Please Undercut Wisely

[BlueMage]

Supply and demand. There's a higher supply than demand. Not to mention people are willing to massively reduce the price of what they're selling when they have enough stuff to sell that selling it fast by undercutting outweighs what they lose from lowering the price.

People willing to massively undercut are usually not interested in the market of an item. They don't regularly sell that item every day, every week, every month, like a job, as you do. They have a supply of something they want to unload, and they don't care about the long term affect of that item in regard to profits days/weeks/months later. Holding that supply on the AH for days/weeks to try and squeeze out some pennies or ensure the long term value of an item on the markets hurts their profits more than undercutting a few thousand gil and being rid of it.

Also, some people purposely put up a very limited amount of something on the market, massively undercutting, because they know everyone else will start undercutting as a knee jerk reaction, and they'll try to drive down prices as low as they can, because the item is something they plan on buying large quantities of over the long term. If there's an item you plan on consistently buying, the market for it being floored is a good thing.

[Rath]

I make my money crafting. I buy ingredients in huge quantities and undercut by 1 til.I go as low as people drop it until they stop selling. I then put my prices back to my average sale price and it starts all over. I generally only sell finished items and make 20-300k daily. I find nothing wrong with the mb.

[Reslin]

And i am not whining, I am trying to get whoever is reading this to realise, if you undercut by a ridiculous ammount, people will look at your price and undercut you..

No if you drop it by a ridiculous amount technically most people don't drop it to match yours. Yours sells instantly and then people move on to buy from the other sellers. This ends up not true if you're able to keep putting more up as you're selling and this then forces other people to match your price. Not everyone also farms as hardcore as you. I rarely sell things on the market board and when I do I want it to sell as quickly as possible. Know why? I probably won't be dealing with the same product anytime soon so it's irrelevant to me if the price drops on what I'm selling.

That being said, if I want to buy an item in bulk I know how to get other people to drive the prices down for me. Then I buy what I want at a reduced cost.

[Amyas]

Don't buy undercut stuff in an attempt to bring the price back up, I tried and got stuck with 10 stacks of cobalt ore and no money -_- (which I had to sell back for half the price I bout em for) Why am I so bad at making money!?

[Lyrinn]

Don't buy undercut stuff in an attempt to bring the price back up, I tried and got stuck with 10 stacks of cobalt ore and no money -_- (which I had to sell back for half the price I bout em for) Why am I so bad at making money!?

That's because you picked a poor item to flip. If it was something in high demand like fleece, you might've had better luck. If you're trying to flip items, you better know the ins and outs of that market because otherwise, it's like going into the stock market without knowing what you're doing.

[FizT]

I see an awful lot of: item vendors for 6g@ and it's in the AH for 1g@. Honestly, why would somebody do that? And there will sometimes be 15-20 vendors in the list with the item in large multiple quantities and all that low. It really baffles me. If I was needing to get rid of items (to unclutter the bags or whatever), I'd vendor the dang stuff rather than lose money in the AH on it. I've decided maybe it's because there are some really stupid people out there.

[Inquisitor]

I see an awful lot of: item vendors for 6g@ and it's in the AH for 1g@. Honestly, why would somebody do that? And there will sometimes be 15-20 vendors in the list with the item in large multiple quantities and all that low. It really baffles me. If I was needing to get rid of items (to unclutter the bags or whatever), I'd vendor the dang stuff rather than lose money in the AH on it. I've decided maybe it's because there are some really stupid people out there.

I see a lot of this too. Even if you're selling it on the market for the same price a vendor would pay you'll get less because of the market 'tax.'

And for those people who think "I farmed all the materials myself, so I make a profit no matter what I sell it for," do yourself a favor and study up on the concept of opportunity costs.

[Molly_Millions]

I've decided maybe it's because there are some really stupid people out there.

Never underestimate the vastness of human stupidity. Someone will always surprise you.

[KrazyKupo]

Never underestimate the vastness of human stupidity. Someone will always surprise you.

This is so true right here!

[DenzelTaru]

Or, I see yours for 100, list mine for 99, and have the best opportunity to make the sale. Anyone that says they don't undercut is either lying or a fool.

okay you didnt read my OP.. it wasnt about undercutting in general.. it was about undercutting stupid ammounts and dragging down the market..

an undercut of 1-10gil is fine to ensure your item is at the top of the list and sells first.. but in the past 3 days something i crafted (not what i mentioned in the OP) dropped from 1800 to 1200.. i made 30 thats 18k loss straight off the bat from what i expected..

undercutting is fine.. its how you make a sale.. undercutting by 100s at a time is ridiculous