I really don't want to moan about undercutting but....

[EvianEverdeen]

This is my personal philosophy on undercutting:

I play the "undercut by 1 gil" game until I can't take it anymore. I play regularly and actively adjust prices while I am playing. I WILL undercut you by 1 gil everytime (this is actually doing you, my competitors, a favor). Reason being, undercutting by 1 gil will sell next, because the majority of players want the cheapest goods, even if it is only by 1 gil. So if my item sells, I make a maximum profit. If you come along and undercut me by 1 gil and yours sells first, then you maximize your profit and mine is next in line to sell -- win-win sortof. With that being said, undercutting by 1 gil does not mess up the economy for that particular item; while, the "thinks he's smart" competitor that comes along and undercuts me, you, or the next guy for 30%, 50%, or even more, DOES. In that case, I will STILL play the "undercut by 1 gil" game until I see fit. If I am still being marginally undercut, then I will make my own marginal undercuts and put out the item for as little as I can, while still making a profit. If the "think he's smart" competitor still comes along and continues to undercut even at my drastically low price, I will buy his item and relist both his item and my item for their original going prices.

[chidarake]

evianeverdeen -

I like how you think however I always go 10-50 gil under... but the problem is if you undercut someone by 1 gil and sell and made a lot of profit then realistically you will create another of the same item and do it again. (who wouldn't) but other crafters who see 5 of something sold that day yet they didn't get a sale because of the 1gil undercut kinda feel cheated. boohoo to them I say but I can see how it pisses people off.

in general -

any active crafter is undercutting, we have to otherwise what's the point.? we do it to generate gil for ourselves so we can speed up other processes in the game, like materia melding finishing our craft logs.. buying large houses and furniture for them too... not to mention dropping 300k on a room in that house just because we have so much spare gil.

and why shouldn't we. we put all that time into levelling our crafting skills to the top tier and what are we are supposed to play fair on sales.?? that makes no sense to me and so yeah I will continue to undercut on every item that I have a competitor on. I will also list items at whatever price I think I can get (although I usually try to keep it at a range that I will get a sale), and no I don't run to the mb every 5mins to check prices (well not now I bought mansion for the fc) but I will check multiple times each day and adjust accordingly just like every other active crafter does.

I see the same crafter names all the time on the goods I sell and they undercut me... some aggressively and I think in time they all realize that none of us are going to quit, least of all me until I'm good and ready. and so prices stay in a good profit range usually. I don't expect them to stop (even if I wish they did) and I don't think they expect me to stop. we all get sales and things continue to flow. to me even with undercutting from everyone the process seems to be working. its just part of being a crafter and using the mb.

[Kimura410]

heres the thing. no matter your gc, your name, or if you were the first to put the item up or not, it doesn't matter. its completely random as to who's item goes in front of the other if the price is the same. it may not be random actually, maybe its free company name or something weird like that, its definitely not alphabetical character name.

i looked into this a lot, because the thing is, say i put my item up for 200k. another guy comes in and puts his up for 200k. his goes to the top of the list for whatever reason. so his sells first. mine stays on mb. he crafts another, and his goes in front yet again. is that fair to me at all? so basically i just have to hope that 2 people buy the item within a short time period, or i get screwed.

nah, the system forces you to undercut if you want to make money. i would prefer it to be a blind auction. you can see what the last one sold for, but you can't see the current prices by other sellers. that would solve all the undercutting bs.

[PROBOUND]

i looked into this a lot, because the thing is, say i put my item up for 200k. another guy comes in and puts his up for 200k. his goes to the top of the list for whatever reason. so his sells first. mine stays on mb.

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the amount in the stack. If we both put up an item for 200k each for a single item. Whoever put it up first goes to the top. However if i put up a stack of 2 for 200k. My items will be above yours because i'm selling in bulk.

[Kimura410]

that may be true, but hell earlier today i noticed it. i had my robe up first, some guy puts his up, same quantity, and hes in front. so whether it goes by fc, gc, quantity, w/e, that same guy can keep crafting a new one every time it sells, and if i dont undercut, he will make millions while my original one just sits. thats the reason that i undercut. and i do so by one gil, not out of spite, but bc i want to keep the price up. i feel like thats the respectable way to do it. ill probably be called out for trying to justify it, but thats really what i am trying to do. its the only fair way to do things imo. when people undercut by 50k, or 200k, or w/e, its a kick in the nuts. its like, hey you couldve, made 200k extra on this, but im not going to let you. but then again, sometimes ppl do that to attract customers with a "deal". nothing wrong with undercutting, companies have been doing it for years irl.

[Vesuvias]

-snip-

I believe Retainer name also has something to do with it as well, as ive seen this played out before as well.

[Worm]

Sometimes I sell crafted items for little or no profit to spite people who insist on selling their items for one gil less than mine.

Same here!

[chidarake]

from my experience on advertising items on mb.

there is not a set pattern. it seem it takes all those things mentioned in previous posts into account but then just does what it wants.

I've tried switching an item from one retainer to another and nothing, I've looked at all alphabetical orders and it still does what it wants.

if you want to be first you have to be cheapest or have biggest stack at same price as cheapest.

[Kimura410]

from my experience on advertising items on mb.

there is not a set pattern. it seem it takes all those things mentioned in previous posts into account but then just does what it wants.

I've tried switching an item from one retainer to another and nothing, I've looked at all alphabetical orders and it still does what it wants.

if you want to be first you have to be cheapest or have biggest stack at same price as cheapest.

exactly. I've tested different variables to avoid undercutting, bot honestly, if it was by retainer and you chose to sell from one retainer bc it gets you in front, isn't it the same damn thing as undercutting? id say so. but yea, seems to be random. the people who hate undercutting need to make a petition for blind auctions. i wouldn't mind it myself tbh, but don't really care if i get undercut.

[AttacKat]

heres the thing. no matter your gc, your name, or if you were the first to put the item up or not, it doesn't matter. its completely random as to who's item goes in front of the other if the price is the same. it may not be random actually, maybe its free company name or something weird like that, its definitely not alphabetical character name.

IME/observation, when items are at the same price, the item that was put up for sale LAST gets listed first.

Retainer A sells 1000, list = A
Retainer B sells 1000, list = BA
Retainer A adjusts to 999, list = AB
Retainer B adjusts to 998, list = BA
Retainer A adjusts to 998, list = BA

Therefore, if you see 5 items listing at the same price as yours, you need to undercut by 1 gil to move to first.

jc