Undercut Hell

[DenzelTaru]

I am fully prepared to get shot down in this thread by the undercutters themselves but I just don't understand these people and it's driving me insane.

All weekend I have been selling an item and profitting well out of it, I started by undercutting the best price by 1gil.. this keeps the price at the same ammount and if anyone wants to undercut me at 1gil they are VERY welcome to.. all our stuff will sell for the intended price eventually and everyone is happy.. yes you have to keep an eye on the market but thats fine because we are all profitting.

So by the middle of the day, the item I was selling was 375k and I was selling them very regularly.. all of a sudden some moron places one on the market for 200k.. an undercut of 175k..

The problem with this is.. when someone comes to put theirs up for sale they will no longer look at the regular price to undercut they will look at the lowest which is now 200k.. So I had to buy this guy out.. "job done" you may say, he got his quick gil.. but what people don't realise is they are damaging the economy.. if SE won't give us blind auctions then we are responsible for the economy and if people keep crashing it then no one is getting anywhere.. 200k is CHEAPER than the items used to make the item.

Thats one type of undercutter the next is this:

By morning I had been undercut to 350k thats fine i guess, I lose out but its not as drastic as 200k.. but then someone comes on and undercuts to 345k.. instead of 1gil he cut by 5k.. undercut him to 1gil again and he drops it 10k.. then another 10k.. in 10mins he devalued the market to 300k..

Undercutting by massive ammounts is really stupid guys why do you do it.. it infuriates me and I am sure alot of crafters agree.

TLDR

Undercutting is fine, its how you make your sale, being the top of that list.. but do it by sensible ammounts and stop ruining the economy.

and I am not interested in any trolly comments they won't be read or responded to, I put this up because I believe its valid and the sensible people here will agree

[CYoung187]

Scenario 1: You just made an easy 175k, you should be happy

Scenario 2: you are attributing to the undercutting war just as much as the other guy. Sounds like you should be patient instead of adding the the undercutting war. This will happen with items that have little demand. Some people take taxes into account when undercutting and want to be the lowest price no matter what nation the buyer is buying from, so 1 gil is not always the most sensible option.

But yeah everybody is only "sensable" if they agree with you, good one.

[Lemuria]

Scenario 2: you are attributing to the undercutting war just as much as the other guy. Sounds like you should be patient instead of adding the the undercutting war.

I tried that once... gave it a couple of weeks. By the time I went back to it, the price had dropped from 400k to a mere 50k. Now THAT's what I call an undercutting war.

In truth, it's all down to supply and demand. If people were buying them at a decent rate, people would get their sales quicker so there would be less undercutting. If they're not as well sold as other items, then they'll be undercut to oblivion. Only the very rare and lucrative items are exempt from this.

[Aunalise]

Scenario 1: You just made an easy 175k, you should be happy

Agree. Love it when someone contributes 175K to my account.

Scenario 2: you are attributing to the undercutting war just as much as the other guy. Sounds like you should be patient... This will happen with items that have little demand.

Disagree some. He is only contributing 1g at a time. Others are doing it at 10Kg or more at a time. You just ignored the point he made. If it is something that is selling slowly, then yes, undercutting a lot might find a quick sell/current going price level more-quickly, or may jump well below it. Anyone selling repeatedly in a market needs to learn the avg price level. Then you can 'know' that the 200K price is truly a 175K undervaluation, or not. If 200K is below mat cost, then that is a straight-up gift. Buying it is like buying the raw materials at a bargain. Never complain about that.

[Aunalise]

"Correct Price" A true story.
US chem mfr started selling an item below a German cartel price in Europe, 'violating' the Cartel's territory. They tried to cut him in on the action. He refused. They then thought they could undersell him in US and put him out of business, and sold the item like crazy... all they could make. But really, US chem mfr was just buying from them and then reselling in Europe at his original European undercut price, still making a profit. The thing is that he made money both ways, by under-bidding the Cartel's high price, and by buying up the too-low undercut price, and marking it up.

Moral of the story? FFXIV MB isn't like RL. Tens of buyers who are not very cost-sensitive don't really help set accurate prices. Neither do price-insensitive sellers who just had the item fall into their lap. BUT, you can still buy out gross undercutting and profit from it.

[NyarukoW]

Stupid undercutters give you excellent opportunities to buy low and sell high. Buy their stuff at 200K and sell it at 375K. Profit on their foolishness. If you don't guts to flip the item, then that means you got no confidence in your 375K price which means it isn't worth the price you are trying to gouge people at.

[Prototype909]

The value of a good is what someone is willing to pay for it, don't cry just because someone else is willing to make less money than you.

[Tupsi]

The value of a good is what someone is willing to pay for it, don't cry just because someone else is willing to make less money than you.

Someone else wanting to make less money than you means you'll make no money or even less than them simply because they don't care for a profit. If something consistently sells for 800k, why are you undercutting to 300k and causing people to undercut THAT to even lower till it floors out?

People were willing to pay 800k, so why undercut massively to sell faster when you could have made so much more profit? Especially when we already know most people that undercut aren't the ones even making the items, they get it from retainer ventures or 2nd hand.

[NyarukoW]

..
People were willing to pay 800k, so why undercut massively to sell faster when you could have made so much more profit? Especially when we already know most people that undercut aren't the ones even making the items, they get it from retainer ventures or 2nd hand.

Massive undercuts means you get a chance at a massive windfall. Buy it up quick and sell it at the price you want and profit! Been there done that. It works good makes lots of gil easy off someone else's impatience.

... Do you have any empathy for people who try their best?

Empathy and markets don't mix. Empathy does not give you the right to price gouge someone else either. I do have empathy, but you are talking about pricing, and pricing is a cold blooded (fill in the blank). Fact of life , applicable in game too, prices are always too high when you want to buy and too low when you want to sell. The odds that the timing of the matter lines up with your situation is low. And if you want to buy low and sell high, you got to look at undercutters as source of good opportunities.

[Havenchild]

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