Does this constitute cheating or is it against the TOS?

it's nothing different that harassement, it's not borderlines... since they try to affect the gaming experience of the other.
undercutting even if it's....well annoying, are part of the game. they try to use power they don't have, only SE have any right over the market, they have.... the right ot sell them stuff at which price they want that all. they don't have the right to try to control the price of the other.

anyway, what bother me is more the fact that they know your servant name. if you don't tell them, they can't know who belong the servant. then i'm curious to know how they did find out who belong which servant. and how work them....watcher stuff.

anyway, kids nowaday don't know how make them look important, if they are too.... insistant and begin to be really harassing... contact gm that can be fun to see them ls disband and them receive warning for this sort of action.

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Originally Posted by silentwindfr

it's nothing different that harassement, it's not borderlines... since they try to affect the gaming experience of the other.
undercutting even if it's....well annoying, are part of the game. they try to use power they don't have, only SE have any right over the market, they have.... the right ot sell them stuff at which price they want that all. they don't have the right to try to control the price of the other.

anyway, what bother me is more the fact that they know your servant name. if you don't tell them, they can't know who belong the servant. then i'm curious to know how they did find out who belong which servant. and how work them....watcher stuff.

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People can look up an item's sale history and see a list of recent buyers and what prices the item sold for.

Cartels only work when either everyone agrees to it, or everyone is compelled to agree in the face of consequences. In real life many jurisdictions have laws against this often referred to as anti-competitive behavior, but I don't see how this could possibly work unless its on items or services with a very high barrier of entry. They shouldn't be punished because being unbelievably stupid about economics and failing shouldn't be punishable.

He could also just be trolling you silly, lol at the idea of crafter unions.

It'd be so easy to ruin them. Oh, you undercut me because i undercut you? Here, let me HALF the price, and keep making more and more of them, and post them at that price. Sooner or later they'll give up.

How did they know it's your retainer?

In any case, I would ignore them and go on with my life / playstyle. If they continue to send you messages like that, I would suggest reporting them for harassment and threatening.

This is on a whole new level of ridiculous. Do people really have nothing better to do than go on a witch hunt over undercutting?

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Originally Posted by Zephyranthes

How did they know it's your retainer?

In any case, I would ignore them and go on with my life / playstyle. If they continue to send you messages like that, I would suggest reporting them for harassment and threatening.

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A lot of crafted items have the crafter's name on the item.

Ohhhh this wants to make me roll up a char on excal and have some fun - I won't though cause my time is more valuable doing more meaningful things... like watching grass grow.

I usually sweep out the low gil items on the market before I sell something. Might as well turn their undercutting into my profit. I figure that most of the time people selling things for that cheap mostly just wanted to get crap out of their inventory anyway, so I'm really doing them a favor. Everyone wins~

I don't know if it is against the TOS. The markets are meant to be competitive and some are just grouping up to be more competitive. But as others have said... its not hard to throw a wrench into the operation. They're not actually able to force you to join, they either won't make any money putting their wares up for less then market value and will eventually have to buy your stuff at market value eventually.

The only reason unions in RL work is because they have agreements with employers and have the numbers to oust the self employed. They also tend to control supply and other avenues of business to make it hostile to new businesses to start up that don't first register with the union. I think Washington DC for example, to operate a cab, you need a license from the city. This license is prohibited expensive (like in the 6 figure range), and the unions get a discount by purchasing them in bulk. And of course this license was lobbied for to the City Council by such unions. (Just giving a RL example, don't argue the politics here)

However in FFXIV, I doubt they have the numbers to actually force you off and they don't control the supply, that's entirely on you. Like I said, you can merely list the prices at a fair value and if they undercut you, you could simply keep the item listed at the price until they start bleeding gil or they actually just buy the item.

They have the numbers to prevent you from extorting the market, and nothing more. Which it seems you weren't trying to do.

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Originally Posted by Warkupo

I usually sweep out the low gil items on the market before I sell something. Might as well turn their undercutting into my profit. I figure that most of the time people selling things for that cheap mostly just wanted to get crap out of their inventory anyway, so I'm really doing them a favor. Everyone wins~

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Basically this. Undercutting isn't against the rules, and if you keep undercutting them you can actually make a profit instead. Just blacklist them on contact, and lower the prices. Either they will buy up your items to resell them (more money for you), OR you'll get into an undercut war in which they simply can't win until the price goes down to 1 gil per item.

Man I wish they were on Hyperion, this would be so hilarious.