Fixing the Markets. As much our problem as SE's .

[Orsnoire]

Ok, so first two points, then I'll discuss some real issues with the economy:

1) If a player sells to the market board for less than they could get from a vendor, then yes, that's just dumb.
2) If a player sells to the market board for even 1 gil higher than they could get from a vendor (even 1 gil higher than for an entire stack, after factoring in tax), then that's economic theory at work.

If you're complaining about 1, then sure, I agree with you. Solution to 1? Buy up stuff from all the dopes and sell to the vendors. You make a bunch of gil AND help save the economy in one move. Congratulations!

If you're complaining about 2, then eh...yeah. That's just silly.

As for the post talking about the problems with the market, you're right, those are a few obvious issues (I wouldn't even label them real problems) with the market.
A) Reselling quest items only has increased the supply, without increasing demand, so naturally the price goes down. This isn't a real problem (I'll talk about why further down).
B) Only selling pre-set stacks isn't a real problem, either. Solution: farm less (or see the first solution to problem 1).
C) Knowing the vendor-sell price for a given item, or even if that items sells from vendors. Erm...you realize that it's good for the economy for players to sell items for cheaper than the vendors sell the same item? Maybe not... Oh, and it's also good for players if they know these systems to be able to buy items from vendors and relist them on the market. Both of these are working as intended. Any other complaints are really just problem 1 in disguise, and for those complaints, see solution to problem 1.

Now, let's talk about A, and the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room here is that demand has a limited lifespan. People will stop needing gear, and in the relatively near future. The (also limited) solution to this is materia. You know all those quest items you got? Spirit bind them, convert them, and sell the materia. That's your most reasonable option, really.

Furthermore, demand is constrained by money supply (and I know, some of you budding economists don't get that, but don't worry, you'll cover it later in your macroeconomics course). One of the reasons why the markets are crashing is exactly the problem many of us brought up weeks ago. The money supply in the game is too small. This has led to a natural deflationary pressure across the entire economy, and has, ultimately, slowed down demand. It remains to be seen if the gil drops in high-level dungeons will remedy this problem, but for the time being you can expect the markets to further crumble and to have more and more things listed for astronomically low prices.

Edit: one final point, about people asserting that economics doesn't apply to in-game markets. You couldn't be more wrong. Economic principles play out every hour on the market wards, exactly as one would expect them to who studies economics. Just because you don't understand it well enough to see the trends and market pressures doesn't meant they're not there or that they don't obey the principles of market forces laid out in economics...oh, and those of us who DO understand them are making a killing, even in down markets.