Guild Membership Fees

WyndStryke

It depends where their trader is. If it's somewhere like Rawl'ka, then 300k minimum sales / 10k fee is actually reasonable, with the expectation that most people would not have to pay because they are getting over the minimum sales amount. For most other locations then it should probably be less.

If you only do minimal trading but you are a member of a major trade guild, it's probably not for you (fees will be higher than your sales). Similarly, if you do a lot of trading, you should aim to have at least one major guild.

Probably not a popular opinion, but overall I actually like the ESO guild trader system (the guild store interface could do with some improvements though - text search etc).

Aurielle

I used to think that 10k per week guilds were robbing people blind. Then I was invited to one after buying a motif that just about bankrupted my main and, in less than one week, made more gold than I'd typically make in a month with free trader guilds. There's something to be said about being in a trading guild that's able to secure a trader in a main city... 10k gold looks like small change now.

bloodthirstyvampire

Mine does too but thats pocket change in the long run 1st day I made 500k in only 2 hours

Elloa

Totally miss clicked and selected the wrong answer.

I would NOT want to belong to a guild that charge me to be part of it. I understand why some Trader guild does that, but no thank you.

At the moment I'm even not part of any trading guild at all, I never selling, never buying anything anyway.

CherryCake

Lol yeah, paid my 250k permanent membership fee for Traders R Us on ps4, still continued to contribute, but was away from the game for a month and got kicked xD, so nope no permanent fees for me, its bullpoop. I got a better guild where I dont need to waste so much of my gold on =/

MercyKilling

I would never pay a guild membership fee.

Why? It's a VIDEO GAME. I play them to escape reality and the grind I face daily. Work, pay bills, eat sleep, work, pay bills eat sleep....I really don't want to have to pay "rent" or some such just to belong to a group of people playing a VIDEO GAME. Makes absolutely no sense to me, and cannot fathom why other people so voluntarily do something that is just plain idiotic to me. But hey, different strokes and all that.

Shardan4968

10k per week? I'm adventurer, not some poor peasent to pay taxes for the Lord. And I don't understand why I should belong to guild like that, If I can just be a member of normal guild, lol.

Jhalin

If it's a trade focused guild with a kiosk, then that sounds pretty reasonable. If it's literally any other kind of guild, hell no.

madchuska83

I donate to my main guild but no dues. I joined a guild recently that was a "Dedicated End Game PvE Guild" according to the MotD. A month later the guild leader started asking for dues to become a trading guild. I stuck around for about a week to watch the drama unfold in text chat. Ended up losing about 200+ members, then I saw him recruiting for his trading guild in Craglorn.

GawdSB

Seems to me the guild biding system needs some improvements to prevent things like this from happening.

MLGProPlayer

High guild fees are required for top trader locations.

MLGProPlayer

ScytheNL wrote: »

I'm in 4 different trading guilds with trader, none charge fees.

And of course none of them have traders in top spots.

MLGProPlayer

MercyKilling wrote: »

I would never pay a guild membership fee.

Why? It's a VIDEO GAME. I play them to escape reality and the grind I face daily. Work, pay bills, eat sleep, work, pay bills eat sleep....I really don't want to have to pay "rent" or some such just to belong to a group of people playing a VIDEO GAME. Makes absolutely no sense to me, and cannot fathom why other people so voluntarily do something that is just plain idiotic to me. But hey, different strokes and all that.

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish in the game.

If you're trying to make money, you need trade guilds that are located in good spots.

When housing launched, I needed to quickly make a few million gold, so I joined a bunch of top trading guilds. There is no way you can make that kind of money in crappy trader locations.

Bombashaman

Fees are OK, especially if the Guild is fighting for a kiosk in populated area.

MercyKilling

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

MercyKilling wrote: »

I would never pay a guild membership fee.

Why? It's a VIDEO GAME. I play them to escape reality and the grind I face daily. Work, pay bills, eat sleep, work, pay bills eat sleep....I really don't want to have to pay "rent" or some such just to belong to a group of people playing a VIDEO GAME. Makes absolutely no sense to me, and cannot fathom why other people so voluntarily do something that is just plain idiotic to me. But hey, different strokes and all that.

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish in the game.

If you're trying to make money, you need trade guilds that are located in good spots.

When housing launched, I needed to quickly make a few million gold, so I joined a bunch of top trading guilds. There is no way you can make that kind of money in crappy trader locations.

