Fixing the Markets. As much our problem as SE's .

[Haibel]

What is Wrong with the Markets

This is a question that can be answered easily. It's you, you're the reason the markets are in shambles. Every time you click through on trash items and list for the default price, it is you that add to the problem. Every time you list an item lower than the lowest priced full stack, it is you that is a part of the problem. Every time you undercut a single item market, such as any piece of gear that sells on a regular basis by a large amount you hurt yourself.

What can we do to fix the markets? That's really for you to decide. every time you list an item, ask yourself this question. What is this item worth to me? How much time did I put into this? How many resources did I spend on this? If your like me, you value your time. Even if that time I spend is on something of a hobby, that time is still worth something to me. I would not want to spend time on worthless tasks. So why would I list my items at a paltry 2gil a piece. I wouldn't, I don't think so low of myself to list at such a price. Doing work at such a price is selling yourself to the lowest bidder, and is tantamount to being a prostitute.

ways we can fix these whorish prices is to look before we price. What will the NPC's give us for this. You should never price at NPC price. Your just losing Gil doing so. Never, Ever, Ever price below the lowest priced stack. Say the low priced 99 stack of cotton thread is 1gil a piece, you have just 1 spool of thread to sell. You sell it at 98 gil, not 1 gil, not 2 gil, not 3 gil, 98gil. why? Because you can. There is no reason any single item in a stack market should be below 98gil. Stand your ground.


But how do we value crafted items. Best way would be to value each input to get a total to know our production cost and then add 10%. this would be fair value for your work; However, if you buy your mats off the market, you can be losing gil if your not careful. you should figure your lowest possible value from farming your own mats.

Say your craft takes 1 shard and 4 mats. the lowest production cost can be is 5gil. Add 10% to that and you get .5 gil so round up and your lowest possible sell price is 6gil. Any lower and your losing gil and time. the craft is not worth making if you farm everything yourself and the market price is lower. If your craft takes multiple crafted items, you get the lowest price for each mat and total. All this is well and fine but if the market price is higher than this you wouldn't be listing that low but it gives you an idea of how low the price could be undercut before the seller is losing gil. It also let's you know when to buy up grossly undercut item's. Very Good to know in the crystal market.

What can SE do to help the problem? First thing would be no default price. lazy people ruin markets quicker than anything else. I know you have seen it also. check the prices as your listing and everybody is at say 45gil per and two jack offs listed at 3gil per. you know what happened. One thing I would like to see is the Mean, Median and Mode of the sales history and current listings of an item when you are listing an item. I would also like to see items sorted by total price. That right there you'll really see the lowest price first. Blind bidding people are asking for doesn't work and undercutting will still happen and just make the markets even harder to use.

TL;DR: Your part of the problem. read it you lazy bastard. Undercutting isn't that horrible, but don't undercut yourself or you'll become a whore. Don't complain about it, what do you think could help fix the problem?