7.3 Credit Economy Initiative: Updates and the GTN

[Amodin]

3 hours ago, thoughtfix said:

I don't know if you have been watching the economy of the last 30 years, but the ultra-wealthy will always sneak in loopholes for every tax then put all their wealth through those loopholes. Then they decry tyranny whenever someone closes a loophole. This is how massive companies like Charter, Nike, FedEx, Salesforce, AMD and others paid ZERO Federal taxes in 2020. Leaving any loophole available just means all wealth will flow through that loophole.

It's like any other political movement involving the economy: Half-measures do nothing.

In real life, most ways of transferring cash (especially large amounts) have fees. PayPal, Cash App, credit card transactions, almost everything but plain cash has some transfer fee involved. That's not tyranny. That's just commerce. If you want this to be "more like real life" and less "tyrannical" they should make physical credit chips that you can store in your inventory and you can trade as many as you can fit into a trade window. There. Solved. 

The problem with your analogy here is those companies charge fees in order to have operational costs. 

So, where does this digital currency go in SWTOR?  Nowhere.  It's not any kind of operational cost to direct trade, unless they are just calling it the 'A-Hole Tax' - because they can.  That's all this is - it's over-reach on taxing players for absolutely no reason.

And the fact that all of you keep missing - I have no problems with their other changes related to appropriate taxing.  I think direct trade taxing is stupid, absurd and they go too far.  And, I don't even buy anything from the GTN or other people - that's how dumb I think this tax is.  Also, I'm not one of the rich whales in game - I couldn't afford a single thing on the GTN.

As I said before though - it's a moot point to make, as they may read our feedback, but they have never implemented anything from us related to concerns.

If it in fact goes live, that will probably be the last time I subscribe, and just move on.  

Edited May 2, 2023 by Amodin

[cobrak]

9 hours ago, JoeStramaglia said:

Hello everyone! I’m Joe Stramaglia and I’m a Systems Designer on Star Wars: the Old Republic. Today I am bringing you some of our planned changes for the Credit Economy coming in 7.3 and giving you a hint at some of the changes in the pipeline. 

First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who provided constructive feedback to our initial changes we introduced in 7.2.1. We’re reading your feedback and looking at data for each phase of these releases as we want to be careful and considerate of each change’s effect. The changes we introduced in 7.2.1 were smaller scale than the ones we’ll be introducing in 7.3 and the upcoming patches, but no one change is looking to solve every problem. They each have a specific intention related to our goals that were shared in that previous post.

When we open up 7.3 content on the PTS, players will be able to see the following adjustments:

• We’re retiring the Tax Evasion Guild Perk, it will no longer be available in future rotations.
• Secure Trade, Mail, and Collect on Deposit will now have an associated transaction fee based on the value of the transaction. The fee is aligned to the Galactic Trade Network Commission Fee at 8%.
• Some items will adjust the value of a transaction when transferred via Trade, Mail, and COD and will be subject to the same fee.
• Many items will have adjusted Vendor sale values.

These changes are largely motivated around reducing GTN tax avoidance and adjusting credit inflow from item sales. However we’ve got a suite of changes that rely on these coming in our next phase, which I am going to reveal a little bit earlier as there will be further adjustments to these numbers as a result.

We’re actively exploring a complete overhaul of our Galactic Trade Network system! This will include a lot of things I cannot talk about yet as they will come after 7.3 but am very excited to reveal soon. Make sure you check out our livestream on May 3rd at 1pm CT / 6pm UTC and follow here on the forums for more information as we get closer.

When this overhaul happens we’re going to be converting the GTN Commission Fee to a Progressive Tax starting lower than our current fees but reaching a higher threshold than our current fees. The exact numbers will be released at a later time, but the Transaction Fees implemented in Secure Trade, Mail, and COD are a flat tax meant to mirror the highest bracket in the GTN to encourage using the network. Whenever Taxes are updated in the GTN those changes will be applied accordingly here as well.
 

