I really don't want to moan about undercutting but....

[Kakure]

Oh, please try that. It's not like people with money won't, you know, buy your item for half price, re-post it, undercut by 5 gil anyways, and make a ton of cash. No wait, I will. Keep on doing that.

What I am talking about: Expensive crafted items. Only a few of these sell each day on the market board.
What you are talking about: Not that.

And you know what? Those small undercuts add up over time and MAKE a stable economy; most items, like dyes, can decrease about 10-25% in value a day if they're overpriced.

What I am talking about: People who readjust the prices of their expensive crafted items every few minutes, ensuring that theirs are the lowest priced by a single gil.
What you are talking about: Not that.

[Kakure]

It only works because people let it work; if people suddenly STOPPED buying the item that is 5 gil cheaper, it would stop. However, people obviously have no reason to punish people who are attentive enough to keep undercutting their items because that constant warring DRAMATICALLY lowers the cost of everything they buy.

People unthinkingly click the first item in the list because most consumer behavior is unthinking. That is why beer commercials work. It is why free samples work. It is why people will drive across town to save less money than they spend on gas. It is why car dealers encourage you to agonize over decisions with no monetary importance, like the color of paint you want, before trying to sell you power steering and other expensive additions. It is why realtors work to make you feel that you are competing with other prospective buyers and why waitstaff at restaurants leave you two or three mints per person.

If people actually thought about it, they would recognize that selling expensive items for one gil less than the next seller has only negative systemic implications, discouraging real undercutting and discouraging crafters from taking the time to sell stuff in the first place.

[Ed_N_Ants]

Your comments - 1 gil

[Wilbow]

People unthinkingly click the first item in the list because most consumer behavior is unthinking.

Yes, this is why we do it...

If people actually thought about it, they would recognize that selling expensive items for one gil less than the next seller has only negative systemic implications, discouraging real undercutting and discouraging crafters from taking the time to sell stuff in the first place.

Keeping prices from going down discourages crafters from crafting, while massive undercutting ENCOURAGES them? Are you high? No seriously...how's the view in Denver?

[Kakure]

Keeping prices from going down discourages crafters from crafting, while massive undercutting ENCOURAGES them?

I craft a Vanya robe to sell. I list it at 85k gil. The next day I check back to find that two people are selling the same item for one or two gil less than mine. I see that four people bought this item since I last checked, all for one or two gil less than my price. I lower my price by a thousand gil. When I check back the next day I find the same thing.

It soon becomes clear to me that cutting the price of my robe isn't the way to sell it. I realize that the best way to sell expensive crafted items is to sit in front of the market board for hours compulsively checking my auctions, trying to monopolize the few sales of each item each day. If someone else is just going to come along and keep the market board stocked with the same item for one gil less than me, lowering my price isn't doing anything but cutting into my own potential profit.

[Kakure]

Having realized how the game is played, I spend the next day babysitting my auctions. For three or four long, tedious hours I sit in front of the market board constantly checking to make sure my prices are the lowest. I sell three items and lose out on another dozen or so sales. In each case, these hours my competitors and I spent adjusting our prices ended up saving the buyer tens of gil off a listing price approaching six figures.

At this point I can:

1. Waste long, tedious hours compulsively checking the market boards in order to sell my items.
2. Give up on crafting 2-star items.
3. Cut my prices dramatically, by tens of thousands of gil, until eventually I am selling items at cost just to spite the people who have made selling my stuff an unbearable chore. The whole point of the thread was to ask why people would sell items at cost. That's my reason: spite.

[Githiun]

on high ticket items, my personal rule is 250gil. Not always but usually i'll round it down tot he next quarter/1000. If it's 59,999 and I had it at 60,000 i'll drop to 59750. I personally don't like the 1gil but thats my chioce. I know how much profit I want to make on an item So if it drops lower than that profit margain it'll just sit until the prices come up.

I raise my price significantly at that point that way I don't keep the market low. I'm not hurting for money so bad that I HAVE to sell soemthing right away. I sat on a Vanya Sash of Healing for 3 days, made my price on it, didn't have to cut into my profit margain.

But thats just me.

[ToodlesMcGiggityGoo]

What would you call selling Vanya Robes of healing for 47k, when the Potash alone is worth 36k? I'd call it retarded, personally. I think on this occasion Asdamine must be right with the first reply in this thread, the player who is doing that has these items in storage and just want to get rid of them, crashing the market in the process.

Quite honestly;- if I sell my Vanya from 30000K im making a profit. Just by doing 6 CTs and the 1 daily duty roster I get about 3300 philostones. That is 26 - 27 philo mats per week without excessive grinding. Thats 3 HQ 2 star gears.

However I dont sell any of them. I use them myself. The crafted accessories especially are way better than some allagan pieces I have.

[Artemiz]

Quite honestly;- if I sell my Vanya from 30000K im making a profit. Just by doing 6 CTs and the 1 daily duty roster I get about 3300 philostones. That is 26 - 27 philo mats per week without excessive grinding. Thats 3 HQ 2 star gears.

However I dont sell any of them. I use them myself. The crafted accessories especially are way better than some allagan pieces I have.

If you where to sell a Vanya Robe for 30k (I'm assuming that's what you meant) when the cost of the Potash alone is 36k then the synth is actually costing you money. You're not making profit from crafting, all of your profit is coming from farming/gathering. Items all have a value, just because you farmed it yourself doesn't mean it's worthless. Please try to understand the difference between cost and value.

I don't know about you but I didn't level a craft to 50 and spend a load of money on overmelding so that I could waste money actually crafting the gear. If I wanted to farm for profit I would (and do) Thinking because you farmed the mats your profit margin is bigger is is a logical fallacy that franky, is a bane on the market board. Want to know how much you made from crafting? it's easy, add up the cost of all the NQ mats on the market board (or NPC) and then subtract that from the asking price of the finished item. If you come up with a negative figure then sell the mats instead.

[Artemiz]

The whole point of the thread was to ask why people would sell items at cost. That's my reason: spite.

Sigh, I was raised to believe being spiteful was a negative thing, these days people like you openly boast about it, changing times I guess. What you've done though is found one problem and then responded to it by creating another, do you think that's how life works? What about all those people who aren't undercutting yet have their income ruined by your spite? Is it still worth bragging about?