Marketboard Treatment

[DixieBellOCE]

Hello everyone,

I am writing this post because I wanted to share my experience while currently trying to make gil on the market board and hopefully get some advice for how to deal with a bullying situation. To protect myself from further harassment I am posting on an alternate account I made. I am not even sure how to word this and I've been afraid to post my story but with friends encouragement I decided to do so. I first want to say that I have been playing FFXIV since ARR and I am not new to the marketboard or being an omnicrafter and trying to sell things. However, recently I have been going through an ordeal with a player and their large FC(s). I say FC(s) because it turns out this free company has a multiple and sister FCs throughout Primal. This player for some reason doesn't want anyone to sell anything in the market. Materia, Leathers, Cloths/Velvets, Ingots, glamours etc, the list can go on. I put small quantities up and large quantities up to differentiate but each time I put something up its like they memorized my retainers name and instantly undercut me. And to be honest I don't mind the undercuts, but purposely targeting me is a whole other issue.

They have gone as far as using members within their FC(s) to put several stocks up so that anyone thats interested in the materials will only go after theirs. And it's gotten so toxic because of retainer signatures that they have made versions of my name or used rude names each time I put something up or bought my things to relist and harass me with it. I've reported the player to GMs and they said they were investigating. I've changed my retainer names and I've had friends try and help me sell and they do the same thing to them. They have sent people to stand near me at market boards and even next to our FC home to watch me. I've even asked someone in their sister FC at the time kindly why were they doing this because I dont know them and if they would stop harassing me and they just laughed at me. This should not be considered normal behavior even if you are trying to make gil and I wanted to speak out and hopefully if anyone else has gone through this can share their experience. Honestly, the whole thing has made me start to want to stop in general and take a break from the game. So I am asking for genuine help and advice on what to do. Thanks for listening.

They are called Marketboard BOTS.

They instantly undercut you within seconds of listing.

[MikotoV]

No bro. Bots dont run in 1-400+ people in an FC. Nor would they care to go out of their way to name their retainers to be close to my name or rudely harass and target me. They just want their money and I'm pretty familiar with the bot names around my world. These are large FC's. These are people being Toxic and wanting monopolies by harassing others out of markets. And retainers that are doing this lead back to those Fc's and their sister FC(s).

[Jojoya]

No bro. Bots dont run in 1-400+ people in an FC. These are people being Toxic and wanting monopolies by harassing others out of markets.

Not to say that it's the situation in your case but some bots actually do. Big FCs are an easy place to hide from attention.

But a big FC also isn't going to go out of its way to harass a random player. A random player doesn't have enough market power to make a difference. If they're using rude names on their retainers (which can be reported if the names are ToS violations), they're more likely to be rude for the sake of being rude to everyone who might look at their listings instead of targeting a single player.

Your best course of action is to ignore them. Even if they truly are trying to target you specifically, they can't stop you from posting your listings. Being undercut isn't a problem as long as the items you're listing are popular. And so what if they buy your items? Isn't that why they're listed - you want someone to buy? Stop paying attention to who's doing the buying and there's even less problem.

[MikotoV]

Jojoya, for the last time I don’t care if they undercut me. I’m not here to block people from selling. The problem is they aren’t buying it for use. I can be in any endgame market and it’s happened with these people. Instead of letting someone that actually needs my items these people buy my things on purpose then relist instantly to troll me with the it and intimidate me out of the said market and keep markets for themselves. It’s toxic behavior and that’s why I made the post to note the behavior.

[Jojoya]

Jojoya, for the last time I don’t care if they undercut me. I’m not here to block people from selling. The problem is they aren’t buying it for use. I can be in any endgame market and it’s happened with these people. Instead of letting someone that actually needs my items these people buy my things on purpose then relist instantly to troll me with the it and intimidate me out of the said market and keep markets for themselves. It’s toxic behavior and that’s why I made the post to note the behavior.

They aren't trolling you with it.

They're not trying to intimidate you out of the market.

