FFXIV ECONOMICS 101

[Sadana]

I think an item's worth is what people will pay for it. If the price is too high, folks will just go and gather their own or work out a deal with friends. The market would stagnate. We'll agree though that undercutting so much on stuff that moves at the higher price is just silly. Dropping price on items that AREN'T selling makes sense.

[Surian]

I think an item's worth is what people will pay for it. If the price is too high, folks will just go and gather their own or work out a deal with friends. The market would stagnate. We'll agree though that undercutting so much on stuff that moves at the higher price is just silly. Dropping price on items that AREN'T selling makes sense.

This

A crafter might find that their Buttons in a Blanket is worth 2000 gil for a NQ and 3000 gil for a HQ because he put atleast 2100 gil of "value" in it (outside of the things he gathers for free), but the buyer doesnt percieve it this way.

The worth of an item isnt equal to the cold hard math a crafter does to calculate what works for him and what does not. The worth of an item is equal to what the buyer feels is a reasonable price for them.

2000 gil for Buttons in a Blanket? I'll pass. Why? Because there's more than one item i could buy. And if there's something much cheaper for a minimal loss in stats, that is a much more preferable alternative.

Outside ofcourse of the whole fact that, If someone can sell Buttons in a Blanket for 2000 gil and make a profit because he farmed up the items himself, and you cannot because you bought the ingredients off the market boards, THAT is economics. It's not a question about if he could get more value out of his time spend. That would only work if you play this game for a living, and craft to make a steady amount of gil you must reach each day due to expenses, opposed to craft a little between dungeons if you have the time or care for it. If i sell something, great! I get some extra money. If i dont get to craft and thus not get to sell something, i personally couldnt care less. So i could have farmed instead of sat around and could have made -more- money than that one item i made? Why would i care. I, and i really hope you as well, am playing this game to relax or to have fun. I have no expenses i must pay each day ingame that i can only fund with crafting, nothing that simply running the dungeon itself pays for already that is.

In modern day life it's not any diffirent, if a contractor A can do something in 10 months for $ 400.000 and another called B can do it in 12 months for $ 350.000, who would get it? If you purely look at value vs. time then A would win out, but B will always get the contract because he's cheaper. Why? It's a minimal loss in time ("value") that could have been spend diffirently, for less costs. And it will be even more of a no-brainer if both can do it in 10 months. That's the basis of a free economy. People can ask whatever they want, and people can decline to buy things if they seem rediculous.

If your rival crafter can sell something cheaper and still make money, kudos to him. Could have have spend his time better? Sure.

But if you're thinking like that, why not think big? Set up a syndicate, get crafters together, agree on prices for items depending on expenses to make it, and who crafts what, and let no one else into the market but you guys. They can join you, share in the profits on their own items of their choosing or they can go down. Collectively you can buy up anything people put on the market and either re-list it or find other creative ways to do your things.