We want the Galactic Trade Network to be the premier place for trade. Given we’re exploring the GTN as a place to improve the experience and make participating in our player market more enjoyable for everyone, we'd like to get your feedback on the current state of the GTN in terms of usability.

• What do you like about how the GTN currently functions?
• What do you dislike about how the GTN currently functions?
• Is there anything you wish you could do on the GTN that you cannot do currently?
• Are there any specific filters, searches, or ways of finding items you particularly like or that you wish existed?
• What kinds of information do you use to decide when to make a purchase? If you could have more information what would you want?

It’s important to note that the changes we’re currently planning are going to take place over multiple phases and releases so not all changes will come online at once. We look forward to sharing the current plans and taking your feedback into account!

May the Force be with you
 

I am worried this will negatively affect Roleplay guilds. We (And every Roleplay guild I am aware of) trade our new members a uniform set, would the receiver of the items have to pay a tax? I am worried this will substantially inhibit the ability of new players to participate in guild activities if they have to pay a percentage of the items. 

This will stymie any chance at the RP community growing or continuing in SWTOR if receivers of trades have to pay for items.

[Blakinik]

10 hours ago, JoeStramaglia said:

When we open up 7.3 content on the PTS, players will be able to see the following adjustments:

• We’re retiring the Tax Evasion Guild Perk, it will no longer be available in future rotations.
• Secure Trade, Mail, and Collect on Deposit will now have an associated transaction fee based on the value of the transaction. The fee is aligned to the Galactic Trade Network Commission Fee at 8%.
• Some items will adjust the value of a transaction when transferred via Trade, Mail, and COD and will be subject to the same fee.
• Many items will have adjusted Vendor sale values.

How is this going to work?  If you are going to charged value, who pays?  Me or the other person?  What if I decide to be nice and pay for it?  Will that be an option?

Curious how the mechanism will work here.

Blakinik

 

PS - on the surface I like this and think this should have been the start.

[thoughtfix]

8 minutes ago, Amodin said:

The problem with your analogy here is those companies charge fees in order to have operational costs. 

It does not matter at all. They're fictional companies handling fictional money, and real developers trying to balance a fictional economy with real players who want to exploit it. The real developers have to close all gaps real players can use to exploit transaction fees, including a fictional tax on fictional transactions. None of this is tyranny, as you said.

10 minutes ago, Amodin said:

And the fact that all of you keep missing - I have no problems with their other changes related to appropriate taxing.

I don't like scorpions stinging me, so they're only allowed in my left shoe. Not in my pants or shirts or right shoe. Only my left shoe. I have to allow them in my left shoe. Otherwise, it will be unfair to them. I think they'll lose way fewer subscribers to taxed trade if it fixes hyperinflation and removes other badly-implemented taxes (like quick travel taxes.)  How many people can afford to sell something for 5,000,000 credits but cannot afford to pay a (steep but still fictional) 250,000 credit tax? Fine. Then they can sell it for 5.5 million credits. If someone else believes it's worthwhile, they'll spend 5.5 million credits on it, and the original seller will get their 5M+

[Zechalakazam]

Other have pointed out whats like, dislike and wants.

 

But I want to add another voice to: Cross-Server GTN. Would massively helps inflation on low pop server.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Zechalakazam
Typo

[thoughtfix]

20 minutes ago, cobrak said:

I am worried this will negatively affect Roleplay guilds. We (And every Roleplay guild I am aware of) trade our new members a uniform set, would the receiver of the items have to pay a tax? I am worried this will substantially inhibit the ability of new players to participate in guild activities if they have to pay a percentage of the items.

Withdrawals from guild banks will be tricky to implement. Perhaps cash withdrawals would be taxed but gear withdrawals would be free. That would reduce the number of guilds created specifically to trade items for deposits, anyway.

[DWho]

4 minutes ago, thoughtfix said:

Withdrawals from guild banks will be tricky to implement. Perhaps cash withdrawals would be taxed but gear withdrawals would be free. That would reduce the number of guilds created specifically to trade items for deposits, anyway.

