Idea against Undercutting at the Marketboard (The next.. )

[Stihllodeing]

@Zedd702

Thank you for your honesty. I can respect that.

I'm also guilty of letting my emotions dictate my buying habits as well at times. I said this in a earlier post:

The only people I don't buy from are people with retainer names like: stupidslutface and dghjusyndgtf.

I know that's bad for business. And don't get me wrong, if one of those retainers were selling vanya silk or a blue bird for 500 gil I'd buy it in a heart beat. We all have our quirks I suppose.

I'm just trying to clear up the notion that "1 gil undercutting is always bad and there's never a reason to do it". I'll give a couple examples, and maybe this will give people a more clear picture of what happens on the MB from the perspective of a seller who doesn't specialize in anything other than quantity and low-mid tier distribution.

*Selling fleece. I keep HQ fleece for my own use, but put NQ on the MB more often than not.

Example 1:

500 - randomseller1
600 - randomseller2
600 - randomseller2
600 - randomseller2
950 - randomseller3
1200 - randomseller4
1250 - randomseller5

I this case I won't undercut. I'll list my fleece at 500 gil. Not because I'm trying to protect market integrity (fleece are not worth 500 a piece, imo) but because there is a low risk of me being bottom paged.

Example 2:

599 - randomseller1
599 - randomseller1
599 - randomseller1
600 - randomseller2
600 - randomseller3
600 - randomseller3
600 - randomseller3
1200 - randomseller4
1250 - randomseller5

In this case, my fleece are going up at 598. Not because I think I'm offering someone a "deal", but because I now have competition for top page.

Example 3:

600 - randomseller1
600 - randomseller1
600 - randomseller1
600 - randomseller2
600 - randomseller3
600 - randomseller3
600 - randomseller3
700 - randomseller4
700 - randomseller5

In this case, the undercutting has "technically" begun. And as I said, in all these cases the product I'm selling seems overvalued to begin with (which is the case for a majority of products available on the market board). I'll list my fleece at 575. I would prefer it to be listed at 599. A price of 599 would seem to protect whatever integrity the MB has, but I'm still experimenting with the "does undercutting by 25,50,75 gil snare the people who are so opposed to 1 gil undercutting?"

And for anyone who might ask, "If you think it's overvalued, why don't you list at what you think is appropriate?"

It's simple. Anyone can go get fleece, just about anyone anyway. It's almost impossible to determine the value of this product. The only reason you buy fleece from the MB is convenience....how do you price convenience? I might as well capitalize on the current value.

Anyway, unless something is so grossly overvalued my 5 year old could point it out, I'll never undercut by a large margin. So in comparison, my selling habits seem rather "stand upish".