Idea against Undercutting at the Marketboard (The next.. )

[Lyrinn]

Two crafters don't necessarily have the same profit margins for an item at a given price. You don't know what your competition invested into that item. If you bought your battlecraft 3s and he desynth'd all of his from dungeon loot then that's about 500k-1mil of wiggle room he has. It's possible for him to sell his product at a price you simply can't compete with and still make a solid profit.

Your example is still a net loss because you simply could have sold the battlecrafts instead and made more gil that way. I farm most of my mats but still include their market value in profit calculations. Again, why? Because the end product better sell for more than the mats were worth. If it's not, sell the mats instead.

[Wintersandman]

Your example is still a net loss because you simply could have sold the battlecrafts instead and made more gil that way. I farm most of my mats but still include their market value in profit calculations. Again, why? Because the end product better sell for more than the mats were worth. If it's not, sell the mats instead.

Depends on the time value of gathering said items. Time is money too. Some people don't value their time as high. Also if your short on inventory space. Space is money. Sometimes you want something to move quick so you can sell more or get more things out the door. In order to get things to move you drop the price.

[Hohoz]

What PopeHat does .... best method ever :P

[dspguy]

What PopeHat does .... best method ever :P

Too bad for some items, such as the ones that sell once per day, the market changes enough that what is YOUR break even price (with materials bought 5 days ago) isn't another player's break even point (materials bought today). I had what looks like a player like you buying up my stuff at what they thought was a loss for me. While I was getting a consistent stream of 500k-1M gil from a set of artisan or forager's just from quick sales to these guys. They were probably all smug about it. I'd just make another set of gear in a few minutes, put it back up for sale again.

They eventually stopped buying up my stuff and sold at my price instead (and then of course undercut by 1gil each, since even you 100k undercutters can only go so far).

IMO, that system only works if your competition doesn't actually create a new item again.

[Kumabear76]

Look, what it all comes down to is supply and demand. If there is too much of a commodity, then buyers will be less inclined to purchase the commodity. in turn, that leads to competitive price wars from sellers, lowering prices constantly in an attempt to sell that commodity. This is where undercutting stems from.

But if a commodity is rare or in demand, such as new items from a recent patch (ie: furniture when personal houses came out), then demand will be so high that most sellers can slap whatever price they want on a commodity and know that someone will still buy it. That's where price gouging comes from.

This is the basic function behind the market. It may not be fair to some, but that is how it is.

That doesn't mean you can't win.

In many cases, if you see prices being undercut to stupid low levels, simply buy it and resell at a higher price. In the end, everyone wins. the seller sold their commodity, you have adjusted the price to a satisfactory level, and the market stays relatively stable.

BUT, the one thing that blows this all to hell are the gilsellers. I cannot express enough my disdain for their tactics. For example, on Leviathan, elemental shard prices were doing pretty well at roughly 100 or so per shard. Suddenly, there would be groups of three retainers with either similar or nonsensical names, all from the same city, selling tens of thousands of the same shard every day for 70-80 per shard. That is a 20% drop in value. Unfortunately, the only way to compete is to sell lower than them. The next day, it repeats. Tens of thousands of shards, at an even lower price. I have a hard time believing an actual player harvests roughly 80,000 shards per day for this, so I feel I can safely assume it is a gilseller.

[RichardButte]

Undercutting by 1gil or matching the lowest price is the most sensible thing to do in all cases.

Why?

Because FFXIV is not a "commodities" type of economy.

No one buys an alchemist's coat in anticipation for when their alchemist hits 50. They're gonna buy that coat the MOMENT they hit 50 on the alchemist, and they're going to pay nearly any price (so long as it's not unreasonable) when they get there.

FFXIV's economy is a "want it now" economy: when people want something, they'll buy it then and not a moment sooner, no matter how good the price may be because they're not LOOKING for it until then.

The only exception to that rule are people hunting for items that are listed far below normal value. It's kind of astonishing how many people don't use the price history (or choose to ignore it) and routinely list items for 10k+ below what they normally sell for.

I've recently taking to just buying those items and relisting them. They usually sell before the day is out...

[RichardButte]

Just happened today: someone listen an item for 20k that was selling for 38k regularly.

Bought it last night, mine sold this morning and I absentmindedly made another one. Then IT sold like 20 mins later so I relisted the one that I had bought for 20k.

Seriously, I don't know whether I should encourage people to use the price history or if I should just keep making money off of them...

[papichulo123]

undercut but not so much unless the price for the item is ridiculous.

[papichulo123]

im broke i need to farm everything i need. i dont like crafting i am doomed i will be broke forever

[Lycelle]

Or just be like Martha Stewart and pull your money out before the MB crashes. Ahahaha.

But no seriously, you're better off just selling goods out of pocket, via PF. This way you avoid tax and you have a set static price. To people who come to you to buy it. You can say no and just move onto the next. I don't play the MB due to people undercutting. It's a schmuck thing to do, but that's the gist of it. Be lucky it's not RMT.