Could be done as, into the Guild bank is free, out is paid from the Guild bank.

[thoughtfix]

1 minute ago, DWho said:

Could be done as, into the Guild bank is free, out is paid from the Guild bank.

I could imagine exploiters with an alt and a guild that's specifically there so a person can be invited, make a large deposit of credits, take a withdrawal of an item, and then get kicked out of the guild.  Duty-free trade right there and all you need are an alt each.  I guess making it so new guild members (of all guilds) couldn't interact with the guild bank for 24-48 hours would solve most of this loophole.

 

[Blakinik]

10 hours ago, JoeStramaglia said:

 

• Is there anything you wish you could do on the GTN that you cannot do currently?
• Are there any specific filters, searches, or ways of finding items you particularly like or that you wish existed?

I'm curious why you don't use the buy / sell que like most other games?  Right now its annoying as heck to scroll through page after page of 1 credit less than the prior item.  Why not have a bid / ask system where I can bid at some low number and people can ask for some insane number.  In either case, no trade would happen.  But if I bid at a fair market value and I ask a fair market value, the trade will commence. 

Next I would like to find specific sellers or "block" specific sellers.  That way if as a buyer I want too support a particular player I can and simultaneously if I grow tired of someone 1 credit under bidding me, I can block their postings.

But what I really, really, really want (telling you what I really, really, really want!) (sorry Spice Girl moment there) is the ability to have a vendor that is specific to my stronghold.  I could post everything to the vendor and sidestep all the GTN actions.  Furthermore I could convert my stronghold to a real marketplace and stock up particular vendors to the prices I want.  I know Ultima Online had something like this 2 decades ago (except the vendors cost money to stick around) and liked the concept.  Curious if that could be something?

I'm sure if you give time, I will come up with some more items.

Thanks,

Blakinik

[DWho]

8 minutes ago, thoughtfix said:

I could imagine exploiters with an alt and a guild that's specifically there so a person can be invited, make a large deposit of credits, take a withdrawal of an item, and then get kicked out of the guild.  Duty-free trade right there and all you need are an alt each.  I guess making it so new guild members (of all guilds) couldn't interact with the guild bank for 24-48 hours would solve most of this loophole.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. If a player places a deposit in the guild bank (say 1 million credits) and then withdraws an item (and the guild pays the appropriate tax for that item when it is removed from the guild bank), how is this a duty free trade? Someone still had to pay the tax (who pays it really isn't the issue as long as it is paid, credits flow out of the game).

[Jedi_Isaiah]

6 hours ago, Darcmoon said:

You don't need mounts either.  Maybe they should put a tax on using them every time you mount up?  (Yes, I'm being sarcastic)  The issue with the QT cost is that they took an ability that never had a cost on it since the beginning of the game, one they have consistently made more and more friendly for casual use, and decided to charge for it.  That is the exact opposite of a QOL change.

I don't need your sarcasm; I need real valuable input. The whole point of these changes stems from players who abused the game in order to gather tons of free credits with little to no effort. When people abuse systems willingly, good things get taken away, that's just facts. On the flip side, they never said that these changes would remain forever either. This is their response and their fix to removing what players did. How are you supposed to remove all of the credits people have otherwise? A small tax is nothing to all of those players that abused the system. There have been tons of players posting on reddit their multiple accounts and characters full of credits. I stand with the devs because they are ACUTALLY taking steps to fix the inflated economy. Let them do what they need to first. If it doesn't work out after they complete their plan, then we can talk.

[thoughtfix]

6 minutes ago, DWho said:

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. If a player places a deposit in the guild bank (say 1 million credits) and then withdraws an item (and the guild pays the appropriate tax for that item when it is removed from the guild bank), how is this a duty free trade? Someone still had to pay the tax (who pays it really isn't the issue as long as it is paid, credits flow out of the game).