I kinda disagree with the whole trading guild concept in the first place, though. I don't care if I want to make money....I want to be able to do so without joining a guild. I am 100% for an auction house where I can saunter up to the NPC, click, browse, post and collect all at that location. Market manipulation happens regardless of guild or auction house, so why can't we have the easier to use option? Because reasons. Well, I don't buy into those reasons, never will.

SSlarg

crooked guilds pocketing all that gold. no thanks.



ALL five of my guilds have NO Mandatory fees. I love them lol.

MasterSpatula

Sigtric wrote: »

OpponentSmile66 wrote: »

Guilds have the right to do what they want and that should be respected. If they want you to have to pay for membership then that's up to them.

What's not okay is when people try to pull one over their loyal members and have them pay more. How comes 5k per member isn't enough for a trader in the eyes of some?

This idea should definitely be challenged before people see it as acceptable. If enough people refuse to pay such a price then GMs will certainly have to reconsider their choice or face not having a loyal membership base.

While I am not agreeing (or disagreeing) with raising dues in this situation, I am guessing it's because of the fact that as more and more gold gets in the hands of the players, the bids for the top trader spots get higher and higher, and the guilds operating cost increases because of it.

On the PC side, at least, TTC is doing the job that ZOS should have done in the first place and is making location a lot less of a factor. I've been placing good stuff and garbage green recipes on the trader of my Guild that has one out in the boonies. It's doing as well as the Guild that has a trader in high-travel areas.

WyndStryke

Sigtric wrote: »

... While I am not agreeing (or disagreeing) with raising dues in this situation, I am guessing it's because of the fact that as more and more gold gets in the hands of the players, the bids for the top trader spots get higher and higher, and the guilds operating cost increases because of it.

I think this was a deliberate design decision on the part of ZOS, they want it to be a gold sink to control the economy + limit inflation. The blind bidding system is a good way to force guilds to spend more and more out of fear of losing their spot, and it's very effective.

tplink3r1

Not worth it.

DiteHart

I'd say it's alright as long as the guild makes it worth it. They have to use that money to provide resources and benefits to the group on a regular basis. Things like buying a home for a guild hall should be based on donation and/or any extra funding from other benefits.
A prime/main example being a trading guild using the funds to pay for a high-traffic trader.

I'm in a social guild that doesn't go looking for traders, and while they occasionally do raffles, since most of the activity provided is in event management, they don't ask for membership fees. Donations are welcome, but I don't think I've ever had them really ask for any (except that if you'd like to help furnish the guild house, you can ask certain members how you can help).

I'm also in another social guild that tries to keep a smaller trader (usually in Auridon or Khenarthi's Roost). They don't guarantee that they'll have the trader, but it's on a donation-only basis.
It's nice when they have a trader, but I don't expect a lot of income. I donate when I remember to as a way to support their efforts.

I'm also in a trading guild that tries to keep a Craglorn trader. I pay 10k/wk in dues, but I know that they use it for the guild trader and worked hard to get a guild hall with everything we'd need.
Knowing that the trader alone gives me ample opportunity to make over 10k each week (as long as I keep things up and price them right), I'm okay with paying the dues.


For your situation, I'd say that 10k is probably fine for a trading guild (although you may want to compare it to other similar guilds in the same zone; in most cities, there are 4+ traders in a small group; if you're paying 10k, but all the other guilds with shops in that area are paying less, it'd probably be worth it to leave your guild and join one of the others).
But if it's a group that's just doing stuff, a mandatory 10K weekly due is way to steep, IMO.

Artis

Yes, of course.

If it's a trading guild, then I'd want to be in the one that maintains a good trader. And how do you think it's done and who pays for it? If I sell more than 10k anyway, then paying 10k is worth it: I keep the difference which I wouldn't be able to get at all if that guild didn't have a trader.

Sure, some guilds run on donations only - they then get outbid by guilds that have more stable and higher income. There are guilds that run raffles/auctions that are voluntary - and again, good for them if it works for them. But you can't count on raffles/auctions (or on dues, tbh, but I'll get there later), not to mention that they take a lot of time and effort to prepare and run, while all members want the trader. It's unfair to expect GM/officers to not want any requirements.

Next argument - not all players are active during a week and not all active players pay/sell enough. No matter what you do, it's just how it is. I've never seen a guild where everyone met requirements. That's why having such requirements is just telling what's expected. And if players don't want to contribute - they can always leave. Or you can kick them to replace with a contributing member, but that rarely happens because guilds are constantly replacing inactives. In reality, some people will contribute way more and some people will contribute less. And you're lucky if you get enough gold.

