Market Board Undercutting

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

I used to do the -1 gil whenever I listed items up (like... a year ago), but Ultros' market has gotten so terrible that even just doing that seems to set off a giant undercut war and it's frankly ridiculous. Now I just meet the lowest price of whatever I'm listing, as that tends to stabilize things for a bit... before someone comes around and starts up another war due to -1ing something. -.-

At this point, I don't even bother adjusting prices right away. If an item remains at a crashed price for more than two weeks (and my own hasn't sold), I'll reprice my items. But if the market fluctuates too much for all that relisting to be worth it? Nah, I can wait for a bit on something to sell. Undercutters give me a bloody headache.

[Paladinleeds]

I'm one of the ones where I have moments where I just want to crash the price of something, I have been known to do 95%+ undercuts. Other times, I try to be more reasonable in my pricing to try and stay steady. As I don't play that often anymore it isn't such a big deal (I am trying to ween myself off this game and onto others, as well as IRL projects). It's as someone said, it's marketboard PvP. You either sink or swim.

[LineageRazor]

Ah, yet another undercutting complaint. Let's sum up the same stuff that has been rehashed again and again.

Did your stuff sell at your desired price, in spite of the undercuts? If yes, the undercutter was foolish. If no, then you're trying to hold the item at a price that is no longer viable, so YOU are the fool.

Markets shift and change all the time. There is no "correct" price for any product. If the bottom drops out of the market you're in, this is perfectly natural. Roll with the punches; either reprice your product to match the new market, or pull out and wait for the market to be favorable again (which may not happen for quite a while).

Players may have many reasons for undercutting. Perhaps they came across a surplus of product for some reason (for example, someone makes a hundered stacks of lumber while leveling up), and they want to sell low - possibly even lower than the cost of production - just to clear inventory fast. Perhaps they got the product from a treasure chest or something, and so their cost of production was essentially zero, so selling below cost doesn't bother them. Maybe they were quicker to pick up on a market shift than you were, and are unloading fast to prepare for the inevitable crash. Perhaps they are just a drooling moron. Whatever the reason, folks always have a reason for selling low. If their reason was a bad one, you have nothing to worry about; their product will sell, and so will yours. If your product doesn't sell, then YOU were the one to make the mistake, not them.

There is never a good reason to complain about undercutting. The proper price of an item is whatever sells. If your item isn't selling, it's priced too high - even if the price it IS selling for is lower than the cost of ingredients. When THAT happens, that's your cue to get out of that market, pronto. (The recent massive market shift for Replica Allagan gear is a good example - folks that didn't pick up quick on the fact that Replica Allagan gear had become available as Palace of the Dead drops took some heavy losses when that market tanked.)

Also remember, no one person can alter a market for long. They may make ripples, but if the demand is there prices will return to the way that they were fairly quickly, no matter how dramatic the ripples are. If the demand is not there, the prices will settle at a new, lower level, and that's perfectly fine.

[Tint]

I don't know why people do the -1 gil thing.. It just seems so.. pointless to me. If something is selling for 18,000. I'mma put mine up for 18,000. People always buy it.

i was like you. then i had this one rare glamour item. i was the first one on the market, it didn't sell in weeks. then within one hour i checked the last time someone else put the same item for 1 gil less on the market and it did sell instantly.

since then i don't care anymore. i undercut by 1 gil just to be on top of the list because that's the only way to sell things. that's just how the market works. and even when people have to pay a lot more for taxes, they will buy the item wich is on top of the list to save this one gil...

[Canadane]

I'm sitting on almost 300 STACKS of lumber right now and trying to sell it without crashing the market is very difficult!
I try my best to match or 'underquantity' others trying to sell theirs cheaper. I keep it spread across different city-states for tax reasons and it helps a lot. Smart players buy local!

[Zigabar]

I'm sitting on almost 300 STACKS of lumber right now and trying to sell it without crashing the market is very difficult!
I try my best to match or 'underquantity' others trying to sell theirs cheaper. I keep it spread across different city-states for tax reasons and it helps a lot. Smart players buy local!

That wouldn't happen to be Cassia, would it? I have so many stacks of those that I've just started storing them on my alt. Which is 1 step short of throwing them away. Give my logs more purpose!

[Melondra]

hmmm made around 80-90 million on this patch so far. Here is the trick folks, if there are multiple items of the same type do not undercutt it. Reduce your stack count instead. The sell the smaler stack counts at a higher price,and it will always sell. I was pulling 1 million plus just on crystals on a daily bases,my botney was pulling 3-4 million daily from noids. Worst mistake anyone can make in this game is under-cutt the market,lower your stack counts,make smallers stacks for a higher price,makes things very very profitable.

[Moonlite]

hmmm made around 80-90 million on this patch so far. Here is the trick folks, if there are multiple items of the same type do not undercutt it. Reduce your stack count instead. The sell the smaler stack counts at a higher price,and it will always sell. I was pulling 1 million plus just on crystals on a daily bases,my botney was pulling 3-4 million daily from noids. Worst mistake anyone can make in this game is under-cutt the market,lower your stack counts,make smallers stacks for a higher price,makes things very very profitable.

This sounds like someone who pays for six retainers for a total of eight. But yes if I need one I prefer to buy 1 instead of 99 even if I can resell 1 for the same cost as 99.

Also 14 is a weird market resources are literally unlimited. Other games resources are shared here you could have a whole server gathering iron ore making it worthless or only 1 person selling it for twice as much as the vendor two feet away. So if it takes the same amount of time to gather and make a lvl 5 item as it does a lvl 55 item the price is completely arbitrary. It is the stuff like woolen tips that are limited that actually retain a certain value.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

I typically just leave my prices as they are, the price usually drops then goes back up again, at least when it comes to pretty expensive items. Cheaper ones I can just flog on and get rid of easily.

I gotta admit, undercutting by 1 gil is really petty, put it up for the same price, reduces the risk of causing a market collapse and you usually get your sale.

[TroySoFab]

If you wanna sell something so badly then lower your prices. The higher the stock the lower the price.