Undercutting

[LineageRazor]

Good for you, i of course get around "attempts to destroy me" by being diversified and not requiring one thing to sell.

In all fairness, the Scorpion Harness market he refers to was a big deal in FFXI. Even a NQ Harness was so much better than other body pieces of its level range that it was perfectly acceptable even as endgame gear. Roughly three quarters of all jobs in the game were considered gimp if they didn't have one, and the materials to craft them were rare and expensive at the time. Acquiring one was pretty much considered a rite of passage for DDs and tanks aliike. And getting a HQ Scorpion Harness? A synth had, at best, only a 10% chance of HQ (and that high only if you had a rather specialized crafting build - 1% chance if you did not). Getting one marked you as someone who was very serious about your class, because it was a huge investment.

The markets in FFXIV, though, are an entirely different story. There's no equivalent to the Scorpion Harness because ALL rare sale items are luxury items. Housing items, glamour items, minions - none of these things are preventing you from progressing in the game if you don't have them. As crafters wrestle over various markets, buyers can either buy or shrug their shoulders and leave without feeling any pressure whatsoever, unlike the Harness buyers in FFXI.

[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.

[jomoru]

The markets in FFXIV, though, are an entirely different story. There's no equivalent to the Scorpion Harness because ALL rare sale items are luxury items. Housing items, glamour items, minions - none of these things are preventing you from progressing in the game if you don't have them. As crafters wrestle over various markets, buyers can either buy or shrug their shoulders and leave without feeling any pressure whatsoever, unlike the Harness buyers in FFXI.

That's why I find the whole system strategy import hilarious(almost as much as the person who had "control over the enchants/pots market in WoW). Those strategies only work when you monopolize necissities. Since difficulty in this game is less built on having the right enchant, or stat and much more on player skill talking about "destroying a market" is just hilarious.

[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

[Dashuto]

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

Strangely enough I would love to be that way. I've just got to admit it- when I see the hare running I end up chasing on instinct. Its a little stressful, but sort of fun at the same time?

I would encourage most people to take the relaxed approach, even if it would seem very strange for me of all people to endorse that.

[Aussir]

To sum up this thread:

1 - WAAH!! MOMMYYY!!! PEOPLE ARE SELLING CHEAPER THAN ME!! NO ONE BUYS MY STUPIDLY OVERPRICED STUFF!!! WAAAAH"
2 - Yo, I control the market, yo... yo... hohoho... something...
3 - BUT OP MUST SELL!!! WAAAH! I HATE YOU PEOPLE SEELING CHEAPER!
4 - hohoho... market control...

/facepalm

So you can't be rich immediately? Oh noes...!!111ONEONEONEELEVEN... Who the hell cares? People will sell at the price they see fit, the buyer has the choice to buy or let it rot. If your horrendously over priced items are rotting about, lower the price or watch them rot some more. It's a buyers' market.

[Eye_Gore]

I forget what exactly I was selling. But as my usual technique when I go to the MB and the item I want sell has none up for sale, just for the heck of it I put it up for sale for outrageous amount, 20 million. They say there is a sucker born every minute, so what is there to lose? After a couple days I will checked on it. There was another for 19,999,999. So I immediately dropped my price to what the last time it sold for, 200. Sold within an hour or so.

[baopee]

I forget what exactly I was selling. But as my usual technique when I go to the MB and the item I want sell has none up for sale, just for the heck of it I put it up for sale for outrageous amount, 20 million. They say there is a sucker born every minute, so what is there to lose? After a couple days I will checked on it. There was another for 19,999,999. So I immediately dropped my price to what the last time it sold for, 200. Sold within an hour or so.

that is pretty close to what i did, i sold my mini opo-opo for 4 mil gils lol. there was one on MB was asking for 2 mils, so I set mine at 5 mils, 2 days later that seller change his/ hers to 4.9 mil, i drop mine to 4 mils and it was sold 2 days later.

I mainly only sell one thing on MB, if anyone tries to undercut me, I would buy them all off and I would also buy off some people who are asking more than what I am asking so I can raise my asking price.

[Lord_Zlatan]

this thread is lolzy