My idea is to add a company similar to the East Empire Trading Company EETC “from TES 3 Morrowind” and a weekly Bazaar into the game in order to enhance the current player trading system in ESO.

Currently players must “wayshrine” hop all over Tamriel visiting the numerous guild stores in order to find the items they are looking for. The addition of an EETC and Bazaar would help alleviate that requirement and at the same time leave the current trade system intact.

First the EETC:

The EETC would provide two primary services for players. Because the EETC has built an extensive trade network across Tamriel it would first allow players to search for what items they wanted, the cost associated with the item and the guild store locations where they could go purchase them. If the player decides to use the EETC just to search all the Guild Stores and then travel to the guild store in order to purchase, there is no additional cost to the player.

The second service the EETC would provide would be to purchase the item and retrieve it for the player at an additional cost and a longer wait time to retrieve the item. The cost to retrieve the item would be determined by the distance the EETC must travel to retrieve the item for the player. Players would be required to wait a minimum of 30 minutes before they could retrieve their item. This would make some guild store locations even more desirable because it would have a reduced cost for players who purchase all their items through the EETC. This additional cost would only affect the player purchasing the item and not the seller.

Example: two players “in different guilds” put a stack of material on their guild store for 400 gold; another player using the EETC to search for the same material sees both players material for 400 gold. However because the player does not wish to travel to their location in order to purchase the material he/she decides to use the EETC delivery service and must pay a service charge based on the distance traveled to each guild store. One store has a 5% delivery fee where the other has a 8% delivery fee, adjusting the cost for each players material to 420 gold and 432 gold if purchased through he EETC.

In addition adding a free trade, trade cart in Tamriel that Guilds cannot bid on and any player could buy and sell on would allow players not in a trade guild to sell items. The disadvantage of this cart over guild carts is that it could not be accessed through banks. The player who wished to trade through this cart would be required to physically interact with it. This cart would also be connected with the EETC allowing players to avoid a transaction fee by traveling to its location. However it would have the highest service fee out of all the guild vendors. The free trade cart would also have a reduced trade limit from 30 to possibly 15.

Guild trade carts would still be viable in game due to the reduced cost to purchase their items in relation to the distance of the EETC. Though other upgrades to the guild trade carts would increase there value. Idea inspired by “@tonyglissonb14_ESO” Allow trade guilds to post contracts on their guild store of items they are willing to purchase and then attach the price they are willing to pay for the contract. Other players could go to these guild stores and accept their contract, turn in the material or item and receive payment. The guild member that posted the contract would receive the item in the mail.

Another possible guild trade cart upgrade would be to allow guild members to invest in the cart. The amount a player could invest would be capped "and could possibly be increase with a future mercantile skill line". Just like in previous TES games store owners would have a limit of gold to vendor trash items to. This system would allow players to vendor trash items to the guild trade cart up to the total investment by the guild. Once the week is over and its time to re-bid and possibly loose control of the guilds trade cart each player that invested would receive their total investment back plus extra gold depending on the amount of equipment vendor trashed at their guild trade store. Of course this should be capped and possibly not be able to receive more than double of their investment.

A possible lore friendly way to introduce a trade company "because it technically cant be called the EETC" would for it to be a front to the thieves’ guild. With the justice system introduced to the game there needs to be a way to launder stolen goods across Tamriel. What better way than to have a factionless trade company set up across Tamriel. Stolen good from EP would be sold in DC and AD and vice versa. It could be the Los Pollos Hermanos of ESO!

In order to prevent players from "cornering the market" and buying items low and selling them at a higher cost, a possible solution would be to have a limit on the amount of times a player could use the EETC services in a given day. Or have the service cost for using the EETC increase with each purchase within a 24 hour period.

Secound the Bazaar:

Another possible solution "inspired by @lago" is adding a bazaar that would set up once or twice a week and allow all players to come together in one location "this should be a location accessible by all players no matter their level" and trade goods. It could be much like the fairs you would see in other games by adding quests, games and prizes but primarily used to trade goods. It would have a greater amount of guild carts, free trade carts and NPC vendors with unique items. Though I would like to see the bazaar work more on a bid system than a marked price, "the best thing about a bazaar is haggling for a good deal".

The free trade carts "inspired by @spoqster " would be specific to the items being sold. Heavy armor dealers would sell all heavy armor and crafted material and the same with light, medium armor and weapons. A typical merchant would be available for anything that did not fall into a category. Players would be able to place their items up for bid on the appropriate cart while the Bazaar is in town. Players will be able to manage their trade goods through an event coordinator when the Bazaar is away. Goods that did not sell would remain and carry over to the next Bazaar unless the player decides to pull it out through the event coordinator.

The pro’s to this system:

Adding an EETC to each of the faction’s capital cities would increase the presence of players in those cities, effectively adding to a player hub. It would help make these cities a place to go to find players to group with.

An increase in convenience for players who want to purchase items from other players.

Sellers would be open to a larger market therefore selling more items.

Players would not be required to be in a successful trade guild to trade items through the free trade cart and Bazaar.

The current guild store system would stay intact and remain viable.

In closing I believe an auction house system that fully supports the current guild store system in ESO is required. The current system was o.k. at first but gets old real quick, I like some other players don’t use it that often because I could farm some material faster than trying to find it in a guild store.