Undercut Hell

[Amenian]

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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]

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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.