I misunderstood! I thought you meant the guild pays the withdrawal, not the guild pays the duties. My mistake!

[DWho]

Just now, thoughtfix said:

I misunderstood! I thought you meant the guild pays the withdrawal, not the guild pays the duties. My mistake!

No Problem. I think that's the best outcome for those guilds that give prizes. It simply means the prize is a little larger and the player they are rewarding still get the same reward (not having it "devalued" by having to pay a tax on it). Though I could see a system where either party pays the tax through a "checkbox" in the transaction interface.

[cobrak]

37 minutes ago, thoughtfix said:

Withdrawals from guild banks will be tricky to implement. Perhaps cash withdrawals would be taxed but gear withdrawals would be free. That would reduce the number of guilds created specifically to trade items for deposits, anyway.

We trade or mail new players uniforms. They often can not access the guild bank as a F2P. I am worried that a new player being required to pay for part of thier own uniform will avoid RP and joining communities

[Char_Ell]

8 hours ago, codydmaan said:

tax the items in a trade window individualy.

Example people now only trade in cartel packs because the credit inflation is so high. 

Tax the amount per item in relation to their last traded value on the gtn.

I strongly object to this idea of taxing player-to-player non-credit transactions based on whatever perceived credit value the item(s) have.  This is the credit economy initiative, not the barter economy initiative.  I would not want to see scenarios like a generous player in an ops group getting taxed because they traded a stim and/or medpack at no charge to another ops group member that did not have one.  If the ops group player sells the stim to the other ops group member then sure, tax the credits in the transaction.  But if it's a "no credits exchanged" trade then no tax should be levied.

[thoughtfix]

1 hour ago, Char_Ell said:

I strongly object to this idea of taxing player-to-player non-credit transactions based on whatever perceived credit value the item(s) have.  This is the credit economy initiative, not the barter economy initiative.  I would not want to see scenarios like a generous player in an ops group getting taxed because they traded a stim and/or medpack at no charge to another ops group member that did not have one.  If the ops group player sells the stim to the other ops group member then sure, tax the credits in the transaction.  But if it's a "no credits exchanged" trade then no tax should be levied.

As much as I advocate for taxes on all transactions involving credits, I agree that "giveaway" and "item for item" transactions cannot be taxed reasonably. The goal of the taxes are to remove credits from the economy, and the way to do that is to go after credits. If high-end items start selling for "cartel packs" then either people will have to buy a ton of cartel packs (which add no new credits to the economy) for real money or they will have to buy cartel packs on the GTN for credits (which will pay the tax.)  That is an unsustainable model, though. The more cartel packs floating around "as currency" and not open to be looted, the less they are worth. Except people will be paying real money for them, so the people willing to deal in cartel packs and not credits are going to be much fewer.  This isn't even accounting for the idea that there is no way to fairly and accurately estimate the value of those items unless they're directly from a vendor.

This would also take care of @cobrak's concern about guild uniform transactions. It's an item given freely, not adding new credits to the economy.

Free non-credit item trades or giveaways should not be taxed.

Edited May 2, 2023 by thoughtfix
adding reply to cobrak

[Blakinik]

2 hours ago, Char_Ell said:

I strongly object to this idea of taxing player-to-player non-credit transactions based on whatever perceived credit value the item(s) have.  This is the credit economy initiative, not the barter economy initiative.  I would not want to see scenarios like a generous player in an ops group getting taxed because they traded a stim and/or medpack at no charge to another ops group member that did not have one.  If the ops group player sells the stim to the other ops group member then sure, tax the credits in the transaction.  But if it's a "no credits exchanged" trade then no tax should be levied.

Thought it was stated somewhere that there would be a "floor" on the taxes where certain "value" items would be untaxed.  I see a medpac or stim in this category.  Also it was noted that some items "value" would be adjusted to better reflect the actual values of the items.

