Undercutting

[Razzle]

So who's buying them is making more and more money off you.

Then why are you complaining? You make money off me, don't come and complain on the forums on undercutts lol
That's what I'm saying, it's a win-win. You get gil off of me, and I get a fast clean up on my inventory. We both happy

Anyway, if you keep undercutting obsessively your goods even if ur not selling them, you are the one obsessed with gil gains.

I don't even. How am I obssesed with gil if I don't care about it...? I really would like to know lol... As I said, I only care to clean my inventory, making gil on the way is a bonus. I even discard or NPC most of the stuff I think not even worth it... Really curious as to why you find me obssesed with gil XD

The obssesed ones are the one making this thread everyday and standing in front of the market board refreshing it lol

[baopee]

Like others have said, just buy them and resell them, it is all depends on how much you want it to sell for, and it never equals how much people want to pay.

competitions are good for consumers, and dont forget you are also a consumer. I dont think you want to overpay for anything right?

[Kira-Yagami]

So the inferno Horn usually sells for 1.2 mil at the least. So people are so desperate for gil you will undercut someone and the idiots follow along with this clown, to go as low as 900k? Where they do that at?

Your topic is a joke. If no one is buying your item at 1.2mil. It means that its no longer worth 1.2mil, which is why your competition is selling cheaper in hope someone will buy it. Instead of getting angry why people is selling cheaper, WHY ARE YOU SELLING IT SO HIGH AT 1.2MIL!?

[Niwashi]

So the inferno Horn usually sells for 1.2 mil at the least. So people are so desperate for gil you will undercut someone and the idiots follow along with this clown, to go as low as 900k? Where they do that at?

If it's sold before at 1.2 mil, then there are likely still some players willing to pay that much. However, there are also a lot of players who would like one, but are either unable or unwilling to pay that much. Some of them might however be willing to pay 900K. All those who would pay 900K but can't or won't pay 1.2M have just been added to the buying pool by the player who was willing to undercut that far. More potential buyers means less time until one of them comes across the MB listing and buys it, resulting in a quicker profit to the seller.

That's the logic behind any large undercuts. The 1 gil lower style of undercutting is simply an attempt to stay at the top of the list to be the next sold item, but it doesn't really impact how soon the next item will sell. The significant drops like this example are an attempt to increase the number of potential buyers, so that it will sell faster. Some players desire a quick profit more than a larger but long delayed profit. (It also means this type of large undercut makes a lot more sense on big-ticket rare items than on common but high-demand items.)

[Niwashi]

My big deal is undercutting by massive amounts for no good reason (like in the OP's example).

Yet the OP's example sounds like exactly the sort of case where a large undercut does in fact make perfect sense. It's big ticket items like that which get the biggest boost in demand when the price is lowered to a point where more people can afford them. It just indicates that the seller is in a hurry to sell so is expanding their potential customer base. (A similar drop in the price of an already cheap item might qualify as being "for no good reason" but there are plenty of people who won't spend over a million gil on something.)

[Moqi]

So at that point I decided to learn from it. I enter into a field of about 4-5 goods and I use a very similar method, I drive out my competition while stocking up, then make profit off the stock, then drive it higher for even more profit. Others begin trying to hop on board and make profit from my efforts there- and then I start the process again, often demolishing them in the process. Not always, just often.

And that's when you ask your crafter friends for a discount. Seriously if you're having fun that's great but if you think you are controlling anything you're deluded. It's not that hard to craft things, if the MB is expensive you go ask personally to a crafter.

[Flayy]

Lol!! It's a buyers' market, OP. Sorry that I'm buying the cheaper option and not your really expensive one.

[Niwashi]

Its something called "market control". By controlling the prices, when it inflates or deflates, and discouraging my competition, I end up in control of the market.

But you only stay in "control" of the market while you're keeping prices so low that nobody including yourself can make any money on it. The moment you try to actually make a profit, then everyone else can make a profit too, and they're all back. You can never corner a market because you cannot make anything that hundreds of other people can't also make just as easily. And you can't ever control the supply of materials when anyone can get their own materials.

Now you may occasionally get lucky and find an item that nobody else is selling at the moment, so you can make and sell that without competition until someone else bothers to put some of the same item up for sale. But that can happen regardless of whether you crashed the market earlier or not. Chances are, the only reason you think you can "corner" a market is because you happened to get lucky once or twice and developed a superstitious belief that it had something to do with your own earlier actions, when in fact it didn't. You're not unique enough to ever control any markets here.

[Dashuto]

snip

So many replies with people telling me they know what I'm doing better than me- despite not being me and not doing what I do.


I do turn a profit, thats why I'm still doing it. The entire point was that I discourage another from competing, as in- they stop attempting, because the moment they see my retainer they know whats going to happen.

I didn't mean to make people so upset with this- but I'm more shocked at all the people who simply don't know what they're talking about trying to tell me what I am or am not doing. I am pretty sure I know what I'm doing, as I go into the menus and do it all the time, and pull the gil out. So don't tell me I'm not succeeding in discouraging my competition, or only making profit when others do.

Example from past few days:
I crashed the prices on some materials over the past 2 days by dumping a massive overstock, they hit rock bottom while barely any sold.

Then myself and at least one other swooped in and cleaned them out to nearly the last ones on server.
Thenhe/she/they attempted to price fix them above their previous market value. Realizing this, I priced a roughly a third of my stuff just below theirs.
They bought it all out!----- And repriced it at the same price as theirs into the market: Trying to maintain control for their high price.
The second I saw them do this, I crashed everything back down to below the previous bottom we both bought/stocked the items at.
Now they dumped all their stuff back in- in a complete panic. They matched the new lower price (that was below what they previously stocked it all up on). This means they were willing to offload the items at a loss to exit the market.
I then swooped the bulk of it up, price fixed above the price /they/ attempted to fix at, and am now making profit off both my stock and theirs that I got them to sell to me at a loss for themselves
With them gone, I'm the only one pricing through 4 retainers all at around that price- and so I am the only one selling it at this inflated value. At least for now.

This has accomplished a few things in a short frame of time:

1. I have eliminated someone with buying power from that specific market- at least for the short term they seem unwilling to butt heads with me.
2. I have caused them to lose gil in attempting to compete with me- it is probable they will remember my retainers and activity from this instance involving us- and I would encourage this notion.
3. Not only have I arranged the market into a profit for myself, but I was able to stretch it farther and make even more profit than I had anticipated- all while accomplishing the previous 2 tasks.

I go back and forth with other market board hawks- including ones trying to think just like me, nearly every single day. Most aren't as bright as they seem, and are incredibly panicky and corner themselves like this example.

My point is when you see people undercutting and doing all sorts of stuff with the market, all most folks think about is "damn! gotta reprice my goods!" or "damn jerk! who do they think they are!"
The reality is that there's very many, and I do mean many- out there with a specific goal in mind when you find things being priced strangely.

[dragonfire8974]

^^ is why I play the long game and don't change the prices of my stuff from day to day