FFXIV ECONOMICS 101

[ClaireAbigail]

I say just ignore the whiners and let them cry.

If you're making money, no matter how(as long as it legal), keep on doing what you're doing. If anyone sends you a "nasty" telling you to stop just blist or laugh at them.

[IndigoHawk]

Actually OP, it's important to realize FFXIV does not have a crafting economy, except for high end items. It has a craft leveling economy.

If you are crafting to level up, then the products are waste. They have no value. You will sell and undercut for any amount to recover losses.

If an item costs 3k in materials, and you can sell it for 2k, you are not losing 1k. You are spending 1k to increase your crafting skills.

If you are trying to run a crafting business, then you must sell for greater than 3k. But if you are trying to sell for 4k to run a business, you cannot compete with people who are selling for 2k to level up.

So, don't get mad at people who undercut. They are in the market for different reasons than you are.

[AldoVonAlexandros]

my unit price is higher than my stack price, so, its not that i undercut prices, i always put 1 unit and a stack, 1 unit and a stack, because players some times just need 1 and thats it and some players need a full stack, so they save like 500gil each piece if they buy a full stack, i mean, thats the way i usually do this, also a put 10 units on sale 100gil less than the cost of 1 unit, so they are saving

[Buff_Archer]

The quickest way to get it out of the inventory is to selling it to a NPC

Even quicker way-> Discard. That's how I roll.

[Ginga_K]

Well... higher e better but if its priced too high,
e game fails.... like Diablo3, items were like 100-900million gil,

there after MB was shut down eventually coz players were greedy.

[LineageRazor]

But as I had more and more fun doing that, I got more and more hate for it (stealing customers, as it were). I eventually realized ......... I was going against the typical flow. People are supposed to take advantage of the weak and extort whenever possible.

The nobility of your actions is greatly diminished by the fact that you use them to shame other people. If you truly intended your generous actions to be their own reward, you would never have felt the need to bring them up here. Instead, you did. It is clear that you actually were working to put yourself into a position of moral superiority from which you could lord it over other people you consider to be beneath you. Classy.

[Ryuukishi]

Listing for less than the "going rate" guarantees mine will sell first & fastest, IF I want it to move.

This, precisely. I really don't see what's hard to understand. Yes, I realize that I could have made a little more gil by putting in more effort to follow the market and determine the ideal price. But by undercutting by a few thousand, I still make a good amount of gil, and it took less time and less effort. That's okay with me. I don't do this regularly, only when one of my retainers happens to bring me something valuable. I'd rather spend my in-game time and effort on other stuff than maximizing the profit I can make from the market board. It is that simple. The fact that this makes people mad blows my mind.

[ruinedmirage]

The nobility of your actions is greatly diminished by the fact that you use them to shame other people. If you truly intended your generous actions to be their own reward, you would never have felt the need to bring them up here. Instead, you did. It is clear that you actually were working to put yourself into a position of moral superiority from which you could lord it over other people you consider to be beneath you. Classy.

You know what, I believe you. You're right, there's no such thing as leading by example, no point in describing kind acts in hope that others might do the same. There's no such thing as altruistic people in this world, no integrity, and only moral corruption exists. You're right, and I'm just an attention whore with a superiority complex.

I do believe generosity is it's own reward, and I'm sorry for describing my experience. Even more sorry that people feel acts like this should be kept behind closed doors, and more sorry still that some consider virtuous acts as an ulterior motive to being "better" than others. If my viewpoint of the degradation of community offends you, that's a personal problem..... it's just an opinion.

[LineageRazor]

You know what, I believe you. You're right, there's no such thing as leading by example, no point in describing kind acts in hope that others might do the same. You're right, and I'm just an attention whore with a superiority complex.

If you had been describing the altruistic examples of someone else, rather than yourself, then it would leave you far less open to such accusations.

Ah, but I forget - the world is a swirling cesspool of moral corruption and degradation, with you as the sole shining beacon of light. Of course there could be no other example, for you are the only one!

On a more serious note, your post didn't really add anything to the thread as a whole; the discussion was about what business practices are "fair" and "unfair" for making money through crafting. The implication of your post was that it's immoral to make money through crafting at all - crafters should just give everything away for free! I'm pretty sure crafters who sell for profit are not inherently immoral. Earning money is a necessary part of playing the game, and crafting is one way to do it. Crafting for profit is in itself neither moral nor immoral.

[ruinedmirage]

If you had been describing the altruistic examples of someone else, rather than yourself, then it would leave you far less open to such accusations.

Ah, but I forget - the world is a swirling cesspool of moral corruption and degradation, with you as the sole shining beacon of light. Of course there could be no other example, for you are the only one!

On a more serious note, your post didn't really add anything to the thread as a whole; the discussion was about what business practices are "fair" and "unfair" for making money through crafting. The implication of your post was that it's immoral to make money through crafting at all - crafters should just give everything away for free! I'm pretty sure crafters who sell for profit are not inherently immoral. Earning money is a necessary part of playing the game, and crafting is one way to do it. Crafting for profit is in itself neither moral nor immoral.

Had I ever seen that kind of behavior before, I WOULD be posting about it, and how it was an inspiration to me.

If I implied myself as a "sole shining beacon of light" and that there would be no others like that ever, I apologize. Everyone has that opportunity to shine, and I encourage it .......... it's just an unreasonable request, I'll concede to that.

I'll admit, I add my opinions through a tone of cynicism in many cases. I may see profiting as extortion to a degree, and perhaps I shouldn't have voiced my opinion about business practices since it's not a popular stance. But the fact that I received requests from people was my "business practice" and what kept me playing while I was subbed. In the future, any outlandish thoughts I have about generosity or friendliness will be confined to its own thread (and die quickly) so I don't disrupt the flow of mainstream profit anymore. I promise.