Idea/request for barter system change

[Desert Wanderer]

The other day I was buying a few items, and got a little ahead of myself.  Here is a quick scenario of what I did.  While in front of a merchant:

Prompt>list
...
37) a halfling wigit for 172 obsidian coins.
38) a sharp axe for 148 coins.
39) a large bag for 28 obsidian coins.

Prompt>view #38
A cool looking axe that is a must have.    
You test its weight and decide that you could use it.
You could use this for skinning.

Prompt>offer collar
The smelly, little man says to you:
    "Let's keep the price at 28 obsidian coins, shall we?"

Prompt>barter
You give the smelly, little man a leather collar in exchange for 28 obsidian coins.

Prompt>offer 100 #38
The smelly, little man insists on keeping the price the same.

Prompt>offer 120 #38
The smelly, little man insists on keeping the price the same.

Prompt>offer 130 #38
The smelly, little man angrily insists on keeping the price the same.

Prompt>barter
You give the smelly, little man 174 obsidian coins in exchange for a halfling wigit.


I wanted to buy the axe; instead what bought was a halfling wigit.  I made the mistake of selling something to the merchant first, and then trying to buy the object I really wanted.  This also happens when someone else sells something to the merchant while you are trying to haggle out a deal.

So what my idea/request for the barter system is to clearly define what we are offering on, and bartering for.  With the current system, it is not until you already commit to the purchase that you find out what you've been haggling over.  If we could get an echo that looks something like the following example, it would really help avoid this type of issue:

Prompt>offer 130 #38
The smelly, little man angrily insists on keeping the price the same on a sharp axe (item 38).

Until then, I'll be sure to wait until no one is around, and always relist to confirm the item I am trying to purchase before haggling.  That, or just buy the item flat out for full price.

[Quirk]

Think it's happened to most of us; the current system can be pretty confusing that way. I'd be in favour of seeing it, and I think it would be a pretty minor one-line code change.

Quirk

[gfair]

I had a similar problem buying an item I didn't want, spending an IC hour talking to the NPC merchant,  and all with no result.

Perhaps there could also be a swap feature, whereby you could swap an item with the merchant, and pay or receive the difference in sid, for a short period of time, in case, even if you do buy what you want, you can still have a bit of room to change your mind and not have to make the merchant rich with low trade-in values.  Just a thought, I have no beef with the current system.

[halfbreed]

nice suggestion

Agreed n/t

[Morgenes]

Good idea, we have added this.

In addition, we have made it so that on subsequent offers you don't have to specify what you're bartering for, so for example, in your case you could do:

Prompt>offer 100 #38
The smelly, little man insists on keeping the price the same for a sharp axe.

Prompt>offer 120
The smelly, little man insists on keeping the price the same for a sharp axe.

Prompt>offer 130
The smelly, little man says to you,
 'I will give you a sharp axe for 138 coins'

[Desert Wanderer]

Thanks for listening and solving this troublesome issue.  It is really appreciated.

I really like your new system and look forward to trying it soon!

-DW

[krelin]

Thanks, Morgenes!  Would also be cool if "view" revealed what item # you're looking at.  I often use "view" to search by keyword: "view crimson", and then want to see the sdesc and price of the thing I'm looking at.

[halfbreed]

Excellent!!!

Horray! I like Krelin's idea too, but this is huge

[John]

Wow. Thanks a lot for this change Morgenes