Undercutting

[Parodine]

Gonna be blunt, but I usually try to price things below the lowest current item on the MB because I want things to sell quickly. Time is money, as they say. The sooner I have freed up spots on the MB, the sooner I can put new things to sell.

I don't slash prices, of course. But the logic makes sense to me.

[NyarukoW]

Gonna be blunt, but I usually try to price things below the lowest current item on the MB because I want things to sell quickly. Time is money, as they say. ..

Time is money, and little time = little money. So the impatient will do this and get very little and they complain when the next impatient one undercuts them. So price it higher, try second lowest, you'll be surprised how often that sells very quickly too. So then you can step to 3rd lowest. And before you know it, you really understand what time you like and money you like. If find if I always put things at lowest, I am out of stuff to sell fairly quickly, and I really don't want to fill up 40 slots (20x2retainers) selling 20 gil, or heck 200 gil items. The time spent pricing them and putting them on the board is also overhead, and I am better off farming or crafting some bigger ticket items.

[LineageRazor]

If demand exceeds supply, you have nothing to worry about. The undercut product will sell, and so will yours.

If supply exceeds demand, you will need to lower your price. The so-called "undercut" price is now the new standard, and you're going to have to adapt.

NO price for ANY product is too high, if the product sells. The act of the product being purchased justifies the cost. Buyers who complain about the things they want being too expensive are whiners, nothing more, nothing less.

By the same token, if your product does not sell at the price you desire, you are trying to sell it for more than it is worth. Any seller who complains about undercutters are whiners, nothing more, nothing less.

It's all very simple; I'm really not sure why people have so much trouble grasping it.

[DefendPopPunk]

What I find the most amusing is the amount of complaining that was going on around here with regards to housing prices. So many people don't have Gil but that's probably because so many undercutters don't seem to mind killing the price of anything worth selling as long as theirs sells first. "Well, I may be getting 80% less than what it was initially worth, but at least my stuff sold." Congratulations you're homeless.

[Izsha]

If you craft something and post for 2000 profit what right do you have to demand I do the same? If I'm OK making 1k profit per synth, then you are not 'right' nor am I stealing from you. I just decided of my own will to do your job for half the price.

This means either:
1: i have a cheaper/better source of acquiring materials (your just not as efficient. Sucks to be you. Crafter PvP point to me)
2: i value my time differently than you (you craft 1 min to make 2k, i do the same for 1k)
3: I'm doing a fire sale and just dumping (you should buy and resale or wait out the flush. It's temporary)
4: im stupid and don't realize I'm selling at a loss. I'll eventually burn out since I'm bleeding Gil or wise up.

1 and 2 you gotta man up and compete or get out of the market. They are doing no evil or wrong so put up or shut up. 3 is a temp wave you just ride it out or flip their product. 4 is rare and people to stupid to actually make a profit crafting either give up or get wise pretty quick.

No one is stealing your gil. They are just out competing you or dumping inventory. Get smarter or keep making QQ threads, your choice. But I prefer you keep making QQ threads because they are hilarious and i keep my markets since you guys refuse to compete with me and keep posting stuff higher making my undercuts look so good by comparison everyone buys it asap. I should be thanking you guys! Much obliged!

[CYoung187]

What I find the most amusing is the amount of complaining that was going on around here with regards to housing prices. So many people don't have Gil but that's probably because so many undercutters don't seem to mind killing the price of anything worth selling as long as theirs sells first. "Well, I may be getting 80% less than what it was initially worth, but at least my stuff sold." Congratulations you're homeless.

This makes zero sense at all. Because someone undercuts they have less money? The amount of gil in circulation doesnt change, it just gets spent on different things. I undercut all the time and I have plenty of gil. That is like saying walmart doesn't make any money because they are selling everything for 80% of what they could sell it for. I'd rather sell 2 at 80% then 1 at 100%. I don't care if my margins are less if I am selling much faster.

[RichardButte]

This makes zero sense at all. Because someone undercuts they have less money? The amount of gil in circulation doesnt change, it just gets spent on different things. I undercut all the time and I have plenty of gil. That is like saying walmart doesn't make any money because they are selling everything for 80% of what they could sell it for. I'd rather sell 2 at 80% then 1 at 100%. I don't care if my margins are less if I am selling much faster.

Congratulations: you're an exception and not a rule.

He's right: all of the people complaining about how broke they are are very likely the same people who don't have the patience to wait for things to sell for what they're ACTUALLY worth.

And sure, the gil supply remains constant, it's just that none of those people HAVE it. :P

[CYoung187]

Congratulations: you're an exception and not a rule.

He's right: all of the people complaining about how broke they are are very likely the same people who don't have the patience to wait for things to sell for what they're ACTUALLY worth.

And sure, the gil supply remains constant, it's just that none of those people HAVE it. :P

Broke and those complaining about housing prices are much different things. If someone is broke it's because they are probably not even trying. People can be fools on the market board for many reasons. Some because they overprice everything, some because they underprice. They simply cannot read the market value of an item correctly. Saying undercutting is making people broke is a complete over-exaggeration. How many people really complain they are broke, I don't think I have ever heard that complaint? Gil rains from trees.

[RichardButte]

Gil rains from trees.

Then no one should've been complaining about the cost of housing and yet they are.

Realistically, no one can be sure of the reason, but I'm sure undercutting by 80% isn't helping.

Let me put this another way: selling it 80% cheaper doesn't magically mean there's 80% more demand, and it certainly doesn't mean that you'll guarantee more of the market share because someone else is more likely to buy them all and resell them for the normal price.

Again, lowering prices does not magically increase demand in a closed system, which means people undercutting by this much are just screwing themselves out of profit as well as everyone else by driving prices down (though mostly themselves).

[DefendPopPunk]

That is like saying walmart doesn't make any money because they are selling everything for 80% of what they could sell it for. I'd rather sell 2 at 80% then 1 at 100%. I don't care if my margins are less if I am selling much faster.

Umm...no. First of all, I wasn't talking about someone undercutting by 20%, I was talking about a larger amount than that. Like others said in this thread, there's a better way to go about undercutting that doesn't completely destroy the prices. Yeah, no one can tell you what price you can sell your items at, sure, but we can all still look at it with eyebrows raised. Second, that analogy fails. I'm sure the CEO at Wal-Mart doesn't just go "HMMM what's the other guy selling it for? 10 dollars? Alright, let's sell ours for 2 dollars." There's way more to it than that. If he told that to their shareholders I'm pretty sure that guy wouldn't have a job anymore. And that's not even taking into account those people that undercut prices at a loss compared to if they had just vendored the things. smh