Doing Melds for others(what to charge)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trife

Melding isn't free. It takes many hours to get your gathering/craft up to 50 to be in the position to do those melds. People need to realize this.

---

The reason I got both of my crafts to 50 wasn't for melds, it was to make the items being 50 gave me access to.

And the money I made selling said items more than make up for the money I spent grinding to 50.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trife

And your tank/ WHM comparison isn't even close to the situation, now you're just reaching for an excuse. Where do you kids come up with your logic these days? It's really ridiculous, these excuses you come up with. All I see is me, me, me from you guys...

---

Protip: Blindly refuting someone else's argument without giving a reason and then immediately following with name-calling weakens your own argument, not the other person's.

To be fair though the Tank/Healer analogy was bad. In a party everyone is playing a specific role in return for other party members doing their role. So as a tank you arent actually tanking for free. You get heals from the healer and dps from dpsers in return for tanking. Its a mutual exchange of services.

Do it for free. I got someone to meld for me and I paid them 15k.

I have personally always charged. Right now it is 3k per meld and I almost never run into people unwilling to pay it, some tip on top of that. I am not that big into giving away a service which is what materia melding is. If they wanted it for "free" they have FC mates, friends and the ability to level the craft themselves.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raldo

I don't ever charge anyone for it because all I have to do is push a button.

---

No, all you have to do is take a craft to 50. That takes a decent time investment.

/shrug If all I had to do to help hitch-hikers get from point A to point B was push a button, then I'd do that for free too, despite the time/money investment of owning a vehicle.

I did 3 melds the other day and didn't bother setting a price. Would have done them for free but got paid 5000 for each.

More often then not I get asked by strangers to do this for them. And more often then not I'm busy doing something else (like leveling another craft). Because of this I have started to charge people 15k for melds, because i have to stop what I am doing to assist them. If i wasn't busy, or it was a friend/FC/Ls mate I'd do it for free.

I've done over a hundred melds (over 95% of those melds, for free), and have never requested tips. It does tickle me, however, when a client tips me, even if that tip is 100 gil, as that informs me they appreciate my services. In that time, the highest tip I've accepted was 6k, but the player was generous and persistent-generally tips over 1K, I refuse.

I do wonder, if majority of the players realize that, rarely is it "free" on our ends as crafters and melders, especially when our food buffs are active, sometimes costing 2k for the buffs. Or that for the duration it takes for me to meld, that I could have made simple synths which could have profited 5k, if not more.

To the OP and anyone else who'll listen, you might not find melding a 'profitable' endeavor. What you may find is a social gateway which could lead to opportunities yet to come.