My last (but not least) reason, is that what I just described above is unfair to those who contribute if the guild gets outbid and can't afford to bid more. That means a lot of players just got carried and are too heavy to carry now. So contributors either have to contribute even more or the guild needs to look for another trader, which, again, is unfair to contributors.It's just like with any group activity in life or game - I would want to join a group where everyone is expected to pull their weight and I won't be dragged down by someone else.

For similar reasons I probably wouldn't join a PvE guild with no requirements (not gold requirements in this case, of course, but DPS requirements or other performance/gear requirements) , where I can't be sure that if I join a group - it won't be a waste of time.

MLGProPlayer

SSlarg wrote: »

crooked guilds pocketing all that gold. no thanks.



ALL five of my guilds have NO Mandatory fees. I love them lol.

Nobody is pocketing the gold. Guilds need to generate millions of gold each week in order to maintain lucrative trader spots.

Malic

Trader spots are expensive for the high volume locales anyway. It really depends on your personal sales, if you are playing the market and selling a lot of items, 10K isnt a big ask.

zaria

WyndStryke wrote: »

It depends where their trader is. If it's somewhere like Rawl'ka, then 300k minimum sales / 10k fee is actually reasonable, with the expectation that most people would not have to pay because they are getting over the minimum sales amount. For most other locations then it should probably be less.

If you only do minimal trading but you are a member of a major trade guild, it's probably not for you (fees will be higher than your sales). Similarly, if you do a lot of trading, you should aim to have at least one major guild.

Probably not a popular opinion, but overall I actually like the ESO guild trader system (the guild store interface could do with some improvements though - text search etc).

Our guild with the 10k sales 1K donation just got an Rawl'kwa slot, protested as the nice Khajiit trader was replaced by an slimy Argonian. Underhand it was an obvious praise, an 50k to lottery will work.
PC-EU brave cat trade.

RDMyers65b14_ESO

If the guilds did not already get a percentage of the sale, I could see the fees. But, they get a percentage so, they should NOT charge fees.

TeIvanni

Hypothetically, let’s say a Guild Trader kiosk cost 500k a week.
That 500k, needs to come from somewhere.
So, it is going to have to come from its members.

3% of the listing value of an item goes to the guild bank when the item is sold on a guild trader.
Therefore, it would be perfectly reasonable to require a guild member to either sell 34k gold worth of items or donate 1k, in order to cover their fair share of the guild costs.


Now keep in mind, guild traders in high profile locations cost 10s of millions of gold to maintain.
So on the low end… 10,000,000 gold/500 players = 20,000 gold
So for a main city trader. You’re looking at an upkeep cost of 20k+ per trader slot.

I honestly don’t know of any main city trading guild that is able to make ends meet off of their 3% cut of sales revenue. It usually needs to be supplemented with dues, raffles, auctions, donations, etc.

Requiring guild members to help cover the cost of their trading slot should be expected.

If the requirements for a guild are too high for you, you'll probably have to settle for an out of the way trader, where guild maintenance costs are relatively low.

TL;DR:
Main city guild kiosks cost 20k+ per trader slot every week. Guild members should help pay their fair share.
Too expensive? Move to an out of the way trader.



P.S. The figures in this post reflect current NA numbers.

MLGProPlayer

RDMyers65b14_ESO wrote: »

If the guilds did not already get a percentage of the sale, I could see the fees. But, they get a percentage so, they should NOT charge fees.

They do either or. You either sell the required minimum or you pay the fee.

On console, everyone pays the fee since there is no way to check who sold how much without add-ons.

CromulentForumID

RDMyers65b14_ESO wrote: »

If the guilds did not already get a percentage of the sale, I could see the fees. But, they get a percentage so, they should NOT charge fees.

The house cut is so small compared to the cost of winning the bid.

If a winning bid is 8M gold for the week, the sales that would be needed to cover this amount would be really high.

At 3.5% of the sales amount, you would need to sell 228,571,429 to cover the bid cost. I play on console so I have no idea how close or far away that is from a typical week of sales.

PlagueSD

The trading guilds I'm in only require you to be active (you get kicked after 3 days of inactivity). We have other ways of generating gold for the guild. We hold weekly raffles and auctions with item donated by the guild officers.

Megabear

I don't join guilds that require more than 10K sales weekly simply because I don't want to encourage bad behavior. But I can pull in 100K sales in a day, whereas at my worst I still pull about 100K weekly in sales.