I also agree there are some questions that needs to be fleshed out like who pays if I give someone an item of "value".  I suspect a guild bank vault will be turned into a "item exchange" for guild mates to avoid the tax as well.  Problem is at what point does the line cross from legitimate exchanges to downright tax avoidance schemes.

[RyvickTheFirst]

Quick question that I hope is noticed:

Will NPC mails sent to us be taxed too? If so I could completely foresee one of these wiping out someones Credits due to a bad number pricing on an old item.

[annoob]

  Assuming the changes mentioned in the post are already in effect,

• What do you like about how the GTN currently functions?
  • Most convenient way of buying and selling items (at least those under 1 billion credits)
• What do you dislike about how the GTN currently functions?
  • Default sort is weird, have to manually sort by some column and then sort by Unit Price
  • Default price and duration when listing an item is useless 99% of the time
  • Maximum of 3 days for a listing
  • Fuzzy Search can cause issues (for things like "Artifact Lustrous Artifact Fragment" or "Veda Cloth")
  • 1B limit ensures no rare CM items ever get listed on the GTN
• Is there anything you wish you could do on the GTN that you cannot do currently?
  • Buy/Sell for more than 1B credits
    • Buy/sell for more than 2^32 - 1 using legacy credits for subs would also be nice for those ultra-rare items
  • A way to search for an exact match (a query like 

    [Artifact Lustrous Artifact Fragment]

    which should only return the item "Artifact Lustrous Artifact Fragment" and not "Premium Lustrous Artifact Fragment")
  • Save time by having the auto-filled default price when selling be based on current pricing (current unit price -5% or something)
    • Even better if the amount to undercut by could be configured
  • Listing items for more than 3 days (could be gated behind the total price of a listing to avoid unnecessarily filling the DB with spammy listings)
  • A way to specify price per item when selling instead of having to do the math for price per stack
    • This is already a thing when making multiple listings for the same item
  • A way to buy X amount of stackable items automatically from whatever listings exist
    • Ideally this should have a confirmation prompt telling the user the lowest & average & max price per item
  • A way to create a buy order for items
• Are there any specific filters, searches, or ways of finding items you particularly like or that you wish existed?
  • A new tab to save items I'm interested in and see if they're on the GTN and what the lowest price is at the moment
    • Alternatively, this could be implemented as a way to save searches with some sort of a "Saved Searches" tab
  • Better filters for what people usually search for
    • CM items (and the opposite if looking for drops or crafted gear)
    • CM rarity (bronze/silver/gold/whatever the rarest one is called)
    • Items not yet unlocked in collections
    • Items not yet unlocked for Crew Skills
  • A toggle/checkbox that applies the UNIQUE filter to searches (for things like dyes and colour crystals)
• What kinds of information do you use to decide when to make a purchase? If you could have more information what would you want?
  • Current Price
  • Number of listings
  • The new Lamborghini in my Hollywood Hills garage (knowledge of how many credits items sell for)

[Glzmo]

18 hours ago, JoeStramaglia said:

When we open up 7.3 content on the PTS, players will be able to see the following adjustments:

• We’re retiring the Tax Evasion Guild Perk, it will no longer be available in future rotations.
• Secure Trade, Mail, and Collect on Deposit will now have an associated transaction fee based on the value of the transaction. The fee is aligned to the Galactic Trade Network Commission Fee at 8%.
• Some items will adjust the value of a transaction when transferred via Trade, Mail, and COD and will be subject to the same fee.
• Many items will have adjusted Vendor sale values.

These changes are largely motivated around reducing GTN tax avoidance and adjusting credit inflow from item sales. However we’ve got a suite of changes that rely on these coming in our next phase, which I am going to reveal a little bit earlier as there will be further adjustments to these numbers as a result.
 

No, you are making this game more and more and more un-fun to play. This once again will only punish poor, casual players including low-levels and also roleplayers as the last taxation/fee changes did.

