VENDOR SEARCH : How about time to enhance it with a "Looking for" feature ?

I have always thought that the usefull Vendor Search was missing something....

The ability to post a "Looking for" note for particular items and a way to contact the perspective buyer for those having such item to sell.

Perhaps, it could be connected to characters' "Mailboxes" and notes could be dropped in the perspective buyer character's Mailbox from those characters having that item to sell ?

Maybe, it could be time to enhance the Vendor Search with such a "Looking for" function ?

Could it be of good use to players ?

Better yet just post it in the Forums (UO and Stratics) or you could ask in Gen Chat.  We do not need VS cluttered up with a bunch of I want items or using it to run price checks/auctions, way to much potential for abuse.

Want Ads in Vendor Search... no

I would rather have a search history from which we can select what to search for. Some times I search for high SDI spell books and other times I search for cactus seeds. Being able to quickly select from the previous searches would be nice.

Bilbo said:

Better yet just post it in the Forums (UO and Stratics) or you could ask in Gen Chat.  We do not need VS cluttered up with a bunch of I want items or using it to run price checks/auctions, way to much potential for abuse.

Cinderella said:

Want Ads in Vendor Search... no

Vendor Search should only be fore items that are sold on vendors...
however I do like your idea of somewhere to post in game, items you are looking to buy...

I think it would be better on the town crier...
a WANTED section, for people to post what they are looking for.
And if someone has that, they can send them a message by clicking a dot on the listing.
either telling them where their vendor is or arranging a time and place to meet.

This made me think of the brokers in New Magincia... 
I wish they would put a statue at the minister of trade.
That when you click on it, you can enter a pets title.
It will give you a list like vendor search does...
but its for pets...

I know the DEVs have been asked for something like this for awhile.
And I know lot of peeps what this...
but i doubt if either would ever be implemented. 

would be cool to be able to buy directly from vendor search. perhaps even cross-shard.

NO buying directly.
NO cross shard.
NO ads on VS no matter what.
NO to e-mail system.
Put up Bulletin Boards at all banks, we do not need more code added to a system with 20 year old code that may/will break something else.

Bilbo said:

NO buying directly.
NO cross shard.
NO ads on VS no matter what.
NO to e-mail system.
Put up Bulletin Boards at all banks, we do not need more code added to a system with 20 year old code that may/will break something else.

What Bilbo said

The vendor search is completed development. it's not "half-complete", it doesn't need "completed". 

As a player, I want to see a searchable list of items for sale on a vendor, so that I may easily find the items I wish to purchase. That was the requirement, and that requirement has been met. This is the standard implementation across almost all games that have some sort of auction house or vendor system. 

In regard to your new development request, it's a decent idea but one that is not implemented because while it sounds great on the surface, as we peel back the layers of requirements it is not achievable without a large investment in development time. Here is why - clearly answer this one question. What is the acceptance criteria?

1) How do sellers easily find buyers for those items they want to sell in an item system as complex as UO?
-- In a system as complex and subjective as UO's item system how does the buyer list the items they are looking for? It is like the search function of the current vendor system? This works for the vendor search because it will then list all the items that met the criteria. Looking for a Deamon Slayer - great here are all the ones available find one that fits your needs. The reverse doesn't work with the buyer listing it because the seller will need to contact the buyer, pass on the full item information, and then the buyer will need to determine if that item works for their needs. It's a much slower and clunky system than the vendor search

2) How do sellers easily contact buyers once they find them?
-- In-game mailbox item? Not every player has a mailbox attached to their house. Do mailboxes recognize an owner since they are basically an extension of the secure lockdown? How does this function with co-owners? 
-- Email address attached to the account? Hopefully, I don't have to explain why this is a bad idea

This is just two of the development concerns that I can see with a buyer search type system. It's just not something you can move into an automated auction house type system given UO's item complexity without a ton of development hours. Given that there is an established message board system for the buying community, I don't see this function as a good application of limited development time. 

@Karyn %100 agree
Who is going to police this to remove bogus ads or the ads for stuff that come around once in a million years just sitting there taking up space.
Will be abused by 3rd party sites placing I want to sell or I want someone to buy my
Can you imagine just going through this mess of I want ads trying to figure out if you could even fill one of these.

Karyn said:

The vendor search is completed development. it's not "half-complete", it doesn't need "completed". 

Didn't check now, but can you exclude say antique items now? IIRC lots of stats where missing from criteria.

There is also still this bug where it cuts of the last page of results.. I mean when it doesn't bug out completely on searches you cant narrow any further..

I would call it "Broadsword-completed".

JollyJade said:

There is also still this bug where it cuts of the last page of results.. I mean when it doesn't bug out completely on searches you cant narrow any further..

I've been seeing this more and more lately.

~~~

I organized a Merchant's Association on Napa many years ago - my Luna house was a hub of sorts with runes to every non-Luna member (had about 30 at one point); then teleport pads to those who provided them. What I had done was use colored bulletin boards (red for weapons/armor, white for rares, etc. etc.). People would post what they were looking for, and other merchants would check and see if they could meet the desire then use chat or the board to communicate in game. All I asked was that when people got what they were seeking, that they come back to remove their message. I would clean up the boards once every couple of weeks, but generally the populace was rather grateful and would remove their fulfilled messages.

For a long time, that was a successful system. The Merchants were making sales, the people were getting the stuff they wanted. Most of the time, it was specialty crafted/imbued armor and weapons - customized to suite the requested need.

Kirthag said:

JollyJade said:

There is also still this bug where it cuts of the last page of results.. I mean when it doesn't bug out completely on searches you cant narrow any further..

I've been seeing this more and more lately.

~~~

I organized a Merchant's Association on Napa many years ago - my Luna house was a hub of sorts with runes to every non-Luna member (had about 30 at one point); then teleport pads to those who provided them. What I had done was use colored bulletin boards (red for weapons/armor, white for rares, etc. etc.). People would post what they were looking for, and other merchants would check and see if they could meet the desire then use chat or the board to communicate in game. All I asked was that when people got what they were seeking, that they come back to remove their message. I would clean up the boards once every couple of weeks, but generally the populace was rather grateful and would remove their fulfilled messages.

For a long time, that was a successful system. The Merchants were making sales, the people were getting the stuff they wanted. Most of the time, it was specialty crafted/imbued armor and weapons - customized to suite the requested need.

Great idea, do you still have the boards up and if so which shard?

Bilbo said:

Great idea, do you still have the boards up and if so which shard?

Not anymore - it was a collaborative effort between myself and the community back around 2002 - 2005. I no longer play Napa.

However, I posted so others could do the same on their own shard.... 

How about adding shield and major weapon types (sword, axe, poky thing, whip, etc) to the equipment list?

TimSt said:

How about adding shield and major weapon types (sword, axe, poky thing, whip, etc) to the equipment list?

Whack-a-mole style. Bleak should take an hour to sit down and note *all* the item properties missing. Then come up with a solution. Just not going to happen.