Someone posted about accidentally buying the wrong item and looking for a staff-mediated refund. This has happened to me too, more than once, although I didn't approach the staff about it.
Why are "all sales final" to begin with, though. Merchant NPCs are able to remember context with regards to bartering. Why not extend it to objects just sold? That way, if a mistake has been made, the player can type "refund" to exchange the item back for the same amount of coins, less a small penalty for wasting the merchant's time. The duration of this option, before the merchant "forgets", would be short (e.g. a minute).
This would allow characters to properly assess objects too without having to pay for them outright. Is this useful for crafting, for instance? Is is really necessary to assume complete ownership to find out?
All sales aren't final. You can usually sell it back to the merchant.
Quote from: Tallulah on September 16, 2008, 06:00:47 PM
All sales aren't final. You can usually sell it back to the merchant.
Yes, but at a VERY significant loss.
Quote from: FantasyWriter on September 16, 2008, 06:16:20 PM
Quote from: Tallulah on September 16, 2008, 06:00:47 PM
All sales aren't final. You can usually sell it back to the merchant.
Yes, but at a VERY significant loss.
And sometimes they won't buy an item that they just sold you.
Quote from: Fathi on September 16, 2008, 06:18:32 PM
Quote from: FantasyWriter on September 16, 2008, 06:16:20 PM
Quote from: Tallulah on September 16, 2008, 06:00:47 PM
All sales aren't final. You can usually sell it back to the merchant.
Yes, but at a VERY significant loss.
And sometimes they won't buy an item that they just sold you.
And it very much discourages "peeping" at items to determine whether they'd be useful.
I've had this happen to me quite a number of times, a few times on very expensive items that were useless to the character and pretty much screwed them over.
It happened because I bought one small item I needed and didn't know it was the only one in stock so I didn't think to use the 'list' command to see that #22 instead became #21 and the new #22 was a mega expensive useless item for the character in question.
Quote from: Salt Merchant on September 16, 2008, 06:41:47 PM
Quote from: Fathi on September 16, 2008, 06:18:32 PM
And sometimes they won't buy an item that they just sold you.
And it very much discourages "peeping" at items to determine whether they'd be useful.
That is something most RL merchants would let you do, ALTHOUGH, it would take more
than just a quick look to find out if you could use the wing of a flying mekillot into anything,
a careful crafter would spend at leazst a couple of days studying such a rare item, so he
WOULD buy it.
Rather than a refund command, I'd prefer to see a 'nosave buy' toggle added that would add the following prompt to shop purchases:
> buy #11
The shopkeeper says, in sirihish:
"You are about to purchase a pair of grey bone scissors for 16 obsidian coins."
At that point, you would complete the purchase with 'barter.'
That way, those who want it can use it and those who don't care enough or aren't bothered by it can just keep the toggle off.
Edited for clarity.
I think this is already in place with the offer command.
Quote from: Halcyon on September 16, 2008, 07:06:11 PM
I think this is already in place with the offer command.
You use offer to sell an item, they give you a price and you can try to offer it higher or lower. You then use the command 'barter' to agree and sell the item. It can also be used to try to haggle down the price of an item at a shop, however not all people try to haggle prices.
OP idea is neat.
Quote from: Vessol on September 16, 2008, 07:18:23 PM
Quote from: Halcyon on September 16, 2008, 07:06:11 PM
I think this is already in place with the offer command.
You use offer to sell an item, they give you a price and you can try to offer it higher or lower. You then use the command 'barter' to agree and sell the item. It can also be used to try to haggle down the price of an item at a shop, however not all people try to haggle prices.
Sure, but even if you arent trying to adjust the price, offer/barter is a safety net.
I once accidentally typed in the letter 'b', and it bought #1 item on the merchant's list, which was absolutely useless and costed 700+ something sid. I was staring at the screen for like a minute.
Let's just copy SoI's system when you buy something, it's perfect.
(I forgot how it works, though, but it's perfect!)
Quote from: Thenne on September 16, 2008, 08:10:42 PM
I once accidentally typed in the letter 'b', and it bought #1 item on the merchant's list, which was absolutely useless and costed 700+ something sid. I was staring at the screen for like a minute.
wow, that is funny and sad, all at the same time.
Quote from: Malken on September 16, 2008, 08:22:58 PM
Let's just copy SoI's system when you buy something, it's perfect.
(I forgot how it works, though, but it's perfect!)
Extact same thing, but asks are you sure your want this item. Before you buy.
Quote from: BlackMagic0 on September 16, 2008, 08:55:44 PM
Extact same thing, but asks are you sure your want this item. Before you buy.
The problem with "Are you sure?" prompts is that people hate them by the tenth time they appear.
A refund doesn't have that problem. It also has other advantages.
Quote from: Salt Merchant on September 16, 2008, 09:20:34 PM
Quote from: BlackMagic0 on September 16, 2008, 08:55:44 PM
Extact same thing, but asks are you sure your want this item. Before you buy.
The problem with "Are you sure?" prompts is that people hate them by the tenth time they appear.
A refund doesn't have that problem. It also has other advantages.
I was just answering whats his face. >.>
I really have no problem with not buying what I don't need.. Or buying mistakes. :)
> undo
You hurriedly step away from the cruel-eyed, long-nosed templar.
Merchant won't buy it back to you? Chalk it up to getting scammed by another swindling Zalanthan merchant, and find someone else to sell it to. Try to scam some poor clueless Amos into buying it from you for more than you paid for it, if you want to make a profit. You never know who your junk might be useful to.
Quote from: Tallulah on September 17, 2008, 05:38:17 AM
Merchant won't buy it back to you? Chalk it up to getting scammed by another swindling Zalanthan merchant, and find someone else to sell it to. Try to scam some poor clueless Amos into buying it from you for more than you paid for it, if you want to make a profit. You never know who your junk might be useful to.
Or, a command could be implemented to allow people to recover from OOC mistakes. Just like something may be implemented to help avoid the obvious OOC error of walking off the edge of the Shield Wall. And even be helpful in those instances where the game requires one to physically hold an item to determine whether it's useful, even though conceptually eyeing it in the shop should suffice.
I have only on one occasion accidentally purchased something I didn't intend to. And then I kicked myself for not using the 'view' command, like I always do. And I've fallen down a cliff that indirectly resulted in the death of a character, and then kicked myself for not using the 'look' command, and letting my brother distract me from what I was in the middle of doing. A lot of these things are preventable.
However I certainly wouldn't mind a refund command, provided it had to be used quickly and the merchant charged you some sort of small restocking fee. It is kind of unfair to be out a large for a momentary lapse.