So one of the problems I have with almost every RPG (not just Skyrim) is that you start to accumulate and make so much stuff and the Shops never have enough money on hand to allow you to sell to them. I understand the the underlying objective is probably trade, but as with all RPGs (Skyrim included) you find the best stuff out in the field not at shops so there is little to trade for. This also creates a situation where you have more money than most small countries because there is little to spend it on.

Some friends and I thought it would be cool to add a Perk to the Speech skill set called "Shop Owner" that would allow you to sell your stuff through a Shop in the various cities.

How it would work:

The perk would be 3 or 4 levels high, requiring some work towards it and once activated you could go to the Jarl and request to buy a permit to start a shop in the town. Once you had the permit you would need to hire someone. Most towns have one or two homeless people wandering around so you would have to find them, and hire them to work your shop.

You would then have to keep your shop stocked with stuff you made or found.

The benefits of this would be that you would make more gold on items sold through your shop than selling to a vendor. The risk is that you only get paid every 2 in world weeks, and you have rent for your shop and wages for your keeper to pay. So it is important to keep your shop stocked.

The more shops you have (1 per city) the larger the percentage you make back on each item sold. That would be the next perk up. "Franchise" would allow you to start shops in other towns.

1 -> 10%
2 -> 15%
3 -> 20%
4 -> 25%
5+ -> 30%

Of course you have a little bit more wages, and rent to pay and you have to worry about keeping them stocked. But I am only level 56 in the game and have so many items store in my house its ridiculous. But I think this would be a fun "mini game" to play if you wanted.

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The second part of this is something to spend your money on. I think the NPC default shop keepers need to have items that you can't buy or find anywhere else. So maybe it is simply a type of ore that is imported from some other country so you can't find or harvest it, and it makes good armor or weapons. Or a type of arrow that is custom made to fly further etc etc. (More creative types would have to step in here)

Also more shops that would do other things for you. For example you find a set of Thalmor robes, but you don't want the current enchantment, for a price you can take it to a shop and they will disenchant it for you allowing you to re-enchant with other things. Want your dragon armor painted black? Pay for it. (I know we on the PC can do this through modding, but it would be a cool in game function by default)

I don't know just other services that cost money, but give the player something in return they can't get in the world for free.

Thoughts?