whole categories of magic items (scrolls and potions) that are single-use only. Who is to say that 40-50 years of constant use won't wear down the blade of even a holy avenger? To have even the semblence of a real economy, supply and demand have to play a factor. Rather than force DMs to learn how to run a business, WotC abstracted it to say that "magic items can be sold for 20% of their list price". You are free to treat your merchants as dispensers for unlimited funds and items if you wish. [/QUOTE]

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