Undercut Hell

[Moerser]

The trololol is strong with those.

Greetz,
Mörser out

[Felessan]

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

You are a margin trader - you trade relatively small amount of items with high margin and it's understandable that you become upset when someone undercut you heavily, eating away your margin.
The problem here is that there are also a volume traders and for them volume is important and for this they a) need a better demand, that achieved at lower price and b) want to get into a better selling position on a market to ensure that all of their volume will sell. Undercutting helps with both at once.

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.

Economy is cyclical. Lower price spurs a much higher demand - thus by proxy a much higher demand in components. What is bad for crafters (working at breakeven prices) is good for consumers and gatherers (as high demand in craft leads to high demand in components thus price for them picks up). And vice versa - high prices means low demand and prices for components become depressed.

Everyone undercuts b/c their dumb and do not know the meaning of the word patience...you playing an mmo but are in a hurry.

I usually craft one day inventory of food and want to sell it in one day. For this price is manipulated so 80% of inventory could be sold in one day, and if there is oversupply or lack of demand - price is undercutted easily to prevent building up of inventory.
And if there is too much of a price war, I just leave this particular item market for several days as price will come back from breakeven spot eventually, no one want to work without profit for a prolonged period of time.

If you want to undercut a product just do it by smaller increments, maybe 1-3% of the previous value. So you can get yours on top and possibly keep the value of the item in question.

If you want demand to really picks up, undercutting by 1-3% will do nothing.

[r2rknot]

So your mad because other players won't collude with you? Perhaps the are not interested in the collision? If one guy posting under your cost is crashing the market, them perhaps it's not worth that amount? Some to Market pvp.

[Lord_Zlatan]

Usually I price at what will sell it faster than what its on the boards for, regardless of history and ethics or morals.

For example... a while back Heavens Eye Materia II were selling for 5k on Goblin... I sold all of mine for 4795. 205 gil cheaper. I don't really care about how much gil I lost because I put no investment into getting these materia. Is that considered undercutting? sure. Do I care what someone else sitting on the MB all day trying to "play the market" thinks? Not at all. Should I care? Its a video game auction hall... so no.

[kidvideo]

I just wish people wouldnt undercut by such large numbers and severely driving the prices down.

Also said by Microsoft after the Sony Playstation 4 press event.

[abzoluut]

and I am not interested in any trolly comments they won't be read

How do you know it's trolly when you won't be reading them? xD

On a more serious note, undercuts happen. The huge undercuts are often people who just don't have a clue. Like others said, buy it, resell it. Another important thing, some crafters like to put new crafts on MB asap. However, a week later mats can drop as far as (or even more) 30% <--- automatic undercut incoming.

I also think some crafters just ask rediculous prices. I am one of those people who will undercut when someone is trying to make a billion % profit. That to me is economy breaking since I'd have to wait a year until the first one up there sells.. I just check what the mats go for and try to make a fair price for both myself and the buyer.

[Lord_Zlatan]

How do you know it's trolly when you won't be reading them? xD

On a more serious note, undercuts happen. The huge undercuts are often people who just don't have a clue. Like others said, buy it, resell it. Another important thing, some crafters like to put new crafts on MB asap. However, a week later mats can drop as far as (or even more) 30% <--- automatic undercut incoming.

I also think some crafters just ask rediculous prices. I am one of those people who will undercut when someone is trying to make a billion % profit. That to me is economy breaking since I'd have to wait a year until the first one up there sells.. I just check what the mats go for and try to make a fair price for both myself and the buyer.

that sounds realistic. Unfrotunately not a lot of people actually do that even though it is the right thing to do.

[Livilda]

Self-Entitled Armchair Economists: The Thread

[dcdistro]

you undercut someone else so you can sell yours faster so they did it back you can play that game all day long how about you try and match the lowest price instead of undercutting in the first place... its sitting in my inventory and you deliberately undercut me i will slash them prices because i don't care i am clearing out space.. i try to always match lowest, then they undercut and the war begins... to be honest it should be like ffxi was and have blind bidding and if they bid high enough they got the prize

undercutting by 1 gil or 500k is no different to me anything i truely make i farm all the stuff myself so really 10 gil is profit to me

[kidvideo]

to be honest it should be like ffxi was and have blind bidding and if they bid high enough they got the prize

This is not a real solution. In XI, I always set my prices considerably lower that the last sold prices. Mine would sell first & I'd pay lower listing fees. If a buyer guessed correctly then there's clear proof the rest were overcharging.