For example, if I want to give some items or credits to members of my family or my own alt accounts that don't have time to play a lot but come in, there will now be a tax associated to it? You need to implement a system where you can flag people as friends and trade freely with them without taxes.
For example, my brother and my niece logged in the other day and wanted to go to a planet (because of your stupid changes!) to join me for roleplay, but she was stuck with no credits. My brother had just enough credits for both to travel, so he traded them to her. With your stupid tax system, he wouldn't have been able to.

Another situation occured with my brother later, his gear was shot and he didn't have enough credits to repair it. Due to his gear being shot, he couldn't even do missions to make enough credits to repair it. So he had to get credits from other players so he could fix himself up. With the tax on trades, other players will now be less social and not be able to give him the credits he needs for repairs.

He and my niece already said this chicanery has sapped out the fun from the game for them, imagine how it will be when trading items and credits between family and friends will now costs fess as well.

As you can see, your taxation changes are actually due to your flawed game design and you didn't even think it through properly.

These punishing changes will drive many more casual players away from the game and also their friends and family that find time to play more and enjoy playing with them and will be stuck all alone.

At the very least add a lower limit underneath which these taxes won't apply (perhaps also on the GTN, so people will be encouraged to sell things for less to combat inflation!).
It should be enough for a couple of full repairs at the highest possible item level (the ceiling should be raised as soon as new gear with higher repair costs is introduced as well!), travel, and other necessary things. For example, maybe anything above a million should be taxed, anything below that should be free of taxation. To get around people trading multipla times for below a million in a short span of time to cheat this system, add a limit of 2-3 times you can trade for free within 6 hours or so (that will dissuade strangers and ensure you only trade with friends you know).

Another option would be to change the tax only for the wealthy. For example, only if you have more than say 10 million credits in your legacy bank and character combined, you get charged the transaction fees, travel fees, repair costs and other credit sinks recently introduces (as well as older ones), if you are below that there are no fees.

Also, what about Smugglers? Will they get the ability to completely avoid taxes? That's their nature, after all. Maybe implement a fun system so players can utilize smugglers to launder taxes before you actually implement such taxes?

Again, the last time I suggested a lot of alternate credit sinks to you (click here to read them) as did many others that won't ruin the fun for regular players, use those instead instead of putting taxes on things that have been free virtually forever and them being free is important to the game being enjoyable and fun for everyone.

Also, instead of spending dev time on adding things players don't want and are unfun and only drive players away from the game, how about you spned your dev time and budget to implement things that players have wanted and promised since launch, like the option to enable speech bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote chat or more flashpoints with fun multiplayer conversations and alternate paths like the Esseles or Black Talon, giving people the ability to progress through the class and expansion stories together (with credit being given to everyone in the group), etc..?


In protest of these proposed upcoming changes as well as the previous changes that taxed things like quick travel, exiting a stronghold to a planet and the quick travel terminals, we are all going to unsubscribe from the game until you reconsider and don't implement these taxes as well as undo the things you did the last patch that introduced credit sinks and go play the good, old SWG instead. Dwindling player counts may just be the only thing that will persuade you to drive back any changes.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Glzmo

[ThrillInstructor]

First of all, I like that BioWare actually invest some dev time into the trade system. That has potential. As to your questions:

• What do you like about how the GTN currently functions?

I like that it is there at all. A good market system offers something which is of great importance to users which is transparency. The worst aspect of the credit cap for items is the necessity to approach the trade channel for premium items as the trade channel is a cesspool of greed and shady characters. It feels like talking to a bunch of drug dealers in the worst part of town and selling there feels like dealing with a bunch of junkies looking for a cheap fix. Recent changes to the game economy and the fact that notorious credit sellers sort of ran out of credits have pushed the price threshold for the most expensive premium items to roughly three billion credits. A raise of the credit cap would remove the need for a trade chat to exchange premium items entirely.

• What do you dislike about how the GTN currently functions?

