[REQUEST] Making MB selling fairer (in some way)

[Kosmos992k]

Or square could reduce the advantage by offering two additional free retainers. Given that I use my extra retainers to hold glamours and not for playing the market board, I'd be a-okay not paying as much every month.

I doubt they would go for two extra, but I think there is a very strong case for adding one more free retainer since they added a whole new city/state, upped the level cap, added 3 jobs with all ttheir gear and increased the number of items and crafting recipes with HW and subsequent patches. I'd like to see 1 retainer added per expansion since we have to buy that 'new game' in addition to the existing game and continued subscription.

[Teryaani]

I doubt they would go for two extra, but I think there is a very strong case for adding one more free retainer since they added a whole new city/state, upped the level cap, added 3 jobs with all ttheir gear and increased the number of items and crafting recipes with HW and subsequent patches. I'd like to see 1 retainer added per expansion since we have to buy that 'new game' in addition to the existing game and continued subscription.

I completely agree that the odds of them doing that are pretty close to zip, but they really should. That or give us one more and open up the armoire to any untradeable gear.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

I often undercut for 1 gil, unless it is something that doesn't sell well and I want rid of it quick. Has been times when I have joined in with undercutting when I see people crashing an item only to buy it low and sell it high a few days later.

[coco1851]

No solution is required. Everyone knows that you can buy, for example, salmon pink at a vendor. However, some players may not wish to actually take the time to go to the vendor, and so they buy the dye (marked up considerably) from the MB for the convenience. To you, this looks like simple profiteering, but to others it is a matter of convenience. Welcome to theworldof supply and demand.

Sorry to say not everyone knows this, yes it's convenient for some especially with people sitting around with millions of Gil with nothing to spend it on, but not all. There were times when I was fishing in Limsa didn't feel like going all that way to get more bait so I bit the bullet & bought from the mb. When you first started playing you can't tell me you knew what was available & where on day 1 or a week later for that matter. In fact I bet there are some casual players that play here & there & they don't know that bait for example is sold in the residential areas. So it is profiteering on some occasions. I've seen plenty of people in game & on here asking where to get such & such. You don't need to welcome me to it I went to college for business I know how it works.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Actually yes I realised pretty quick that each area you did the fates in had the corresponding gear at npc for the level. I also realised any gear when I first started playing would be way over inflated as no one knew what price people was willing to pay.

As for new people their is plenty of guides and lodestone to let them know where gear is available. We never had that luxury on release, also for most it isn't their first MMO and many know that the community market will have over inflated prices. One of my favourites is mistletoe the NPC is next to the market board and prices still way above npc price.

[AlphaFox]

Snip

This is very true, I recall very early on in Closed Beta (or might have been just after release) people were selling Orange Juice for like 1k a piece near the dye quest.

[Kosmos992k]

Sorry to say not everyone knows this,

So,you're saying that the game doesn't explicitly guide you to the market stalls in your starting city? It doesn't repeatedly run you past the quest giver for the ability to dye things, who is quite literally in your way every time you go from Horizon to the Waking Sands. That quest giver 'lights' up at level 15, and the MSQ takes you right past them so many times I lost count. I mean, really, what do you want? Neon signs?

When you first started playing you can't tell me you knew what was available & where on day 1 or a week later for that matter.

It took less than 5 minutes to realize that the vendors have stuff cheaper than the MB.

In fact I bet there are some casual players that play here & there & they don't know that bait for example is sold in the residential areas.

No offense, but really? You are saying that people don't explore and because of that they deserve special consideration? If you are in a residential district, explore it. How foolish would you feel IRL if instead of going to your local store, you first log on Ebay and buy the first item in your search, only to find out Walmart was cheaper?

So it is profiteering on some occasions.

Rare occasions, yes.

I've seen plenty of people in game & on here asking where to get such & such. You don't need to welcome me to it I went to college for business I know how it works.

If you know how it works then you should also know that poorly informed consumers are their own worst enemy, and that's just as true in Eorzea.

Above all if players don't know something they can ask a mentor, a linkshell mate, a FC member, or search the Internet.

[Kosmos992k]

This is very true, I recall very early on in Closed Beta (or might have been just after release) people were selling Orange Juice for like 1k a piece near the dye quest.

And? Peoplenpay for convenience. It's pretty obvious if some player is standingaround selling OJ for 1k a pop, it's not the cheapest way to obtain the juice. However, we were talking about the MB, not players standing next to a quest giver.

[Cakekizyy]

I learned long ago in EQ, if I didn't know where to find someting in game to look it up on Allakhazam.

[Zojha]

I've seen plenty of people in game & on here asking where to get such & such.

And even if you know where to get it doesn't mean you have access - "Emperor's new" items go for several thousand gil, when they are in unlimited supply and cost a mere ~50 gil. Why? Because you need a lvl 50 crafter to buy.

Classical market theory is...pretty hard to apply to the market board, really, since over half the base assumptions of perfect competition are violated. There is no large amount of buyers and sellers for every good. Neither buyers nor sellers are perfectly rational, information asymmetries and, in some cases, externalities exist. There are transaction costs. Supply and demand frequently aren't independent either. And some resources, such as vendor goods, are not even scarce.

As a result, the allocation via the market mechanism is pretty much shit and there are large amounts of welfare/utility loss.