Please Squeenix, implement blind bids on the markets...

[DokutoruGwydion]

one item was selling a bunch for 35K each consistently. then all of a sudden, BAM! a few idiots start listing theirs for 10K. why? why THAT much of an undercut? it makes zero sense why they'd list for that much

Theres multiple factors in play here.
1) If they can sell for 10k and make a profit then you can too. A lvl 50 crafter in a specialty is a lvl 50 crafter. Its nothing special.
2) When you gather, you get to select what you get handed to you. No other game allows this that I'm aware of and I think its pretty deadly. It makes NOTHING sacred because if you can go grind it out, you can grind down the price.
3) Along with the above, gathering produces 100s of items but the crafts themselves actually use very few individual pieces. I can gather 99 branches in like 15 minutes but crafts themselves only use 1 branch a time. The supply side of gathered items is wayyy too high.
4) The demand on the product. Most people don't buy crafted gear on the AH. Very few do I would suspect. They would rather dungeon run it or get items from quest lines. Theres very little demand for crafted goods and so whats on the market just stacks and stacks and keeps going. Potions are useless, most pieces endgame crafting arent feasible for the time/effort/gil, cooking is fairly underwhelming, etc.
5) Each character can do EVERYTHING. As fun and as much as I support this for magic/fighting classes, for 1 character to be max in every gathering/profession is ridiculous. XI limited you to only 1 profession post 60 skill, WoW has you limited to 2 things, etc.

Its an accumulation of all of the above and more thats killing the market. Its not so much as "undercutting" as it is the market is pretty messed up anyways

[Hawklaser]

2) When you gather, you get to select what you get handed to you. No other game allows this that I'm aware of and I think its pretty deadly. It makes NOTHING sacred because if you can go grind it out, you can grind down the price.
3) Along with the above, gathering produces 100s of items but the crafts themselves actually use very few individual pieces. I can gather 99 branches in like 15 minutes but crafts themselves only use 1 branch a time. The supply side of gathered items is wayyy too high.

Just going to put this out there, your smart gatherers are not going to list hundreds of the item at once, especially on items that Mining, Botany or Fishing are the only source for. How the markets get flooded and crashed are by those that just want the items gone and don't care how they get rid of them. It is actually rather funny when they are listed at or below vendor cost. Just a matter of if taxes bump it higher or not if I'll buy and vendor it myself.