GCA: Galactic Commerce Association

[raphael]

Sorry, I've been busy.. Busy with other games. lol

Anyway, is there a final draft for the bylaws? I will send the 100 QPs once it's final.

I will donate another 100 million solars to start the trade corp (in diamonds).

As I mentioned before, I prefer no taxes whatsoever. Do we have a volunteer as to who will manage the trade corp? What do you guys think would be a fair compensation for the manager?

GCA Bank is a nice idea, but too many variables to consider. Might be better to perfect the trade corp first before we branch out. 

[Pokeboy]

Well, I don’t really know how to write bylaws, so hopefully someone else can do it.

 As for a leader, I would, but I think PT would fall apart without me, being the strongest member and founder.

[CliffClavin]

I will support Corp by providing a space station

[Publius]

Sorry, been busy IRL..

I'm thinking a thing of convenience with no growing value, just pass thru's.  If we need some power to rank high enough for people to find and join, I'll contribute some mid-level nukes.  At worse, if stolen they could only be used once ;-)

Value shouldn't be retained - so no temptation.  We have 3 ships, all Earth bound - no drives.
"Counter" is all the regular members see. They put stuff on, they get stuff off.
"Register" has fees, payments, and collateral on it, preferably in diamonds.  Like any good cash register, it gets emptied frequently.
"Shelf" holds stuff for when the other party isn't in the same time zone, and the transaction has to be spread over a day.
(maybe Register and Shelf can be same ship in actuality - conceptually they're different)

Customers can only interact with cargo on their assigned ship (will always be Counter).
(ed. 04/11) Merchants are longtime Customers who pay for their own Member license and are never kicked (except for months inactive, or dishonest or illegal dealings).  Merchants can "rent" a corp ship for Storage if they pay for the Ship license and the ship.
(ed. 04/11) Managers can assign ships and accept members, but can't change mods or kick members.  (keeps the ships Earth Bound, and prevents a rogue Manager from kicking everyone until becoming Leader ;-)
(ed. 04/11) Sponsors can change mods and kick members.  Customers should voluntarily leave Trade Corp after their transaction is done, so Trade Corp doesn't have to buy lots of member licenses.  So getting kicked by a Sponsor should have a small penalty next time the kickee wants to join.
(ed. 04/11) Leader (AG designation) should be the alt of a Sponsor with very long and respected AG credentials, including top 20 (preferably top 10) pow Rank.  So has better things to do than cash out this convenient little public utility, and brings the heft of their reputation and corp to promote "good behavior".

Open issues:  Fee structure, manager wages, hours of operation, how long we're willing to pend a transaction, what to do with unclaimed merchandise, dispute resolution, penalties, treaties (eg. can someone on a KOS list trade?  if not, whose KOS list(s)?)

[Pokeboy]

Open issues:  Fee structure, manager wages, hours of operation, how long we're willing to pend a transaction, what to do with unclaimed merchandise, dispute resolution, penalties, treaties (eg. can someone on a KOS list trade?  if not, whose KOS list(s)?)

Commerce is not just trade but social relations, so this corporation will regulate trade and will act as an alliance between GCA member corporations. This means the KoS list comes from all KoS lists of all GCA member corporations.

In my opinion, a transaction should be pending for a maximum of 48 hours, and any unclaimed merchandise should be auctioned offon the GCA Market forum thread which will be created if it has not already.

[Publius]

Open issues:  Fee structure, manager wages, hours of operation, how long we're willing to pend a transaction, what to do with unclaimed merchandise, dispute resolution, penalties, treaties (eg. can someone on a KOS list trade?  if not, whose KOS list(s)?)

Commerce is not just trade but social relations, so this corporation will regulate trade and will act as an alliance between GCA member corporations. This means the KoS list comes from all KoS lists of all GCA member corporations.

In my opinion, a transaction should be pending for a maximum of 48 hours, and any unclaimed merchandise should be auctioned offon the GCA Market forum thread which will be created if it has not already.

Like both :-)  Money raised from the auction, minus a fee, will be saved for the original owner unless they're declared Inactive from AG after some very long period (maybe 3-months?), in which case the money goes to their corp at the time of the auction, or to Trade Corp's sponsors and managers by some formula TBD.

[Pokeboy]

Sounds good. It might be difficult to save auction money for original owner, so if we want to save anything for the original owner, which may be advisable, we should just keep the modules. After a certain time if they have not claimed their merchandise we can keep it or auction it at GCA preference.