They probably don't care about you at all. They're simply trying to monopolize those markets against any and all.

Is it a nice thing to do? No, but it's also not against any rules. For you, it's good in that you're getting the gil you asked for the items even if the use they are putting the item to isn't one that you agree with.

Do you truly want to try to break their hold over those specific markets? Are you willing to put all your retainers to work on it?

Here's how to do it: stop selling the items and prepare to irritate the heck out of those people.

Stockpile what you get assuming you're not buying the items off a vendor. I'm not talking about saving up a few dozen of each. I'm talking thousands.

Make as many alts as you can. Get them through MSQ just far enough to hire retainers.

After a couple of weeks of not selling those items and getting your stockpile up to a decent level, put a few back up on the marketboard. See if they bite. If they do, put a few more back up to make sure they're really interested.

If they do, it's time to unleash all those retainers on all those alts you created. Start listing those items in small stack sizes until your listings fill what's displayed on the marketboard. Wait for them to buy those items up then do it again.

And again.

And again.

Force them to sit there buying up your items, trying to get their own listing back to the top just to find out you've got even more to keep listing.

While they're fumbling to buy up your constant stream of listings, some of the items will hopefully end up in the hands of players who will actually use them. Even better if other sellers come along to match or beat your price to bring competition back to the market for that item.

Eventually they'll get tired of trying to monopolize that market and move on. If they switch to something else you want to sell, repeat the process.

Or you can stop obsessing about who is buying what and what they're doing with it. Simply sell what you have and move on. If they relist it in huge stacks or at outrageous prices, that's their business. Players who need those items will find other sources if they don't like what's listed. Trying to monopolize a market in that fashion rarely works for long.

[Mikki]

If they're constantly buying your stuff, that's still gil in your pocket. Does it really matter who buys it or why at the end of the day if you're still making gil from it?

If you're really bothered by it, I would step away from the market for awhile. Maybe a couple weeks. Rename your retainers, perhaps even your own character if your signature is displaying on items you're crafting, and then try again at a later date. They may target someone else in the meantime or maybe they'll just get bored, who knows. Or, take Jojoya's nuclear advice. lol. That'll take a lot of work but I guarantee it'll annoy the ever loving heck outta them.

[AlyaNimfa]

Hard to prove all of that, and even harder to prove they’re targeting you alone.

Undercutting is normal, heck I’m slashing prices to about half what the competitors are selling for because I’m cashing up before the new servers go live.

[Delis]

Jojoya, for the last time I don’t care if they undercut me. I’m not here to block people from selling. The problem is they aren’t buying it for use. I can be in any endgame market and it’s happened with these people. Instead of letting someone that actually needs my items these people buy my things on purpose then relist instantly to troll me with the it and intimidate me out of the said market and keep markets for themselves. It’s toxic behavior and that’s why I made the post to note the behavior.

That's a common thing people do in the market. If they see an item selling for under what it normally does, buy it up and relist in hope of getting a profit. You still are getting paid what you want for the item do who cares what they do with the items once bought. They most likely aren't doing it to troll you, at least not at first. The bit about them renaming retainers to troll you, at first I was doubting.

But now I am wondering if you approached them and made a big deal out of them doing the things they are doing on the market board, and them seeing it as funny how a stranger is getting upset over them doing basic market board shenanigans. So now they kinda mess with you because it amuses them and know it gets under your skin, but my Gil is on them really not knowing who you are and just them playing the market board, and you taking it personally.

[MikotoV]

Its people like you that make people not want to come out with their story of abuse in the first place. I don't need to come up with some conspiracy to see what's happening to me in game by a group of market hungry trolls. I dont know any of these people as I have stated in previous post. If it's funny to bully other players then that shows who they are not me.

[KairiElise]

Mikoto, my advice would be this if its happening, change your retainer names and don't let people like this get to you. If they buy up your stuff, put more up like Jojoya said. They cant erase you off the market and you're taking their gil which is a plus. So while they lose by trying to get at you, you gain. Live rent free in their heads :]