Why undercut by a 1,000+??

[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.

[actionjmanx]

Undercutters baffle me so much because they don't attempt to maximize their profits. There is a cost to each item because someone had to go out and mine, harvest, fish, shard cost etc. All items have a cost in time and effort, be it by the item creator or someone else.

I can understand people wanting to move product they got out of a treasure map and will never use. Still, if I sell at 600 and they at 50 (it), that 550 gil difference could be a teleport or a repair. Over 5-10 sales, that's a stack of food for Coil with money they have quite literally thrown away.

When crafters do it, it's even worse because they know full well they're boning themselves (on gil) and me, for ensuring my product never sells.

You people who say you purchase the "more expensive" item are very far and in between. I've had stuff sit for 2-3 weeks and not sell at standard market price, even when the next undercutter is selling at -5-10 gil. I undercut them and it sells within 2 hours.

[Zourin]

Undercutters baffle me so much because they don't attempt to maximize their profits. There is a cost to each item because someone had to go out and mine, harvest, fish, shard cost etc. All items have a cost in time and effort, be it by the item creator or someone else.

Undercutting happens naturally. There's huge supplies and highly variable demand from day to day. The problem arises when someone decides to come in, dump a weeks' worth of supply down at discount prices, creating an artificial ceiling that hurts everyone.

I'll undercut by 10-15% for fast sales, or even 1-10K as long as I get a fair profit for the trouble and bait other vendors to buy me out and mark me up. If there isn't a clear margin for profit, I won't go in on the market for that item.

Sitting on a price may work in the long run, and some markets that's particularly viable. For items in low-demand, high profit fields (such as two-stars), you simply can't price-and-ride. If you're only looking at 1-4 units sold per day, you need to be in the top 4 and hope your competition doesn't turn around and simply put up another unit above yours when theirs sells. The best solution is to gravely 'price cut' and bait a buyout or someone to come along for a discount sale.

[Rein-Yagami]

The best solution is to gravely 'price cut' and bait a buyout or someone to come along for a discount sale.

^ THIS!

Selling an item that goes for 18k on the MB, on occasions (right before USA peaktimes) I will list said item for 15-17k(dependent on competition)

Items that have been on my retainer for 2+days = 25%-50% drop in price because I want it gone~
I don't care if someone snaps it up and reposts at double the price~ they've just re-inflated that item's value and I can post another at a similar price without worrying about devaluing the markets I'm competing in~

[Sparky]

If they have time on their hands, and presumably time enough to gather their own materials, all they have to worry about is their Gil balance increasing. Whilst yes you could argue that time is a commodity, it doesn't result in a net loss of money like it would in the real world. If someone gathers 200k worth of their own materials in order to craft perhaps 500k worth of marketable goods, then that in theory gives them 200k worth of undercutting power versus someone who had to buy their materials. The truth is you can't stop people from undercutting, especially if the monetary cost of producing the items to them is next to nil.

[OSUBuckeye4]

The truth is you can't stop people from undercutting, especially if the monetary cost of producing the items to them is next to nil.

That's the underlying problem.

Everyone can do everything in this game (if they spend enough time leveling up the class).

Why should I spend 1,200 gil per finger sandwich when I can just go out and harvest the resources I need and make the sandwiches myself for much cheaper?


Either SE needs to make it harder to level (let's be honest, ship has sailed on that), or, they need to implement caps on certain crafting classes. (allow you to make everything up to lvl 50, but, then you have to pick a specialization for lvl 51+ receipies/ingridents)

[Sparky]

I can't deny that Disciples of the Land are incredibly easy to level at the moment. In the space of one week, I leveled my miner 30-50, my Botanist 24-50, and my Fisher 6-50, only doing leves between 45 and 50 for each. Granted I am between jobs IRL so I have a lot of time to pump into that, but realistically, even someone who works 9-5 every day could do it in a month.

[Mysteltain]

Either SE needs to make it harder to level (let's be honest, ship has sailed on that), or, they need to implement caps on certain crafting classes. (allow you to make everything up to lvl 50, but, then you have to pick a specialization for lvl 51+ receipies/ingridents)

I really would like to see that implemented: a system where you have to choose a craft to specialize in, and only as that craft could you make the 1* and 2* items. It would certainly increase the prices of those higher level items, and it would also give people a reason to focus on one craft rather than spread their resources over all eight crafts. Unfortunately, I don't see dedicated crafters taking very well to this notion, only people who have a vested interest in the well-being of the economy. And even then, that doesn't solve the immediate issues that dungeon drops are often miles better than anything we can currently craft, that most crafted gear from 45-50 is utterly worthless, and that Alchemy is an overall useless craft.

It would be a small victory, for sure, but there are too many other issues present to drastically change the status quo.

[Sparky]

It is really a problem though? Is it really so hard to level up DoL? I really don't think it is, and I'd go so far as to say it's one of the easiest things you could do in this game. Are the advantages really something to be sniffed at?

Yes sure, you could say that it could make the 'problem' worse, but the problem is profit margins is it not? The only way to increase margins is to source your own materials. That's the way it works out in the real world, and thats the way I suspect SE intends it to be in-game.

I think a lot of people are still riding on the wave of profits seen during the race to hit the cap on crafting, leveling etc. Those who never touched their gatherers or other crafters are suffering, but those who are concentrating on everything are starting to hit the level cap on everything, and quite rightly are seeing the reward for it.

I think it's safe to say that those ** items will never ever be 180k-200k again. That wasn't a fair price to start with, and I think 70-80k (on my server at least) is more than fair.