Undercut Hell

[Amenian]

Maybe I'm one of those people that just feels a cheaper market for the buyer is better for everyone.

Actually no. I know on your individual item it might seem that way, but you're failing to see the big picture. Think of all the gil sink items in this game. Housing is a good example. By keeping market prices high, those same buyers can sell their stuff at a higher amount thus being able to afford gil sink items like housing. When you keep market prices low, it makes it harder for everyone to make money and you have actually made the game more difficult for those buyers you thought you were helping.

[Havenchild]

Actually no. I know on your individual item it might seem that way, but you're failing to see the big picture. Think of all the gil sink items in this game. Housing is a good example. By keeping market prices high, those same buyers can sell their stuff at a higher amount thus being able to afford gil sink items like housing. When you keep market prices low, it makes it harder for everyone to make money and you have actually made the game more difficult for those buyers you thought you were helping.

You take "longer" to make that money, which is what your trying to get at but that's half truth. If you spend less money all around, you also save money faster all around and stack up quicker. The way the system is setup as well, you can make a lot of money simply from dungeons and Roulette Bonuses daily.

IE: Spending less money on your materia for your Novus, now having the ability to pour that into housing.

[Amenian]

snip

You're still thinking short term. Yes, at first the 1 gil undercutting method takes longer. Eventually though you reach max fair market price, which is where you want to be for the best economy and the stuff sells at about the same rate as it's put up. This will fluctuate with supply and demand of course, but the ideal is to maintain maximum fair market price. Large undercuts skip over this value and over time end up lowering the maximum fair market price. Lower it far enough and those people responsible for supplying the item will leave the market and you've created a scarcity. So now, not only have you made the economy less over all, which hurts everybody, but you've also made it harder to find those items you are looking for.

[Havenchild]

snip

Which eventually re-balances the price when they become scarce due to supply and demand. You see this with X-Potions and food for example. It starts high -> decreases as undercutting happens (more people enter this market), but eventually at the end of raiding season they tend to pick up much higher (due to many merchs buying them in bulk at low, and inflating the value). It's all about knowing when to buy/sell to make the most profit, anyone can make big money in this game by simply working the market in your favor. No item is also limited to one person, you are able to get any item in the game if you want for free. Some items that are exclusive to a few are far over priced considering where it comes from. Allagan Silk or Leather for example should not be priced at 375k+ as a "fair price", when it's farmable in a premade party via ez mode T1 ->T4.

[Morningstar1337]

Maybe I'm one of those people that just feels a cheaper market for the buyer is better for everyone.

Welcoem to the world of ecocomics. Where SE screws the consumer over by overpricing certain things, causing the players to screw over over players to get said things.

Also RMT isn't helping that one bit

[AdamFyi]

Waterproof cotton was selling at around 800k-ish on Cactuar. I kid you not when I say this; The cost of the item dropped to a mere 200k within an hour which is just crazy. First it dropped to 650k, then it fell to 500k, then it collapsed under the weight to 315k, then finally plummeting to a mere 200k.

[NyarukoW]

Waterproof cotton was selling at around 800k-ish on Cactuar. ...then finally plummeting to a mere 200k.

If there are lots of the of the stuff being offered at 200K, then that is where the price of the stuff should be. It was way overpriced to start with. The price that does not sell is not a valid price to start with, it might as well be infinity times 2. That is just an irrelevant data point.

Look if you got 50 mil on hand and believe the stuff should sell at 800K, yet you see 20 of them at 200K, buy up all 20 for 5mil. If you sold 7 of them at 800K, you'd break even, and still you can profit from the next 13 even if you choose to flood the market at 100k because you just wanted a clearance, to clear your inventory.

... you're failing to see the big picture. Think of all the gil sink items in this game. Housing is a good example. ....

If think you are failing to see the big picture. Even with items being bind on equip or consumed, the fact that as more players come to game there will be more items being put on the market, and that fact alone means the prices should decline over time. The ability to produce the items will also increase with time which also leads to price decline. The free flow of goods for all players is good for all players, the lower prices make the flow more free and more steady. The walmarts of the world are successful because they know this, and it is same in a simulated economy in game.

BTW your so called gil sink item gets getting price reductions to over time and becomes less of gil sink over time, while more gil keeps getting injected into the game economy. The gil supply keeps growing, because there are infinite quest rewards, dungeon rewards, etc that constantly pay out gil, just like the items constantly being found. The only reason prices are high for any item is because the consumption of the item is exceeding the ability of the player base to supply them.

[AdamFyi]

Snip

No, supply didn't seem to increase. The values I gave were one after another. It took 4 people to drop it in value signifigantly. Purchase history also shows that the average buying price was 800k before the drop, so there's that. And just so you know, not everyone has the kind of gil to buy out the cheap ones and sell them again. Take into consideration of someone undercutting again.

The main reason is that Waterproof Cotton is gotten from desynthesis of a 3* fish or a bikini. They're quite rare to add.

[NyarukoW]

No, supply didn't seem to increase. The values I gave were one after another. It took 4 people to drop it in value signifigantly. ... They're quite rare to add.

Then buy them and sell at 800K and profit. Their loss is your gain. No guts? No patience? Dumb undercutters are a flippers best friend. Buy low sell high. You can't buy low when everyone wants max gil for their items.

... Lower it far enough and those people responsible for supplying the item will leave the market and you've created a scarcity. So now, not only have you made the economy less over all, which hurts everybody, but you've also made it harder to find those items you are looking for.

This is utter nonsense. If there is real demand for the item, there will always be people supplying it as long as their is profit to be made. If people are selling at a loss, flippers will make up the difference in the market and make the profit, just like those in real life who buy up whole inventories of businesses shutting down and reselling them. You can not create scarcity because their are too many sellers and the prices are lower, and in no ways can it make the item harder to find because there are more sellers.

[AdamFyi]

Then buy them and sell at 800K and profit.

Sometimes I wonder if you actually read the whole post instead of skimming through it and looking for points that you can argue against just for the sake of a counter argument.

And just so you know, not everyone has the kind of gil to buy out the cheap ones and sell them again.

I was lucky enough to catch the 3* fish, then fight against the desynthesis failures and successes that yielded nothing only to get shot down once I got something rare. Do you have any empathy for people who try their best?