Ah, I love these things. I helped run a consortium in TERA, and we hosted a few open market faires; it was quite fun and profitable!
We did a mix of real in-game items and imaginary items. The former were exchanged for gold (the draw being that we were selling them off at significantly lower prices than they would go for on the broker), while the latter did not require any exchange of actual funds, though a few people actually did give us gold in exchange without prompt. One of our open markets ended with a short auction of a few "big ticket" items, complete with running auction commentary.
The way we organized it, we set up various "stalls" manned by one or two people. Visitors were instructed to approach the stalls and ask about wares. For me, it helped that the character I was RPing was very much a... go-getter as far as advertisement and sales went haha. I was constantly calling out to people, trying to predict what they might be after and such. If more than one person wants to do business with you, have 'em literally wait in line! Keeps things organized and straightforward.
As far as location goes, I would really recommend not doing it within Ul'dah or anywhere that there is a lot of people normally hanging around. You don't want your transactions getting lost in incidental spam. There is, however, a nice open area with some tents outside Ul'dah (can't remember which gate, though - I can check in-game later). If you want to scale up the affair, you could go for some place with nice scenery to give folk a place to "relax" in between browsing.
We did a mix of real in-game items and imaginary items. The former were exchanged for gold (the draw being that we were selling them off at significantly lower prices than they would go for on the broker), while the latter did not require any exchange of actual funds, though a few people actually did give us gold in exchange without prompt. One of our open markets ended with a short auction of a few "big ticket" items, complete with running auction commentary.
The way we organized it, we set up various "stalls" manned by one or two people. Visitors were instructed to approach the stalls and ask about wares. For me, it helped that the character I was RPing was very much a... go-getter as far as advertisement and sales went haha. I was constantly calling out to people, trying to predict what they might be after and such. If more than one person wants to do business with you, have 'em literally wait in line! Keeps things organized and straightforward.
As far as location goes, I would really recommend not doing it within Ul'dah or anywhere that there is a lot of people normally hanging around. You don't want your transactions getting lost in incidental spam. There is, however, a nice open area with some tents outside Ul'dah (can't remember which gate, though - I can check in-game later). If you want to scale up the affair, you could go for some place with nice scenery to give folk a place to "relax" in between browsing.
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
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