FIX the AUCTION HOUSE!!!!

[Purrfectstorm]

The FFXI auction house system was terrible. Someone puts something on for a hidden price. Let's say it's 1 million gil. It's the only item on. You could just buy it. Instead you have to place incremental bids trying to get it as cheap as possible. What kind of increments do you bid in and who are you bidding against? I frequently would bid like 100k, 200k, etc. and have to spend an inordinate amount of time to get one item. Also, imagine that the same person put the item up for 100 million gil and it's still only worth about 1 million. You bid in increments and get up to double or triple what an item is worth and still can't purchase it, all because some fool is having fun with you.

I really like this system. You know how much items are and buying is as simple as a click, none of this tedious guessing game. I'll let you in on a few secrets:

1) Undercutting isn't really a problem. If you're repeatedly getting undercut, it's because you're trying to sell low demand items at too high a price. The market will eventually stabilize close to an item's real value. That 10k you got for a Steel Sallet once... it's not really worth that. If you were undercut by 5k, then you undercut down to 4k, and 3 days later, the item hasn't sold, it wasn't worth the new price either.

2) Since supply and demand determines what an item is worth, you have to strive to sell items that are in high demand but have a low supply. Yes, everyone else will try to do this too but it doesn't matter. What you do is go through the market listings and sell items that show very few in stock, preferably HQ, because NQ is garbage and will sell 10x slower (consider HQ and NQ to be totally different items, so click on low supply items and see if only NQ are in stock). If you target items that are low in stock, you may sell slower but you will get way more for your time as you have very little competition.

3) Certain crafts are more in demand than others. On my server there is a glut of goldsmiths (presumably because everyone realized that every job needs goldsmith items). However, the best craft is not what is used by the most jobs necessarily but what is most in demand. Goldsmith items might be needed 2x as much but if there's 10x as many goldsmiths... Well you see where I'm going there. Also keep in mind that many players can only do a few crafts so they MUST keep selling the same types of items and if you insist on competing with them, they really have no choice but to undercut you. It's not like they can go to weaving if you hone in on their goldsmith action.

4) So with that note, diversify. Never list 10 of the same item (with the exception of some mats maybe). Try to list a bunch of different items across different crafts preferably and keep your market full. If you get undercut on a few items, it won't be crippling, trust me.

I make 500k per day (aprox) following these simple things (I also have 4 retainers and check my listings morning and evening to adjust prices and list new).

TL;DR I like the system, supply and demand works in this game, things generally sell for what they're worth.