Why undercut by a 1,000+??

[Senfei]

The fact that people are able to just price war items down by thousands of gil without another enterprising merchant simply purchasing all of the gouged items and relisting them at the original price shows how weak the economy of this game is. In my previous mmo, people who cried this hard about market competition and tried to gouge prices of their chosen marketshare were eaten alive financially by the true businessmen. Granted, this game had an economist on staff with the developer who monitored the market and was involved with decisions on things that may have a negative impact on the market.

I find it funny that people say that 1 gilling people down is bad for the economy, so their idea of making it "healthy" again is crashing prices. The market board is pvp selling, if you can't hang with people who actively manipulate their prices to be more competetive than yours than I would argue that the seller who gets frustrated and undercuts by a massive margin to make a "point" is the one who is acting childish. Yes, tell me more about how I am supposed to care about your wallet or be fair to you while you throw your tantrum. In the end you are only helping the buyers, not hurting me.

[Delorean]

I'm usually just trying to get things out of my inventory as fast as possible. Posted an item at the same price as another player, and then was undercut.

My goal is not to make the most money. My goal is to get some money by selling something that has no value to me. I play this game like maybe 7-8 hours a week now. I'm not gonna sit beside a summoning bell all day and play undercut wars with another player.

[Maku]

The fact that people are able to just price war items down by thousands of gil without another enterprising merchant simply purchasing all of the gouged items and relisting them at the original price shows how weak the economy of this game is.

no one is stopping anyone from doing this though. I have done it before while selling Vanya stuffs. But really this game has ZERO uses for gil. Housing doesn't count because it is simply not worth it at the moment.

[Kayko]

I would have to edit names out a screen shot I just took to post it, but it shows a materia going from 4K, 3.2K, 3.5K, 3.5K to 2.4K to 1K and now available for 80 gil..... the history goes back to 2/1. Buying out the low cost isn't worth it at this point due to the sheer number available all the sudden.

This is the same story across a lot of materia (along with many other items) over these last few days/week for whatever reason. Something needs to be done to how the markets are tracked. Instead of having the vendor sell price put as the asking price, they need to put the average over the last 7 days as the asking price. I believe this would stabilize pricing much more effectively then basically everything starting at 1 and 2 gil.

[Kakure]

Snip.

I don't know where you got this idea that wasting hours of your life sitting in front of the market board (excuse me, "actively manipulating prices") makes you a "true businessman" while real undercutters are crying and throwing tantrums, but I'll tell you a few things about real business.

Real businesses in the real world secure market niches through drastic undercutting. Some of the largest businesses in the world have made brands doing precisely this (Walmart and Amazon.com come immediately to mind).

Real businesspeople in the real world sometimes act for reasons that have nothing to do with maximizing profit. They have grudges and feuds. They do things to celebrate or to give the neighborhood kids a safe place to do their holiday shopping or just because their spouses asked them to.

When real businesspeople cannot win, they change the rules of the game. You want to play "let's see who can check the market board most frequently." That is a stupid game, so I decide that we're going to play "how low are you willing to go" instead. I have good reasons for my decision, but it really doesn't matter. I don't have to have a reason for selling things at whatever price I choose. That is how business works.

If participation in the economy is bloodsport, then suck it up and act like it. You are right: there is nothing in a free market that keeps you from acting like a tool. But neither do you have any ground to criticize or complain when everyone else decides to change the game so it isn't rigged in your favor, and you certainly don't have any place suggesting that they aren't doing capitalism right just because they don't do what you want them to.

[Senfei]

I seem to have offended you, my bad. Let me try to be a little more concise of my point this time. My thought process on consistant undercutting follows the theme of effort = reward. If you put in the effort, you reap the benefits. You may not like it, much like a casual player may not like how they don't have enough time per week to cap out their myth tomes and fall behind... but is it the hardcore players fault the casual is falling behind because they do? This is my baseline on the subject.

My second point is that the economy in this game is weak, and undercutting is a much larger nuisance than it should be because your items literally will not sell due to how slow the market moves compared to the amount of items poured into it in some areas. If the economy was good, undercutting slightly would just mean your item doesn't sell first, it just sells later. In a good economy, undercutting by -a lot- would do nothing as it would be bought and re-listed at the current baseline price for profit. In a good economy, one player could not use walmart/amazon tactics because in a good economy, one player would not have the financial clout to do so. Your FC working together, perhaps. But you alone, no. But alas, this is what we have.

Anyway, opinions. We all have them. The only thing I think we can agree on is a point an above poster made. There is almost no use for gil in this game. That alone is a major problem that is creating a lot of the issues you are seeing/having. Fear of RMT or whatever you are inclined to believe as to why things are as they are, the fact is that beyond being a window dressing for our HUD there is very little practical reason to have a lot of gil.

[Simaril]

-Sometimes I like to post several stacks of an item for a very high price, just so my competitors KNOW that I have plenty of supply, and I'm not going anywhere
-If I need lots of a particular item, I often leave the cheapest few, and buy out the ones that cost slightly more in the hopes that prices continue to go down (it has worked).
-Sometimes I undercut drastically, just to make other sellers look for better profits (I'll sell my crafted item for 50k, when other items that require the same materials are selling for 60k so other sellers don't bother with the "lower profit" item I'm selling - but now have cornered).

There are lots of strategies other than selling your item at the highest price possible.

[blackhawk]

I like to undercut prices on what I'm selling. I don't sell on the MB often mind you. But the reason is because I'm just trying to move the item. I don't care who buys it. If I can turn a profit on a useless item in 5 minutes by making the price lower instead of waiting for the item to sell at standard price that's a benefit. I've also noticed other people sell items at the price of my item after I undercut the high people. This benefits the consumer in the end. We spend less money and get what we want and I still make a profit without waiting around. I see that as a win-win. There isn't a lot to do with your gil currently as we all know. There is little reason for the greedy people who are trying to make massive profits to make those kinds of profits except to maybe one day buy useful things if the game developers give us something real to use it on. So... to each his own in the battle of the MB

[Sparky]

Undercutting can be beneficial, and I think many people either forget that, or are ignorant to that fact.

If you are selling an item for 100k, but maybe only making 10k profit because of materials, someone undercuts by 10k, then you aren't going to be happy. But if the net result of undercutting means that the materials to make that item drop in price, then maybe eventually we'd be in a situation where we could sell the item for 80k and still turn a 10k profit.

Too many people want to make big bucks in a week and are angry when they can't. I think far too much is being made about the undercutting issue, and I think it's been blown completely out of proportion.

[Kelvani]

As a buyer.. if I see you posting 1 gil less I will skip your pathetic undercut and go to the person who had a "solid" price.

I would rather pay 800gil than 799. To me your undercut is a slap in the face!

As a seller I will always undercut by at least 10 gil on items in the 100-900gil range. If they are higher then that then I will likely undercut by more. Why? Because its not a SALE to me unless I offer better value than a skinny gil.