2009-08-20, 01:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 2009-08-20, 02:24 PM by IllegallySane.)
An wandering mind leads to interesting thoughts. 
It's something I was pondering last night when I thought about how inconvenient it is to actually keep my computer on in order to sell stuff. Factoring in problems like disconnecting roughly overnight, people stealing a good spot I found, and having to relocate, I can easily look at upon a good extra week or two in order to clear a full inventory. However, let's look at all the goodies a week long Mush Shop has, because it usually only takes that long to sell the most expensive stuff I usually have:
1. Can hold a door spot for up to a week, 8 days if I set up shop minutes before it expires.
2. Don't have to worry about disconnecting (big factor)
3. Don't have to keep computer on (bigger factor)
Now I looked up the electricity it costs to run a desktop computer, because my laptop fails at keeping a shop open even for a few hours. My desktop, without the monitor, runs at about 120 watts/hour and is the only computer that can reliably keep a shop open overnight, and even for days.
How to calculate how much it costs to run my computer:
Now, a week long Mush Shop costs $5.90, meaning if my computer needs to be on longer than two weeks, I actually waste money selling my stuff compared to paying NX for a shop. There's also the convenience factor; if I get really lucky with the Mush Shop, I can clear inventory in only a few days, leaving room to just mess around merchanting. So for only one dollar more, I can avoid getting headaches whenever my store closes due to lag or someone D/Cing me. I just pop in every 8-12 hours or so to see what sold, and close down/reopen the shop in the very same spot (usually a door spot at a popular FM like 13 or 18).
There's also the problem of how before I need to use a mule account to sell my stuff, which requires two shop permits, one for my mule account, and one for my main account. Why? It helps reduce the tax exchanging mesos.
Huge example would be trading 1 billion mesos. Trading it all at once at I'd be taxed 60 million mesos. HOWEVER, if I use two shop permits and sell something at 999,999 I would only get taxed 4 million mesos; by spending 3.6k NX I save 56m. With the current 10m/1k NX ratio I save ~2k worth of NX (56m converted to NX minus 3.6k NX). With the old ratio of 5m/1k I would save ~7.6k worth of NX.
Also, I like to keep my computers relatively healthy by not keeping it on. I don't want to risk overheating the computer(s), which would cost me way more than a few dollars to fix.
Long story short, I strangely feel that when it comes to selling your stuff, a Mush Shop is actually worth the bang for your buck since you can essentially hold up a good spot without having to go through the trouble of needing to keep a computer on, as well as needing to lurk repeatedly for a good spot. I also avoid the trouble of paying 3.6k NX every 3 months to lessen the impact of taxes because selling with a regular permit on my main account seems too inconvenient when I regularly train.
It's something I was pondering last night when I thought about how inconvenient it is to actually keep my computer on in order to sell stuff. Factoring in problems like disconnecting roughly overnight, people stealing a good spot I found, and having to relocate, I can easily look at upon a good extra week or two in order to clear a full inventory. However, let's look at all the goodies a week long Mush Shop has, because it usually only takes that long to sell the most expensive stuff I usually have:
1. Can hold a door spot for up to a week, 8 days if I set up shop minutes before it expires.
2. Don't have to worry about disconnecting (big factor)
3. Don't have to keep computer on (bigger factor)
Now I looked up the electricity it costs to run a desktop computer, because my laptop fails at keeping a shop open even for a few hours. My desktop, without the monitor, runs at about 120 watts/hour and is the only computer that can reliably keep a shop open overnight, and even for days.
How to calculate how much it costs to run my computer:
Spoiler
Now, a week long Mush Shop costs $5.90, meaning if my computer needs to be on longer than two weeks, I actually waste money selling my stuff compared to paying NX for a shop. There's also the convenience factor; if I get really lucky with the Mush Shop, I can clear inventory in only a few days, leaving room to just mess around merchanting. So for only one dollar more, I can avoid getting headaches whenever my store closes due to lag or someone D/Cing me. I just pop in every 8-12 hours or so to see what sold, and close down/reopen the shop in the very same spot (usually a door spot at a popular FM like 13 or 18).
There's also the problem of how before I need to use a mule account to sell my stuff, which requires two shop permits, one for my mule account, and one for my main account. Why? It helps reduce the tax exchanging mesos.
Huge example would be trading 1 billion mesos. Trading it all at once at I'd be taxed 60 million mesos. HOWEVER, if I use two shop permits and sell something at 999,999 I would only get taxed 4 million mesos; by spending 3.6k NX I save 56m. With the current 10m/1k NX ratio I save ~2k worth of NX (56m converted to NX minus 3.6k NX). With the old ratio of 5m/1k I would save ~7.6k worth of NX.
Also, I like to keep my computers relatively healthy by not keeping it on. I don't want to risk overheating the computer(s), which would cost me way more than a few dollars to fix.
Long story short, I strangely feel that when it comes to selling your stuff, a Mush Shop is actually worth the bang for your buck since you can essentially hold up a good spot without having to go through the trouble of needing to keep a computer on, as well as needing to lurk repeatedly for a good spot. I also avoid the trouble of paying 3.6k NX every 3 months to lessen the impact of taxes because selling with a regular permit on my main account seems too inconvenient when I regularly train.