If anything I dislike that there is not penalty to hoarding items at all. One of the more pressing problems to "people in trade" is that they simply have to move their merch. In real life stuff goes bad or becomes outdated/obsolete. You also have to pay fees for storage and handling. In this game people can hide their (sometimes ill-gotten) wealth in vast item storages. I'd like to see cartel market items lose their unbound status after a while. Maybe after six months or so those items should bind to the legacy owning them. That would really put the pressure on certain power sellers to liquidate their stocks and thus deminish their leverage on the market system.

• Is there anything you wish you could do on the GTN that you cannot do currently?

Oh, where to begin? A watchlist for certain items would be nice. I'd also like to place "buy orders" instead of just sell orders. Something like "I can pay ammount X for item Y". That would be a godsend especially if you are looking to buy certain resources in bulk for crafting. One might consider matching buy and sell orders. I do fear, though, that some would abuse this system to catch people who make mistakes entering prices.

• Are there any specific filters, searches, or ways of finding items you particularly like or that you wish existed?

Well, as someone who fleeces the market for bargains and good deals, a search function for "new on the market" irregardless of the offer's duration would be nice. I already mentioned a personal watchlist for items. It would be amazing if there then were something like "x players have this item on their watchlist" in order to gauge "consumer interest" (The items on the watchlist should have a limited "duration" so that inactive accounts won't clog the system).

• What kinds of information do you use to decide when to make a purchase? If you could have more information what would you want?

Currently, there is no alternative to experience and market knowledge. Transparent as the GTN is, the average buyer/seller usually doesn't know what constitutes a "fair price". That problem is exacerbated by certain traders who spam the market with bogus "offers" at high prices to artificially inflate perceived price levels. A key information would be something like "trade volume" and average sale price. A minimal version like "23 items sold during the last 30 days at an average price of X". Maybe with a high/low price information or if you are really ambitious a chart like the Steam item market has. That would really help the casual customer to close the information gap compared to the GTN-pros a bit.

[AbsolutGrndZero]

The problem I have with this is that I love to go to the newbie planets and gift the old crafted color crystals to new players, especially some of the rarer pre-cartel market colors.  I quite often get new player complement my magenta lightsaber, so I love being able to just give them that crystal.

Now I am going to have to pay a FEE to give them something for free? Are they going to have to pay the fee?   Either way, this is stupid.

Far better as others have said, limit the total credit amount someone can trade directly, but don't do a fee.  

For example:  

Okay, I want to buy this 100,000,000 item you want to sell, but we can't trade more than 1,000,000 so we are going to make 100 trades of 1,000,000 credits.  Oh and go ahead and give me the item with the first trade... or with the last... either way, nobody is going to do that. 

But a fee on all trades just punishes players who want to be nice.

Please, do not do this.


 

[jedimasterjac]

9 hours ago, cacophonycat said:

My whole reply was highlighted. I'm confused. I deleted everything I just spent 20 minutes writing to post this, to give you a head's up that I guess it didn't like me copying and pasting from the op?

Out of curiosity, was your entire post in the color that BioWare devs use? You’re not allowed to use that color. 
 

I can’t think of any other reason off the top of my head. 

[jedimasterjac]

9 hours ago, cobrak said:

would the receiver of the items have to pay a tax?

As I understand it, the tax is on the giver, not the person receiving the item. And if your trade involves no credits, there’s no tax to pay. 
 

An 8% fee on a transaction that involved 0 credits is 0 credits. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by jedimasterjac

[AbsolutGrndZero]

3 minutes ago, jedimasterjac said:

As I understand it, the tax is on the giver, not the person receiving the item. And if your trade involves no credits, there’s no tax to pay.

Hmm, okay that's maybe not so bad then if its only on credits, but at the same time, as others have said, that's still going to make it harder to help out friends and family.   Like if I want to give my friend that is new to the game 100,000 credits to build some outfits in the outfitter (as I recently did) why should I have to PAY to do that?

Just think limiting how much one can trade would be far better than penalizing players for doing so.

Edited May 2, 2023 by AbsolutGrndZero