World Balance is doomed until ..

[Syfurion]

Invest in the ability to make them yourself, then?

I am, slowly. Crafting is incredibly dull, so it takes me a while. But I won't perpetuate the cycle once I'm there, this stuff does not have any reason to cost that much for what it is.

[Zojha]

Crafting is incredibly dull [...]

And that is precisely the reason why so few people engage in that content and consequently why items coming from that content are so ridiculously expensive. It helps that it's not only a chore, it's also a big one, as every slightly harder recipe requires cross class abilities - Culinarian, Carpenter, Alchemist and Weaver being the most important ones. Moreover, recipes frequently require items from other crafts and gatherers, which need to be leveled as well to produce these items. And of course those are large grinds in and of themselves.

On low pop, the problem is a general one, as every market is less competitive than in needs to be to produce socially desirable results - not just crafted gear. The crafting market is just the worst because it has the highest barrier of entry - and that's due to design. Truth be told, even the dev team doesn't seem to like crafting/gathering, because their understanding of it seems to be very low and the attention it gets token at best.

[Theodric]

I am, slowly. Crafting is incredibly dull, so it takes me a while. But I won't perpetuate the cycle once I'm there, this stuff does not have any reason to cost that much for what it is.

You're paying for either a luxury and/or a convenience, though. Are some items very expensive? Definitely - especially if they're good for glamour purposes. Ultimately, though, you can get by with other items - dungeon drops, vendor purchases and so on - so there isn't necessarily a need to acquire specific pieces of gear from the market board. You could argue there's a necessity to buy high end crafted gear for progression purposes, of course, but high end raiders tend to make peace with the idea that to get ahead they need to shell out a hefty amount of gil.