I will try to throw together another set of updated ‘bylaws’, but I can’t promise it will be very good. I really hope we can get this started soon. Cpt. Dante Locke just passed a PT bank law and a PT commerce law based on this thread, so even if we never even start this thing, at least something has come of it.

[Publius]

Sounds good. It might be difficult to save auction money for original owner, so if we want to save anything for the original owner, which may be advisable, we should just keep the modules. After a certain time if they have not claimed their merchandise we can keep it or auction it at GCA preference.

I will try to throw together another set of updated ‘bylaws’, but I can’t promise it will be very good. I really hope we can get this started soon. Cpt. Dante Locke just passed a PT bank law and a PT commerce law based on this thread, so even if we never even start this thing, at least something has come of it.

Not hard at all to save the money - let a Sponsor do it.  Unless it's a massive trade between corps, any amount likely to be owed can come out of a Sponsor's petty cash the day it's required.  (Like the real world, AG has billionaires.)  Essentially, Trade Corp gives the Sponsor the money, in return for a public IOU.  

What compels the Sponsor to honor the IOU?  Nothing but their ethics and their rep with other players, especially other Sponsors..  For really complete coverage, ideally the Corp of a Sponsor will agree to cover any public debts should the Sponsor become inactive.  What happens if a major Corp goes inactive?..  Let's worry about that later ;-)

[Publius]

I will support Corp by providing a space station

Don't think one's needed?  Reason to keep Trade Corp, Earth bound, is can't attack Earth based assets due to AG's programming.  So no defense costs!  Since Stations can't orbit Earth, Trade Corp won't use Stations.

[raphael]

Yeah, I guess we won't need stations for now.

Pokeboy, the bylaws will be a work in progress anyway, so just cover as much as you can, then publish it. I will send the QPs afterwards. I suggest you create a separate thread for it where we can comment on it, then you will just modify your first post based on agreed changes (your first post will be the bylaws).

Another thing, who will have the authority to change the bylaws? Maybe we can agree that those who wants to have a voice will pay a one-time payment?

I prefer no trading tax, and if the manager's salary is reasonable enough, I can pay for it myself. We just need to look for a willing and reliable captain to manage the trade corp.

 

[CliffClavin]

CliffClavin - to sponsor, in the normal sense of the term - you need to put up something of value.  Raphael led with $100m, I followed with around $90m.
You're staking..  (maybe $26m for Freighter-X Optimization on the first transfer ship ?-)

Iow.. we're endowing a Not-for-Profit NGO  
 
fwiw, I'd been thinking more of a B-Corp, to be handed over to mid level players who'd benefit the most from taking it big in an ethical manner.  However, am just as happy this way :-)

I will work to gain some money

[Publius]

CliffClavin - to sponsor, in the normal sense of the term - you need to put up something of value.  Raphael led with $100m, I followed with around $90m.
You're staking..  (maybe $26m for Freighter-X Optimization on the first transfer ship ?-)

Iow.. we're endowing a Not-for-Profit NGO  
 
fwiw, I'd been thinking more of a B-Corp, to be handed over to mid level players who'd benefit the most from taking it big in an ethical manner.  However, am just as happy this way :-)

I will work to gain some money

Or you could Manage the operation and make some money :-)

[Pokeboy]

I have completed my rough draft and am open to comments.

I know I am definitely missing some things, and, on top of that, I put in certain laws that were discussed in here but not decided on, such as whether or not weapons would be allowed.

Here are some of the more controversial laws I added:
- A GCA member corp. must be peaceful.
- A GCA member corp. must be on the first page (in the top 20).
- GCA will grant loans in diamonds at an interest rate of 15% per month.
- If GCA is not paid back within 6 months, you will be placed on the KoS list.
- GCA bank can also store other things of value for a fee.
- Rights to the GCA idea, along with a veto are given to the original members, Publius, Raphael, CliffClavin, and     
   Pokéboy. If someone else wants to claim that They are a founder or wants to not be a founder, then they may   
   present their case and we will change the bylaws as such.
- If these rights are violated or the corp. is copied, the criminal will be put on the KoS list and any claims by   
   them will be treated as invalid.
- No modules capable of attack upon an enemy should be traded of a Mk. higher than C.
- Sale of illegal modules will be punished with a warning unless it is a second offense. If this is a second
  offense, you will be placed on the KoS list.

[CliffClavin]

Sounds good to me



By the way Federation is back on our Kos list

[Pokeboy]

That was fast. I had no idea you were online.